Doctor, Feel My Pulse

Vera Vague is a hypochondriac in this Columbia short. After going through the usual Jules White gags like spraying herself with red ink, she winds up thinking madman Jack Norton is a doctor; when he tells her she is going to die, her husband, George Lewis, and friends decide to get her so angry she will give up imaginary illnesses.

It's a remake of Charley Chase's 1937 Columbia short, CALLING ALL DOCTORS. While the first half of this one, set in Vera's office, is pretty standard stuff for director Jules White (i.e., I don't care for it), the latter portions are very good. Bud Jamison, as a doctor who gets his stethoscope mixed up, is an example of the simple slapstick comedian running a gag perfectly.

Back in 1937, Charley Chase made a short for Columbia called "Calling All Doctors". It was a funny short film but suffered from one huge problem....subtlety. The film was anything but subtle and often chose the lowbrow approach...much like Columbia's other shorts. And, like other Columbia shorts, it ended up getting remade twice....and the first remake was "Doctor, Feel My Pulse" with Vera Vague (Barbara Jo Allen).

When the story begins, Vera is a hopeless hypochondriac....and here is where the film really overdid it. Instead of showing it with any sort of finesse, the film goes way overboard...and NO ONE is that big a dopey hypochondriac! Soon, she goes to see a doctor because of her many complaints and accidentally assumes the man talking with her is a doctor. After all...he says he's a doctor! But he's actually a severely disturbed patient...and he soon informs Vera she's got four hours to live! What's next?

Despite not being the least bit subtle, this IS a funny short film. Original? No...but funny.