Watch the Birdie is the title of this early short comedy starring Bob Hope and Arline Dinintz which finds the couple on a cruise ship with her younger sister and parents. Bob's character is a practical joker with a lot of those early gag toys like the telescope that leaves the black eye, a snake springing out of a lighter, several squirt gun gags and of course his camera that you can "watch the birdie" (as one shoots out at the subject). The camera has a dual function in which you have to see the film to see how it adds to the fun. It's old fashioned humor from a more simpler time that will undoubtedly bore most younger fans. Notice the level of dress with suits and dresses and hats even at leisure on a cruise ship in the day. Bob's character asks later in the film what some higher ups are doing in a board room, to which his fiancée responds, "they're figuring out a way to solve the depression." He says, "oh, you mean they're going to give everybody money," and she astutely replies, "no, but they're going to make everybody forget that they haven't got it!" History might just be repeating itself today so go out and make it fun to smile for the camera.
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