26th Apr 2008
Driver’s Safety Films: The Other Fellow
In the 1930’s, Chevrolet and Jam Handy made a few films about being a polite, safe driver.
The Other Fellow stars Edgar Kennedy as every driver on the road, making things slightly confusing. (It’s extra difficult for the modern viewer who desperately tries to recall who Edgar Kennedy was.*)
The driving effects make you want to scream and duck as Kennedy violently swerves around. But, you’re reassured that a Chevy has a loud horn (can’t thank the film-makers enough for all that honking), includes hydraulic brakes (explicitly mentioned) in the car, and apparently will not take damage when bumped into by other cars.
So what safe driving lesson do we learn? (1) Buy a Chevy! (2) Let other drivers know what you’re going to do (it isn’t clear how that keeps other drivers from backing into your car while it’s parked at a curb, which happens repeatedly to Edgar Kennedy Clone #17) by using hand signals. And that bit of advice completely removes the film from the category of “possibly relevant to modern drivers”.
* If you’re interested in old films, Edgar Kennedy was one of the comedians of Keystone Studio, starring with the likes of Fatty Arbuckle and Charlie Chaplin. He was in hundreds of films, which is less surprising when you realize how short many films were back in the early days of Hollywood.
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