A chef helps a housewife cook a duck dinner that will not give her husband indigestion.A chef helps a housewife cook a duck dinner that will not give her husband indigestion.A chef helps a housewife cook a duck dinner that will not give her husband indigestion.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 1 nomination total
Photos
Pete Smith
- Narrator
- (voice)
Luis Alberni
- The Master Chef
- (uncredited)
Una Merkel
- Mrs. Omsk
- (uncredited)
Franklin Pangborn
- John Xavier Omsk
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaA very rare Pete Smith short in which one of the characters actually speaks. Una Merkel delivers one line, to which Smith replies, "Hey, I do all the talking around here!" And from then on, she's silent.
- GoofsWhen Mrs. Omsk knocks her mixing bowl off the kitchen table, it lands intact. Later when the narrator is "cleaning up" the kitchen for the chef, the bowl is now shattered.
Featured review
Kitchen Magician
An MGM PETE SMITH Short Subject.
A very silly housewife receives help with her dinner MENU - and a cure for her hubby's upset tummy - when a chef magically arrives in her kitchen.
This fanciful little film is an enjoyable bit of early Technicolor fluff. The practical demonstrations, mixed up with the gentle humor, serve up a most pleasing result - almost as appetizing as the roast duck & baked apples. Movie mavens will recognize Franklin Pangborn as the dyspeptic husband, Una Merkel as his featherbrained wife, and Luis Alberni as the remarkable chef, all uncredited.
Off-the-wall narrator Pete Smith would produce a reworked version of this story - with Oscar winning results - four years later in PENNY WISDOM (1937).
Often overlooked or neglected today, the one and two-reel short subjects were useful to the Studios as important training grounds for new or burgeoning talents, both in front & behind the camera. The dynamics for creating a successful short subject was completely different from that of a feature length film, something akin to writing a topnotch short story rather than a novel. Economical to produce in terms of both budget & schedule and capable of portraying a wide range of material, short subjects were the perfect complement to the Studios' feature films.
A very silly housewife receives help with her dinner MENU - and a cure for her hubby's upset tummy - when a chef magically arrives in her kitchen.
This fanciful little film is an enjoyable bit of early Technicolor fluff. The practical demonstrations, mixed up with the gentle humor, serve up a most pleasing result - almost as appetizing as the roast duck & baked apples. Movie mavens will recognize Franklin Pangborn as the dyspeptic husband, Una Merkel as his featherbrained wife, and Luis Alberni as the remarkable chef, all uncredited.
Off-the-wall narrator Pete Smith would produce a reworked version of this story - with Oscar winning results - four years later in PENNY WISDOM (1937).
Often overlooked or neglected today, the one and two-reel short subjects were useful to the Studios as important training grounds for new or burgeoning talents, both in front & behind the camera. The dynamics for creating a successful short subject was completely different from that of a feature length film, something akin to writing a topnotch short story rather than a novel. Economical to produce in terms of both budget & schedule and capable of portraying a wide range of material, short subjects were the perfect complement to the Studios' feature films.
helpful•152
- Ron Oliver
- Sep 6, 2003
Details
- Runtime10 minutes
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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