Kill the Umpire

Plot

Bill Johnson is a former baseball player whose fanatical devotion to the game has cost him several jobs. He remains steadfast in one thing: he hates umpires. Matters are complicated by the fact that his father-in-law Evans (Ray Collins) is a retired umpire.

During a period of unemployment, needing a job to support his loyal wife Betty (Una Merkel) and two daughters, Johnson is forced by his father-in-law to matriculate in an umpire school. Johnson initially tries to get himself expelled by school director Jimmy O'Brien (William Frawley), but eventually comes to enjoy his new job. He becomes an ump in the minor leagues, where blurred vision, caused by using the wrong eyedrops, causes him to see everything twice, earning him a nickname as "Two-Call" Johnson.

When he calls a popular player out at home plate, the crowd accuses him of dishonesty, leading to a near-riot during which the involved player is knocked out cold. Johnson must disguise himself as a woman, and engage in several madcap subterfuges, to get to an important game on time, but his reputation is restored when the player he had originally called against publicly praises him for his honesty as an umpire. The crowd accepts this, although quickly reversing its opinion again after Johnson, inevitably, makes another call they do not like.

The film's climax is a manic chase scene, scripted by animator and future Jerry Lewis director Frank Tashlin.

Cast