I wish to know if Peter Falk's glass eye "played the part" of a real
eye in the TV Detective series "Columbo". I.e. Did Columbo have a
glass eye or a real eye. In all the episodes I have seen, there are no
references to his glass eye, but this is not evidence enough to
conclude that it was supposed to be a real eye. Please provide
conclusive evidence.

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Request for Question Clarification by rainbow-ga on 19 Aug 2005 06:00 PDT

Hi fecker,

I'm not sure if you consider this conclusive enough, however, this is
what I was able to locate:

"Last but not least among Columbo?s physical handicaps, he has a
prosthetic right eye.

While it is well known that Peter Falk lost an eye to cancer when he
was a toddler, for decades it was far from clear whether or not
Columbo shares this trait with the actor who plays him.

There were small clues ? like, in ?Troubled Waters?, Columbo holds a
magnifying glass to his left eye. And in ?Murder, A Self-Portrait?,
Columbo folds his eyeglasses and holds them up to his left eye,
simulating a monocle. But these little signs proved nothing, since
everyone has one ?dominant? eye, just like being right- or
left-handed.

So the question was not resolved until 1997 (?A Trace Of Murder?),
when Columbo finally reveals his one-eyed status, by making a joke
about it. Asking Patrick to revisit the crime scene with him, Columbo
says, ?You know, three eyes are better than one.?

Moreover, Columbo?s one eye is afflicted with weak vision. Even as
early as ?An Exercise In Fatality?, we see him borrowing the janitor?s
eyeglasses in order to examine some heel-marks on the gym floor.

By ?Grand Deceptions?, Columbo wears reading glasses, and seems
comfortable with them, as if he has had them for a while. The glasses
are seen again in episodes including ?Caution: Murder Can Be Hazardous
To Your Health?, and in ?Death Hits The Jackpot? --  where we see that
Columbo, with his typical disregard for appearances, has wired
together a broken hinge of his eyeglasses by inserting a huge paper
clip.

It is indeed ironic, and impressive and inspirational, that Columbo
has achieved such success in a profession that depends so heavily upon
the power of observation. Columbo sees far more with his poor left
eye, and with his unique brain, than most cops could ever observe with
perfect 20/20 vision."

http://www.columbo100.freeuk.com/fearsflaws.htm


Waiting to hear your views.

Best regards,
Rainbow

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Clarification of Question by fecker-ga on 19 Aug 2005 07:12 PDT

I would consider this an satisfactory answer if you clarify the
context of Columbo's joke in your following quote:

"So the question was not resolved until 1997 (?A Trace Of Murder?),
when Columbo finally reveals his one-eyed status, by making a joke
about it. Asking Patrick to revisit the crime scene with him, Columbo
says, ?You know, three eyes are better than one.?

Was Patrick wearing a monacle?

---

Request for Question Clarification by rainbow-ga on 19 Aug 2005 08:12 PDT

After additional research, I am not able to verify whether or not
anyone was wearing a monocle.

Best wishes,
Rainbow

---

Clarification of Question by fecker-ga on 21 Aug 2005 10:23 PDT

I accept your answer rainbow-ga as I am satisfied with imdb.com (from
mathcad-ga's comments) as a corroborative verfication that the quote
is real and unambiguous. Thanks to you both I can now sleep at night.

Hi fecker,

Thank you for accepting my findings as an answer to your question. 

To add to my colleague mathtalk's very helpful comment, I would also
like to note that unless Columbo was referring to his one eye, he
would have said something like either "Three eyes are better than two"
(meaning who he was talking to, Patrick, had only one eye) or "Four
eyes are better than two" (in which they both had two).

I hope this helps.

Best regards,
Rainbow

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Request for Answer Clarification by fecker-ga on 22 Aug 2005 02:46 PDT

Hi rainbow,

What you say is true, unless it was Patrick who requested Columbo's
assistant (rather than the other way around as it has been suggested)
in which case columbo could have two eyes and Patrick only one (albeit
I appreciate that it makes the comment a little insulting for Patrick
rather than a self deprecating joke as I have been told it was
intended). Until I either watch the episode/or see a script I wont
know the context of the joke, and that was my point. However I can see
what is the more likely scenario and that is why I have accepted your
answer.

---

Clarification of Answer by rainbow-ga on 24 Aug 2005 06:02 PDT

I'm sorry you were not fully satisfied with the answer provided.

Best regards,
Rainbow

HI.  I'm a HUGE Columbo fan.   I remember the dialogue in this scene,
but I DON'T remember offhand whether there was a monocle in the scene.
Since I have ALL the Columbo episodes recorded onto DVD's (from VHS
recordings made originally), I'll see if I can find the scene and
answer the question.
It seems to me that Rainbow did a nice job researching the question,
so maybe my answer will help clarify the context in this scene for
you.
Since I'm NOT an internet seach guru (I just peruse this site to learn
things), you'd have to take my word for it though.  I'll try to let
you know what I find early next week.

It would seem that the meaning of the joke was, not that one of them
was wearing a monacle, but that between the two of them (Columbo and
Patrick) there were only THREE FUNCTIONAL EYES - a definite admission
that one of them (presumably Columbo) is blind in one eye.

By the way, the quote comes from The 25th Anniversary Special [ABC]
"A Trace of Murder" (5/15/97) 
http://starship.python.net/crew/manus/columbo.html

You can read more about "Columbo" and lot of his nutty behaviors,
including his mysterious vision problem, here:
http://www.columbo100.freeuk.com/fearsflaws.htm


I think rainbow scored the money here.

tutuzdad-ga

I appreciate rainbow finding the website, but it does not constitute
proof until I can verify the source material. Either the
script/screenplay or the episode itself, for $30 I dont think this is
too much to ask for.

The Question posed here by fecker-ga is phrased similarly to how the
issue is raised in the Wikipedia article (as unresolved there):

[Columbo -- Wikipedia]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbo

"Incidentally, Peter Falk, who played Columbo, had a glass eye but it
still remains a mystery whether this glass eye played the part of a
real eye, ie. Did Columbo have a glass eye or not?"

The episode "A Trace of Murder" which rainbow-ga's research points to
as resolving this issue is not one of the "regular season" episodes
(even granted their episodic nature, some seasons having as few as
three episodes), but is, as tutuzdad-ga notes above, the 25th
Anniverary Special from 1997 (the original series year with Peter Falk
was 1971-1972).

The quote at issue here is picked up, in a slightly modified form, by
the IMDB account of that 1997 episode/special:

[Peter Falk/Columbo: A Trace of Murder (1997)]
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118874/

Quotes: Lt. Columbo: Three eyes see more than one.

and, again in garbled fashion, by the TV.com episode account:

[Columbo: A Trace of Murder]
http://www.tv.com/a-trace-of-murder/episode/101420/summary.html

"Three eyes sees better than one"

Columbo to David Rasche (as Patrick Kinsley) who plays a forensic officer.

The show Columbo: A Trace of Murder is listed as included in a DVD
multi-boxed set of 69 Columbo episodes (55 "regular season" shows plus
14 "TV movies"), which as best I can tell is the same product offered,
variously priced, at these sites:

https://www.empiricalfilm.com/products.php?iProductID=256&iCollectionID=72

http://www.xxxbargaindvds.com/pages/1/index.htm

https://www.dvdavenue.tv/products.php?iProductID=321&iCollectionID=84

However I suspect this product is something of a gray market
commodity, because it is not available directly through amazon.com or
other well-known outlets.

Unfortunately Google Answers Terms of Service do not permit responses
to Customer Questions to take the form of delivering items.  The only
Answers we can provide are what we type in these pages.


regards, mathtalk-ga

That particular addition of the "Columbo" wikipedia article was indeed
added by myself, but I shall correct it now, as I am satisifed with
mathtalk-ga's answer.

Thank you.

Hi, fecker-ga:

Ah, mystery explained!  Due largely to circumstances unrelated to your
Question, I'm posting here only to help with the information provided
by rainbow-ga.  I'd be gratified if you would post a Clarification
above to the effect that you will accept her research, freely adding
any information provided in my Comment, as the Answer.

regards, mathtalk-ga

I did view the episode.  The context of the quote is that Columbo was
referring to wanting to talk to a NEW suspect in the case tomorrow,
and "seeing" what the suspect was like. The comment was made
offhandedly at the very end of the scene as Columbo was leaving the
room.  In this context it certainly seems like a self deprecating
joke.  Also, the Patrick character is shown as a youg-middle aged,
healthy, attractive (to the opposite sex) guy who showed no signs of
any physical disabilities.  My apologies for forgetting to get this
final response out (from viewing the gray-market product described in
Mathtalk-GA's post) sooner.

Many thanks for your answer outcastsearcher-ga. It re-assures me that
my assumption was correct.