Category: TV Series

SUMMARY:      RUNNING TIME: 18:07 Min. (Black & White)

Directed by Del Lord, this early Three Stooges comedy for Columbia Pictures was scripted by Felix Adler.  Desperate for work, the vagrant Stooges borrow a store’s brooms to try advertising their services.  Mistaking them for thieves, the shop owner sends a plainclothes policeman in hot pursuit of the fleeing Stooges. 

Chased into an upscale art class, the trio is forced to play several rounds of duck-and-dodge with the tenacious cop.  Impersonating artists, the Stooges ultimately incite a clay-flinging melee inside the studio. 

Moe: Moe Howard

Larry: Larry Fine

Curly: Jerry “Curly” Howard

Plainclothes Cop: Louis Mason

Professor Fuller: Bobby Burns

Artistic Models: Phyllis Crane & Geneva Mitchell

French Artist: Leo White

Shop Keeper: Billy Engle

Bearded Man: Jack Duffy

Motorist # 1 (with Larry): Al Thompson

Panhandled Pedestrian (with Curly): William Irving

Motorist # 2: Grace Goodall

Female Motorist Seeking Social Secretary (with Moe): Uncredited

Rival Vagrant (with Moe): Uncredited

Hopscotch Girls: Joan Howard & Phyllis Fine (cameos)

Art Students & Patrons: Ernie Young, Blanche Payson, Elinor Vanderveer, George Ovey, Delo Jewkes, Jack Kenney, Art Rowlands, Lew Davis, Neal Burns, Harold Breen, & Bob Callahan

Note: Larry’s daughter & Moe’s daughter make their only film appearances.

REVIEW:

Making the most of its simplistic premise, this episode serves up a vintage Stooges caper.  More specifically, the gags often come off as more humorously clever than hilarious (i.e. the hopscotch sequence).  Substituting globs of clay (resembling Play-Doh) for cream puffs and pies, the messy finale is well worth waiting for.  Well-played!    

BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING:                       7½ Stars

SUMMARY:     RUNNING TIME: 15:51 Min. (Black & White)

Produced and directed by Jules White off Felix Adler’s script, this Stooges comedy has Moe & Larry supervising Shemp’s home rest upon release from a psychiatric ward.  Hallucinating that his adoring nurse is an attractive blonde, Shemp becomes engaged.  At home, Larry & Moe contend with Shemp’s failed efforts at recuperation.  Among the trio’s antics is a close-quarters brawl inside a telephone booth with an irate stranger, whose groceries are ruined. 

On an oblivious Shemp’s wedding day, Moe & Larry are mortified to find out who his new father-in-law is.  A rematch with the Stooges is the first thing on this guy’s mind.

Moe: Moe Howard

Larry: Larry Fine

Shemp: Shemp Howard

Nora the Nurse: Babe London

Nora’s Dad: Vernon Dent

Dr. Gseundheitt: Emil Sitka

Marybelle: Royce Milne

Fantasy Nora: Pamela Britton

Orderly: Johnny Kascier

Stooge Stunt Doubles: Johnny Kascier, B. Edney, & Joe Murphy

REVIEW:

One might pause at the thought of the Stooges parodying mental illness, but this episode isn’t half-bad.  Aside from a crass biting gag, the phone booth melee is a gem, as Larry scores some terrific laughs.  Otherwise, the plot for “Scrambled Brains” is somewhat middling, as are most of the gags.  Along with the phone booth fistfight, Shemp’s piano playing sequence setting off another round of his hysterics is still worth catching.    

The dubious upside to “Scrambled Brains” is that it isn’t another cheapo cut-and-paste job that Columbia Pictures cobbled together during that era.  This one features original material start to finish, even if the storytelling treads on mediocrity. 

BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING:                       4½ Stars

SUMMARY:        RUNNING TIME: 15:37 Min. (Black & White)

Produced and directed by Jules White off Felix Adler’s script, this 1952 Stooges misadventure spoofs both Harvey and evidently, to some degree, A Streetcar Named Desire.  Living as fugitives aboard a stolen train car, sisters Roberta & Lenore implore Larry to budge blissfully boozing Shemp into semi-sobriety, so the two couples can be married.  Meanwhile, railway detective Moe stumbles upon the foursome’s hideout, especially as he is Roberta’s ex-boyfriend. 

Broken into three segments, the hijinks include an extended lunchtime encounter with a skunk and Shemp’s imaginary romance with a human-shaped canary.  No longer chasing thieves Larry & Shemp (which isn’t explained), Moe is incredulous (as is Larry) that the sisters romantically opt for an inebriated Shemp.  Of course, Shemp prefers a bizarre fantasy world with his own would-be lovebird.    

Moe: Moe Howard

Larry: Larry Fine

Shemp: Shemp Howard

Roberta: Victoria Horne

Lenore: Patricia Wright

‘Carrie the Canary:’ Reggie Dvorak

REVIEW:

This dreck-fest is a mighty strange Stooges caper where neither logic nor laughs are to be found.  A few snippets of this eyesore might be watchable, but even the lengthy skunk sequence fails to generate an ounce of hilarity.  If anything, Shemp’s oblivious romance with the ‘canary woman’ is a misguided show-stopper in all the wrong ways. 

Unless one applauds unfunny absurdism (i.e. a tank-topped Larry’s impression of Streetcar’s Marlon Brando), “Cuckoo on a Choo-Choo” deserves to remain caged in obscurity.     

BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING:                 1½ Stars

SUMMARY:       RUNNING TIME: 16:00 Min. (Black & White)

Directed and produced by Jules White off his brother Jack White’s script, this mid-1958 Stooges comedy co-starring Joe Besser is literally a scene-for-scene remake of an earlier remake. 

Here’s the quick backstory: reworking their 1935 Pygmalion-inspired “Hoi Polloi,” Curly Howard’s last Stooges caper was 1946’s “Half-Wit’s Holiday” (also directed by White).  Hence, White’s Besser footage filmed for “Pies and Guys” is tacked on the front end, as new actors replace ‘Quackenbush,’ ‘Lulu,’ & ‘Sedlitz.’  It isn’t clear if Emil Sitka’s “Half-Wits” footage was recycled, or if he simply re-filmed his role as the butler.    

Snooty rival professors Quackenbush and Sedlitz make a financial wager whether or not Quackenbush can reform dim-witted plumbers Larry, Moe, & Joe into refined gentlemen.  With support from his glamorous blonde assistant, Lulu, Quackenbush tutors the less-than-astute Stooges on mathematics, reading, and dignified table manners, etc. 

A big society party is the climax where the Stooges must prove their newfound sophistication to their fellow guests.  Yet, a melee ensues once kleptomaniac Joe and his fellow Stooges revert to their old and gooey pie-throwing ways. 

Moe: Moe Howard

Larry: Larry Fine

Joe: Joe Besser

Professor Quackenbush: Milton Frome

Miss Lulu: Greta Thyssen

Sappington: Emil Sitka

Professor Sedlitz: Gene Roth

Mrs. Smythe-Smythe: Symona Boniface

Mrs. Gotrocks: Helen Dickson

Countess Shpritzvasser: Harriette Tarler

Party Guests: Judy Malcolm, Victor Travers, Wanda Perry, Barbara Slater, Al Thompson, Johnny Kascier, & Mary Forbes

Additional Party Guests: Uncredited

Notes: Besser takes a pie to the face early in the finale and then inexplicably doesn’t appear again.  It’s clear that this episode’s vintage ‘Larry & Moe’ pie-throwing party has been lifted from elsewhere –  in this instance, “Half-Wit’s Holiday.”  In an odd visual early on, Frome & Roth tower over the Stooges, as if Moe, Larry, & Joe, by comparison, are practically dwarves.  Lastly, here’s a bit of Stooges trivia: Moe’s wife, Helen, had first suggested (or even written a draft of) a Stooges adaptation of Pygmalion, which ended up as “Hoi Polloi.”  

REVIEW:

If the dull new footage is proof, “Pies and Guys” is merely a cheap contractual obligation. For instance, virtually all of this Besser version’s finale is directly lifted as archived footage from “Half-Wit’s Holiday.” Symona Boniface’s presence is particularly awkward, considering she had passed away in 1950.

More so, aside from Larry & Moe’s amusing under-the-table hand-holding gag, the Besser-era footage indicates a cast merely going through the motions.  As for Besser, given his lack of chemistry with Moe & Larry, the less said of his contributions the better.       

The sole incentive for enduring “Pies and Guys” is fast-forwarding to the hilarious Larry-and-Moe pie-tossing festival – Larry: “You forgot to duck (hah, hah)  — (seconds later) Moe: “So did you!”.  Considering the tragic reason for this two-Stooge finish was Curly’s career-ending stroke, their vintage teamwork recycled twelve years later still packs some comedy dynamite.

To bleakly summarize how lazy and budget-stingy Columbia Pictures had become, this short abruptly ends as the pie fight starts winding down.  White doesn’t even bother tacking on a new finish, even just to convey Besser was still in the ‘room.’  Watching the politically incorrect “Hoi Polloi” and/or “Half-Wit’s Holiday” obviously makes far more sense. 

BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING:             2 Stars

SUMMARY:          RUNNING TIME: 16:45 Min. (Black & White)

Produced and directed by Jules White off Felix Adler’s script, this episode represents the final Shemp-era caper (as it’s also the last of the four ‘Fake Shemp’ episodes).  At a newspaper office, staff janitors Shemp, Larry, and Moe stumble into an international espionage racket having taken a hot tip meant for their absent boss. 

Seeking future careers as investigative journalists, the trio pursue a nebulous foreign spy stealing U.S. atomic secrets.  Stowed away aboard a cruise ship, the Stooges soon match wits at sea with their dangerous quarry, who is far closer at hand than they realize. 

The plot cuts and pastes 1949’s “Dunked in the Deep” together with 1948’s “Crime on Their Hands.”  The only new footage is mostly a sequence where a scrounging Larry & Moe attempt to swipe a passenger’s fish dinner.    

Moe: Moe Howard

Larry: Larry Fine

Shemp: Shemp Howard (archived footage)

Emma Blake: Harriette Tarler

Bortch: Gene Roth (archived footage)

J.L. Cameron: Charles Wilson (archived footage)

Smitty: Emil Sitka (cameo)

Fake Shemp: Joe Palma (cameo)  

REVIEW:

Given how Columbia Pictures assembled this episode on the cheap, “Commotion on the Ocean” plays better than expected.  Even the notorious presence of Joe Palma’s ‘Fake Shemp’ (covering for Shemp, who had passed away in late 1955) is near-undetectable.  The only strain comes from inserting Larry & Moe’s new footage, as they appear obviously older some seven years later.  

As for a predictable assortment of gags, they generally fall between dull and okay.  However, there’s an unfunny sequence where a smoking Shemp inadvertently ignites his hammock on fire (how such a dangerous fire in the ship’s combustible hold is extinguished isn’t revealed).  That poorly-conceived joke really ought to have been deleted and/or replaced with other appropriate Shemp footage. 

“Commotion on the Ocean,” overall, isn’t among the worst Stooge cut-and-paste jobs from that era.  It just isn’t close to necessary viewing, either.

BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING:                    3½ Stars

SUMMARY:     RUNNING TIME: 16:00 Min. (Black & White)

Produced and directed by Jules White, this 1956 Stooges comedy presents the last episode Shemp had filmed new footage for (i.e. the detective agency’s office) prior to his passing in late 1955.  Lifting this film’s bulk from 1949’s Who Done It?, the Stooges comprise the Miracle Detective Agency.  As the trio ineptly conducts forensic/ballistic tests, a former client calls desperately needing their help. 

Suspecting that Councilman Goodrich has been deep-sixed by nefarious relatives, the Stooges descend upon the spooky family manor to investigate.  Waiting for them is Goodrich’s sinister heirs (along with a monstrous henchman), who have no intention of letting his would-be rescuers escape alive.     

Moe: Moe Howard

Larry: Larry Fine

Shemp: Shemp Howard

Newsgirl: Barbara Bartay

Councilman Goodrich: Emil Sitka (archived footage)

Delores – Goodrich’s Niece: Christine McIntyre (archived footage)

Delores’ Husband: Ralph Dunn (archived footage)

Nikko the Henchman: Duke York (archived footage)

Butler: Charles Knight (archived)

Note: McIntyre’s last official film credit of her career occurs with this episode.

REVIEW:

Aside from its historic significance as Shemp Howard’s last Stooges caper, “From Crimin’ Out Loud” is merely another lazy retread riding the back end of Stooges’ Columbia Pictures contract.  The trio’s dubious new footage has them trading off sadistic slapstick gags that are neither provoked or even remotely funny.  Considering it was Shemp’s last filmed segment, the quality of the Stooges’ acting in this office scene is disappointingly sub-par.    

Reusing “Who Done It?,” most of this murder-mystery parody depicts standard-issue Stooges hijinks being chased in a haunted house by a ghoulish henchman (evidently, it’s actor Duke York’s go-to role in Stooge films).  Suffice to say, it’s a barely watchable cliché-fest. 

Still, two re-runs are near-gems. One is Shemp’s cartoony routine with McIntyre’s sultry femme fatale trading off on the old poisoned-drink switcheroo game.  The other applies to the amusing lights-out battle royale at the finish. Yet, if one has already seen (or has access to) “Who Done It?”, then there’s no practical reason to watch this inferior rehash.

BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING:                    3 Stars