All The World’s A Stooge

Production Information
Title: All The World’s A Stooge
Studio: Columbia
Short Number: 55
Release Date: May 16, 1941
Running Time: 16:03

“Little fly upon the wall, Ain’t ya got no clothes at all? Ain’t ya got no shimmy shirt? Ain’t ya got no petti-skirt? Boo, fly, ain’t ya cold?” – (Curly)

Short Take

Wealthy Ajax Bullion (Emory Parnell) is up in arms when his eccentric wife (Lelah Tyler) who is overcome with joy informs him that she wants to adopt a refugee, the latest socio-political movement. To top it off, he has a terrible toothache. His wife insists he goes to the dentist so she can prepare the nursery.

The Stooges are window washers who work on a scaffold outside of a tall building. Moe and Larry use a rope to pull a Curly back up to the scaffold. Moe then orders Curly to continue the job. He obliges but throws a bucket of water at an open window, and the water splashes all over the dentist’s office. At nearly the same time, the dentist (Richard Fiske) arrives to see the mess. He then leaves after threatening to have them fired. It is then that Moe orders Larry and Curly to dry up the floor.

The Stooges as Dentists

Mr. Bullion meets the inept window washers (whom he mistakes for interim dentists) when he enters the office demanding medical attention. They knock him out cold when he asks for anesthetic, then attempt to find the bad tooth. After pulling his bridge-work out completely (“you stripped his gears!”, Larry comments), they try to put it back into his mouth with cement. However, the cement hardens before they have a chance to put the tooth back in, so they decide to blast. The dentist arrives back in his office as the dynamite is lit. He calls out to The Stooges, who notice him and run off. The dynamite goes off and Mr. Bullion wakes up, noticing that the pain in his tooth is gone. He heads back to his car and notices the Stooges hiding inside. He inquires as to what they are up to, and Moe says that they are “refugees.” Mr. Bullion then has a very nasty idea to disabuse his wife of her philanthropic notion: pass these three nitwits off as refugee children.

Mrs. Bullion is naturally thrilled at the sight of The Stooges, who are dressed as children. Moe and Curly are in large sailor suits, while Larry is dressed as a girl in a dress with a large bow on his head. Mr. Bullion calls them Johnny (Moe), Frankie (Curly), and Mabel (Larry). The Stooges then stay with the Bullions until Mrs. Bullion decides to have a party to introduce her wealthy friends to her new refugees.

Mrs. Bullion ends up regretting their adoption during the party in their honor — and Mr. Bullion is beginning to regret concocting this scheme, to begin with. The festivities are interrupted when an angered Mr. Bullion chases after The Stooges with an ax.

All The World’s A Stooge Cast & Crew

All The World’s A Stooge Trivia

• In the scene at the dentist’s office, look closely as Moe falls in a chair, he actually puts the ‘clickers’ on the seat of his pants himself.
• Curly’s shorts reveal his thin left leg which he injured accidentally shooting himself with a. 22 rifle during the summer of 1916. It frequently cuased him to limp an dfeel pain.
• When Mr. Bullion introduces the Stooges to his wife as refugee children, Larry is called “Mabel”, which was Larry’s wife’s name.

Production Notes

• All the World’s a Stooge was the last short to be filmed in 1940. Filmed on August 24–28, 1940, the title of the film parodies William Shakespeare‘s “All the world’s a stage” from As You Like It. 
• All The World’s A Stooges features a few locations on the Columbia Ranch. On Modern Street in the Park in front of the Deeds Home. The Park Boulevard Apartments on the Modern Place side can be seen as well.
• On Modern on Street, The Stooges appear in front of the Max Factor Building which now houses the Hollywood Museum at 1660 North Highland.
• Adopting refugees from European countries was a common event amongst society people during World War II.