Production Information
Title: Crash Goes The Hash
Studio: Columbia
Short Number: 77
Release Date: February 5, 1944
Running Time: 17:36
“Are you good with stews?” “Coitainly, he’s always half-stewed.”
(Bud Jamison & Curly)
Short Take
In The The Three Stooges short film, Crash Goes The Hash, Fuller Bull (Vernon Dent), the head of the ailing Daily News, confronts the reporters he hired for not getting him a story to keep up with a competing newspaper called the Daily Star Press. Fuller Bull catches three shirtmen (the Stooges) outside; thinking they are reporters from the Daily Star Press, he immediately hires them to get a picture of visiting Prince Shaam of Ubeedarn (Dick Curtis). Word has it that Shaam has plans to marry local wealthy socialite Mrs. Van Bustle (Symona Boniface). The trio disguises themselves as servants, and work their way into a party being held at Mrs. Van Bustle’s home in the honor of the prince.
The Stooges all but sabotage the festivity by serving hors d’œuvres consisting of peas and dog biscuits, along with a turkey stuffed with a live parrot. The prince leaves in disgust, with the butler (Bud Jamison) following close behind. Undaunted, the Stooges manage to expose both the prince and butler as crooks who were planning to rob the house.
The next day, the Stooges tells Fuller Bull that a man claiming to be Prince Shaam is not a prince and they had both him and the butler arrested. As a result of their findings, Bull becomes overwhelmed with joy and tells the people printing the paper to stop the presses for an extra. He gives the boys a large bonus, and Mrs. Van Bustle thanks the boys for preventing her from marrying Shaam.
Cast & Crew
| Directed by | Jules White |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Jules White |
| Written by | Felix Adler |
| Starring | Moe Howard Larry Fine Curly Howard Bud Jamison Dick Curtis Symona Boniface Vernon Dent Victor Travers |
| Cinematography | George Meehan |
| Edited by | Charles Hochberg |
Crash Goes The Hash Trivia
- Crash Goes The Hash would be supporting actor Bud Jamison‘s final appearance in a Stooge film. A Type 2 diabetic in his later years, Jamison appeared in 16 more films before his untimely death in September 1944. A devout Christian Scientist, he died on September 30, 1944, at age 50 after refusing treatment for kidney cancer.
- The parrot’s “Jeepers creepers! What a night!” exclamation combines the 1930s slang euphemism from “Jesus Christ” (made into the Johnny Mercer 1938 song “Jeepers Creepers, Where’d You Get Those Peepers?“) and the parrot’s “What a night!’ from The Three Stooges’ 1936 entry Disorder in the Court.
- Even though the story and screenplay is credited to Felix Adler, this film borrows considerable dialogue, situations, and even shot set-ups from the 1937 Columbia Short New News, starring Monte Collins and Tom Kennedy, which was written by Al Giebler, Elwood Ullman and Searle Kramer.
- The short uses the “I’m poisoned!” routine where after another Stooge kisses Moe, Moe cries “I’m poisoned!!” Also used in: Calling All Curs, Rocking Thru The Rockies, Dizzy Detectives, Pest Man Wins, and Quiz Whizz.
Curly Howard fades
- The Three Stooges made many public appearances during the height of World War II in support of the war effort. The demands of the heavy touring took its toll on Curly in particular, whose timing and energy began to deteriorate. In Crash Goes the Hash, Curly’s speech is slightly slower and his falsetto had begun to lose its crisp high pitch. The dialogue spoken at the lemonade table where he covertly tells Larry to take a picture of Prince Shaam features Curly talking in his normal speaking voice, which is noticeably deeper than Moe’s or Larry’s.
Production Notes
Crash Goes the Hash was filmed October 11-13, 1943.