Production Information
Title: Three Dark Horses
Studio: Columbia
Short Number: 142
Release Date: October 16, 1952
Running Time: 16:31
“Don’t be a chimp, ya chump! ‘Ya can’t believe all that stuff… that’s a campaign promise!”
Short Take
The Stooges are janitors-turned-delegates after being recruited to support political candidate Hammond Egger. Egger’s corrupt campaign manager Bill Wick (Kenneth MacDonald) and his assistant Jim Digger (Ben Welden) are desperate after the original three delegates departed the campaign after realizing Egger was rotten. Upon finding the bumbling Stooges, who nearly destroy Digger’s toupee after vacuuming it from his head, Wick is enthralled. He hires The Stooges outright, and lays out their responsibilities as delegates. They gladly accept and start caucusing.
It does not take long for The Stooges to realize that Egger is a crook, and they throw their votes to opposing candidate Abel Lamb Stewer. When Wick finds out that his new boys have double-crossed him, he comes looking for revenge. The Boys defeat Wick and Digger in a wild fight by capsizing the two in a bathtub.
Three Dark Horses Cast & Crew
| Directed by | Jules White |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Jules White |
| Written by | Felix Adler |
| Starring | Moe Howard Larry Fine Shemp Howard Kenneth MacDonald Ben Welden Bud Jamison |
| Cinematography | Henry Freulich |
| Edited by | Edwin Bryant |
Three Dark Horse Trivia
- The Egger campaign poster uses a photo of Bud Jamison, a tribute to the prolific Three Stooges costar who died in 1944
- This is the sixteenth and final Stooge short with the word “three” in the title
Production Notes,
- Filming took place between August 26-28, 1952
- The release date (October 16, 1952) was 19 days before the actual U.S. presidential election between Dwight D. Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson II