Category:

April Shorts

Three Troubledoers

Production Information
Title: Three Troubledoers
Studio: Columbia
Short Number: 91
Release Date: April 25, 1946
Running Time: 17:04

“Are we mice or men?” “Mice!” – (Moe, Larry, & Curly)

Three Troubledoers Short Take

Three Troubledoers is set in the Western town of Dead Man’s Gulch, The Stooges learn the last 6 sheriffs were killed by the villainous Badlands Blackie. He has kidnapped the father of a woman named Nell and Blackie threatens to kill her father unless Nell marries him. With Curly as the new sheriff, and Moe & Larry as his deputies, how can Blackie possibly succeed?

Dick Curtis and Christine McIntyre – as Badlands blackie and Nell – carry the plot of Three Troubledoers. Curtis towers over everyone and delivers on purty Western cliche’ after another. He had played in Westerns since the early 1930’s and ultimately amassed nearly 200 movie credits.

Three Troubledoers Cast & Crew

Directed by	Edward Bernds
Produced by	Hugh McCollum
Written by	Jack White
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Curly Howard Dick Curtis Christine McIntyre Victor Travers Hank Bell Ethan Laidlaw
Cinematography	George F. Kelley
Edited by	Henry Batista

Three Troubledoers Trivia

Curly’s illness

The Three Troubledoers was produced after Curly Howard suffered a mild stroke. As a result, his performance was marred by slurred speech, and slower timing. Though Curly’s falsetto voice had deepened slightly by this point, the ailing star was comfortable enough to deliver his dialogue in his regular speaking voice. Director Edward Bernds later recalled how Curly’s condition would have its peaks and valleys:

“…it was strange the way he (Curly) went up and down. In the order I shot the pictures, not in the order they were released, he was down for A Bird in the Head and The Three Troubledoers, he was up for Micro-Phonies, way down for Monkey Businessmen, and then up again, for the last time, in Three Little Pirates.”

Moe’s injury

The script for The Three Troubledoers called for a gag in which a bazooka gun was to backfire and shoot black soot into Moe’s face. “The special effects man used too much air pressure,” says director Edward Bernds, “so some of the soot shot up under his [Moe] eyelids. They had to pry his eyes open and remove these big chunks of black powder from his eye. I was terrified; I thought the poor guy had been blinded.”^[4] Moe had a similar ordeal while filming 1939’s Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise, when gobs of black goo (representing oil) shot under his eyelids.

Production Notes

Three Troubledoers was filmed on May 11–15, 1945, nearly a year prior to its release date.
It was the last western-themed short starring Curly Howard and the tenth of sixteen Stooge shorts with the word “three” in the title.

April Shorts Filmography

Loose Loot

Production Information
Title: Loose Loot
Studio: Columbia
Short Number: 146
Release Date: April 2, 1953
Running Time: 15:54

“Watch the master – he’ll throw faster, the faster the master …and the gentleman wins himself a small size panatela!” – (Shemp)

Loose Loot Short Take

The Stooges learn that their inheritance money is in the hands of a crooked lawyer named Ichabod Slipp. They come to his office only to be beaten up by Slipp, who runs off with the money. The Stooges wake up and find a clue that Slipp is meeting his partner-in-crime at a nearby theatre, and a backstage chase is on!

It is not what you do but how you do it

The Three Stooges Sid Caesar, the great television comedian of the 1950’s once remarked: “In comedy, it is not what you do but how you do it,” and this truism is most valid for a Stooge comedy like Loose Loot.

The Stooges rarely perform a gag exactly the say way twice, or, if they do, the gag is usually good enough to be repeated and varied still again. The ‘old comedy rule’ is that three times is the limit, but that says legions about how successful or even more successful the second and third time can be.

The most joyous, uncorrupted, uninterrupted celebration in all of Stoogedom

Even though the first half of Loose Loot uses recycled footage from Hold From That Lion it is not without its unique qualities and gags. The two extended Stooge celebrations stand out. The first occurs after the mattress scene: with Joe knocked out and Slipp immobilized because his head is locked in the Bentwood chair, The Stooges take two minutes of uninhibited pot shots at Slipp as Moe and Larry pound him with apples, tomatoes, and a beer bottle, and Shemp acts like a carnival barker, makes “applesauce” on his head, and then (“Watch the old master: he’ll throw faster, the faster the master!”) throws two pieces of “hen-fruit” at Slipp’s face.

The second is at the end of the film when they recover their money. Although Moe Hailstone lost his turkey to the painted Napoleon in I’ll Never Heil Again, he was unable to conquer, let alone enter, that elusive fourth dimension. We saw that dimension again in The Hot Scots, but now for the first time, The Stooges climb into it. Holding their inheritance in their hand, they have perhaps the most joyous, uncorrupted, uninterrupted celebration in all of Stoogedom – and they do in in a different dimension.

Cast & Crew

Directed by	Jules White
Produced by	Jules White
Written by	Felix Adler Jack White
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Shemp Howard Kenneth MacDonald Tom Kennedy Emil Sitka Nanette Bordeaux Suzanne Ridgeway
Edited by	Edwin H. Bryant

Loose Loot Trivia

The Boys refer to money as lucre, moolah, and geedus. The working title of the short was Filthy Lucre, the phrase used in the song they sing in Slipp’s office (Hold That Lion).
The assistant director was Carter DeHaven an American movie and stage actor, movie director, and writer.
Suzanne Ridgeway plays Suzie the Showgirl. She appeared in nine other Stooge shorts. Ridgeway was in approximately 115 films between 1933 and 1959.
Nanette Bordeaux, who appeared in 8 Stooge shorts. 7 with Shemp and 1 with Joe Besser, also plays a French Showgirl. Bordeaux’s career was cut short when she died of acute bronchopneumonia on September 20, 1956, at age 45. Her last film, A Merry Mix Up, was released six months after her death.

Production Notes

Filmed May 20 -21, 1952.

April Shorts Filmography

Spook Louder

Production Information
Title: Spook Louder
Studio: Columbia
Short Number: 69
Release Date: April 2, 1943
Running Time: 15:59

“I’ll knock your head right through your socks!
(Moe)

Spook Louder Short Take

Spook Louder is told in flashback by Professor J.O. Dunkfeather (Lew Kelly) in an interview with a newspaper reporter (Stanley Brown). The Professor relates to the reporter the story of Graves, the master spy (Ted Lorch). As the tale begins, we see the Three Stooges as traveling salesmen, trying their best to sell their “Miracle Reducing Machine”, which essentially shakes and rattles off the pounds (as Curly demonstrates). Upon failing to sell any of their machines, they trudge onward, needing money to pay their rent. As luck would have it, the boys stumble upon the home of Graves, who assumes the Stooges are the new caretakers. Graves is on his way to Washington, D.C. to test his new death ray machine, and leaves his eerie, spooky mansion in the hands of the trio. Naturally, spies disguised in Halloween costumes show up once Graves departs. The Stooges are on edge the entire time, particularly because mysterious cream pies continuously come flying out of thin air. After being cornered by the spies, the Stooges detonate a bomb given to them by Graves before he departed; they end up subduing the thieves, thus assuring that Graves’ secrets remain in good hands.

Back in the office, the reporter is desperate to know who was throwing the cream pies. Dunkfeather confesses that he was throwing the pies; however, this claim is compromised when, out of nowhere, a pie flies into his face.

Spook Louder Cast & Crew

Directed by	Del Lord
Produced by	Del Lord Hugh McCollum
Written by	Clyde Bruckman
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Curly Howard Stanley Blystone Lew Kelly Symona Boniface Stanley Brown Charles Middleton Ted Lorch Shirley Patterson
Cinematography	John Stumar
Edited by	Paul Borofsky

Spook Louder Trivia

The title Spook Louder is a pun combining the request “speak louder” with the “spooks” of a mansion.
It is a remake of the 1931 Mack Sennett film The Great Pie Mystery.
Co-stars Charles Middleton and Ted Lorch also appeared together in the 1936 serial Flash Gordon.
Spook Louder was one of several World War II-era Stooges shorts that engaged in propaganda against the then-enemy Japanese, with others including No Dough Boys, Booby Dupes and, notably, The Yokes on Me.
Several scenes from Spook Louder appear in the 1992 film Radio Flyer.
Moe’s hair stands on end for the first time in Spook Louder.
What was Dr. Graves trying to sell the government in Spook Louder? (A: A Death Ray)

Production Notes

Filmed on July 17-21, 1942.

April Shorts Filmography

Tassels In The Air

Production Information
Title: Tassels In The Air
Studio: Columbia
Short Number: 30
Release Date: April 1, 1938
Running Time: 17:09

“Sure, you can help. Go mix me a batch of spotted paint.”
(Moe)

Tassels In The Air Short Take

Nouveau riche housewife Mrs. Smirch (Bess Flowers) has intentions to hire the in-demand interior decorator Omay (Jean De Briac) to redecorate her house in a bid to get in the “who’s who” of the local rich elite. Omay accepts her offer.

Meanwhile, the Stooges are hired as painters to redecorate the building where Omay’s office is and are given the job of painting temporary names on the doors of all the offices. They, of course, botch the job. It comes out that Curly has a strange proclivity to fly into a blind rage whenever he sees a tassel, placated only with soft tickling of his chin.

Mrs. Smirch enters the building and mistakes Moe for Omay. The real Omay offended that his office was mislabeled as the janitor’s closet, gives up his lease. The boys’ boss (Vernon Dent) immediately fires them, and they take on the ruse of Omay and his two colleagues with intention of doing the work on the Smirch household.

They arrive at the Smirch’s residence and begin to work as Mrs. Smirch brings in a few of her new rich friends for a card game. However, the real Omay enters the home, exposes the boys as frauds and publicly embarrassing Mrs. Smirch.

Tassels In The Air Cast & Crew

Directed by	Charley Chase
Produced by	Charley Chase Hugh McCollum
Written by	Al Giebler Elwood Ullman
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Curly Howard Vernon Dent Symona Boniface Bess Flowers Bud Jamison Victor Travers Jean De Briac Gertrude Astor
Cinematography	Allen G. Siegler
Edited by	Art Seid

Tassels In The Air Trivia

The film’s title is a play on the old expression, “Building castles in the air,” i.e. dreaming of achieving the impossible.
Curly goes crazy whenever he sees tassels. The cure is to tickle him under his chin with a paintbrush, a similar variety of plot device to those used earlier in Punch Drunks, Horses’ Collars and Grips, Grunts and Groans.
Many of the gags used in the table painting scene would be reused by Moe, Larry, and Shemp in their unsold television 1949 pilot Jerks of All Trades, which, coincidentally, also featured Symona Boniface. The gags would be recycled again the following year in A Snitch in Time.
This was the second Stooge film made by the McCollum/Chase production unit.
Many films since Ants in The Pantry have depended on The Stooges getting ‘one last chance.’ Here, Larry asks the superintendent to give them another chance, but before he can answer, he falls down the elevator shaft.

Production Notes

Tassels in the Air was filmed on November 26–30, 1937.
The exterior of The Deeds home is featured throughout Tassels In The Air. The home was named after the 1936 Columbia Pictures film it was built for, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. The concrete pillars and the gate at the driveway entrance and the fence in front of the property are now gone.

April Shorts Filmography

Flagpole Jitters

Production Information
Title: Flagpole Jitters
Studio: Columbia
Short Number: 169
Release Date: April 5, 1956
Running Time: 15:15

“You ard now in Sing Sing.” – (Moe)

Flagpole Jitters Short Take

The Three Stooges are three paperhangers who also look after invalid Mary, who uses a wheelchair. While working, they are taken by one poster that advertises a great hypnotist, Svengarlic (“He’ll steal your breath away!” the poster announces). The Stooges want the hypnotist to work his magic on Mary so that she can walk again, but Svengarlic is more interested in winning an audience to create a diversion by hypnotizing The Stooges.

While the audience watches The Stooges dance on an overhead flagpole, Svengarlic’s henchmen are in the process of robbing a bank. But a distracted bicyclist knocks Svengarlic over and the Stooges are abruptly awakened. They immediately panic when they see where they are, then the flagpole breaks, sending them flying through the open window of the bank being robbed, thwarting the theft.

Flagpole Jitters Cast & Crew

Directed by	Jules White
Produced by	Jules White
Written by	Felix Adler Jack White
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Shemp Howard Barbara Bartay Frank Sully Beverly Thomas Bonnie Menjum Mary Ainslee David Bond Vernon Dent
Cinematography	Irving Lippman
Edited by	Harold White

Flagpole Jitters Trivia

The Stooges make a reference to Sing Sing Correctional Facility, in which Shemp believes he has hypnotized Moe into thinking he is locked up in the infamous prison.
The character name Svengarlic is a parody of Svengali, the name of a fictional character in George du Maurier‘s 1894 novel Trilby.
Flagpole Jitters was the last short produced that included new footage of Shemp Howard. As it was released later, For Crimin’ Out Loud is commonly thought to be the last film featuring new footage of Shemp. However, the new footage used in For Crimin’ Out Loud was filmed on June 30, 1955. Flagpole Jitters was filmed the next day, on July 1. Shemp died on November 22, 1955, before any new films were produced.
This is the first Stooge film of photographer Irving Lipmann, a childhood friend of Jules White’s in Edendale.

Three Stooges Routine

One of our favorite bits by The Boys is Dangerous Shaving – The Boys are shaving hastily and nearly cut their own and each other’s faces. Also used in Cactus Makes Perfect, Brideless Groom, and Hokus Pokus.

Production Notes

Flagpole Jitters is a remake of 1949’s Hokus Pokus using ample stock footage from the original.
The films have different endings: Mary is actually paraplegic here, whereas in the original she was a fraud. In Flagpole Jitters, Svengarlic is the fraud.

April Shorts Filmography

Bedlam in Paradise

Production Information
Title: Bedlam In Paradise
Studio: Columbia
Short Number: 162
Release Date: April 15, 1955
Running Time: 15:51

“Dear Uncle Mortimer…” – (Shemp)

Bedlam In Paradise Short Take

On his deathbed, Shemp struggles between life and death as Moe and Larry attempt to nurse him back to health. He warns them to behave or he will return to haunt them. After Shemp’s arrival to Heaven, his Uncle Mortimer contemplates whether Shemp will remain or go to Hell. Then the Devil (Philip Van Zandt) appears in a burst of flame to tempt Shemp with a sultry dancer, Helen Blazes (Sylvia Lewis). Uncle Mortimer intervenes, promising Shemp eternity in Heaven if he returns to Earth unseen and unheard and reforms Moe and Larry.

Meanwhile, one “Mr. Heller” (the Devil) is giving Moe and Larry some “devilishly good ideas,” such as conning a wealthy couple into financing the production of fountain pens that write under whipped cream. Shemp sabotages their demonstration but accidentally starts a fire. The scene fades back to Shemp’s bedroom. It has all been a dream, but Shemp is on fire because he fell asleep smoking in bed. When he tells Moe and Larry about their fountain pen writing under whipped cream, Moe hits him with a creampie and Larry gives Shemp a fountain pen.

Bedlam In Paradise Cast & Crew

Directed by	Jules White
Produced by	Jules White
Written by	Zion Myers Felix Adler
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Shemp Howard Philip Van Zandt Sylvia Lewis Vernon Dent Victor Travers Symona Boniface
Cinematography	Ray Cory Allen Siegler

Bedlam In Paradise Trivia

Sylvia Lewis who played Helen Blazes was a dancer and choreographer and appeared on many TV shows including The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Beverly Hillbillies, and She born in 1931 and will celebrate another birthday on April 22.
Lewis dances in Bedlam In Paradise to music by Jerry Feldman (“Blues”) and Mischa Bakaleinikoff (“New End of Blues”).
A gag in the film’s script called for a fountain pen to be thrown into the middle of Larry’s forehead. The pen was to be thrown on a wire and into a small hole in a tin plate fastened to Larry’s head. However, due to a miscalculation on the part of the special effects department, the sharp pen point punctured Larry’s skin, leaving a gash on his forehead. Moe later chased director Jules White around the set because White had promised that the gag would be harmless.

Production Notes

Bedlam in Paradise is a remake of Heavenly Daze, using ample stock footage.
The new footage was filmed on July 9, 1954.
Coincidentally, as the musical Carousel was a hit on Broadway at the time of the making of Heavenly Daze, the film version of Carousel was in production when Bedlam in Paradise was made.

April Shorts Filmography

Out West

Production Information
Title: Out West
Studio: Columbia
Short Number: 99
Release Date: April 24, 1947
Running Time: 17:32

“Son, NEVER in the history of motion pictures has the United States Cavalry been too late.”

(Stanley Blystone)

Out West Short Take

The Stooges go west on vacation for Shemp’s health, who has a swollen vein in his leg. At a saloon The Stooges get acquainted with Nell and Shemp begins to tell her about his vein. Doc Barker overhears and thinks Shemp is talking about a gold mine, and plots to steal it by inviting Shemp into a crooked poker game. The Boys learn that Doc Barker stole the Red Dog Saloon from Nell and is forcing her to marry him, otherwise he’ll kill her sweetheart the Arizona Kid. Stooges to the rescue!

Of the dozens of set routines the Stooges developed and varied over the years, the mixology gag was one of the most dependable. the mixing itself always blends verbal and visual comedy, and it usually serves to further the plot by drugging someone, in this case – the villain. Their Ickey-may recipe: Pour Old Homicide whiskey into a bucket, add old beer, molasses, Tabasco, seltzer, two eggs (broken on the forehead) and paint. If you add too much paint, add some paint remover. Shake in a large boot and serve to your worst enemy.

Out West Cast & Crew

Directed by	Edward Bernds
Produced by	Hugh McCollum
Written by	Clyde Bruckman
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Shemp Howard Christine McIntyre Jack Norman Jock Mahoney Stanley Blystone George Chesebro Heinie Conklin Vernon Dent Frank Ellis Blackie Whiteford
Cinematography	George F. Kelley
Edited by	Paul Borofsky

Out West Trivia

The Arizona Kid played by Jock Mahoney and his girlfriend Nell played by Christine McIntyre would reprise these roles in Punchy Cowpunchers (Arizona Kid), the first supporting players to reprise their characters. He began his career as a stuntman for ‘The Durango Kid’ – Charles Starret with whom The Stooges played in Start Cheering.
The fast motion during the climactic scenes has The William Tell Overture as the background music.
The congested vein is originally in Shemp’s right leg, but he favors his left leg throughout the film.

Production Notes

Out West was filmed July 8-11, 1946, and is a remake of Pistol Packing Nitwits starring Harry Langdon and El Brendel. It would later be remade in 1954 as Pals and Gals, using ample stock footage.

April Shorts Filmography

What’s The Matador?

Production Information
Title: What’s The Matador?
Studio: Columbia
Short Number: 62
Release Date: April 23, 1942
Running Time: 16:16

“How dare you hug my wife in front of my eyes!” “Well turn around, and I’ll hug ‘er behind yer back!”
(Harry Burns and Curly)

What’s The Matador? Short Take

In What’s The Matador? The Stooges are out-of-work actors who manage to wrangle themselves a job putting on their gag “bullfight” act during a fiesta in Mexico. On the bus trip to Mexico City they meet a beautiful senora named Dolores, and when they run into her jealous husband at the bus stop Dolores mistakenly ends up with their suitcase instead of her own.

The genre known as ‘comedy of manners’ has a long pedigree extending back to Restoration England. Its typical elements – bedroom settings. hidden lovers, duplicitous wives, and jealous husbands – are all found in the bedroom sequences of What’s The Matador?. As a result, there is very little slapstick by the Stooges in this scene. The comic protagonist is the jealous husband, who runs into the wall, puts his head through the door, and gawks at the three different hidden Stooges lovers running out the bedroom door. Harry Burns (1885-1948) who played two ethnic roles in other films, plays the husband – Jose. His wife Delores is played by Suzznne Kaaren who also appeared in Yes, We Have No Bonanza.

The last time The Three Stooges played themselves was in A Pain In The Pullman, also written by Jack White.

What’s The Matador? Cast & Crew

Directed by	Jules White
Produced by	Jules White
Written by	Saul Ward Jack White
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Curly Howard Suzanne Kaaren Harry Burns Dorothy Appleby John Tyrrell Cy Schindell Eddie Laughton Don Zelaya
Cinematography	L. William O’Connell
Edited by	Jerome Thoms

What’s The Matador? Trivia

Everybody remembers Suzanne Kaaren (Delores) as Gail Tempest in Disorder In The Court.
In a true rarity in the shorts, The Boys actually refer to themselves in this short as ‘The Three Stooges’ in the telegram they send.
If you listen carefully when The Boys are getting directions, you’ll realize, if you speak Spanish, that they’re also being told to “jump into the river and drown yourself.”The Stooges have a frustrating exchange with an old Mexican local (Don Zelaya) when they ask if he has seen Dolores. Though his lengthy Spanish response seems unintelligible to them, he actually says the following: “Go down the street three blocks, turn right and go two more blocks, turn right, cross the square, and turn right. Walk down that street until you find an alley, but keep walking. Go down that street until you find another alley, but do not enter that alley. Turn right. There you will find a river. Do me a favor: jump into the river and drown yourself!”
The film’s title is a pun on the question “what’s the matter?” The film itself is inspired by the popularity of the 1941 film Blood and Sand. While bullfighting is the reference, the two stories otherwise have nothing in common.
DVD Talk critic Stuart Galbraith IV noted the beginnings of Curly Howard’s physical decline, observing that “one can see the earliest signs of Curly’s pre-stroke personality change. It’s very subtle, and while he’s still quite funny, one can see little changes in his screen persona, and about here he begins to age dramatically, with lines suddenly etched deep in his face.”

Production Notes

What’s the Matador? was the last short filmed in 1941, shot on August 14–18 of that year.
It was remade in 1959 as Sappy Bull Fighters, using minimal stock footage from the original.

April Shorts Filmography

A Plumbing We Will Go

Production Information
Title: A Plumbing We Will Go
Studio: Columbia
Short Number: 46
Release Date: April 19, 1940
Running Time: 17:31

“The best plumbers to ever plumb a plum.”

A Plumbing We Will Go Short Take

How much damage can the masters of mirth, merriment & mayhem accomplish in seventeen minutes? Well, while filming A Plumbing We Will Go they ruin the basement, upstairs bathroom, kitchen, living room, the lawn, and destroy the plumbing, and the electrical, gas, steam and telephone lines!

This classic starts off with The Three Stooges in court, accused of stealing chickens from Mrs. Throttlebottom’s chicken coop. Justice does not prevail, and the Stooges are found innocent. Now free, Moe, Larry, and Curly cause more mischief by fishing for their supper… in a fish tank in front of a pet store. Running from a cop, they steal a plumber’s truck for a getaway, stopping at a mansion where they’re mistaken for the real thing. Claiming they’re “the best plumbers to ever plumb a plum,” it’s not long before mayhem ensues.

Visual Comedy

The first production by the Lord/McCollum team and writer Elwood Ullman. A Plumbing We Will Go features brilliant physicality from isolated Stooges and Dudley Dickerson as the cook, and a surprise, gushing climax from a television set, all helping to make this one of the most memorable comedy films ever made.

A Plumbing We Will Go Cast & Crew

Directed by	Del Lord
Produced by	Del Lord Hugh McCollum
Written by	Elwood Ullman
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Curly Howard Bess Flowers Dudley Dickerson John Tyrrell Bud Jamison Monte Collins Eddie Laughton
Cinematography	Benjamin H. Kline
Edited by	Art Seid

A Plumbing We Will Go Trivia

Bess Flowers, the leading lady in this famous short, appeared in more movies that won the Oscar (5) for Best Picture than anyone else.
The television broadcast in the short from Niagara Falls was not just a fanciful bit. A few months after this short was filmed (December 1939) NBC transmitted the first official network television broadcast from New York City to station W2XBS in Schenectady, New York.

Remakes

A Plumbing We Will Go was a remake of Sidney & Murray’s 1934, short Plumbing for Gold and would be remade again with El Brendel and Shemp Howard as Pick a Peck of Plumbers in 1944.
The Stooges remade A Plumbing We Will Go as Vagabond Loafers and Scheming Schemers using stock footage.
Interestingly, the original story in Plumbing for Gold involved searching for a lost ring which the Stooges did not use until Scheming Schemers.
Curly would recreate the maze-of-pipes gag six years later in Swing Parade of 1946.
Shemp Howard attempted it as well in Vagabond Loafers and Scheming Schemers, while Joe DeRita also attempted the gag in Have Rocket, Will Travel.
The chicken-stealing segment that opens the film was also reworked in Listen, Judge.
Aside from the aforementioned reworked films, footage from A Plumbing We Will Go also reappeared in the 1960 compilation feature film Stop! Look! and Laugh!.
Like A Ducking They Did Go, the title is a play on the children’s song, “A-Hunting We Will Go”.

Televisions in the 1930’s and 1940’s

At the time of this short, television sets had been on the market for a few years. A typical set, such as DuMont model 183X, would have cost about $445. Using the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics formula, adjusting for inflation, the same television would cost over $7,600 in 2015. The set being demonstrated is merely a prop, consisting of a box with knobs attached for the “screen” sitting atop a radio console.

Production Notes

A Plumbing We Will Go was filmed on December 13–18, 1939.
It was the last Stooge short filmed in the 1930s.

April Shorts Filmography

A Ducking They Did Go

Production Information
Title: A Ducking They Did Go
Studio: Columbia
Short Number: 38
Release Date: April 7, 1939
Running Time: 16:16

“I’ll be back in a quack with a quack, and I do mean quack!” – (Curly)

A Ducking They Did Go Short Take

The Stooges are once again unemployed. After an unsuccessful attempt to steal a watermelon from a deliveryman (Cy Schindell), which lands them in trouble with a cop (William Irving), the boys wind up at the offices of the Canvas Back Duck Club. The club, run by conmen Blackie (Lynton Brent) and Doyle (Wheaton Chambers) needs some salesmen and the trio has no trouble getting the job because, unbeknownst to them, the whole thing is a scam. Dressed in duck-hunting gear, Larry, Moe and Curly invade the police station and barge right into the office of the police chief (Bud Jamison). The Stooges somehow convince him, the mayor, and the entire police department to join up. Once the stooges informed the conmen about the sale and who they sold them to, the conmen took the money and leave knowing that they’ll get caught.

By the time the group arrives at the lodge, the “club owners” are long gone, and an old man assures them that there are no ducks to be found. In a panic, Moe and Larry try to solve this dilemma by hurling decoy ducks and rubber decoys over the pond. Curly arrives at last with a large flock of ducks (à la the Pied Piper of Hamelin) and leads them into the water. Eventually, the old man shows up (with the sheriff) ranting that Curly has stolen his prize domestic ducks, worth $5 apiece. The cops realize they have been swindled and point their guns at the Stooges, who flee the scene.

The Three Stooges Firsts

A Ducking They Did Go has the fist of many egg smashings in a Stooge film; after Curly shakes hands with Blackie and smashes an egg into his hand, the take lasts a full twelve seconds. Another first is Larry trying to shoot a duck off Moe’s back. For the first time in several years, the ‘fist game’ is just the original.

Cast and Crew

Directed by	Del Lord
Produced by	Jules White
Written by	Andrew Bennison
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Curly Howard Lynton Brent Bud Jamison
Cinematography	Lucien Ballard
Edited by	Charles Nelson

A Ducking They Did Go Production Notes

Filmed on November 15–18, 1938, the title A Ducking They Did Go is a play on the old children’s song “A-Hunting We Will Go.”
The closing shot of the Stooges leaping over a bush, and landing on a trio of bucking steers was recycled from the end of 1936’s A Pain in the Pullman.
Particularly in later years, Stooge film sets were modest, as was the size of the supporting cast. Columbia spent more money than usual on 1939’s A Ducking They Did Go, building an artificial lake on Stage #6 and hiring a large cast.