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December Shorts

Oil’s Well That Ends Well

Production Information
Studio: Columbia
Short Number: 182
Release Date: December 5, 1957
Running Time: 16:17

“Hey, there’s a cow out there. What comes from cows?” “Steak?!”
(Moe & Larry)

Short Take

The Stooges learn in a letter that their father’s life depends on an operation, but he doesn’t have the money for it. He writes that his property has a uranium mine, and they’re sure to strike it rich. So Moe, Larry & Joe head out to their father’s cabin while dealing with Joe’s uncanny luck in wishes coming true. Finding no uranium, the Stooges still manage to create plenty of explosive mayhem. Deciding to call it quits, Joe’s wishing ability comes through by turning up an oil strike on Papa’s country homestead.

Cast & Crew

Directed by	Jules White
Produced by	Jules White
Written by	Felix Adler
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Joe Besser
Cinematography	Irving Lippman
Edited by	Edwin H. Bryant

Trivia

Oil’s Well That Ends Well is one of two Stooge films that does not have a supporting cast, the other being 1950’s Self-Made Maids.
The title Oil’s Well That Ends Well is a pun of “all’s well that ends well.”
In addition, when Joe pulls the rope out from under Larry’s feet and knocks him over, Larry’s hat falls off his head. But in the next shot when Moe pulls him up to his feet, Larry is still wearing his hat.

Production Notes

The film was shot over two days on August 26–27, 1957.
Though technically a reworking of Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise, none of the original plot is featured in this short. In addition, the only recycled footage utilized in Oil’s Well That Ends Well is the shot of Curly Howard riding the oil gusher up into the sky. In addition, the concept of Joe wishing for things that come true was borrowed from Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise.
Oil’s Well That Ends Well contains a rare instance where the Stooges break the fourth wall and directly address the camera audience. Joe, after being chastised by Moe and told to sit down, turns around to the camera and mouths “I hate him!” to the audience before walking off-screen.

December Shorts Filmography

Outer Space Jitters

Production Information
Studio: Columbia
Short Number: 182
Release Date: December 5, 1957
Running Time: 16:17

“I’ve heard of hot lips, but your’s sizzle!”
(Moe)

Short Take

Professor Jones and the Stooges travel to the planet Sunev and greet its inhabitants’ leader the Grand Zilch, and his military commander the High Mucky Muck. The Stooges’ gracious welcome and dinner celebration with three amazon beauties hides a Sunevian plot to conquer the Earth with an army of prehistoric zombies. Jones and the Stooges learn of the invasion plot but find their attempt to foil the aliens’ plans complicated when they accidentally release one of the zombies.

Cast & Crew

Directed by	Jules White
Produced by	Jules White
Written by	Jack White
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Joe Besser Philip Van Zandt Emil Sitka Dan Blocker Gene Roth Harriette Tarler Diana Darrin Arline Hunter Joe Palma
Cinematography	William Bradford
Edited by	Harold White

Trivia

Outer Space Jitters features Moe and Larry’s more “gentlemanly” haircuts, first suggested by Joe Besser. These had to be used sparingly, as most of the shorts with Besser were remakes of earlier films, and new footage had to be matched with old. In Outer Space Jitters, however, Larry’s frizz is combed back, while Moe retained his sugarbowl bangs. This seeming inconsistency (which would occur in future films) accommodated the gag of a frightened Moe with hair standing on end.
This short marks one of the few moments where one of the Stooges breaks the fourth wall. As the professor and The Three Stooges are being introduced to the leader of Sunev, Larry says, “And don’t forget to see Pal Joey, folks.” This is a reference to the film of the same name that was released two months earlier.

Production Notes

Outer Space Jitters was filmed on July 25, 1957.

December Shorts Filmography

Goof On The Roof

Production Information
Studio: Columbia
Short Number: 152
Release Date: December 3, 1953
Running Time: 16:23

“Just for that, you don’t go in there!”
(Moe)

Short Take

In Goof On The Roof, The Stooges learn that their pal Bill has gotten married, and decide to set-up his new antenna and television set as a present before moving out. In the process, they manage to thoroughly wreck his house!

Cast & Crew

Directed by	Jules White
Produced by	Jules White
Written by	Clyde Bruckman
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Shemp Howard Frank Mitchell Maxine Gates
Cinematography	Sam Leavitt
Edited by	Edwin Bryant

Trivia

This was the last original Stooge short written by Clyde Bruckman. His name would appear in future productions, however, when reworked films featured stories which Bruckman contributed to.
Shemp suffered a mild stroke less than two weeks after the filming for Goof on the Roof had been completed. He recovered from it quickly enough by the time production commenced in April 1953 on the Stooges’ next film, Musty Musketeers.

Production Notes

Goof on the Roof was filmed on November 17–19, 1952.
It is a remake of 1949’s Let Down Your Aerial with Wally Vernon and Eddie Quillan and 1930’s Hog Wild with Laurel & Hardy.

December Shorts Filmography

Cuckoo On A Choo Choo

Production Information
Studio: Columbia
Short Number: 143
Release Date: December 4, 1952
Running Time: 15:28

“Oh boy, limburger! My favorite fruit.”
(Moe)

Short Take

Larry and Shemp live in a stolen train car. Larry wants to marry his girlfriend, but she won’t marry him until Shemp marries her older sister. Shemp is constantly drunk, in love with an imaginary canary named Carrie. Moe is a railroad inspector, on the trail of the stolen car. Moe’s old love is the older sister, setting up a competition between Shemp and Moe. Eventually, both girls want to marry Shemp, but Shemp prefers his imaginary canary. Huh!?

Cast & Crew

Directed by	Jules White
Produced by	Jules White
Written by	Felix Adler
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Shemp Howard Patricia Wright Victoria Horne
Cinematography	Henry Freulich
Edited by	Edwin H. Bryant

Trivia

The plot is borrowed from two popular films of the period. The idea of a stolen railroad car is a parody of A Streetcar Named Desire, while the imaginary animal friend parodies the film Harvey (Victoria Horne had starred in the latter). The theme of a woman’s unwillingness to marry until her sister can be found in a willing husband-to-be alludes to Kiss Me, Kate, a Cole Porter musical based on the Bard’s play, which also had a 1953 MGM film adaptation.
This reportedly was one of Larry Fine’s favorite shorts to watch repeatedly during his last years in the Motion Picture House. It is one of the only Stooge shorts in which he plays a different character than usual: tougher, more domineering, and speaking in a gravelly, mumbly voice in a broad parody of Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire.

Production Notes

Cuckoo on a Choo Choo was filmed on April 21-23, 1952.
Over the course of their 24 years at Columbia Pictures, the Stooges would occasionally be cast as separate characters. This course of action always worked against the team; author Jon Solomon concluded: “when the writing divides them, they lose their comic dynamic.” In addition to this split occurring in Cuckoo on a Choo Choo, the trio also played separate characters in Rockin’ in the Rockies (their only starring feature film with Curly Howard and possibly designed to fail so that Columbia could continue with the shorts instead of promoting them to full-length films), He Cooked His Goose (and its remake Triple Crossed), Gypped in the Penthouse, Flying Saucer Daffy and Sweet and Hot.

December Shorts Filmography

A Snitch in Time

Production Information
Studio: Columbia
Short Number: 128
Release Date: December 7, 1950
Running Time: 17:33

“Camel’s hair brush? Hmmmh… must be da hump.”
(Shemp)

Short Take

Moe, Larry, and Shemp are furniture makers in A Snitch In Time and Miss Scudder, a customer Moe’s sweet on, calls up and wants them to move some new furniture into her house because new boarders are arriving. At her house, The Stooges commit a series of blunders before discovering that the boarders are jewel thieves and a wild chase ensues. Will the police arrive in time?

Cast & Crew

Directed by	Edward Bernds
Produced by	Hugh McCollum
Written by	Elwood Ullman
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Shemp Howard Jean Willes Henry Kulky John L. Cason John Merton Fred F. Sears
Edited by	Henry DeMond

Trivia

A Snitch in Time has been consistently ranked as the most violent Stooge film of the Shemp era. Unlike the Curly-era equivalent They Stooge to Conga, in which all three Stooges receive their fair share of abuse, most of the violence in A Snitch in Time is directed at Moe. In its opening four minutes, Moe gets his nose and buttocks jammed into the blade of a whirling circular saw, as well as getting glue in his eye and stuck on his hands.

Production Notes

A Snitch in Time was filmed December 13–16, 1949, the last Stooge film produced in the 1940s.
Interestingly, though Columbia short subject head/director Jules White was known for the use of excessive violence in his films, A Snitch in Time was directed by Edward Bernds, who always maintained that the violence was not to be excessive in the films he directed.
The title A Snitch in Time parodies the aphorism “a stitch in time saves nine.”

December Shorts Filmography

Crime On Their Hands

Production Information
Studio: Columbia
Short Number: 112
Release Date: December 9, 1948
Running Time: 17:33

“You know Porcupine, for a guy without brains you’re a genius.”
(Moe, to Larry)

Short Take

In Crime On Their Hands, The Stooges are janitors at the Daily Gazette who get a hot tip about the stolen Punjab diamond. Hoping to become real reporters, the boys hurry to where Dapper and his gang are hiding. While questioning Dapper’s beautiful moll, Shemp accidentally swallows the diamond thinking it was a mint. Unfortunately, a caged gorilla in the next room gets into the act as well.

Cast & Crew

Directed by	Edward Bernds
Produced by	Hugh McCollum
Written by	Elwood Ullman
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Shemp Howard Kenneth MacDonald Christine McIntyre Charles C. Wilson Cy Schindell
Cinematography	Henry Freulich
Edited by	Henry DeMond

Trivia

Crime on Their Hands marked the final appearance of longtime Stooge supporting actor Cy Schindell. Drafted into the Marines during World War II, Schindell developed a severe case of jungle rot while on Guadalcanal, which eventually developed into terminal cancer. Knowing he was dying, Schindell worked constantly during his illness to assure his family would be financially secure after his death. Excessive makeup was used during the filming of Crime on Their Hands to mask Schindell’s cancer-ridden face.

Production Notes

The title Crime on Their Hands is a parody of the expression “time on their hands.” The press room scene was recycled in 1956’s Commotion on the Ocean, while the remaining portion of Crime on Their Hands was utilized in 1955’s Hot Ice. It is a partial remake of the 1942 Andy Clyde short All Work and No Pay.

December Shorts Filmography

All Gummed Up

Production Information
Title: All Gummed Up
Studio: Columbia
Short Number: 103
Release Date: December 8, 1947
Running Time: 18:07

“It’s tremendous!” It’s colossal!” It’s putrid!”
(Moe, Larry and Shemp)

All Gummed Up Short Take

In All Gummed Up The Three Stooges are owners of the Cut Throat Drug Store, but their crabby old landlord Amos Flint wants them out after 10 years after making a better deal with the Pinch Penny Market. Flint’s wife shows up while he’s telling the Stooges, and he dumps her because she’s gotten old. The boys take her in, and Shemp gets the brilliant idea to invent a Fountain of Youth to make old people young again. Beyond all expectations they actually succeed, turning Mrs. Flint back into a gorgeous young woman!

All Gummed Up Cast & Crew

Directed by	Jules White
Produced by	Jules White
Written by	Felix Adler
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Shemp Howard Christine McIntyre Emil Sitka Cy Schindell Victor Travers Florence Lake Symona Boniface Al Thompson
Cinematography	Allen G. Siegler
Edited by	Edwin H. Bryant

Up Trivia

This entry is one of the few to present the trio as competent and respectable professionals, as opposed to incompetent blue-collar laborers.
There a total of 76 face slaps in All Gummed Up.

Production Notes

All Gummed Up was filmed from April 23–24, 1947.
All Gummed Up was remade in 1953 as Bubble Trouble, using ample recycled footage from the original. Ironically, the remake is considered to have a better story flow than the original.
The working title was Sweet Vita-Mine. The Stooges first worked in a drug store in Pardon My Scotch, and there, too, they concocted a miraculous potion. as in the previous film, Sing a Song of Six Pants, The Stooges run their own establishment.

December Shorts Filmography

Three Little Pirates

Production Information
Studio: Columbia
Short Number: 76
Release Date: December 5, 1946
Running Time: 17:51

“Eenie, Meenie, Minee, Moe. See, you can’t go wrong with Moe! Heh, heh.” “Thanks (slap). Get Busy!”
(Curly and Moe)

Short Take

Curly, Moe, and Larry, NYC garbage barge sailors, wash ashore on an island stuck in the 17th century, and ruled by a tyrannical Governor. With the help of the lovely Rita Yolanda, and using the ruse of a nearsighted Maharajah and his entourage, they go in search of a pirate named Black Louie who will ferry them to the mainland. Unfortunately, the Governor and Louie are well-acquainted, and the pirate forces the Stooges to engage in a deadly knife-throwing contest to purchase their freedom from the island.

Cast & Crew

Directed by	Edward Bernds
Produced by	Hugh McCollum
Written by	Clyde Bruckman
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Curly Howard Vernon Dent Christine McIntyre Robert Stevens Dorothy DeHaven Joe Palma Cy Schindell Al Thompson
Cinematography	Philip Tannura
Edited by	Paul Borofsky

Trivia

This is the 12th of 16 Stooge shorts with the word “three” in the title. The Stooges had previously performed the “Maharaja” routine in the 1941 film Time Out for Rhythm. They would resurrect the routine with Curly-Joe DeRita as the third stooge for the 1963 theatrical feature The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze and on The Steve Allen Show. Moe Howard also later performed a variation of the routine, with Mike Douglas and Soupy Sales, in November 1973 television appearance on The Mike Douglas Show.
Canarsie, Brooklyn, Bay Meadows, Flatbush, Brooklyn, and the isles of Coney Island and Long Island are references to New York-based localities where brothers Moe, Curly, and Shemp Howard spent their childhood. It is all the more appropriate, as the Stooges are sailors shipwrecked off of a New York City garbage scow.

Production Notes

Three Little Pirates was filmed on April 15–18, 1946.
42-year-old Curly Howard had suffered a series of minor strokes. As a result of his illness, Curly’s performances had been marred by slurred speech and slower timing. Much of the action in previous films (Three Loan Wolves, G.I. Wanna Home) had been shifted away from the ailing Stooge and placed in the hands of co-stars Moe and Larry.Curly, however, was on his game during the filming of Three Little Pirates. Though still not 100 percent himself, the comedian performed the memorable “Maharaja” routine with Moe almost flawlessly. He continued to display his formidable gift for physical comedy; for example, in one shot, he briefly assumes a reclining position while seated on a chair. Director Edward Bernds recalled the progression of Curly’s decline through each film in the order they were made (vs. released):

“I guess I should be thankful that Curly was in one of his ‘up’ periods, because it was strange the way he went up and down. He was down for A Bird in the Head and The Three Troubledoers, he was up for Micro-Phonies, way down for Monkey Businessmen. In Three Little Pirates, he was terrific. It was the last flash of the old Curly.”

December Shorts Filmography

A Gem of A Jam

Production Information
Title: A Gem of A Jam
Studio: Columbia
Short Number: 76
Release Date: December 30, 1943
Running Time: 16:27

Short Take

“I wouldn’t say yes, but I couldn’t say no.” “Would you say maybe?” “I might!”
(Curly and Larry)

Janitors, the Stooges are cleaning a doctor’s office when a wounded crook and his two henchmen enter. They try to tell him they aren’t doctors, but the crooks demand treatment. The wounded man accidentally falls out of the window during the “operation” and the Stooges escape. But they’re now on the run from the crook’s accomplices and the cops who’ve mistaken them for the fugitives.

Cast & Crew

Directed by	Del Lord
Produced by	Hugh McCollum
Written by	Monte Collins Elwood Ullman
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Curly Howard Dudley Dickerson Al Hill Fred Kelsey John Tyrrell Frank O’Connor Al Thompson
Cinematography	John Stumar
Edited by	Paul Borofsky

Trivia

The gag of Curly stepping out of a trough appearing as a ghost first appeared in the 1934 Laurel and Hardy film The Live Ghost.
When the night watchman (Dudley Dickerson) backs into the mannequin, he shouts, “I’m losing my mind!” This line, however, has been muted for television broadcasts and home video releases.

Production Notes

A Gem of a Jam was filmed on June 12-16, 1943. The Stooges released more short subjects in 1943 than any other year at Columbia Pictures, A Gem of a Jam being the tenth entry.

December Shorts Filmography

Some More of Samoa

Production Information
Studio: Columbia
Short Number: 59
Release Date: December 4, 1941
Running Time: 16:40

“The end of your shoe ain’t important.” “Well this one is… I think it had my toes in it!”
(Moe & Larry)

Short Take

An ailing eccentric millionaire hires three tree surgeons – guess who – to get a mate for his puckerless persimmon tree, which can only be found on the island of Rhum Boogie. The Stooges wind up on the cannibals’ menu when Curly refuses to marry the chieftain’s sister.

Cast & Crew

Directed by	Del Lord
Produced by	Hugh McCollum Del Lord
Written by	Elwood Ullman Harry Edwards
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Curly Howard Mary Ainslee Symona Boniface Louise Carver Duke York Dudley Dickerson John Tyrrell
Cinematography	L. William O’Connell
Edited by	Burton Kramer

Trivia

There are several continuity errors in Some More of Samoa. When Curly runs into the king’s hut he is still covered with the white powder draped on him from when a tribesman is preparing the Stooges for dinner, but when he goes into the hut and tangles with the Kabuki mask, the powder is gone. After he grabs the tree and runs off, the powder is back on. In addition, when Curly puts his head in the bag to answer the telephone, he starts whining before Moe actually closes the bag on his neck.
There are several continuity errors in Some More of Samoa. When Curly runs into the king’s hut he is still covered with the white powder draped on him from when a tribesman is preparing the Stooges for dinner, but when he goes into the hut and tangles with the Kabuki mask, the powder is gone. After he grabs the tree and runs off, the powder is back on. In addition, when Curly puts his head in the bag to answer the telephone, he starts whining before Moe actually closes the bag on his neck.
Some More of Samoa features a recurring gag often shown when the Stooges portray doctors or are mixing drinks, as in the films Men In Black and All Gummed Up. They stand in an assembly line formation and the first member (usually Moe) calls for a series of complex, often gibberish-sounding surgical tools or drink ingredients, with the other two repeating the orders and passing them to him. At a certain point, Moe will call for cotton, and be ignored at first, then angrily call for it again, prompting one of the other Stooges to retaliate and throw a large wad of wet cotton at Moe’s face.

Production Notes

Some More of Samoa was filmed on May 12–15, 1941. The film’s title is a self-contained pun, as “Samoa” is pronounced similarly to slurring “some more of” as “some mo’ o'”. The film is set on the fictional island of Rhum Boogie, not Samoa.