Category:

March Shorts

Booty And The Beast

Production Information
Title: Booty And The Beast
Studio: Columbia
Short Number: 145
Release Date: March 5, 1953
Running Time: 15:55

“Money gives me itchy palms” – (Shemp)

Shor Take

The Three Stooges inadvertently aid a safe-cracker (Kenneth MacDonald), who flees to Las Vegas with the stolen “booty.” Realizing their error, the trio hop the train to Vegas to catch up with the thief, though not before accidentally freeing a lion from the baggage car. Eventually, the boys capture the nameless crook and retrieve the stolen money from him.

Perspective

For Booty And The Beast Jules and Jack White chose to refurbish not another 1930’s Curly film, as they had for the previous Up in Daisy’s Penthouse and 1952’s A Missed Fortune, but the more recent and very popular Shemp film Hold That Lion! Unlike Up in Daisy’s Penthouse, this film uses extensive footage from the original, which was possible because Hold That Lion! starred Shemp as the third Stooge and not Curly. This marks an important turning point in The Stooge corpus.

Refurbished Shemp Shorts

The Columbia short-subject unit had a tight budget and was pressed for experienced personnel after the departure of Hugh McCollum and Edward Bernds. Jules and Jack White had rework old scripts for A Missed Fortune and Up in Daisy’s Penthouse and reused actual footage from two different Curly films in Pest Man Wins, the final release of 1951. Starting with Booty And The Beast, using footage earlier Shemp films now becomes the normal method for filling the year’s contractural number Stooge Productions, with new scenes written specifically to introduce or follow the re-edited footage. This the first of four more such remakes in 1953, and by year’s end, the White brothers will have become too adept at making refurbished versions of Shemp shorts that the new versions will be improving on the originals.

Visual Humor

New slapstick sequences move the plot along twice: once when Shemp gives Moe a hand-wave and is shoved into the crook’s bag; and once when Shemp says, “Money gives me itchy palms,” drops the bag (to scratch his palm) on Moe’s foot, and thus sees that it is filled with safecracking tools. The new interior sequence turns The Stooges into safecrackers and generates well-timed, plot-related too abuse with a chisel, hammer, power drill, and four sticks of dynamite. Sometimes plot simplicity provides the purest Stooges slapstick: here Shemp absentmindedly drops the chisel and picks up a dynamite stick by mistake; Moe stops him from hammering it, gets his own hand hammered, tells Shemp to hold his hat, whacks him over the head with the stick, jams it into his mouth, holds his jaw and bonks him on the head four times. This sort of extended slapstick is common in these refurbished films. Another example Larry: “I think we’re out-a gas.” Moe: Joy-ridin’ again eh?” (Nose tweak) Shemp: “Why don’t you try the choke?” Moe: “Thanks! I will!” He chokes Shemp, bangs his head into Larry’s and walks across their laps.

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 Vernon Dent Heinie Conklin Dudley Dickerson Curly Howard Blackie Whiteford
Edited by	Edwin H. Bryant

Booty And The Beast Trivia

Kenneth MacDonald’s character in Hold That Lion was originally named Icabod Slipp: in Booty and the Beast, he is a nameless thug. Any references to Slipp are replaced with “He”, “Him” or “that crook.”
Larry says “Wake up and go to sleep!” in three shorts – A Pain In The Pullman, Booty and the Beast, and Hold That Lion!
The release title parodies that of the eighteenth-century French fairy tale “Beauty and the Beast”; in 1932 Warner Bros. released a Beauty and the Boss.

Production Notes

Booty and the Beast was filmed in May 1952.
The second half of the film consists of footage recycled from Hold That Lion!, which includes the cameo appearance by Curly Howard, who died on January 18, 1952. The title of the film is a parody of the fairy tale Beauty And The Beast.

Filmography March Shorts

Listen, Judge

Production Information
Title: Listen, Judge
Studio: Columbia
Short Number: 138
Release Date: March 6, 1952
Running Time: 17:01

“G’wan you French poodle, your father’s got fleas!”
(Moe)

Short Take

The Stooges are repairmen who are on trial for stealing chickens but are found not guilty. However, Shemp opens his suit jacket, resulting in a live chicken flying out of his grip and into the face of Judge Henderson (Vernon Dent). The boys then flee the courtroom and pursue some work.

The trio comes upon a lady customer (Kitty McHugh) whose doorbell is in need of repair. The Stooges manage to ruin most of the house while working on the wiring, ultimately clobbering the chef (Emil Sitka) who is preparing dinner at the customer’s house. The irate chef abruptly quits, resulting in the Stooges being hired to prepare dinner for her husband’s friend’s birthday party. To their shock and horror, the party in question is for none other than Judge Henderson, and their lady customer is the Judge’s wife.

Now frantic, the trio tries their best to make the dinner at least partially edible. All hell nearly breaks loose when the birthday cake they prepare is accidentally pierced, deflating in the process. The cake is then “re-inflated” using town gas through the gas stove’s connection.

During the party, Judge Henderson’s friend blows out the candles, and the gas-filled cake explodes all over him and the judge, ruining his chance for re-election. The judge angrily realizes who the new “help” is, and the Stooges are forced to leave in a hurry.

McCollum/Bernds/Ullman

This is the ninth and final McCollum/Berns/Ullman production. McCollum and Bernds will make one last Stooge film during 1952 and Ullman and Bernds will have a fine renascence in the 1960’s when The Stooges begin starring in their own feature films. But it is important to observe here the end of an era in Stooge films which gave us some of the finest scare comedies (The Hot Scots), crime dramas (Crime on Their Hands, Vagabond Loafers; A Snitch in Time), extended slapstick sequences (Mummy’s Dummies), multi-door chases (Studio Stoops) and wacky adversaries (Three Arabian Nuts) in the entire Stooge corpus, not to mention tow forays into the world of the Cold War (Fuelin’ Around and Dopey Dicks.)

Cast & Crew

Directed by	Edward Bernds
Produced by	Hugh McCollum
Written by	Elwood Ullman
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Shemp Howard Kitty McHugh Vernon Dent Emil Sitka John Hamilton
Cinematography	Ellis W. Carter
Edited by	Edwin H. Bryant

Listen, Judge Trivia

The chicken stealing sequence in the courtroom is from A Plumbing We Will Go.
The doorbell repair sequence is from They Stooge To Conga.
The food preparation sequences and exploding cake (comprising the second half of the film) are from An Ache in Every Stake.

Production Notes

Filmed on November 6-8, 1951,
Listen, Judge is a hybrid of plot devices borrowed from three different Stooge films featuring Curly Howard.

Filmography March Shorts

Dopey Dicks

Production Information
Title: Dopey Dicks
Studio: Columbia
Short Number: 122
Release Date: March 2, 1950
Running Time: 15:43

“Central section… northeastern section… western section… if I don’t hurry, we’ll all be in sections!”
(Shemp)

Short Take

The Stooges are janitors in this scare comedy who have just finished moving furniture and assorted items into the office of a detective. Shemp fantasizes about the exciting life of a private eye, when a beautiful blonde in distress (Christine McIntyre) rushes in begging for help, claiming she is being followed. While the Stooges search the hallways, she quickly scribbles a note and is captured by a mysterious figure.

The Stooges follow her note to a dark house on Mortuary Road, where an evil scientist (Philip Van Zandt) is building an army of robot men. Fanning out to search, Shemp finds the girl tied up and gagged in a curtained alcove at the end of the main hallway. The scientist and his assistant (Stanley Price) then try to dispose of the Stooges, but the Stooges overcome the odds and escape with the girl in a car driven by one of the scientist’s robots.

Cast & Crew

Directed by	Edward Bernds
Produced by	Hugh McCollum
Written by	Elwood Ullman
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Shemp Howard Christine McIntyre Philip Van Zandt Stanley Price
Cinematography	Vincent J. Farrar
Edited by	Henry DeMond

Dopey Dicks Trivia

The film title is a parody of Herman Melville‘s 1851 novel Moby-Dick.
A colorized version of Dopey Dicks was released in 2007 as part of the DVD collection “Hapless Half-Wits.”
Stanley Price plays Ralph, the wonderfully ghoulish, mad professor’s assistant.
Phillip Van Zandt who played the mad professor got his start on Broadway and had an acting school in Hollywood in the 1950’s.
Dopey Dicks has a spectacular, eight-minute, multi-room chase.
The address to which The Boys follow the damsel in distress (Christine McIntyre) is 275 Mortuary Road.

Production Notes

Dopey Dicks was shot November 11 to 14, 1949.

Filmography March Shorts

Who Done It?

Production Information
Title: Who Done It?
Studio: Columbia
Short Number: 114
Release Date: March 3, 1949
Running Time: 16:33

Get the camera ready!

Short Take

The Stooges are private eyes at the Alert Detective Agency (“Miracle Detective Agency: If We Solve Your Crime, It’s A Miracle!”) who are called upon by the wealthy Mr. Goodrich (Emil Sitka). Goodrich reports that the Phantom Gang, of which his own niece (Christine McIntyre) is a member, has been murdering socialites, with Goodrich as their next target. By the time the Stooges arrive, Goodrich is out cold and locked away, with the butler (Charles Knight) (also a member of the Phantom Gang) greeting the trio. Goodrich’s niece flirts with Shemp, ultimately trying to poison him. Finally, a towering goon named Nikko (Duke York) chases the Stooges from room to room. After Shemp knocks Nikko cold, he literally bumps into an unconscious Goodrich, who spills the Phantom Gang’s plot. A fight then ensues with the lights out, and the Stooges ultimately get the baddies.

Cast & Crew

Directed by	Edward Bernds
Produced by	Hugh McCollum
Written by	Edward Bernds
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Shemp Howard Emil Sitka Christine McIntyre Ralph Dunn Duke York Charles Knight Dudley Dickerson
Cinematography	Ira H. Morgan
Edited by	Henry DeMond

Who Done It? Trivia

Who Done It? was remade in 1956 as For Crimin’ Out Loud, the last film Shemp made before his death in November 1955.
In an issue of the Emil Sitka Fan Club publication The Fourth Stooge, Emil’s diary reveals that while Columbia provided costumes for its actors, it did not provide footwear. Emil could not afford to have his only pair of dress shoes resoled, and in the closing scene, you can see that ‘Councilman Goodrich’ has a hole in his right shoe.

Production Notes

Director Edward Bernds had completed the script for Who Done It? in 1946 and was ready to shoot the film after Half-Wits Holiday, Curly Howard‘s last starring film with the Stooges. Howard’s untimely stroke rendered him unable to continue with the act, so Bernds jettisoned his original script and hastily rewrote it for Columbia Pictures comics Gus Schilling and Richard Lane. Schilling’s part was written as a combined Curly/Larry role, while Lane’s was as Moe. Schilling & Lane’s version of Who Done It? was called Pardon My Terror, which also included Emil Sitka, Dudley Dickerson and Christine McIntyre in its cast.

Bernds later admitted that the rewritten script was not a good fit for Schilling & Lane and was determined to have the Stooges film Who Done It?. He took his original script, substituted several lines meant for Curly with lines fitted for Shemp’s brand of comedy. Stooge expert Jon Solomon, author of The Complete Three Stooges: The Official Filmography and Three Stooges Companion commented that “this well-balanced mixture of physical abuse, verbal banter, and emotional surprise is particularly vibrant even for a Stooge film.” He added that “the scene in which…Christine McIntyre and Shemp point out their favorite painting while switching the drugged drink elegantly builds to a climax unparalleled in all of Stoogedom with forty seconds of Shemp wheezing, ‘t-k’ing, meeping, shuttering, flipping, flopping, chicken-with-its-head-cut-off-ing, and then slamming his legs on the ground in near rigor mortis.”

On the last day of production, while shooting the scene in which the Stooges crash through a door, Moe sprained his ankle. Since production could not be delayed, he taped it up and kept going. During the scenes filmed in the hallway, he is noticeably limping.

Filmography March Shorts

Squareheads of The Round Table

Production Information
Title: Squareheads of The Round Table
Studio: Columbia
Short Number: 106
Release Date: March 4, 1948
Running Time: 18:06

“We are three restless knights.” “Our days ain’t too hot either.”
(Moe & Shemp)

Short Take

The Stooges are troubadours in medieval times. The villainous Black Prince has designs on marriage to Elaine, the princess. She, however, is in love with Cedric, the blacksmith. The Stooges try to intervene for Cedric by serenading Elaine; the music is the sextet from Gaetano Donizetti‘s opera “Lucia di Lammermoor.” After breaking free from the dungeon where the King has condemned them to be beheaded, Moe overhears the Black Prince plotting with a co-conspirator to murder the king. The Stooges save the day by causing a diversion by dancing in armor to Stephen Foster’s “Old Folks at Home“, thus allowing Elaine to free Cedric. Finally, the king realizes the plot and jails the Black Prince and his fellow plotter. Elaine is allowed to marry Cedric, and they all live happily ever after.

Witten by Edward Bernds, showcases quick paced, troubadour-style slapstick, romance, verbal gags, plot developments, a multi-door chase scene, tools, and music. With the stepped-up pace of the short, the song lyrics or the slapstick advance the plot, as in Elaine’s (McIntyre’s) tuneful, “Flee, but flee, the Black Prince is looking iiiiinnn / IIIII will Rai-aise the shade, the lovely shade, when the coast is clear.”

Cast & Crew

Directed by	Edward Bernds
Produced by	Hugh McCollum
Written by	Edward Bernds
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Shemp Howard Christine McIntyre Vernon Dent Philip Van Zandt Jock Mahoney Harold Brauer
Cinematography	Allen G. Siegler

Squareheads of The Round Table Trivia

Stooge favorite, Christine McIntyre’s golden singing voice was also used in Micro-Phonies. McIntyre attended Chicago Musical College and earned a Bachelors of Music in 1933.
The ‘One for all, all for one, every man for himself!’ gag also appeared in Restless Knights and Back to The Woods.
The title screen is in Gothic script; the introductory music reverts to the ‘sliding stings’ version of “Three Blind Mice.”
Breaking out of prison bit: The Stooges are stuck in prison or they’re trying to get a friend out of prison, and they use saws and other tools to try to cut the cell bars so they or their friend can escape (and usually accidentally hit each other with the tools). Also used in 3 Dumb Clucks, Saves By The Belle, Out West, Pals and Gals, and The Three Stooges Meet Hercules.

Production notes

Filmed December 9-12, 1946.
Squareheads of the Round Table was remade in 1954 as Knutzy Knights, using ample stock footage. Like Fiddlers Three and The Hot Scots.
Using the spacious, intricately designed castle built for Columbia’s 1946 feature The Bandit of Sherwood Forest, first-time Stooge director, Harold MacArthur gives the short a rich visual texture for fine triadic singing.
When the Sherwood Forest set was available, Producer, Jules White would send a writer to create a story and basic gag scenarios.

Filmography March Shorts

Fright Night

Production Information
Title: Fright Night
Studio: Columbia
Short Number: 98
Release Date: March 6, 1947
Running Time: 17:41

“There goes Shemp with a left jab. There goes Shemp with a right upper-cut. There goes Shemp with a haymaker! (crash) There goes Shemp.”

Short Take

The Stooges are managers of a beefy boxer named Chopper Kane (Dick Wessel), and they bet their bankroll on his next fight. When a gangster (Tiny Brauer) tells them to have Chopper lose (as he has a lot of money bet on his opponent Gorilla Watson) or they will lose their lives, the boys decide to play along. They try to soften Chopper up by feeding him rich food and having him spend time with their friend Kitty (Claire Carleton). The fight gets canceled when Kitty dumps Chopper for Gorilla and, in a fluke accident, Gorilla gets entangled with Moe and breaks his hand against a wall. The Stooges think they have put one over on the gangsters, only to have the bad guys corner them in a deserted warehouse. Instead of being rubbed out, the boys capture the crooks and get a reward.

Cast & Crew

Directed by	Edward Bernds
Produced by	Hugh McCollum
Written by	Clyde Bruckman
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Shemp Howard Dick Wessel Claire Carleton Harold Brauer Cy Schindell Heinie Conklin Sammy Stein Stanley Blystone Dave Harper Tom Kingston
Cinematography	Philip Tannura
Edited by	Paul Borofsky

Fright Night Trivia

Fright Night marked the return of Shemp Howard to The Stooges, who had last performed with the act 17 years prior. Shemp agreed to rejoin the act until brother Curly Howard recovered enough to return to the Stooges (Curly never did).
Fling in the Ring is a remake of 1947’s Fright Night (Shemp’s first film with the team at Columbia), using ample stock footage from the original.
In Fling in The Ring a remake of Fright Night, a double is used Fling in The Ring (Joe Palma, filmed from behind) for Tiny Brauer (who played the original “Big Mike” in Fright Night), who was unavailable at the time.
It was Shemp’s favorite Stooge film.

Production Notes

Fright Night was filmed June 5–8, 1946.
Production commenced less than one month after Curly suffered a debilitating stroke on May 6.

Filmography March Shorts

Booby Dupes

Production Information
Title: Booby Dupes
Studio: Columbia
Short Number: 84
Release Date: March 17, 1945
Running Time: 17:02

“Hey, Harry James.” “Aww, I’m not that good.” “You said it!” (whap!)
(Moe & Larry)

Booby Dupes Short Take

The Stooges are fish peddlers (similar to their roles in Cookoo Cavaliers) who decide to cut out the middleman by catching the fish themselves. They then go about purchasing fishermen uniforms and a boat. While searching for their wardrobe, Curly manages to swipe a navy captain’s uniform from the same guy (Vernon Dent) whose girl (Rebel Randall) Curly decides to overly flirt with.

After the debacle with the lady, the gents reconvene, and go about trading in their car and raising an additional $300 for a propeller boat that ends up being a “lemon.” No sooner are the Stooges on the ocean when their boat starts to sink. They climb aboard their spare dinghy and signal some passing planes for help. Unfortunately, they signal using a white rag with a large red paint-splatter in the center, making it resemble the flag of Japan. The planes overhead turn out to be bombers who believe the Stooges are Japanese marines, and promptly bomb the trio. Amidst the bombing, Moe creates a makeshift motor out of a rotor and Curly’s Victrola, and the trio make a mad dash out of there.

Cast & Crew

Directed by	Del Lord
Produced by	Hugh McCollum Del Lord
Written by	Del Lord
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Curly Howard Vernon Dent Rebel Randall Snub Pollard John Tyrrell Dorothy Vernon
Cinematography	Glen Gano
Edited by	Henry Batista

Booby Dupes Trivia

The gag of a victrola acting as a car radio appeared in the duo’s 1932 film Busy Buddies.
The title is a play on the line “boop-oop-a-doop” from the song “I Wanna Be Loved by You,” made famous by singer Helen Kane and by the Fleischer Studios cartoon character Betty Boop.
This is one of a few shorts in which one of The Boys call themselves “The Stooges”, screamed by Moe as the bomber tries to sink their boat.
During World War II, The Stooges released a handful of comedies that engaged in propaganda against the then-enemy Japanese, including Spook Louder, No Dough Boys, Booby Dupes and The Yoke’s on Me.
Curly Howard‘s mannerisms and reactions had been starting to slow down. In Booby Dupes, his condition varies; he is in top form at the beginning and end of the film but appears somewhat sluggish during the middle sequence involving his stealing navy Capt. Vernon Dent’s uniform and flirting with girlfriend Rebel Randall.
The final short to feature the Columbia “torch lady” in the opening credits.

Production Notes

Filmed on September 27-30, 1944.
Booby Dupes is a partial remake of the 1932 Laurel and Hardy short film Towed in a Hole.

Filmography March Shorts

Busy Buddies

Production Information
Title: Busy Buddies
Studio: Columbia
Short Number: 78
Release Date: March 18, 1943
Running Time: 16:42

“Are you casting asparagus on my cooking?”
(Curly)

Busy Buddies Short Take

The Stooges operate the Jive Cafe and are enduring significant debt. They reluctantly take a second job hanging posters (à la Three Little Twirps), earning a penny for each poster hung. Moe takes notice of one particular poster advertising a cow milking contest that pays $100 to the winner. Without hesitation, Moe and Larry nominate Curly for the contest, and go about looking for a cow to practice milking on. They coincidentally find a “cow” (a bull) behind the fence. Curly is no match for the wild animal, and he is quickly booted over a fence twice, then up onto a telephone pole.

When the contest day arrives, Curly (nicknamed ‘K. O. Bossy’) cannot squeeze an ounce of milk from the cow’s udder. While fresh cows are being brought in for the second round, Moe and Larry jump into a cow costume with a jug of milk. The scheme works until Curly yanks the mock udder off the jug, and the milk comes gushing out which caused Curly to be disqualified. After the contest’s champion throws all of the stooges off the stage, they are left helping each other leaving while being booed at by the audience because they were cheating.

Busy Buddies Cast & Crew

Directed by	Del Lord
Produced by	Hugh McCollum Jules White
Written by	Elwood Ullman Del Lord
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Curly Howard Vernon Dent Fred Kelsey Eddie Laughton John Tyrrell Stanley Blystone
Cinematography	George Meehan
Edited by	Henry Batista

Busy Buddies Trivia

The film title is a play on the term “busybodies.”

Curly Howard fades

By late 1943, the team had been making endless public appearances in support of the war effort. The demanding schedule began to take its toll on Curly in particular, whose childlike facial features began to show the strain. Curly had just turned 40 years of age on October 22, 1943.

Production Notes

Busy Buddies was filmed on November 1-5, 1943.
The first half of the film’s plot device was reuse for Shivering Sherlocks.

Filmography March Shorts

Dutiful But Dumb

Production Information
Title: Dutiful But Dumb
Studio: Columbia
Short Number: 54
Release Date: March 21, 1941
Running Time: 16:47

“I can’t find the negative.” “What about the positive?” “I’m positive about the negative, but a little negative about the positive.” “Oh, negative eh?” “No, I’m positive the negative is in the developer.” “Your brains need developing!” – (Larry, Moe and Curly)

Dutiful But Dumb Short Take

In Dutiful But Dumb, The Stooges are Click, Clack and Cluck, paparazzi-like photographers working for Whack Magazine (“If it’s a good picture, it’s out of Whack!”). After failing in their attempts to get a photo of movie star Percival De Puyster and his new bride, their boss Mr. Wilson (Vernon Dent) fires them. But Wilson changes his mind and instead sends the Stooges to Vulgaria (an obvious parody of Bulgaria) for their next job, knowing full well that taking pictures in Vulgaria is against the law and punishable by death. The inept trio arrives and inadvertently let another photographer who was to be shot escape. The Stooges themselves try to escape but end up running into a Vulgarian prison. As the firing squad is setting up for the Stooges’ execution, Curly requests one last smoke, leading to him pulling out a cigar the length of a hero sandwich. After he finishes it, the firing squad open fire, but the trio run off with their heads inside their shirts.

Three Vulgarian officers watch a demonstration of their country’s new ray gun which can fire other guns remotely. When they hear of the Stooges’ escape, they leave the officer’s office. The Stooges soon arrive in the office and discover the ray gun, which they think is a new camera. But when Moe and Larry pose in front of the gun, Curly manages to shoot their belts and hats off. The Stooges hide as they hear the officers returning – Curly ends up hiding in the radio and destroys the wiring in the process. When the officers try to turn on the radio, Curly pulls out a large harmonica and begins playing, while strumming the remaining wires like a harp and banging inside the radio with xylophone mallets. The officers discover Curly, who jumps out of a window to escape. Moe and Larry trap the officers’ heads in the window while Curly hits the officers in the head with his mallets.

The Stooges are now dressed in the Vulgarian officers’ uniforms and end up in a local cafe, in which Curly pits his wits against a strong drink, and then a defiant oyster in his stew. When the oyster works Curly’s last nerve, he pulls out his gun and fires at it repeatedly. This gets the attention of the guards, who promptly capture the Stooges and carry them off, upside down, on the bayonets of their guns.

Dutiful But Dumb Cast & Crew

Directed by	Del Lord
Produced by	Hugh McCollum Del Lord
Written by	Elwood Ullman
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Curly Howard Vernon Dent Bud Jamison Fred Kelsey Eddie Laughton Chester Conklin Harry Semels Marjorie Deanne Stanley Brown Lew Davis
Cinematography	Benjamin H. Kline
Edited by	Art Seid

Dutiful But Dumb Trivia

An adaptation of the oyster soup battle is featured in The Three Stooges video game, where players control Curly who attempts to pick up and eat as many crackers from the oyster soup as possible before the oysters do. Oysters occasionally fire soup at Curly.
The gag was later performed by Moe in 1948’s Shivering Sherlocks and Larry who fights the Lobster Gumbo in 1954’s Income Tax Sappy. The gag also appears in the 1945 Abbott and Costello film, Here Come the Co-Eds.
The sign on The Boys Vulgarian motorcycle says Focus Magazine, not Whack!
Does Curly’s pistol hold sixteen rounds?
‘Viva Vulgaria’ was sung in this short.
In Dutiful But Dumb, Bud Jamison was in the Vulgarian Army. What was his rank? (A: A Sergeant)
He was the Editor of Whack Magazine in Dutiful But Dumb. (A: Vernon Dent)

Production Notes

Filmed from August 1 to 5, 1940, the film title is a play on “Beautiful But Dumb.”

Filmography March Shorts

Rockin’ Thru The Rockies

Production Information
Title: Rockin’ Thru The Rockies
Studio: Columbia
Short Number: 45
Release Date: March 8, 1940
Running Time: 17:24

“I’m going crazy!” “Don’t brag… we’re nuts already!”
(Tim Ryan & Moe)

Short Take

The Stooges are guides (circa late 1800s), who are helping a trio christened “Nell’s Belles” travel across the Rocky Mountains to San Francisco, the location of their next performance. While preparing some corned beef, a group of Indians urges them to get off their land as soon as possible. Since Curly scared off the horses earlier, the group is stuck there for the night.

During the night, Moe and Larry angrily tell Curly to sleep by himself because he is barking like a dog in his sleep. Unfortunately, snow falls while they sleep. They awake to discover a bear has devoured their food supply, so the three hapless guides try unsuccessfully to catch some fish in a nearby frozen lake. The fishing expedition is interrupted by Nell (Kathryn Sheldon), who discovers the Belles — Lorna Gray, Dorothy Appleby and Linda Winters — have been kidnapped by the Indians. The Belles manage to escape, and the troupe leaves the Indians’ land quickly.

Perspective

While the bulk of Rockin’ Thru The Rockies suggests that The Stooges are failing miserably, when all is said and done they do shoot several ducks, ward off a bear catch a large fish (besides the one that looks like Moe), save the women from the hostile Escrow Indian tribe, and sail off on their prairie schooner.

Rockin’ Thru The Rockies is characteristic Jules White with wall-to-wall gags, the fifth consecutive Stooge film he has directed.

At the end of Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise Curly winked at the camera. Here Curly says “That’s enough” to Moe in his natural voice to break the barrier between the audience and the film.

Moe:
“Ship Ahoy! Forward on the poop deck, shiver my timbers-“

Curly:
“Hey that’s enough! Come on!”

Cast & Crew

Directed by	Jules White
Produced by	Jules White
Written by	Clyde Bruckman
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Curly Howard Lorna Gray Kathryn Sheldon Bud Jamison Dick Curtis Dorothy Appleby Linda Winters
Cinematography	Henry Freulich
Edited by	Art Seid

Rockin’ Thru The Rockies Trivia

After the snow collapses the tent-like structure from the set of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” (in which the troupe performs in a traveling show), Curly falls through a curtain, lands on the girls in bed, and says, “The walls of Jericho collapsed.” This is a reference to a scene in Columbia’s It Happened One Night, where the flimsy barricade set up between Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable in a motor lodge was called the “walls of Jericho.”
This is the fifth time The Stooges have been hired as scouts or sleuths (Horses’ Collars, Uncivil Warriors, Goofs and Saddles, We Want Our Mummy).
This is the first Stooge film with a bear in it.
In this short Curly also briefly chants, “Give ’em the axe, give ’em the axe; right in the neck, right in the neck” which is a reference both to the Stanford Axe as well as the chant traditionally shouted by Stanford during the Big Game, which was popular in southern California during the early part of the 20th century.
The conclusion of this film is reminiscent of Early American folklore as the Stooges leave Indian territory a la Windwagon Smith.
Dorothy Appleby, a former Miss Maine who would appear six more Stooge films, worked with Moe and Curly in the 1934 MGM short Jailbirds of Paradise.

Production Notes

Rockin’ Thru the Rockies was filmed on November 7-11, 1939.
The film title is often mistaken for the 1945 feature film Rockin’ in the Rockies starring the Stooges.