Stooge Shorts [Mitch Shapiro Rev. 1.0 4/95]
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* Part 1 Introduction
* Part 2 1934 - 1940 (Moe, Larry, Curly)
* Part 3 1941 - 1947 (Moe, Larry, Curly)
* Part 4 1947 - 1952 (Moe, Larry, Shemp)
* Part 5 1953 - 1959 (Moe, Larry, Shemp), (Moe, Lary, Joe)
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53. So Long Mr. Chumps (1941) ***+
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Director: Jules White
Cast : Vernon Dent, Bud Jamison, Bruce Bennet, Robert Williams
The stooges are street cleaners who find some valuable bonds and
return them to their owner. The man is so grateful that he offers
them a big reward if they can find an honest man with executive
ability. Their search leads them to a woman who's fiancee is
honest, but he's in jail. The boys decide to commit a crime so they
can go behind bars to find him. In prison the boys locate the man
and help him escape, only to find out that their benefactor is a con
man and on the way himself to the slammer.
54. Dutiful But Dumb (1941) ****+
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Director: Del Lord
Cast : Bud Jamison, Vernon Dent, James C. Morton, Bruce Bennett,
Chetster Conklin
The stooges are photographers for Whack magazine ("If it's a good
picture it's out of Whack") who, after messing up an assignment, are
sent to the country of Vulgaria to get a picture of a death ray gun.
In Vulgaria the penalty for taking pictures in is death, and the
boys soon wind up in front of a firing squad. Curly's last request
is a giant cigar and by the time he's done smoking it all the
soldiers are asleep and the stooges make their escape.
55. All the Worlds a Stooge (1941) ****-
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Director: Del Lord
Cast : Lelah Taylor, Emory Parnell, Bud Jamison, Symona Boniface,
Olaf Hytten, Richard Fiske
The stooges are window washers who lose their jobs after Moe
impersonates the dentist in whose office they were cleaning. On the
run, they are hired by a millionaire to pose as children. It seems
the man's wife wants to adopt some refugees to impress her society
friends. Moe is Johnny, Curly is Frankie and Larry is Mabel.
Everything goes fairly well as the lady shows off the stooges to her
friends, but they finally irritate her husband so much that he goes
after them with an ax.
56. I'll Never Heil Again (1941) ****+
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Director: Jules White
Cast : Mary Ainslee, John Kascier, Vernon Dent, Bud Jaimison
A follow up to "You Nazty Spy", the stooges have taken over the
country of Moronica. Moe is Hailstone the Dictator, Curly is a
Field Marshall and Larry is Minister of Propaganda. The stooges are
planning with their allies to conquer the world, which mainly
consists of fighting over a globe. The former king's daughter gets
into their headquarters and plants a bomb which Curly detonates.
All ends well as the king regains control of the country and the
stooges wind up as trophies on the wall.
57. An Ache in Every Stake (1941) ****+
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Director: Del Lord
Cast : Vernon Dent, Bud Jamison, Gino Corrado, Bess Flowers,
Symona Boniface
The stooges are icemen who, while delivering ice to a house on the
top of a high hill, destroy several cakes that a wealthy man is
trying to bring home. When their antics cause the servants at their
customer's house to quit, the boys are hired to take their place and
prepare a dinner party. What they don't know is that the party is
for the man whose cakes they wrecked. When Moe's gas filled cake
explodes and the man realizes who they are, they must leave in a
hurry.
58. In the Sweet Pie and Pie (1941) ****+
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Director: Jules White
Cast : Dorothy Appleby, Mary Ainslee, Etheldera Leopold, Symona
Boniface, Vernon Dent.
The stooges are convicts about to be executed for some murders they
didn't commit. The day before the execution they are tricked into
marrying three rich girls who need husbands to collect a legacy. At
the last minute the real murderers confess and the stooges are
pardoned. The girls are now stuck with the stooges so they plot to
get rid of them by making them become gentlemen. The girl's lawyer
convinces them to throw a big party in the hope that the stooges
will humiliate them and they can get a divorce. The boys do just
that as the party degenerates into a wild pie fight. But the girls
decide to keep the stooges and give their lawyer the boot.
[ Dance teacher footage from "Hoi Polloi" ]
59. Some More of Samoa (1941) ***+
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Director: Del Lord
Cast : Louise Carver, Symona Boniface, Mary Ainslee
The stooges are tree surgeons who are enlisted by a rich old man to
find a mate for his rare puckerless persimmon tree. The boys sail
to the tropical island of Rhum-Boogie to find the tree. When they
arrive they are captured by the natives and will be eaten unless
Curly marries the Chief's ugly daughter. The stooges escape with
the tree and, after a confrontation with an alligator, sail off with
their prize.
60. Loco Boy Makes Good (1942) ****
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Director: Jules White
Cast : Dorothy Appleby, Vernon Dent, Bud Jamison, Robert
Williams, John Tyrel
The stooges decide to get some easy money by having Curly slip on a
bar of soap in a hotel lobby so they can sue the owner. Curly slips
as planned but the hotel turns out to be run by an old lady who is
about to lose her lease to the evil landlord. The stooges decide to
help her fix up the place and start by beating up the landlord and
stealing his watch. After their usual antics in renovating the
place, the hotel is ready for the grand re-opening. The stooges put
on a big show with a famous critic in attendance. Their corny act
goes over poorly until Curly accidentally puts on a magicians coat
and becomes a sensation and the place is a success.
61. Cactus Makes Perfect (1942) ***+
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Director: Jules White
Cast : Monty Collins, Vernon Dent, Ernie Adams
The stooges are living with their mother who persuades them its time
to leave home and seek their fortune. After a con man sells them a
phony deed to a lost gold mine, the boys head west to find the
treasure. After some mishaps with Curly's gold finding invention,
they locate the mine and strike it rich. When two crooked miners
try to take their gold they hole up in an abandoned hotel and,
although they get bombarded by dynamite, triumph over the crooks.
62. What's the Matador (1942) ***+
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Director: Jules White
Cast : Suzanne Kaaven, Harry Burns, Dorothy Appleby, Eddie
Laughton
The stooges are actors traveling to perform at a fiesta in Mexico.
After they accidentally switch suitcases with that of Dolores, a
lovely senorita they met on trip down, they must sneak into her
house to retrieve their suitcase. When they are confronted by her
jealous husband he vows to kill them if he sees them again. At the
fiesta where they are performing a comedy bullfight (Curly is the
matador, Moe and Larry are in a bull costume) the husband bribes the
attendants to let a real bull into the ring. Curly knocks the bull
out with a head butt and becomes a hero.
[ I never understood how the bull costume could have fit in that
suitcase. ]
63. Matri-Phony (1942) ***+
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Director: Harry Edwards
Cast : Vernon Dent, Marjorie Deanne
The stooges are potters in ancient Rome during the reign of Emperor
Octopus Grabus. When the emperor orders all beautiful red-headed
women to be brought before him so he can select a wife, Diana, a
pretty red-head, seeks refuge with the stooges. Some soldiers find
Diana's hiding place and they are all brought to the palace where
the stooges escape and try to pass of Curly as Diana, having broken
the emperor's glasses. Their ruse fails and they're caught by the
palace guards as they try to escape.
64. Three Smart Saps (1942) ****
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Director: Jules White
Cast : Vernon Dent, Bud Jamison
The stooges are engaged to the three daughters of a prison warden.
When they learn that some crooks have taken over the prison and
their prospective father-in-law has been locked up, they decide to
go undercover to rescue him. The stooges sneak into the prison
where they find a casino with a fancy party in progress. After
swiping some formal attire, they crash the party and get candid
camera evidence to expose the crooked goings-on. With the crooks
behind bars once again, the stooges are able to get married and all
ends well.
65. Even as I.O.U (1942) ****+
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Director: Del Lord
Cast : Ruth Skinner, Stanley Blystone, Vernon Dent, Bud Jamison,
Heine Conklin, Jack Gardner, Billie Bletcher
A destitute mother and child move into the stooge's vacant lot home
and the boys decide to help them. They steal the kids piggy bank
and sneak into the race track. They bet on a long shot that wins
and then are gypped out of their winnings by two con men who sell
them a washed up race horse. Everything turns out happily when
Curly swallows horse vitamins and gives birth to a colt!
66. Sock-a-Bye-Baby (1942) ***
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Director: Jules White
Cast : Bud Jamison
The stooges mistakenly kidnap a baby they find on their doorstep.
When the cops and the baby's mother come looking for the baby, the
boys panic and flee into the country with the cops (one of them is
the baby's father) pursuing them by motorcycle. It all ends happily
with the baby reunited with its parents and the stooges running off
disguised as bushes.
67. They Stooge to Conga (1943) ****
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Director: Del Lord
Cast : Vernon Dent
The stooges are repairmen who get a job fixing the doorbell in large
house which is the secret headquarters of some Nazi spies. They
manage to ruin most of the house while working on the wiring and
then subdue the spies and sink an enemy submarine by remote control.
[ One of the most violent of all the shorts, especially the scene
where Curly spikes Moe in the eye. The stooges manage a maximum of
destruction in the shortest time. ]
68. Dizzy Detectives (1943) ***+
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Director: Jules Whites
Cast : Bud Jamison
The stooges are carpenters who become policemen. A mysterious
burglar disguised as a gorilla has the cops baffled and Mr. Dill,
the head of the citizens league, threatening the police chief's job.
The boys go on the case and pose as night watchmen at an antiques
store. They confront the crook, who turns out to be a real gorilla
owned by Dill. After defeating Dill and some other bad guys in a
wild fight, the gorilla drinks some nitroglycerin and blows up.
[ The carpentry scenes are taken from "Pardon My Scotch". ]
69. Spook Louder (1943) ***+
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Director: Del Lord
Cast : Stanley Blystone, Symona Boniface, William Kelley
The stooges are salesman selling a weight reducing machine. They
have no luck until they show up at the house of an eccentric
inventor where they are hired as caretakers. When the scientist
goes to Washington to demonstrate his death-ray machine to the
government, the boys are left to guard his house and must contend
with enemy spies and a mysterious pie thrower.
70. Back From the Front (1943) ***+
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Director: Jules White
Cast : Bud Jamison, Vernon Dent
Set in WW II, the stooges are the only survivors of an American ship
sunk by an enemy torpedo. Adrift on a raft, they come upon a German
battleship and by various means, such as Moe disguising himself as
Hitler, and Curly and Larry as Goering and Goebbels, manage to
capture the enemy ship.
71. Three Little Twerps (1943) ****
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Director: Harry Edwards
Cast : Chester Conklin, Hienie Conklin, Stanley Blystone, Bud
Jamison.
The Stooges get a job putting up posters for a circus but discover
that instead of money, their pay is tickets to the show. When
trying to scalp their tickets gets them in trouble, they hide out
backstage where Curly has an encounter with a bearded lady and Moe
and Larry hide in a horse suit. When they're caught, the circus
manager gives them a choice of going to jail or joining the circus.
What they don't know is that they are to be targets for the Zulu
spear thrower. When Curly hits the spear thrower with one of his
own spears, the boys are on the run once again.
72. Higher Than a Kite (1943) ***+
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Director: Del Lord
Cast : Vernon Dent, Dick Curtis
The stooges are auto mechanics working for the R.A.F. in England.
After wrecking an officers car they need a place to hide, but their
choice, a sewer pipe, turns out to a bomb which is dropped on the
enemy. Finding themselves behind enemy lines, Moe and Curly
disguise as German officers and Larry dresses as a seductive
fraulein. While general Bommel chases after Larry, Moe and Curly
steal the secret plans from the high command.
73. I Can Hardly Wait (1943) ****+
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Director: Jules White
Cast : Bud Jamison
The stooges are defense workers who have trouble getting to sleep
when Curly gets a toothache. Moe and Larry try various ways to
remove the offending tooth, but nothing works so they take Curly to
the dentist. While Moe gets in the chair to show Curly how easy its
going to be, the dentist enters and pulls Moe's tooth by mistake.
Curly then wakes up and realizes its all been a dream and a punch to
the mouth from Moe dislodges the tooth.
74. Dizzy Pilots (1943) ****-
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Director: Jules White
Cast : Richard Fiske
The stooges are the Wrong brothers, three inventors trying to finish
building an airplane they can sell to the army and thereby avoid the
draft. When their plane, the "Buzzard", turns out to be a flop, the
boys are drafted into the army where they have trouble with a tough
drill sergeant.
[ The army footage is taken from "Boobs in Arms" ]
75. Phony Express (1943) ****+
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Director: Del Lord
Cast : Chester Conklin, Snub Pollard, Bud Jamison
Set in the old west, the stooges are three tramps wanted for
vagrancy. After ruining a medicine peddlers show, they arrive in
Peaceful Gulch where a picture has been printed declaring them to be
three famous lawmen coming to clean up the town. Assigned to guard
the bank, the boys have the local gang scared at first, but when the
gang learns who the stooges really are, they rob the bank. The boys
go in pursuit, find the bad guy's hideout, subdue the bandits and
recover the money.
76. A Gem of a Jam (1943) ***+
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Director: Del Lord
Cast : Bud Jamison, Stanley Blystone
The stooges are janitors working in the offices of Doctors Harts,
Burns and Belcher. Some crooks arrive seeking medical attention
after their boss has been wounded in a shoot out with the cops.
Mistaken for doctors, the boys are forced to operate on the wounded
crook, but instead they accidentally dump him out the window into a
passing police car. The rest of the gang chases them into a store
room filled with dummies where the cops finally catch the bad guys.
77. Crash Goes the Hash (1944) ****
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Director: Jules White
Cast : Vernon Dent, Bud Jamison, Dick Curtis, Symona Boniface
The stooges are hired as reporters and their first assignment is to
get a picture of a visiting prince who is planning to marry a local
socialite. The boys disguise as servants and infiltrate a party
being in thrown in the honor of the prince. The stooges ruin the
party, but save the day as they expose the prince as crook who is
planning to rob the house. Their boss is so grateful for the expose
that he gives the boys a bonus and the rich lady decides to marry
Curly!
78. Busy Buddies (1944) ***+
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Director: Del Lord
Cast : Vernon Dent, Fred Kelsey
The stooges run a small restaurant, and must come up with some quick
money to pay off a pie dealer who's wares they ruined. They enter
Curly in a milking contest at the county fair, but his technique
leaves something to be desired, and he quickly falls behind the
champ. Moe and try to help by putting on a cow suit and pouring
milk from a concealed bottle, but when their cheating is exposed,
they must leave on the run.
79. The Yokes on Me (1944) ***
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Director: Jules White
Cast : Bob McKenzie, Emmett Lynn
Rejected by the armed services, the stooges decide to "do their bit"
by becoming farmers. After paying $1000 and throwing in their car,
the boys are owners of a run down farm, which lacks any livestock.
After capturing an escaped ostrich, they decide to carve jack-o-
lanterns for profit and then must contend with some Japanese who
have escaped from a relocation center. The stooges become heroes by
capturing the escapees, with the help of explosive eggs laid by the
ostrich who had swallowed some blasting powder.
[ This short is rarely seen on broadcast TV because of its obvious
WW II racial overtones. ]
80. Idle Roomers (1944) ****
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Director: Del Lord
Cast : Christyne McIntyre, Duke York, Vernon Dent
The stooges are working as bellboys in a large hotel when a side
show promoter shows up with 'Lupe', a wild wolfman who promptly
escapes. The stooges try to capture the wolfman by playing music to
calm him, but music makes the wolfman go berserk and soon the
stooges are the ones trying to run away. The boys end up caught in
an elevator with the wolfman who shoots them into the sky.
81. Gents Without Cents (1944) ***+
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Director: Jules White
Cast : Lindsay, Laverne, and Betty
The stooges are three small time actors looking for a job. They
meet three girl dancers in the situation and get a small part in a
big producers show at the shipyard. When the rest of the cast
doesn't show up, the stooges and the girls must put on the whole
show themselves. The show is a hit and the stooges marry the girls
and head to Niagara Falls for their honeymoon.
[ Their act at the shipyard contains the classic "Niagara Falls"
bit; "Slowly I turned, step by step, inch by inch..." ]
82. No Dough Boys (1944) ***+
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Director: Jules White
Cast : Vernon Dent, Christyne McIntyre
The stooges are dressed as Japanese soldiers for their job as
magazine models. On their lunch break they go into a restaurant
with their Japanese uniforms on causing the proprietor to mistake
them for the real thing, and a chase ensues. The boys fall through
a trap door, and into a nest of Nazi spies where they are mistaken
for "Naki", "Saki" and "Waki", three Japanese saboteurs. The
stooges try to act the part, including demonstrating acrobatics and
jiu-jitsu to their hosts. When the real "Naki", "Saki" and "Waki"
show up, the boys are exposed and impostors, but after a wild fight
manage to capture all the Axis spies.
83. Three Pests in a Mess (1945) ****-
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Director: Del Lord
Cast : Vernon Dent, Vic Travers, Snub Pollard, Christyne
MacIntyre, Brian Ohara
The stooges are three inventors trying to a get a patent on their
preposterous fly catching invention. When they learn they'll have
to catch 100,000 flies to earn enough to get a patent, some crooks
overhear and think the boys are the $100,000 sweepstakes winners.
When the crooks give chase, the stooges hide in a sporting goods
store where Curly shoots a dummy, which they mistake for a real
person. The boys decide to bury the "body" in a pet cemetery, but
the cemetery owner arrives from a costume party with his partners,
all dressed as spooks, and they proceed to scare the devil out of
the stooges.
84. Booby Dupes (1945) ***+
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Director: Del Lord
Cast : Rebel Randally, Vernon Dent
The stooges are three fish peddlers who decide to