A Trio of Stooge Shorts

A Gem of a Jam: 

(Short # 76 in Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk: The Columbia Shorts of The Three Stooges)

This short is far from a gem, although the end result is still good. The blue collar jobs that the boys have this time is “janitors;’ they work in the doctor’s office of “Hart-Burns & Belcher.” After a shootout, one of three bandits is wounded so they storm into the office and despite their protests, the crooks refuse to hear that they’re not doctors so antics occur when the other two are out of the room.

The first ten minutes has some nice laughs, such as Curly being scanned by the 1943 version of an X-ray machine, Curly’s mugging for and the fate of the wounded criminal. Then, the rest was just weird. For some reason, in the same building as the doctor’s office is a large room full of “Mannikins and Wax Models” which also has a huge jack in the box that pops up for a gag. 

Curly falls into plaster of Paris which leads to some wacky moments but the main highlight there is Black actor Dudley Dickerson w/ a larger role than the standard bit part he got. His characters were sadly emblematic of the era yet he still did his role well-in this case as the building’s watchman. 

They made 10 of these shorts in 1943, which was a record. 1944 and 1945 had far less, due in part to the Stooges making appearances to support the war effort… and Curly’s health declining. Yeah, those sad times are coming and I remember ’44 as having more than one lousy short… but one classic too.

Crash Goes the Hash: 

(Short # 77 in Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk: The Columbia Shorts of The Three Stooges)

“Such levity… you remind me of The Three Stooges!”

This was another occasion where the boys portrayed members of the paparazzi. Actually, they were tradesman who were mistaken as journalists by Fuller Bull, the chief of the Daily News; his regular reporters have all been injured attempting to snap a photo of “Prince Shaam of Ubeedarn” (the name’s a hint) who is rumored to marry a local socialite. 

This means that most of the short is set at a soiree full of rich people. Once again they poke fun at the wealthy which must have delighted the common folk at the theater even during World War II. Their confusion over canapes results in peas being placed on dog biscuits. Bud Jamison-in sadly his last role; he would die of cancer later in ’44-is the prince’s majordomo who noted that Moe, Larry, & Curly reminded him of The Three Stooges, which they took offense to. A rare fourth wall breaking, but a funny one.

As time is spent in the kitchen, that is usually a recipe for success and it was here. They cosplayed as a cook & butlers, so there’s plenty of laughs involving lemonade, the canapes, a parrot that climbs into a turkey, etc. Some old gags return, although done in a different way. There is a larger amount of slapstick moments than typical; mix in an amusing plot and it was more upsetting IRL than on screen that Curly at some points talked in his normal off-camera Jerome Howard voice because seemingly his health was starting to decline.

Busy Buddies: 

(Short # 78 in Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk: The Columbia Shorts of The Three Stooges)

This short started off fine, then it ran out of steam. The first few minutes was the trio running a restaurant, where they are bad at their job so they require taking a second job hanging posters, where they stumble upon a… milking contest where the winner receives $100. Sure. Curly attempts to milk a BULL, which yes reminded me of a scene in Kingpin, a film only seen once in the late 90’s but that scene left an impression. The bull tosses Curly over the fence during each failed attempt. 

The final few minutes are the competition, which… only has two competitors, the one other opponent is a dude who looks like a 1920’s strongman dressed like Bluto, and they are in a boxing ring, and there are rounds… it makes as little sense as it does via description. Then, the cows are switched out between rounds, allowing for Moe and Larry to… dress up in an obvious cow costume. “Juvenile” is a word used to describe these antics.

Busy Buddies isn’t totally bereft of laughs or even chuckles. Curly uses fancy terms for food in the diner that presumably was legit era used by the chef and staff in diners of the time-those were cute, along with the cows on screen. However, many of their shorts are better than this and don’t have baffling moments like the milking contest portrayed here.