Idiots Deluxe

(Short # 85 in Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk: The Columbia Shorts of The Three Stooges)

The Stooges drove each other crazy instead of others in this short. The format was different than usual: Moe is on trial for attacking Larry & Curly... w/ an axe! In flashback, he explains how his nerves were shot, his anxiety so overwhelming. He grows angry that his two roommates were practicing their “Two Man Quartet” band; each played two different instruments. Moe cooled off on the promise that the three would stay at a cabin in the woods during a hunting trip.

The addition of a bear cub ramped up the humor; it ate Moe’s food from the window while no one was looking. There were plenty of puns & gags (whether new or old ones presented in a different way) to make me happy… even while Moe’s nerves were shattered, trampled, fried, broiled, etc. There was some great visual humor also that I dare not spoil.

There is the melancholy feel that in real life, Curly suffered a stroke right after filming of Idiots Deluxe; he would have additional small strokes until he retired from acting. There aren’t many shorts left starring him, and he just looked/sounded old. Most of those were mediocre or worse, although as I’ll mention in those reviews, many of those he shouldn’t have been on stage, his condition was so bad. On that jolly footnote…