A Pair of Great Public Domain Shemp Shorts

Brideless Groom

(Short # 101 in Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk: The Columbia Shorts of The Three Stooges)

Hold hands, you lovebirds! As one of the four public domain Three Stooges shorts, it is one that is one of the most popular among the general public and movie fans. This is why the moment featuring Emil Sitka’s most famous line was shown in Pulp Fiction as Eric Stoltz watches it in bed. Recently, 1989’s Intruder was tackled. Sitka has a cameo where he says the line.

I love Groom, regardless of how familiar I’ve been w/ it since childhood as it and Disorder in the Court was on a VHS my parents bought for me, leading to many viewings. The plot was rather reminiscent of the 1925 Buster Keaton movie Seven Chances-Shemp has to be married in time to collect his late uncle’s half a million dollar inheritance.

Brideless is riotous from the opening scene, which is singing instructor Shemp, piano-playing Larry, and Dee Green as the hysterically-named Fanny Dinkelmeyer, who caterwauls as a singer even worse than the people who go to American Idol auditions-she is loud and putrid to a comical degree. As she loves Shemp, you can guess what happens…
Moe doesn’t appear into a few minutes in.

All the main players were tremendous. Shemp attempts to phone previous dates from a phone booth, with no success. When he and Moe are stuck in the booth: legendary. So was Shemp’s one scene w/ Christine McIntyre. Due to a misunderstanding, her character lays a walloping on him. IRL, after a few takes went awry, he told her to “lay it in.” She did, to the point that she broke his nose! Rather than anger due to the mishap, he was glad that the take went well-and it looked great.

Sitka appeared as the justice of the peace, and when he attempts to marry Shemp, his old flames discover he’ll be filthy rich so they rush the room. While an old stereotype, the fracas involving the women, the Stooges, and Sitka was a classic comedic scene. As Brideless Groom was amazing from beginning to end & there is acres of notable dialogue, this is one of the best shorts the Stooges ever made, and by sometime in the summer I’ll discover if Shemp was ever in one better.

Sing a Song of Six Pants

(Short # 102 in Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk: The Columbia Shorts of The Three Stooges)

Another Stooge public domain short-and another memorable early Shemp effort. Having only recently taken his place in the trio, his distinct mannerisms, noises, puns, and wacky faces already created an exciting dynamic that have made me love the Shemp run so far. Of course those good times don’t last until he passes away in 1955 but it’s more than a month until that starts to become a concern.

The blue-collar jobs they have this time: tailors. They run & operate Pip Boys; yes, Pep Boys was a thing even in the 40’s. They are in debt to Skin & Flint; Shemp has the idea-after listening to the radio-that they capture safe robber Terry Hargen for the reward. Naturally, Moe thinks it impossible that he’d literally walk into their shop—but he does. They and Terry were “victims of soicemstances,” Terry loses his clothes (long story), and the trio discovered a combination to a safe.

Six Pants (yes, the name is a spoof of the English nursery rhyme Sing a Song of Sixpence) is great. The pace is fast, acres of funny dialogue are uttered, there are funny pratfalls, some sight gags are delightful, the accoutrements you’d expect in a tailor’s shop are used to riotous effect-Shemp’s struggles w/ an ironing board and a rolled-up pair of pants is classic-they fight the villain & his henchmen in the climax, and even the final stinger gag was… tailor-made to punctuate what may have been one of Shemp’s best.

As Larry made something as silly as “mistaking a sunspot for a spot in someone’s pants” classic, this is another example of why I am glad this is an easy short to track down for those that want to see the Shemp era & like in Brideless Groom, is a grand showcase for Moe & Larry along w/ Shemp.