Craig Zablo

Gents Without Cents (1944)

Director:  Jules White

Screenplay:  Felix Adler

Stars: Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard, Lindsay Bourquin, Laverne Thompson and Betty Phares.

Tagline:  Step by step, inch by inch and wow, what comedy follows!

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Larry, Curly and Moe are out of work vaudeville performers working on their act.  After several interruptions due to banging on the floor upstairs, they decide to give the noise-makers the what for.  The boys are surprised to find three young women dancers who are practicing their routine.  Surprisingly the Stooges and the ladies hit it off.  The next day they all go to a job interview and get hired!  The girls will dance and the Stooges will do comedy.  When the main act (Caster & Earl – caster oil) don’t show up, the Stooges get raised into the main act.  This could be their big break…

Gents Without Cents is one of my favorite Stooges shorts.  It breaks the tradition of them not getting the girls.  There is less of them beating each other up and more working together despite being on the wrong end of the smarts spectrum.  Plus we get to see them perform, not only the famous Vaudeville act, “Niagara Falls” but also “Rat-tat-toodle-oodle-day-ay”.  The women’s performances are fun as well.

The kicker is the final scene… as the Stooges head to their honeymoon at, you guessed it, Niagara Falls!

Gents Without Cents earns 5 of 5 stars.

Hoi Polloi (1935)

Director:  Del Lord

Screenplay:  Felix Adler, Helen Howard (uncredited)

Stars: Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard, Harry Holman and Bud Jamison.

Tagline:  Meet the new darlings of society.

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Hoi Polloi is George Bernard Shaw’s 1913 play, Pygmalion, but with a Three Stooges’ twist.  Professor Richmond believes that a even a person from low standings without education can be turned into a gentleman with the proper training.  Professor Nichols disagrees and wagers $10,000 that Richmond can not train three commoners into becoming gentlemen.  Nichols gets to pick the three and he chooses Larry, Curly and Moe.  Let the hijinks begin!

Moe’s wife, Helen came up with the idea to adapt Shaw’s play.  The idea was so good, they reused it in Half-Wits Holiday (1947) which was Curly’s last starring appearance (1947) and Pies and Guys (1958).

One of the funniest scenes involves a dance instructor who tells the boys to just “do what I do”.  A bee goes down the back of her dress as she frantically moves around to dislodge it, Larry, Curly and Moe attempt to follow her moves.

Hoi Polloi earns 4 of 5 stars.

Three Little Twerps (1943)

Director:  Harry Edwards

Screenplay:  Monte Collins, Elwood Ullman

Stars: Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard, Chester Conklin, Stanley Blystone, Heinie Conklin, Bud Jamison, Anita Sharp-Bolster,  Al Thompson, Blackie Whiteford and Duke York

Tagline:  None.

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Larry, Curly and Moe get involved in hijinks at the circus.  When the circus owner finds them selling discounted tickets to the amusements, he takes after them with the police.  Highlights include Curly being mistaken for the Bearded Lady’s blind date, Curly and Larry hiding in a horse costume and Curly running for his life from the wild “Sultan of Abudaba”.

Three Little Twerps earns 3 of 5 stars.

From Nurse to Worse (1940)

Director:  Jules White

Screenplay:  Clyde Bruckman from a story by Charles L. Kimball

Stars: Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard, Vernon Dent and Ned Glass

Tagline:  None.

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

An insurance salesmen tells the boys that if they purchase a policy on Curly and then he acts insane, they can collect big.  They buy the policy.  Moe and Larry put Curly on a leash and take him to the doctor.  Curly is so convincing that the doctor thinks Curly is dangerously insane.  His cure to to operate on Curly’s brain!  When Moe and Larry attempt to rescue Curly the hijinks are on!

From Nurse to Worse earns 4 of 5 stars.