Many years of research have failed to turn up documentation for Moe Howard's early film appearances at the Vitagraph Studio in Brooklyn NY, 1909 - 1910. The films and studio records no longer exist.
1980s research by film historian Richard Finegan revealed a reference to FISH HOOKEY (1910) as another possible Vitagraph Studio comedy with Moe Howard (The Three Stooges Journal # 51 Fall 1989). Unfortunately, to date, no additional documentation has turned up.
Pinkham University's (P.U.) "old cockroach" of a Dean (Jimmy Finlayson) blames coed Helene's campus frock shop for the student girls' behavior, and tells her to leave. Helene's boyfriend Napoleon Fizz (Ted Healy), the Dean's cottage caretaker and perpetual student after 11 eleven years in the freshman class, has invented a medicinal plaster that restores youth. After the Dean accidentally sits on the concoction, he reverts to the mentality of a coed-chasing college lad, to the University President's shock. When the Dean serenades the girls at the sorority house, Helene decides to disguise Napoleon as the house matron, and catch the Dean in a compromising photograph to be used for blackmail when he regains his senses. But the arrival of the real matron, the University President and faculty, turns the evening into a farce of mistaken identity.
From the Summer of 1929 (exact date uncertain), discovered in the early 1990s in the USC Film Archives, this is five minutes of raw footage filmed by Fox for a newsreel, featuring brothers Moe and Shemp Howard. Whether it was eventually used in a newsreel, and the library title and release date of that supposed film, are unknown.
Ted Healy is a salesman for the Schmidt Costume Shop who likes to hang out at the fire station where Moe, Larry and Shemp, along with Freddie Sanborn work. Old man Schmidt is bankrupt and is taken over by his creditors, who send a young man named Carlson to manage his business. Carlson immediately falls for Mr. Schmidt's niece, Louise, but she resists him. Meanwhile, a certain General Avacado wants to organize a revolution and comes to the costume shop to order uniforms. Ted also swings a deal with the Fire Department to supply costumes for the Firemen's Ball. Carlson wants to escort Louise to the ball, so Ted hatches a plan to take Louise, have himself and Carlson dress alike, and then switch places at the party. When Louise learns of the switch, she runs back to the shop and locks herself in her room. Carlson chases her home, and unknowingly starts a fire while trying to persuade her to come out. The firemen arrive to extinguish the blaze, and at last Louise and Carlson are a couple.
Ted Healy appears briefly in this newsreel. The discovery of this appearance was reported in The Three Stooges Journal # 109 (Spring 2004). Ongoing research for additional information on this film credit is pending.
A washed up boxing manager (Walter Huston) climbs out of the bottle when he discovers barroom bouncer Steve Morgan (Max Baer) has the makings of a contender. As Steve trains for his first fight, he meets and falls in love with singer Belle (Myrna Loy), the girlfriend of nightclub owner and gangster Willie Ryan. Steve's career is on the rise when he and Belle marry, breaking Ryan's heart. Willie vows that if Steve ever gives Belle one unhappy day, that's when he'll take his revenge. Morgan may give him the chance, when fame and ego turns him into a straying husband. Eventually Belle leaves him, so Ryan arranges for Steve to fight heavyweight champ Primo Carnero, planning for Carnero to destroy Steve in the ring.
The Stooges play Ted Healy's children, and they're giving him a hard time about going to sleep. He tries singing a comic vesion of The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere, but it doesn't help. Ted's date Bonnie tells them her own bedtime story (courtesy of a musical revue). The boys fall asleep and Ted tries to sneak off with Bonnie, but Curly wakes up Moe and Larry and they all start screaming for another story, so Ted pulls out a mallet and knocks them out instead.
Joe Gimlet (Lee Tracy) is a small businessmen, barely scraping by with his loving wife Mary (Mae Clarke). When successful old friend Ted Wright stops by, who married the local rich girl that could have been Joe's, Joe begins to regret the choices he made in life. After a domestic squabble, Joe is hit by a car, and when he comes to, finds that he is 20 years younger with a chance to do things over again. Joe gives up Mary, and makes the decisions he missed to become a rich man, using his knowledge of history to invest in burdgeoning industries. But he finds that his money and "other" marriage haven't bought him the happiness he envied or wants.
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