Funniest Decade, The (A Celebration of American Comedy in the 1930s)
THE TOOTH WILL OUT (1951)
Film Pick of the Day
Sunday, November 8, 2026
The Stooges find themselves enrolled in an Eastern dental school, and despite making a monstrous set of dentures with a life of its own, manage to graduate, with the Dean's recommendation to go "out west" to set up practice. Their first customer is tossed out (fortunately for him) when a tough local Sheriff comes in with a toothache. In his nervousness, Shemp drops his dentist manual, and accidentally picks a book titled The Amateur Carpenter instead (not that the Stooges notice for a while.)
The dentist office footage was originally filmed for MERRY MAVERICKS, but the scene ran so long that producer Hugh McCollum decided to cut it and produce a new short around it. Excerpts from the original script of MERRY MAVERICKS, with the dentistry segments, were presented in The Three Stooges Journal # 106 (Summer 2003). MERRY MAVERICKS filmed in June 1950; the additional THE TOOTH WILL OUT footage was filmed in February 1951.
The Stooges' tune "My Lucky Strike" is an original song, written by... Moe, Larry & Shemp; see The Three Stooges Journal # 96 (Winter 2000).
Emil Sitka almost ruined his reputation as a "1-take wonder" when he chased the Stooges down the street. Director Ed Bernds told him to ad lib angry dialogue, and on the first take, Emil delivered a barrage of obscenities! The scene was reshot, after cast and crew stopped laughing.
A rarity in the 1950s, the Stooges shot the outdoor sequence on the Columbia Ranch's downtown/city street.
Details
Average Rating:   [ 8.67/10 ] 39 votes |
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| Featuring | Moe, Larry and Shemp |
|---|---|
| Release Date | Thursday, October 4, 1951 |
| Studio | Columbia |
| Production Type | Short Subject |
| Duration | 16 min. |
