Make 'Em Laugh (The Funny Business of America)
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Featuring Miscellaneous Appearances
17.2 min. (Short Subject)
Private defectives... uh, detectives, Dick and Gus are asked by Alice Morton to investigate the disappearance and possible murder of her wealthy grandfather Jonas Morton. The duo encounter houseguest Mr. Grooch and his two assistants, who are behind the goings-on, and plotting to steal the Morton fortune. Creepy butler Jarvis also seems to have an ulterior motive. Dick and Gus' presence is not appreciated, and they find themselves the targets of poison, gunfire, and an electrifying death trap.
This short was written for The Three Stooges, Moe, Larry & Curly, but reassigned to Schilling & Lane when Curly suffered a stroke on May 6, 1946. According to Ed Bernds, because the short was already set to go into production when Curly fell ill, there was no time to rewrite it... it went before the cameras "as is," with Dick and Gus working off a Stooges script. Schilling assumed most of Curly's lines, Lane took on Moe's lines, and Larry's material was split between the two actors.
A copy of the script resides in Jules White's files at The Motion Picture Academy Library in Beverly Hills CA, and substantiates Bernds' account. A transcription of the Stooges' script appears in The Three Stooges Journal # 108 (Winter 2003) and # 109 (Spring 2004).
PARDON MY TERROR was eventually rewritten by Ed Bernds, and adapted for Moe, Larry and Shemp as WHO DONE IT? (1949).
Richard Lane
Dick
Emil Sitka
Mr. Dugan
Vernon Dent
Jonas Morton
Christine McIntyre
Alice Morton
Phil Van Zandt
Jarvis
Kenneth MacDonald
Mr. Grooch
Dick Wessel
Luke
Lynne Lyons
Wanda
Hugh McCollum
Producer
Edward Bernds
Director
Edward Bernds
Story and Screenplay
Glen Gano
Director of Photography
Paul Borofsky
Film Editor
Charles Clague
Art Director
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