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Released January 10, 1946
Featuring Moe, Larry and Curly
Columbia
17.5 min. (Short Subject)

It is the middle of Prohibition and the Stooges are unable to buy beer. They decide to make their own and produce 185 bottles of beer. The boys are soon arrested for bootlegging. The warden finds out Curly has smuggled a keg of beer into the prison and the boys are sentenced to a long stretch.

Includes stock footage from SO LONG, MR. CHUMPS (1941) and IN THE SWEET PIE AND PIE (1941).

The short is a reworking of Laurel & Hardy's feature film PARDON US (1931).

Unfilmed/deleted scenes are transcribed in The Three Stooges Journal # 135 (Fall 2010).

The frequently told story of Curly's declining health causing a shortened production schedule and insertion of stock footage is untrue. A week prior to April 1945 production, comedian Harold Lloyd sued Universal Studios and Clyde Bruckman for use of his copyrighted material in one of their features. Lloyd also made it known to Columbia that he planned to file suit against them (and Bruckman) at a later date for use of his material in the Stooges' LOCO BOY MAKES GOOD (1942). Gilbert Pratt's original script for BEER BARREL POLECATS (1946) reworked scenes from Laurel & Hardy's PARDON US (1931), including a virtual word-for-word copy of the prison classroom scene. In reaction to Mr. Lloyd's lawsuit, the POLECATS script (and other shorts department scripts in pre-production) was overhauled at the last-minute. POLECATS deleted the scenes that copied from PARDON US, and stock footage from earlier Stooges comedies featuring prison-themed scenes was inserted.

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Avg. Rating: [5.16/10]
 
BEER BARREL POLECATS on IMDb

Al Thompson
Al, police photographer

Joe Palma
Butch, convict

Blackie Whiteford
Blackie, convict

Al Morino
Convict

Budd Fine
Convict

Al Rosen
Convict

Sam Lufkin
Convict

Bruce Bennett
Prison guard at rockpile

Eddie Laughton
Convict 41144

Lynton Brent
Prison guard with painted face

Neal Burns
Convict painting in prison yard

Unidentified BEER BARREL POLECATS 2
Prison guard who eats paint


Jules White
Producer

Jules White
Director

Gilbert Pratt
Story and Screenplay

Felix Adler
Screenplay, stock footage

Clyde Bruckman
Screenplay, stock footage

George F. Kelley
Director of Photography

Barney McGill
Photography, stock footage

George Meehan
Photography, stock footage

Charles Hochberg
Film Editor

Mel Thorsen
Film Editor, stock footage

Jerome Thoms
Film Editor, stock footage

Charles Clague
Art Director



















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