Giff and I were recently exchanging posts in a thread here regarding Columbia's recycling of the sets from major features for use in Stooges shorts. In his 1973 interview, Larry Fine made mention of this, stating that sets from the 1934 feature,
Twentieth Century were later used for the boys' Columbia debut,
Woman Haters.
Twentieth Century co-stars John Barrymore and Carole Lombard. I work for Hollywood Video and found a VHS copy this week. I rented it out of curiosity, and to confirm Larry's comments. Here's what I discovered.
The sets used in
Woman Haters did, indeed, originate in
Twentieth Century. Barrymore plays a Broadway big-wig in the film. Two scenes take place in his office. The office set later became the meeting place for the Women Haters Club. In one scene, Barrymore visits, what appears to be a bar. There's not very many shots of the bar, but it appears to be the same set used in
Woman Haters, where the Stooges all offer to put up their bankrolls. The train sets, of course, were later used by the Stooges. Barrymore's room is the same room in which Larry and Marjorie White sang "My Life, My Love, My All." Here's the kicker, though. African-American actor, Fred 'Snowflake' Toones, who plays a baggage handler in
Woman Haters, played the exact same role in
Twentieth Century. Toones is the man who, when asked, refers to Marjorie White as "hot stuff." The IMDb lists his role in
Woman Haters as that of a baggage handler, while he's listed as a porter for
Twentieth Century. I find this all so interesting.
This all makes me want to find out the titles of all the other films whose sets were later used in Stooges shorts/films. In Larry's interview he referenced the Frank Sinatra film
Pal Joey, mentioning the apartment set(s). Since that film was released in the late-1950s, I assume the set(s) were recycled for one of the Joe Besser shorts, but would need confirmation. I still think a listing of STOOGE SETS would make a great addition to this site's database. If anyone else knows of any other examples, please don't hesitate to post it here. Thanks.