Topic: Woman Haters in theaters

[garysheski]

Doing lots of historical research (curiosity mostly) And looking through www.newspaperarchive.com for Woman Haters across the 48 states, 1934, and what's interesting is it never shows up in any major city, only small "cow-towns" across the country. And THEN, when it DOES appear on a bill, it's always way down in the fine print below the ad for a Ken Maynard "B" western, or a Lee Tracy melodrama. Hard to find, but it seems it was always relegated to "bottom-of-the-barrell" filler, with the cartoons that ran during intermission! Strange, I find it one of the best of the lot, for many reasons, and among present-day Stooges fans, it's the most famous and popular of all! Fact that it was so low-rated in 1934, and then only in the small towns, says alot about the culture of America, and regional tastes!

[FineBari3]

Doing lots of historical research (curiosity mostly) And looking through www.newspaperarchive.com for Woman Haters across the 48 states, 1934, and what's interesting is it never shows up in any major city, only small "cow-towns" across the country. 

That reminds me of the scene in "Ed Wood" when Ed is with his producer from a Poverty Row studio. He is explaining to Ed how his studio's films play in the hick towns. 

I do not know much about Ed Wood, but I'm sure there is someone out there who knows the studio he worked at.

[metaldams]

I do not know much about Ed Wood, but I'm sure there is someone out there who knows the studio he worked at.

I don't think Ed Wood had a studio.  The 50's is when the death of the studio system began and independent producers, like Ed Wood, came along.  Of course, somebody had to distribute his films, but Ed Wood didn't work for a studio the way Michael Curtiz worked for Warner Brothers.

As for WOMAN HATERS initial reception, I'm not a bit surprised.  Columbia was a lowly studio at the time, and IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT, perhaps their first stab at credibility, was only released a few months earlier.  Add this in with the fact a new (film) comedy team and and shorts department were just added at this lowly studio, and I see no reason why WOMAN HATERS would be billed above anything.  Of course, today it stands head and shoulders over 90% - 95% of all films from 1934 in terms of public knowledge, but that's because we know what The Three Stooges initially went on to do.  Marjorie White, to my knowledge (perhaps you can refute this?), was never really more than a supporting player and due to her untimely death, never had a chance to be much else.

[Tony Bensley]

Another interesting tidbit about WOMAN HATERS is, while it's now rightfully counted amongst The Three Stooges' 190 short subjects, it was initially issued to Theaters under Columbia's "A Musical Novelty" banner.

Perhaps also noteworthy, is the debate in some Forums regarding the alleged freeze framing of the opening credits in many (If not most) of the short subjects in The Three Stooges Sony DVD volumes.  In possibly answering this definitively, does anyone know whether the Moe, Larry, Curley/Curly, In credits normally appeared one at a time, from left to right in all, or most of their shorts originally?

CHEERS!

[Tony Bensley]

Sorry, duplicate post! 

[Tony Bensley]

Another interesting tidbit about WOMAN HATERS is, while it's now rightfully counted amongst The Three Stooges' 190 short subjects, it was initially issued to Theaters under Columbia's "A Musical Novelty" banner.

Perhaps also noteworthy, is the debate in some Forums regarding the alleged freeze framing of the opening credits in many (If not most) of the short subjects in The Three Stooges Sony DVD volumes.  In possibly answering this definitively, does anyone know whether the Moe, Larry, Curley/Curly, In credits normally appeared one at a time, from left to right in all, or most of their shorts originally?

CHEERS!

I believe that I may have found the answer myself, in regards to the above.  In managing to locate two Stooges shorts that I had transferred from Pre-Recorded VHS to DVD-R (YES, WE HAVE NO BONANZA (1939); and PHONY EXPRESS (1943).), I found that the opening titles with Curly/Larry/Moe credits were stationary, with the former fading in from the Columbia Torch Lady Logo!

On the other hand, the other title from the aforementioned VHS Tape, UNCIVIL WARRIORS(1935), does have the Moe/Larry/Curley/ credits that pop up from left to right, with the "In" then appearing below.

Here's a link to the original source VHS Tape, which incidentally, appears to be on sale, at present: https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/235967290/the-three-stooges-phony-express-and

CHEERS! 

[Tony Bensley]

With curiosity having got the better of me, I referenced the first DVD volume of THE THREE STOOGES COLLECTION.  In doing so, I found that The Three Stooges short subjects from their Columbia debut WOMAN HATERS (1934) to HALF-SHOT SHOOTERS (1936) have the Moe/Larry/Curley credits appear from left to right, with the "In" then appearing below.

The classic DISORDER IN THE COURT was the first Three Stooges short in which all of the Stooges names already appear at the fade-in from the opening Columbia Torch Lady Logo, which itself also changed beginning with this short subject.  Finally, we get the spelling change from Curley to Curly, whose face and credit was switched with Moe's, and now appeared as Curly/Larry/Moe.

From this, I conclude with "coitinty" that somebody at Sony did NOT simply use one frame of each title card in their 1080p HD digital transfers, as some had previously supposed!

CHEERS!

[Mark The Shark]

With curiosity having got the better of me, I referenced the first DVD volume of THE THREE STOOGES COLLECTION.  In doing so, I found that The Three Stooges short subjects from their Columbia debut WOMAN HATERS (1934) to HALF-SHOT SHOOTERS (1936) have the Moe/Larry/Curley credits appear from left to right, with the "In" then appearing below.

The classic DISORDER IN THE COURT was the first Three Stooges short in which all of the Stooges names already appear at the fade-in from the opening Columbia Torch Lady Logo, which itself also changed beginning with this short subject.  Finally, we get the spelling change from Curley to Curly, whose face and credit was switched with Moe's, and now appeared as Curly/Larry/Moe.

From this, I conclude with "coitinty" that somebody at Sony did NOT simply use one frame of each title card in their 1080p HD digital transfers, as some had previously supposed!

CHEERS!

Well, at least not on the shorts up through "Half-Shot Shooters."

One way to check -- I've never done this myself -- would be to compare them to earlier versions and see if the cross-fades from one screen to the next are in the same spots?

[Dr. Mabuse]

The San Francisco Examiner (June 1, 1934)

https://img.newspapers.com/img/img?institutionId=0&user=2725284&id=458138891&width=557&height=2901&crop=1421_3666_635_3368&rotation=0&brightness=0&contrast=0&invert=0&ts=1594277817&h=e08c671cd8d8fb8e3f29a0b13fafd7a8

[Dr. Mabuse]

An excerpt from reviewer Miriam Bell in Miami Daily News (June 1, 1934):

The best thing on the program at the Mayfair, as far as the writer is concerned at the moment, is the short reel, "The Woman Haters," done by Ted Healy's three awful stooges. You saw them in "Dancing Lady" and they're hilarious in this.

The main feature was "The Black Cat."

[metaldams]

“Hell Bent For Love” is a Columbia picture that is all but forgotten today - a total of 11 votes on IMDb.  Interesting to know what WOMAN HATERS played before, at least in some places, and the fact they didn’t shake off Ted Healy yet.  Nice finds, Dr. Mabuse.

Lillian Bond was the brunette in THE OLD DARK HOUSE.

[Dr. Mabuse]

In some of the newspaper ads for "Women Haters," they are billed as "The 3 Stooges" with no mention of Healy.

The Muncie Evening Press (June 8, 1934)

https://img.newspapers.com/img/img?institutionId=0&user=2725284&id=249144360&width=557&height=636&crop=170_4665_778_905&rotation=0&brightness=0&contrast=0&invert=0&ts=1581525859&h=1ffb7cd3159c116e53c6d5398db9bdc5

[metaldams]

In some of the newspaper ads for "Women Haters," they are billed as "The 3 Stooges" with no mention of Healy.

Thanks, this stuff is definitely worth researching.  I will do so and post any ads I can find.

By the way, my eyes missed it the first time, WOMAN HATERS the best thing on the bill with....THE BLACK CAT?    No way.

[Dr. Mabuse]

That's what she wrote. I couldn't believe it myself.

[Dr. Mabuse]

Newport News Daily Press (July 29, 1934)

https://img.newspapers.com/img/img?institutionId=0&user=2725284&id=231066124&width=557&height=910&crop=212_3209_1285_2139&rotation=0&brightness=0&contrast=0&invert=0&ts=1594277636&h=dc6ee993ea952bafaaf51207d273979f

[Mark The Shark]

Thanks for those newspaper ads. I would think these establish that the team was indeed billed as "The Three Stooges" in "Woman Haters" right from the beginning, and that's not some hypothetical later "reissue title" revision.