Topic: Origins Of The Specious (or) What's Behind Those Shorts?

[middlenamewayne]

Maybe this should go in the nitpicker's corner, but in my opinion this stuff goes way beyond nitpicking:

I am seriously appalled at the sad state of this site's "episode title origins" page! Following are over a dozen examples of shorts whose name sources have not (until now!) been identified. Among them, I'd say that at least half are particularly notable and are possibly definitive (I've marked these with an asterisk), and the whole shmeer only took me about an hour or two (okay, maybe three...) to research and destroy, so there's no excuse for these not to have been unearthed earlier...

PLANE NUTS (1933) -- "plain nuts!"

ART TROUBLE (1934) -- "heart trouble"

*HORSES' COLLARS (1935) -- No, it's not a clean version of "horses' asses" as the page now ass-erts(!) Actually, "horse scholars" is the title commonly bestowed on top equine experts.

WHOOPS, I'M AN INDIAN (1936) -- The "whoops" part surely refers to an indian's "war whoop".

HOLD THAT GHOST (1941) -- A post can be defined as "a permanent military establishment", so I'm thinking that "hold that post" could possibly been a phrase used throughout WWII with a similar meaning to "hold down the fort".

*NO DOUGH BOYS (1944) -- A "doughboy" is WWI slang for an army infantryman -- the origin of the term is assumed to be in reference to men being covered in flour-like dust after a long march; add to that "no dough", which refers to being flat broke/penniless.

*CRAZY KNIGHTS (1944) -- A probable ref. to the card game "Crazy Eights"; the name of the game dates back to the 1940s and was derived from the military designation for discharge of mentally unstable soldiers, Section 8, hence a "crazy 8".

THE HOT SCOTS (1948) -- Possibly a pun on "hot shots" in part.

WAITING IN THE LURCH (1949) -- Poss. ref. to a bride left at the altar, ie "waiting in the church"?

AIM, FIRE, SCOOT (1952) -- "aim, fire, shoot"

SHOT IN THE FRONTIER (1954) -- Reverse play on "shot in the back".

*STONE AGE ROMEOS (1955) -- "The Fable of a Stone Age Romeo" was a 1923 short from the obscure Aesop's Fable Studio (1920-1929). Not what you'd call a well-known work, but it clearly predates the short.

BLUNDER BOYS (1955) -- "wonder boys"

*BEDLAM IN PARADISE (1955) -- A particularly clever reverse play on "Paradise In Harlem" (1939), a musical comedy-drama biopic about a comedian who witnesses a mob hit.

GYPPED IN THE PENTHOUSE (1955) -- It's a stretch, but there was a 1944 Anne Baxter movie called "Guest In The House". This title (along with "Rumpus In The Harem") is driving me crazy, as it seems that it MUST be some sort of pun -- I'm thinking it may have something to do with "(blank) in the henhouse"?

HUSBANDS BEWARE (1956) -- This may just be one more in a long and varied tradition of "(blank) beware" titles, including Bridegrooms Beware (1913), Bandits Beware (1921), Sailors Beware (1927), Beware of Bachelors (1928), Blondes Beware (1928), Beauties Beware (1929), Buyer Beware (1940), Sailor Beware (1952), et cetera.

GUNS A POPPIN'! (1957)-- "fun's a poppin'"

MUSCLE UP A LITTLE CLOSER (1957) -- From the schmaltzy early 1900s song "Cuddle Up a Little Closer" by Otto Harbach and Karl Hoschna.

Whew! That's enough for one night!

   -- mnw

[Rich Finegan]

No need to be "seriously appalled".
The list doesn't claim to be complete. It's a work constantly in progress. Additions are always welcome.

As one who contributed a large amount of the info on that list, I just want to say that you seem to be trying way too hard with some of those. For example "Hold That Ghost", "Gypped in the Penthouse", and "Bedlam in Paradise" to name three. And for "Stone Age Romeos", sure there was a cartoon from 1923 with a similar title, but for this list we have to consider the realistically probable sources. It's very doubtful that the 1923 cartoon was remembered by anyone in 1955 when they were thinking up a title for that Stooges short. 

And some, like "Plain Nuts", well I guess that one was just so obvious that I never even thought of adding it.
By the way, I agree with you about what "Horses' Collars" is not. That was not one that I supplied to the list.

Some titles, like "The Hot Scots" probably have no identifiable source. As we well know, Columbia liked dumb, often meaningless rhyming titles for their comedy shorts. That is one of them, I think.

Regarding "Bedlam in Paradise" I think the source "Trouble in Paradise" (1932 Paramount movie and song) and popular expression is much more likely the source than the very obscure "Paradise in Harlem". The expression trouble in paradise even inspired hit songs under that title as late as 1960 and 1983. I believe the expression was well-known enough in 1955 that it has to be the only source for the title "Bedlam in Paradise".

[middlenamewayne]

No need to be "seriously appalled".

Well, to be honest I really was more like "humorously appalled". Hope my cross words didn't puzzle you too much!

I just want to say that you seem to be trying way too hard with some of those. For example "Hold That Ghost", "Gypped in the Penthouse", and "Bedlam in Paradise" to name three. And for "Stone Age Romeos", sure there was a cartoon from 1923 with a similar title, but for this list we have to consider the realistically probable sources. It's very doubtful that the 1923 cartoon was remembered by anyone in 1955 when they were thinking up a title for that Stooges short. Regarding "Bedlam in Paradise" I think the source "Trouble in Paradise" (1932 Paramount movie and song) and popular expression is much more likely the source than the very obscure "Paradise in Harlem".

Oh, no question I was reaching deep for some of those -- like I said, some of 'em just seem like they must be hiding some lost secret ("Rumpus In The Harem" WHAT TH'...?!?) and that sort of thing just drives me plain nuts, not to mention putting me at risk for 'art trouble!

The "Fable" short doesn't so much make me think it's the direct source as much as it seems to indicate that the actual phrase was known prior to the Stooges' short. Interestingly enough, in more recent years there has been an album by the name Stone Age Romeo by the Hoodoo Gurus and there's a band calling themselves that as well. No telling whether they got their name from ML&C or something previously released into the zeitgeist.

Finally, I know "Bedlam In Paradise"/"Paradise In Harlem" is a stretch, but OTOH it's far too neat of a coincidence for me to leave it without comment.

(Oh, and yeah, I also realize that some of the simpler ones never got written up because they went without saying -- but, hey, if you're gonna have a page for this, ya might as well fill in the blanks, right?

  - mnw

[Rich Finegan]

Well, to be honest I really was more like "humorously appalled". Hope my cross words didn't puzzle you too much!

  - mnw

Hey we're Stooges fans...if we ever have to be appalled, humorously is the way to do it!

I agree with you about the Stooges shorts titles "Gypped in the Penthouse" and "Rumpus in the Harem". Also some others such as "Up in Daisy's Penthouse". They have got to be based on something we're not getting. Anyone have any ideas?

[Freddie Sanborn]

"Whoops, I'm an Indian": Stage and radio comedienne Fanny Brice had a hit record in 1921 called "I'm an Indian" which she sang in a heavy Yiddish accent, "Whoop! I'm an Indian. Oy, yoy yoy! I'm an Indian squaw."

[Rich Finegan]

"Whoops, I'm an Indian": Stage and radio comedienne Fanny Brice had a hit record in 1921 called "I'm an Indian" which she sang in a heavy Yiddish accent, "Whoop! I'm an Indian. Oy, yoy yoy! I'm an Indian squaw."

Hi Rob,
Good to see you here. Come back more often!

Yes I certainly did know about that Fanny Brice song. I'm the one who entered it in the Episide Title Origins list. But thanks for providing more info. For the Origins list I just wanted to keep it down to the basic song title.

[middlenamewayne]

I certainly did know about that Fanny Brice song. I'm the one who entered it in the Episide Title Origins list. But thanks for providing more info. For the Origins list I just wanted to keep it down to the basic song title.

A brief mention of the lyrics ("Whoop! I'm an indian!") would explain that the "Whoops!" part of the Stooges' title came from the same source. As you saw above, without that information I was left guessing it was a simple but unrelated reference to an indian's war cry or somesuch.

I'm going under the assumption that adding stuff to the Titles page isn't a great awful pain in the pullman to do, BTW. If it's something that requires a bit of effort and logistics work, I can certainly see why it doesn't get updated every time someone takes a potshot at guessing. And I certainly wouldn't want anyone to have a premature origin!

  - mnw

[stooge1029]

On a side note, I can think of one TV episode title origin comes from the Three Stooges. The Family Guy episode where James Woods steals Peter's identity is called "Back to the Woods". This has to be a stooge reference.