Topic: Three Stooges Journal # 135

[BeAStooge]

The Three Stooges Journal # 135 (Fall 2010) is now out.

Here's what subscribers can see, and non-subscribers will miss...

L.A. location from GRIPS, GRUNTS AND GROANS, the search for supporting actress Dorothy DeHaven, the Stooges on tour in 1942, selected supporting player biographies, trade paper reviews, the unfilmed scenes from BEER BARREL POLECATS (1946), a visit with actress Edith Fellows, and rare and candid photographs.

[metaldams]

Brent, you'll get a chuckle out of this.  I'm reading your BEER BARREL POLECATS article, and the second you mention the unused footage is identical to PARDON US, I instantly thought of the Lloyd lawsuit.  The very next paragraph, you mention it.  Great minds think alike, I guess.

I haven't seen PARDON US in years, but I'm going to have to dig out my VHS copy and re-watch it, then read the script you included.  It's also been a while since I've seen THE LAUREL-HARDY MURDER CASE, and while I know the plot is similar to IF A BODY MEETS A BODY, I can't remember if any of the comedy routines are identical.  Interestingly, IF A BODY MEETS A BODY and BEER BARREL POLECATS are pretty close chronologically.  I wonder if the Lloyd lawsuit happened around the same time, perhaps in between the filming of both shorts.  I guess I can research all of this.

I never did buy 100% into the theory that Curly's health was the reason for the stock footage in POLECATS, so this PARDON US/Lloyd theory is a welcome alternative.  Nice job, Brent.

[metaldams]

....forgot to mention BOOBY DUPES and TOWED IN A HOLE, another mid-40's Stooge short.  The Stooge writers obviously went through a Laurel and Hardy phase.

You guys who voted for The Marx Brothers in the debates reading all of this?  I still say Laurel and Hardy makes the better debate.

[metaldams]

Has anybody else received this?  Usually these Journal threads have a little more action.

[Dunrobin]

My copy of the Journal has been sitting on my coffee table unread since the 17th.  I've just been so busy that I haven't made time to read it yet; maybe this evening.

[falsealarms]

Got mine last Friday and devoured it that night. The location pieces are always big winners. Kind of ironic that I should read about the Hollywood Storage Co and then see CLEANING UP, a 1930 two reeler, that features a glimpse of either a Hollywood Storage building or ad on a building for it.

[FineBari3]

I was very glad to see the article on Dorothy DeHaven by Frank Reighter, after hearing and seeing all of the hard work he put into it!

My favorite article was the locations then and now, as they always are! Jim Pauley does a great job with those.

[falsealarms]

I agree, these detective style track downs of these people are fascinating.

[archiezappa]

I really enjoyed the Journal this time.  Always a great read.  Thanks to all the writers and the hard work they do to make such great articles.  Awesome!

[locoboymakesgood]

Brent, you'll get a chuckle out of this.  I'm reading your BEER BARREL POLECATS article, and the second you mention the unused footage is identical to PARDON US, I instantly thought of the Lloyd lawsuit.  The very next paragraph, you mention it.  Great minds think alike, I guess.

I never read about that. Is this what you are referring to?

LOCO BOY MAKES GOOD
 It is more than likely during this movie that Harold Lloyd sued Columbia for lifting his magician coat routine virtually in tact. Clyde Bruckman, who had worked with Lloyd kept recycling old Lloyd material into the Stooges comedies to the point where the lawsuit became inevitable. Bruckman found work less easy to obtain over the next dozen or so years getting mostly hand-outs from Buster Keaton who hired him for TV work in the 50's.

[metaldams]

I never read about that. Is this what you are referring to?

The LOCO BOY MAKES GOOD bit?  Yeah, that would be it.  The Lloyd movie the magician's coat scene is found in would be MOVIE CRAZY.

[Dog Hambone]

I really enjoyed the Journal this time.  Always a great read.  Thanks to all the writers and the hard work they do to make such great articles.  Awesome!

Gary Lassin's articles on the tours are fascinating. I honestly had no idea the boys were such troopers, traveling so much and making so many personal appearances. It's also cool to read about the warm receptions they got wherever they went.

[Rich Finegan]

Gary Lassin's articles on the tours are fascinating. I honestly had no idea the boys were such troopers, traveling so much and making so many personal appearances. It's also cool to read about the warm receptions they got wherever they went.

If you think about it, The Stooges made an average of eight shorts a year. The shorts were filmed in an average of three days. Even with extra days for meetings and preparation, that comes out to only maybe 40 days or less of actual shorts filming per year. That left a lot of time each year for activities like touring (and hopefully making extra income).

[curlysdame]

What I thought was cool was the fact that The Boys gave a 'private lecture' on stooging during their time in NYC.  How awesome would that have been to see Curly taking questions on the ins and outs of stooging?  Awesome.   

[Bruckman]

I just wanted to thank Brent, as well, for his excellent article on BEER BARREL POLECATS' script. It's clear that Gil Pratt not only was doing a Clyde Bruckman by reusing old material he'd written years before; it's equally clear that Columbia was taking no chances on another lawsuit and saw fit to truncate Pratt's script to avoid any controversy. I agree with the article's premise as well as the statement that Hal Roach probably wouldn't have sued Columbia over re-use of the material - especially when other former Hal Roach writers/directors were freely reusing L&H material (e.g. Hal Yates in the Edgar Kennedy shorts he was directing for RKO) but likely the Columbia legal dept. wasn't seeing matters that way. Pratt's script makes it certain that not only would BEER BARREL POLECATS have used the basic storyline of PARDON US, but it would have copied verbatim some key scenes. Pratt did get away with reusing the ending, but probably only because the extant ending of PARDON US is not the original; the ending was reshot at least 3 times.

[BeAStooge]

I just wanted to thank Brent, as well, for his excellent article on BEER BARREL POLECATS' script.

'Preciate it, and welcome back.

[metaldams]

Bruckman, great to see you back!  I hope you stick around.  I shot you a personal message, don't know if you check that or not.