Topic: Stooge actions with dummies

[Dr. Hugo Gansamacher]

For me, one of the sweetest genres of Stooge action is that in which dummies are used in place of the Stooges as projectiles. These bits, which usually last only a second, make me cackle out loud. To me, the fact that the bodies move in ways that are completely unlifelike only adds to the hilarity. I am hoping that there are other Stooge fans who find this sort of thing funny and will post videos here. Please post a video and specify the point in it at which the dummies appear.

I will start with LOVE AT FIRST BITE, in which Moe and Larry have the brilliant idea of using dynamite to extricate Shemp from the cement footbath in which they have sealed him. The dummies appear at 7:40, but the sequence begins with an explosion around 7:20:

[youtube=425,350]8knPEvNjWN0[/youtube]

[Dr. Hugo Gansamacher]

Another of my favorite dummy actions, again centered on Shemp, is in GOOF ON THE ROOF, when Shemp, or rather a dummy representing him, plunges through the roof of a house and directly into the television set in the living room below, feet first. It's around 7:40 in this video (though unfortunately the sound track is out of synch with the picture):

[youtube=425,350]rsyNAuSXqNs[/youtube]

[Boid Brain]

My fave is in the short where Curly is up a tree, and his bride orders him down (right on top of her) Sorry, but I don't know the name of the short. It was the one where they were "building" a dream house for the new wives.

[Curly4444]

My fave is in the short where Curly is up a tree, and his bride orders him down (right on top of her) Sorry, but I don't know the name of the short. It was the one where they were "building" a dream house for the new wives.

Its the The Sitter-Downer. Its at 13.46

[youtube=425,350]grmjoSdwZVw[/youtube]

[FineBari3]

My favorite is from Hoi Polloi, when they jump out of the window into the fountian! 

[youtube=425,350]XtvjzDvw7AU&feature=related[/youtube]

I just saw this short as part of the film program at the Sons of the Desert Founding Tent (NYC) this past Friday!

[Dr. Hugo Gansamacher]

Its the The Sitter-Downer. Its at 13.46

Good find, though it's too bad that one has to play the ads before one can watch those videos from Crackle.

My favorite is from Hoi Polloi, when they jump out of the window into the fountian! 

That's such a classic that they reused it---I think in HALF-WITS' HOLIDAY.

What's the one that starts with a shot of the entrance to a hotel from which we hear the sound of yelling, followed by three Stooge dummies that fly out the door like missiles and land in the street? (Eventually, after they have picked themselves up, the hotel manager, played by Bud Jamison, comes out and frightens them away.)

[BeAStooge]

That's such a classic that they reused it---I think in HALF-WITS' HOLIDAY.

IN THE SWEET PIE AND PIE (1941)

What's the one that starts with a shot of the entrance to a hotel from which we hear the sound of yelling, followed by three Stooge dummies that fly out the door like missiles and land in the street? (Eventually, after they have picked themselves up, the hotel manager, played by Bud Jamison, comes out and frightens them away.)

LOCO BOY MAKES GOOD (1942)

[Dr. Hugo Gansamacher]

IN THE SWEET PIE AND PIE (1941)

Oops. Thanks for the correction. I get all those Pygmalion-themed shorts mixed up.

LOCO BOY MAKES GOOD (1942)

Thanks. Here it is without any advertising. The dummies are at the very beginning:

[youtube=425,350]_YnFqque9eE[/youtube]

[Curly4444]

Good find, though it's too bad that one has to play the ads before one can watch those videos from Crackle.

Sorry about that, i didn't see it. I have an ad-blocker.

[Dr. Hugo Gansamacher]

Sorry about that, i didn't see it. I have an ad-blocker.

You have a program that lets you skip over video ads? What is it? I've got Adblock, but it doesn't do that, as far as I know.

[Curly4444]

You have a program that lets you skip over video ads? What is it? I've got Adblock, but it doesn't do that, as far as I know.

I have adblock for firefox. The only thing i saw was some warning(disclaimer) that there were ads in the video. Once it played i didn't see any.

[Dr. Hugo Gansamacher]

There is a use of dummies in the final sequence of HOKUS FOKUS, reused in FLAGPOLE JITTERS (about 7:45 in the video below). It seems to me much less funny than the others cited so far—perhaps because they don't fall very far.

[youtube=425,350]v7U8JPHbXhs[/youtube]

Added in editing: FLAGPOLE JITTERS actually uses a different shot with dummies for the Stooges falling into the room (about 7:10 in the video below):

[youtube=425,350]YJgIuj1r4TU[/youtube]

[pipboytaylor]

My favorite "dummy" scene would have to be in "A Crime On Their Hands" when Kenneth MacDonald's dummy self gets thrown head over heels a few times by the Gorilla as Shemp lies tied to the table!...as their shouts and hollering muffles in amongst the tosses! Hilarious!

[Giff me dat fill-em!]

I gotta new "Stooge Goof" for Hokus Pokus and Flagpole Jitters. Watch both the offerings by Dr. HG above and wait until Shemp pulls Moe's pants down to his shoes while they are hanging from the flagpole. (Hokus Pokus at about 7:20 and Flagpole at about 6:50) Shemp begins to climb up Moe's legs after Moe says "What's going on, I feel a draft" and his face reaches Moe's knees, then the shot changes to a close up of Shemp's face and he is suddenly back down at the bottom of Moe's pants once again. I would post these myself but being so absent from the forum lately I seem to have lost that favor from Dunrobin.

[Dunrobin]

I would post these myself but being so absent from the forum lately I seem to have lost that favor from Dunrobin.

Try logging out and back in, Giff.  I haven't changed your permissions at all, and every member has the ability to add goofs, so you should be able to enter them.  Sometimes the Filmography scripts don't want to read the cookie left on your machine, especially if it's been a while since you've been on the site.  (The new version of the site is getting more tightly integrated into the forum, which should eliminate those issues in the future.)

[Dr. Hugo Gansamacher]

My favorite "dummy" scene would have to be in "A Crime On Their Hands" when Kenneth MacDonald's dummy self gets thrown head over heels a few times by the Gorilla as Shemp lies tied to the table!...as their shouts and hollering muffles in amongst the tosses! Hilarious!

Agreed: that is a great dummy moment, especially with the bits of shouting inserted just as the ape flings the bodies into the air. It starts around 9:00 in this video:

[youtube=425,350]QIyiPtgIp50[/youtube]

(Another favorite bit of mine in this short occurs around 6:20 when the ape flings Larry through the hole in the wall back into the closet where he collides with Moe, who immediately bangs him on the head with the hammer that he is holding. Through this action, Larry mutters, "There's a . . . there's a big thing!")

[Dr. Hugo Gansamacher]

Another fine dummy moment is in THREE HAMS ON RYE, when the boys have assumed disguises to find the critic Barker and throw him out of the theater but fail to recognize one another. Moe and Shemp hit Larry on the head with clubs, punch him in the face and belly, turn him upside down, bang his head into the ground, and fling him through the air into a wall before becoming aware of their mistake. This is one of the rare instances in which the change between human being and dummy is technically pretty well done, but it is still ridiculous. The sequence starts around 6:40 in this video:

[youtube=425,350]1TMHUEEdR6M[/youtube]

[Shemp_Diesel]

This one just popped into my head; the dummy they use for Curly when Moe & Larry throw him through the prison wall. It's at about 4:10 in this video.


[youtube=425,350]6X6A9ET13kE[/youtube]

[Dr. Hugo Gansamacher]

This one just popped into my head; the dummy they use for Curly when Moe & Larry throw him through the prison wall. It's at about 4:10 in this video.

That one is well done as far as production is concerned, in that it is not obvious that the body is a dummy, but for that very reason of less value for humor than the ones where the bodies fly through the air in an obviously false way.

By the way, a television show that took up this tradition (as it might be called) of comic violence with dummies is Married, with Children, as in the following clip. Note Peg's line at 1:25 (referring to Al and Jefferson): "What are Shemp and Curly doing now?"

[youtube=425,350]EILGotMeJh4[/youtube]

[Dog Hambone]

I have 2 dummy favorites that still make me laugh out loud:
In FIDDLERS THREE where the horse kicks the boys down some kind of a chute to the cellar.
And in NUTTY BUT NICE where dummies of Moe & Larry fall down the dumbwaiter shaft & land on Curly & Betty Williams' father (the kidnapped bank cashier).  

[Dr. Hugo Gansamacher]

I have 2 dummy favorites that still make me laugh out loud:
In FIDDLERS THREE where the horse kicks the boys down some kind of a chute to the cellar.
And in NUTTY BUT NICE where dummies of Moe & Larrt fall down the dumbwaiter shaft & land on Curly & Betty Williams' father (the kidnapped bank cashier). 

Good choices. Those are great bits because the dummies are on screen for long enough to make it really obvious that they're dummies. They can be found, respectively, at at 1:40 in this clip---

[youtube=425,350]2dzEHBU3OoI[/youtube]

and at 4:40 in this one:

[youtube=425,350]5wyj0EJlz3c[/youtube]

[Shemp_Diesel]

Another dummy moment, from Idiots Deluxe. Start at about 5:26 (Now rest easy)...


[youtube=425,350]35KBr_ksmSM[/youtube]

[Dr. Hugo Gansamacher]

Another dummy moment, from Idiots Deluxe. Start at about 5:26 (Now rest easy)...

I think that there's also a bear dummy about 20 seconds further on, when Larry throws a stone that knocks the animal out cold.

[FineBari3]

I just had to say that this thread has been great so far!!!!

Some really good threads all over the site as of late!

[Dr. Hugo Gansamacher]

I just had to say that this thread has been great so far!!!!

Some really good threads all over the site as of late!

I appreciate hearing that from someone whose signature includes Homer Simpson's trenchant contribution to Stooge criticism.