"How about Playing The Ponies, Hoi Polloi, Malice In The Palice, Hula-La-La, Fright Night etc.? "
None of those shorts are bad, but PLAYING THE PONIES has never been one of my favorites. HOI POLLOI, on the other hand, is number two all-time for me, and is always a popular short with others. Basically, there are seven shorts which almost always get high in these tournaments: A PLUMBING WE WILL GO, AN ACHE IN EVERY STAKE, HOI POLLOI, THREE LITTLE BEERS, DISORDER IN THE COURT, BRIDELESS GROOM, and WHO DONE IT, though I am SHOCKED DISORDER IN THE COURT lost so early, but hey, it won the entire first tournament. Basically, those are the seven shorts which more or less get all the praise, on Stooge boards, at least. Critics are sometimes another thing when they actually turn off their snob meter and admit The Three Stooges exist. Leonard Maltin called MICRO-PHONIES the greatest short (a worthy contender in my mind), and some magazine article I read recently (forget the name of the magazine and am too lazy to find the article) said HOI POLLOI was the greatest Stooge short, so I guess that conforms with the boards "magic seven." For the early shorts, it seems a lot of critics think the best era of Stooge shorts started when Del Lord started directing with POP GOES THE EASEL.
A PLUMBING WE WILL GO deserves all the praise it gets because it has the Stooges as inept blue collar workers destroying a high society home....always one of their best scenarios. It also has arguably the greatest supporting player performance ever in a Stooge short from Dudley Dickerson, definitely Curly's best performance, and the most brilliant editing of any Stooge short. Those are the reasons why I love it, at least.