Topic: "Ughmph!"

[MR77100]

In the earlier Stooges shorts, there is a dubbed in "Ughmph!" when someone is knocked down to the floor. It happens twice in BOOBS IN ARMS when Curly head-butts Richard Fiske in the stomach. Does anyone know whose voice it is?

[Bum]

In the earlier Stooges shorts, there is a dubbed in "Ughmph!" when someone is knocked down to the floor. It happens twice in BOOBS IN ARMS when Curly head-butts Richard Fiske in the stomach. Does anyone know whose voice it is?

That dubbed voice/sound effect was used dozens of times over the Stooges' Columbia career, from the earliest films all the way up to "Sweet and Hot" in 1958, and you're right, it's usually used when someone hits the ground real hard. I think I may have heard it in some non-Stooges Columbia shorts as well. I don't know whose voice it is, but it certainly doesn't sound like any of the Stooges. I'm assuming it was something from Columbia's sound effects library.

[JazzBill]

I know the sound effect that you're talking about, I've even heard it in a episode of "The Wild Wild West".

[ThumpTheShoes]

One of my sound effects library cd's has that sound on it-- a thud and then the grunt, along with stuff like the very quick "bffft!" sound when two people bump into each other, and the "boi-oi-oi-oinnnng" spring. WB issued the discs.

70% sure I heard the same effect in some MGM short which pre-dated the Stooges. Maybe a Rascals picture?

[Rich Finegan]

In the earlier Stooges shorts, there is a dubbed in "Ughmph!" when someone is knocked down to the floor. It happens twice in BOOBS IN ARMS when Curly head-butts Richard Fiske in the stomach. Does anyone know whose voice it is?

You're probably talking about the sound effect I've (for lack of any more inspired name) always called the "fall down, grunt" effect. And yes, it's in lots of other Columbia films, not just comedy shorts. It can be especially funny (unintentionally) to hear it in some dramatic serious movie because of its familiarity from Stooges shorts ... it'll result in an unintended laugh for Stooges fans where the filmmakers obviously didn't plan one.

I never really thought about its origin or first usage. But a couple nights ago I was watching the 1935 Columbia short HONEYMOON BRIDGE starring Leon Errol and there it was when Leon tripped over a floor broom/mop type thing. Watching it on 16mm film I couldn't easily stop & rewind to listen again (although I do also have it on video), but it sounded like Errol's voice, so it made me wonder if that may have been its first usage.
Has anyone noticed it in any film earlier than this Leon Errol short (filmed in late August 1935 and released in early October 1935)?

[MR77100]

The earliest Stooge short that contains this sound effect is HOI POLLI, when they collide during the dance lesson scene.

[MR77100]

Could everyone please help compile a list of the episodes where this sound effect is found? I will start.
-HOI POLLI (dance lesson scene)
-BOOBS IN ARMS (Curly head-butting Fiske in the stomach twice)
-SO LONG MR. CHUMPS (charging through door into police station)
-IN THE SWEET PIE AND PIE (charging through the door of the mansion?
-SWEET AND HOT (Tiny knocking down Larry and Joe on stage)
-SAVED BY THE BELLE (Moe falling down during the earthquake)

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

To be completely subjective, having no proof whatsoever, it always sounded like Bud Jamison to me.

[MR77100]

More....

-BACK FROM THE FRONT (Curly knocking Vernon Dent out of the hammock) and (first Natzi officer slipping off the boat deck)
-WHAT'S THE MATADOR? (Curly falling through the open door)and (Jose running into the wall behind the door)
-NUTTY BUT NICE (Stooges hitting wall after crashing through front door of the boarding house) and (Cy getting stabbed in the gut with the bed frame)

[Curly Van Dyke]

I always thought it was Bud Jamison. Columbia made good use of it.
I've heard it in Blondie,Jungle Jim and Boston Blackie and I know there are more.

[Curly Van Dyke]

Yes,I just hears it also on a Wild,Wild West fight scene. Columbia sure got their mileage out of it.

[Moose Malloy]

Yes,I just hears it also on a Wild,Wild West fight scene. Columbia sure got their mileage out of it.

Movie or TV WWW?

BTW: Is Columbia still in business, or have they been merged, or what?