The rare Stooges film SURPRISE SURPRISE (1937) is scheduled to be shown on Saturday afternoon, August 11, 2012 as part of Capitolfest 10 in Rome, New York.
I described the film in this post when it was shown last March at Cinefest:
http://moronika.com/index.php/topic,4648.0.htmlThis rarity is as delightful as it is rare and I can't recommend it highly enough to all Three Stooges fans!
Here are details on Capitolfest:
http://www.romecapitol.com/capitolfest.htmlAnother Columbia short being shown that will be of interest to Stooges fans is A STAR IS SHORN (1939). It is a Hollywood comedy starring Ethelreda Leopold in what has to be her biggest role in any film, with lots of dialogue, doing a good job as a dumb girl who wins a beauty contest ("Miss Maple Syrup") and goes to Hollywood.
Top billed in the short is Danny Webb who may not be very well-known to movie fans who aren't into animation, but classic cartoon fans certainly know his voice - he worked in numerous cartoons for Columbia and most memorably Warner Bros. where he was the voice of the character "Egghead" among others.
Lots of Columbia shorts regulars (who were Stooges supporting players) appear in A STAR IS SHORN, including Victor Travers, Al Thompson, Cy Schindell, Vernon Dent, John Tyrrell, Beatrice Blinn, and Dudley Dickerson. And, as usual, Dudley's scene is a real highlight! (And strangely, his character is addressed onscreen as "Snowflake"...perhaps the actor Fred Toones who was known as "Snowflake" was to do the role originally but for some reason was replaced by Dudley and they never changed the script).
But another player appears in this short who will be of most interest to Three Stooges fans - Curly Howard! Yes, it's Curly, or actually his voice. As fans of the great Buster Keaton's 1939 Columbia short THE PEST FROM THE WEST have heard, Columbia used Curly's voice occasionally in non-Stooges shorts dubbed in usually for someone falling down stairs or something similar. Twice in A STAR IS SHORN we hear Curly's voice dubbed in for Cy Schindell.
Another fun thing about A STAR IS SHORN is that it includes a little more music than most Columbia shorts, including an extended version of a selection that will be recognized by Stooges fans: "Military March" which was used in the Stooges shorts THREE LITTLE TWIRPS and GENTS WITHOUT CENTS.
A STAR IS SHORN is also fun for locations researchers. This was made during the time when Columbia still did a lot of outdoor filming and there are lots of locations used in this one. From a rooftop scene we can even see the famous Hollywoodland sign in the background.
Another rare Columbia short scheduled for Capitolfest 10 is HIS MARRIAGE MIXUP (1935) starring Harry Langdon. As was often the case, Langdon's friend Vernon Dent co-stars with Harry in this one, but not only that, Vernon gets sole writing credit on this short. He occasionally co-wrote stories for some comedy shorts, usually for Langdon, but not often receiving full story and screenplay credit. And Vernon was no fool - there's a romantic scene in this short between his character and gorgeous Dorothy Granger! Hey, he wrote it!
So....who else is coming to Capitolfest this week-end for all these cool rarities?
