Topic: Pop Goes the Easel (1935)

[Paul Pain]

No; I'm pretty sure that at that time it meant the same as to give someone the raspberry. Maestro Shemp plays with the same phrase in his instructions to his singing pupil in Brideless Groom. "Yes, that's right: give me the bird!"

Though it is worth mentioning that "the finger" and "the arm" both go back to the days of the ancient Roman Empire.

Line worth mentioning is Curly's pig latin, but I can't figure out what he's saying "Ix-nay [something], it's the op-cay!"

[Dr. Mabuse]

Del Lord Rules!

A great start, but Del and the Stooges were just getting warmed up. Perhaps the only clay fight in cinema history.

8.5/10

[Paul Pain]

This short somehow rules like an all-time classic while being filled with flaws that definitely make it not be an all-time classic.  I think, though, after viewing this one again I would have to choose one of the following as the funniest moment (even if not the highlight gag):
(1) Curly spelling chrysanthemum so easily right after Moe couldn't.
(2) Hearing Moe yell "Those are my cigarettes" and slapping Larry.

[Samurai]

Line worth mentioning is Curly's pig latin, but I can't figure out what he's saying "Ix-nay [something], it's the op-cay!"

Ixnay the aggincray.  I wonder if Curly messed up and meant to say abbincray...crabbin'. Cragging is a rock climbing term.

Finally, a few unmentioned highlights:
*Curly's surprisingly good Mae West impression
*Larry riding the two-headed paint brush like a lil' horsey.  I had never really noticed that until today...even with 50+ years of loyal Stooge watching under my belt.
*My sister...Crumette
*The mystery model in black is definitely NOT Geneva Mitchell
9/10

[GreenCanaries]

*The mystery model in black is definitely NOT Geneva Mitchell

Weird to see that this came up in a new post today: just this morning, I was revisiting some of my first posts on here (just feelin' nostalgic) and as such, I was looking at this very thread! Where on page 1, I had inquired about this very thing, early in my Moronikan citizenship (in fact, that was my 10th ever post)...

And it reminds me, I do think I have since figured out who the mystery model in black is: Doris McMahon (or McMahan, MacMahon, etc.).

She was in some Columbia product at this time (the feature CARNIVAL, the Charles Murray short HIS OLD FLAME, and I think I had spotted her in Harry Langdon's HIS BRIDAL SWEET as well). Probably best remembered as the adult "Mary Wade" (one of the two young adults who shrink) in Our Gang's SHRIMPS FOR A DAY; she's also in FREE AND EASY and Clark & McCullough's final film, ALIBI BYE-BYE.

[Gary Teresi]

Larry was a real violin player like Jack Benny

[Dunrobin]

Line worth mentioning is Curly's pig latin, but I can't figure out what he's saying "Ix-nay [something], it's the op-cay!"

Ixnay the aggincray.  I wonder if Curly messed up and meant to say abbincray...crabbin'. Cragging is a rock climbing term.

You can hear Moe slapping Larry just before Curly says that line, and I think what Curly is saying, "Ixnay the ackingcray, it's the opcay!"   (Nix the cracking - it's the cop!)

[Paul Pain]

You can hear Moe slapping Larry just before Curly says that line, and I think what Curly is saying, "Ixnay the ackingcray, it's the opcay!"   (Nix the cracking - it's the cop!)

Dunrobin agrees with what I thought it was, so I'm going to say it is indeed "ackingcray" that fills the gap!

[Daddy Dewdrop]

One of the first shorts I remember seeing multiple times as a kid and still a sentimental favorite.  I rank it #35 overall.

[NoahYoung]

Definitely a classic. I LOVE the energy the boys had in their 30s shorts. I'm also a sucker for location shooting that shows street scenes.

I'd forgotten that this short uses neither "Listen to the Mocking Bird" nor "Three Blind Mice" under the main titles -- though using "Pop Goes the Weasel" is not a very original idea given the title of the short!
I imagine that Columbia chose to use non-copyrighted (I think) music under the titles to save money. Also, they rarely used any background music throughout the 190 shorts.

I love how they hop-scotched through the buckets when running from the cop -- and the cop follows suit. When the boys then hop-scotched through an actual chalked hopscotch on the sidewalk, the cop for some reason doesn't follow suit. I found that strange. I would have had the cop start to do it, then stop as he realizes how stupid it is to waste time. That would have been funnier.

BTW, do kids still play hopscotch? I long for the days when kids played street games and didn't spend all their time on their iPhones or playing Nintendo!

This is one that I will watch again soon, since there are so many little things that you might not catch without repeated viewings.

I think the 2012 movie, which I haven't seen in a while, had some street scenes with those boards where they were looking for work, didn't they? I remember when I first saw it that it reminded me of this short.