Topic: Three Little Beers (1935)

[metaldams]

http://www.threestooges.net/filmography/episode/11

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0027097/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

So, Del Lord is still at the helm, does the hot streak continue?  The answer is yes, absolutely.  THREE LITTLE BEERS is yet another Three Stooges classic, but in some ways is a completely different short than HOI POLLOI.  HOI POLLOI has the sophisticated themes of heredity vs environment and high society v. low society running throughout, but THREE LITTLE BEERS has very little, if any of that.  No, THREE LITTLE BEERS is a slapstick tour de force, plain and simple.  It has to rank among the top shorts in pure mayhem and destruction, and the beer barrel chase scene towards the end is in the tradition of great silent comedy chase scenes.  While the obvious use of stunt doubles makes the chase scenes lack the authenticity of Keaton or Lloyd, the stunt doubles do add to the surrealism of it all and are entertaining in their own right.  Del Lord, with his Sennett background, was ideal to direct chase scenes like this.

The Three Stooges are just flat out ignorant about the game of golf in this one and they get good mileage out of it.  Some favorite bits on that end are Moe saying, "Just my luck" about him hitting the ball on Curly's hat ino the hole, Moe bragging to the Italian groundskeeper that the divots he's creating are getting progressively smaller, Curly's "Look at the golf's" line (a nod to "Look at the grouse" from POP GOES THE EASEL), and Curly's response o Moe about what he shot yesterday about being a pair of sevens.  Oh, and speaking of Curly, he is about as manic here as you'll ever see him, especially the part when he's trying to get the ball out of he tree.  Bud Jamison and Tiny Sanford are also great in their opening scene.

So yes folks, the streak of classics continues.  HOI POLLOI is the chicken cordon bleu to THREE LITTLE BEER's juicy steak.  One's more sophisticated, but both are satisfying.

10/10

[Shemp_Diesel]

Yes sir, Del Lord does it again. I get the feeling we're going to keep saying that in the coming weeks for him & for Preston Black.

You know, I never stopped to think if sports was a subject that the stooges often tackled, at least it doesn't seem they did it as often as some other themes (detective episodes for instance), but sports is a theme they often tackled well, so to speak as we saw in Three Little Pigskins, this short & the later Grips, Grunts and Groans.

Of course, the wholesale destruction of the golf course is classic & as is the beer barrels rolling down the street, but I think my favorite part might be Curly doing his laundry with the ball washing machine (Lady Godiva, eh).

10 out of 10

[Rich Finegan]

Excellent short all the way through, though I always thought the final scene was lame and disappointing after all the great stuff that came before. It's like they just ran out of time and ended it with no clever or inspired gag.

[Sledgehammer]

Hellooooo Hellooo Hellooooooo....Hello!

I'm new to these here parts. I added my review of Three Little Beers on its page.

I most certainly loved it.

My one curiosity: I always wondered if the Italian gardeners were supposed to be some sort of stereotype of the day.

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

Didn't somebody say that golf course is still there?

[JazzBill]

Once again this short is loaded with some great location shots. Just as soon as the warehouse foreman says, "I just hired three new men and everything is going to be alright....I hope". You know he couldn't be more wrong.  To a certain extent I believe this short  puts the boys against high society people again. Maybe not to the extent as in Hoi Polloi but the people at the golf club come across as stuffed shirts to me. A lot of people play golf today but I believe during the depresion in 1935 it was a rich mans game. But I could be wrong. This short is high on my list of favorites and I rate it a 9.

[Dr. Hugo Gansamacher]

My one curiosity: I always wondered if the Italian gardeners were supposed to be some sort of stereotype of the day.

I imagine that they were, at least around Los Angeles.

Why you choppa, choppa, choppa? You think you-a George-a Wash?

[Kopfy2013]

Didn't somebody say that golf course is still there?

Yes it is. It is in Santa Monica, California and is a public course.

It is on my to do list to play it!

[BeAStooge]

Didn't somebody say that golf course is still there?

Rancho Park is in Los Angeles, on Pico Blvd. near 20th Century Fox.

It's the same acreage, but not the same course.  When the Stooges filmed there, it was a private course.  Seized for unpaid taxes, the course was plowed under and used as a vehicle depot during WW2, storing tanks, trucks, jeeps before they were shipped out to the Pacific.  In the late '40s, it was turned back into a golf course by the city of L.A.; the Parks Dept. owns it, and it's a public course.

[Dr. Hugo Gansamacher]

Excellent short all the way through, though I always thought the final scene was lame and disappointing after all the great stuff that came before. It's like they just ran out of time and ended it with no clever or inspired gag.

Of course, a proper Stooge ending has to have the three of them running away from the people whom they have enraged, with Curly going "Woo-woo-woo!"--rather like what happens when they leave the golf course, although the short doesn't end there.

[Kopfy2013]

Rancho Park is in Los Angeles, on Pico Blvd. near 20th Century Fox.

It's the same acreage, but not the same course.  When the Stooges filmed there, it was a private course.  Seized for unpaid taxes, the course was plowed under and used as a vehicle depot during WW2, storing tanks, trucks, jeeps before they were shipped out to the Pacific.  In the late '40s, it was turned back into a golf course by the city of L.A.; the Parks Dept. owns it, and it's a public course.

Thanks for the clarification. Jim Pauley's book mentioned Santa Monica.

Thanks also for the information that the golf course was razed and built over again. I did not know that.

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

It takes a whale of a paunch on Jack Lipson to make Bud Jamison look fit and trim by comparison.  Plus I like the sneaky little pun on Panther Pilsner Beer.

[Dr. Hugo Gansamacher]

In many of the shorts, you can find one moment when some little thing happens that is quite unlike any action in the other shorts. For me such an action is Moe's whirlwind driving practice, when we see him walloping a series of golf balls in fast motion, and then see, somewhere out on the course, a number of golfers who have collapsed, apparently felled by the balls driven by Moe, as further balls drop down among them. I can't think of another instance in which he inflicts harm on several unoffending people (by which I mean non-Stooges!) out of sheer preoccupation with one task and disregard of its effects. Anyway, analysis aside, I've always found this moment funny and distinctive.

Big Chief Apumtagribonitz, please tell me what the pun is in "Panther Pilsner Beer." I fear that I shall want to smack my forehead when I am told, but if there is a gag in that name (which, of course, there should be), it has escaped my notice.

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

At least where I come from, bad beer is called Panther Piss.

[Dr. Hugo Gansamacher]

At least where I come from, bad beer is called Panther Piss.

I've never heard such an expression (so I'm not smacking my forehead), but it sounds like a plausible reference. There must, after all, be some reason why they would give the company such a specific name as "Panther Pilsner" and not something colorless like "Best Beer." Thanks for the explanation.

[Kopfy2013]

This is one of my favorite shorts.

In trying to analyze it I think it is many things such as all the different locations, being outside.  The fact that golf is integral to the short and how well they make fun of golf.

I love it when Moe looks around then kicks the ball (the old fashioned foot wedge) ...  How Moe's pretentious walk makes fun of the 'elitism' many golfers feel they have.

Many of the points have already been discussed and I like them too.  Larry getting slapped and hurting his neck, Moe hitting him the other way to straighten it out.

"Sold to the man with the spittoon haircut" ... making fun of themselves ...

"Pointing to you"  "No pointing to where I was"

"Press, Press, Pull"

I also find it funny that the one women golfer, the brunette is smiling on all the shots she is in.  She was cracking up.

I used Jim Pauley's book to check out the locations for this short and he was dead on with the info.  It was very cool to see.  Someone on this site mentioned that there were 3 streets that the barrels were rolling on. Jim shows and talks about 2.  I would be curious on where the 3rd street was.

Where the cop got bowled over Jim mentions that it basically looks the same as it did 75+ years ago and he is right.  Telephone poles and everything.  Pictures to compare then and in 2013 are below.  The drugstore is now a coffee shop.  I went in there and it was packed.  There are murals and portraits painted on the walls but no stooges.  I wanted to talk to the owner/manager about that but the place was packed.

As I stated stated in an earlier post, I have to play that golf course and if there is slow play  will do as Curly says 'We wait for no one!"

[Dr. Hugo Gansamacher]

One of my favorite odd little bits in this short occurs around 9:30. We see a shot of a man (who, so far as I can tell, never appears in any other shot in the movie) driving a ball and then cut to a shot in which, with a bizarre, jerky animated effect, the ball hits first Larry, then Moe, then Curly on the head in quick succession—with, of course, accompanying comic sound effects. "Oh," says Moe to Larry, "a wise guy, a head clonker, eh?", giving him a slap, and subsequently dealing one to Curly too when he asserts Larry's innocence.

The business of Moe blaming each of the other two Stooges in turn for some harm to him that is due to neither of them occurs many times in the shorts, of course, but I don't know of another in which the cause is a person out of frame who, so far as one can tell, causes the injury unintentionally and unwittingly.

[metaldams]

One of my favorite odd little bits in this short occurs around 9:30. We see a shot of a man (who, so far as I can tell, never appears in any other shot in the movie) driving a ball and then cut to a shot in which, with a bizarre, jerky animated effect, the ball hits first Larry, then Moe, then Curly on the head in quick succession—with, of course, accompanying comic sound effects. "Oh," says Moe to Larry, "a wise guy, a head clonker, eh?", giving him a slap, and subsequently dealing one to Curly too when he asserts Larry's innocence.

The business of Moe blaming each of the other two Stooges in turn for some harm to him that is due to neither of them occurs many times in the shorts, of course, but I don't know of another in which the cause is a person out of frame who, so far as one can tell, causes the injury unintentionally and unwittingly.

Nice observation, I do enjoy that part.

It's funny, as a kid I simply enjoyed the slaps and bonks for their own sake but now I appreciate the character motivation and team dynamic behind them, and the way you described that scene is a great example.

[Squirrelbait]

Aah, one of my top 5 favorites - it always seems to score a hole in one with fans (sorry - couldn't resist!)

It starts off with a bang when the Stooges are delivery men for the Panther Pilsner Brewing Company. They're informed of a company golf contest with a prize of $100, and when they find themselves right in the middle of ' a GOLF place', they seize the opportunity to sneak in a little practice.

Favorite moments:
'How're we gonna shoot golfs without guns?' and 'Look at the golfs!'
Seeing the Stooges in their golfing clothes (especially Moe's baggy pants)
'I shot a SEVEN, but they wouldn't give me the money!'
Curly hitting the golf ball which richochets off the tree and smacks Moe in the forehead
Moe's 'Just my luck!'
Watching the missing balls fall out of Curly's shirt
Curly doing his laundry (Oh, Lady Go-diva, eh?)
Watching each of the Stooges create their own seperate chaos and destroying the golf course
The climatic beer barrel chase scene and the ending as they wind up stuck in the wet cement

This one has Waaay too many higlights to mention. Was so glad when Sony gave this one a PROPER DVD release with the scene with Curly and the golf balls intact.

I absolutely love this one - 10/10!

It's also interesting to hear that the golf course is still around.

 

'Oh, a wiseguy, a head-clunker, hey?' *SMACK*

[Dr. Hugo Gansamacher]

Where the cop got bowled over Jim mentions that it basically looks the same as it did 75+ years ago and he is right.  Telephone poles and everything.  Pictures to compare then and in 2013 are below.  The drugstore is now a coffee shop.  I went in there and it was packed.  There are murals and portraits painted on the walls but no stooges.  I wanted to talk to the owner/manager about that but the place was packed.

Thanks a lot for the photos, but--what is the location?

[Kopfy2013]

Echo Park area of LA ... I do not have the exact address on me but if you want the exact address let me know and I will get it.

[Dr. Hugo Gansamacher]

Echo Park area of LA ... I do not have the exact address on me but if you want the exact address let me know and I will get it.

That's okay: once I had the information "Echo Park, Los Angeles," I put it together with "Chango," the name on the coffee shop, and found the location on Google Maps.

[Kopfy2013]

It is very cool to see if you get a chance ... I will be going back ... have to get a coffee and talk to the manager ... they need to put something Stooge in there !!!

[Dr. Hugo Gansamacher]

It is very cool to see if you get a chance ... I will be going back ... have to get a coffee and talk to the manager ... they need to put something Stooge in there !!!

A decorative beer barrel would be nice! It could be displayed along with your still from the movie showing the building with the "Ex-Lax" sign.

[QuinceHead]

One of my favorite shorts!

"Press.  Press.  PULL!! Nyuknyuknyuk!!!" And the poor guy behind the counter's reaction to this...

For duty and humanity,
JohnH aka QuinceHead