Topic: Yes, We Have No Bonanza (1939)

[metaldams]

http://www.threestooges.net/filmography/episode/39
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032150/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

It's been a while since I've seen this one, and I've always considered this an average short.  Upon my most recent viewing, I realize I like this short much better than I remember, always a good thing!  Like I'll be repeating like a broken record for the shorts of the next few years, this is the boys at their peak, and the energy they have at this time is awesome.

I do love the opening stage scene.  It's fun watching the boys perform on stage with their girlfriends and funnily enough, it's obvious all three ladies are taller than the Stooges.  Hey, nothing wrong with that, I've been known to like women taller than me, but still, it goes to show that The Three Stooges, like several classic comedians, were little guys.  I also love Curly's intro, him strapping in his bike like it's a horse and then taking apart his hat in two pieces and hanging each bit on the rack.  Great pieces of prop humor that would make Charlie Chaplin proud.

I also love this part at around the 4:30 mark, after Moe gets drenched with the beer because Larry fails to catch it.  Moe pretending he understands it was an accident with Larry mumbling an "Oh gee, that's nice" only to get smacked on the skull and have Moe proclaim what he just did is no accident is hysterical.  It's not funny when I type it but the timing of those two together is again, them in their prime.

My only minor complaint about this short is the chase at the end.  It's too brief and too faked.  I'm spoiled on silent comedy, the height of comedic chase scenes, and this short did't have time or budget to do a great chase scene.  A shame, because the rest of the short is absolutely awesome.  Still, a minor complaint, nowhere near enough to hinder my enjoyment.

8/10

[Shemp_Diesel]

When deciding on my favorite stooge western, I have to say it's a close race between this one & Goofs and Saddles. I enjoyed Curly's line about "I whistle for the dog & my wife comes out" and the exchange that goes on between him and Moe afterwards (me with children, dozens of them).

8 out of 10....

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

First- rate, not a flabby moment ( except for the chase, you're right, but it doesn't last long enough to matter much ), and Curly should be pitching for the Red Sox, especially since that couldn't have been a real rock, my best guess is a slightly weighted sponge.
     I never would have remembered, but now that you mention it, that "whistle for the dog" line also strikes me as Curly's real voice.
     An example of the vagaries of an acting career is that the Mayor in Ducking is just the piano player here.  Photographed pretty much only from the back, too.  I'd go find his name, but I'm so spastic with computers that I'd probably erase what I've written so far.

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

Chuck Callahan.  I'm surprised the cast list has him unidentified, sure looks like the Mayor to me.  And of course it was Shemp_Diesel who brought up the dog line.

[BeAStooge]

... the Mayor in Ducking is just the piano player here. 

Chuck Callahan is not the piano player.  He is one of the saloon patrons, first seen by face as Curly enters the bar.  Later, only from the back of the head, watching as the girls & Stooges sing, and as Moe's beer customer.

The piano player is currently unidentified.

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

O K , I believe you, but that one brief glimpse of the pianist still looks like the mayor to me.  I haven't checked those other don't-blinks that you mentioned, could he have played both those parts?  The fact that they're bald is somewhat persuasive for me, though I usually don't go this deeply into this stuff.  It at least proves my original point, perhaps even more so, about the vagaries of the acting business, since in the last episode he was the mayor, and now he's not even the piano player, he's just a bar extra.

[metaldams]

And Curly should be pitching for the Red Sox, especially since that couldn't have been a real rock, my best guess is a slightly weighted sponge.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that.  Along with the spike in the eye from THEY STOOGE TO CONGA, perhaps the most brutal slapstick ever in a Stooge short.  Quite funny too, as the proper reaction would be Moe falling down with his brains splattered on the ground.  Instead we get Moe acting like it's just business as usual, a rock being thrown at his skull like a 95 MPH fastball.

[Kopfy2013]

In Jon Solomon's book he says it best. He says this short combines some of the most successful Stooge scenarios and gags including a western setting; singing and dancing; prospecting; working with tools; handling dynamite; traveling with animals; trying to help damsels in distress; the defeating crooks; stumbling upon a treasure and being involved in a chase scene.

This does have it all. There are no hilarious moments for me though. Still a quality short that makes the Stooges the Stooges.

I give it an 8.

[Paul Pain]

Poor York... Moe gets the worst end of the stick in this short.

"Speak to me kid!  Say somethin'!"
"Bonanza!"

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

I think a mistake has been made:  Chuck Callahan is listed in the cast lists as playing Mr McGurn in Punch Drunks.  The actor who played Mr McGurn is not the same guy who played the mayor, and the picture of the actor in the cast list is the Mayor in Ducking, not Mr McGurn.
     I had a sneaky suspicion that Chuck Callahan was the wrong name for the actor who plays the Mayor.  I think his real name is Casey Something, though I can't find it.
     But those are definitely two different actors.  They look different, and the voices are not even close.

[BeAStooge]

Chuck Callahan is listed in the cast lists as playing Mr McGurn in Punch Drunks.  The actor who played Mr McGurn is not the same guy who played the mayor, and the picture of the actor in the cast list is the Mayor in Ducking, not Mr McGurn.

Both the McGurn and the Mayor are 100% Chuck Callahan.

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

I can only repeat my previous post and invite any input, pro or con, from any other members.

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

And, just to head off what may become an unproductive dead end, he's not Bobby Callahan, either.  Bobby Callahan was the telegraph boy in Men In Black and was in Roast Beef and Movies.
     I swear the mayor's real name is Casey Something.

[BeAStooge]

And, just to head off what may become an unproductive dead end, he's not Bobby Callahan, either.  Bobby Callahan was the telegraph boy in Men In Black and was in Roast Beef and Movies.
     I swear the mayor's real name is Casey Something.

Bobby Callahan was Chuck Callahan's younger brother.


Casey Colombo played 'Ironhead' in GRIPS, GRUNTS AND GROANS.  Casey was a professional wrestler on the southern California circuits in the early mid-1930s.  Confirmation of Casey as 'Ironhead' was made by the Journal and Stoogeum staffs a couple years ago, especially with the help of Frank Reighter who contacted Colombo's family and acquired a few family photos of Casey.


Chuck Callahan

PUNCH DRUNKS - Mr. McGurn
GRIPS, GRUNTS, AND GROANS - Tony
DIZZY DOCTORS - Patient in operating room
A DUCKING THEY DID GO - Mayor
YES, WE HAVE NO BONANZA - Man in saloon
GLOVE SLINGERS - Spectator
YOU NAZTY SPY! - Stormtrooper
THREE SMART SAPS - Man on street

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

I certainly concede your points about the wrestler's being named Casey Columbo, and about Chuck Callahan being both Mr McGurn , Tony, and the patient on the table.  No problem there at all, and I'm willing to concede that the Mayor's real name isn't Casey something, I admitted to fishing around on that in the first place.  But is there a good representative still of Callahan as McGurn or Tony that can be posted side-by-side with this one of the mayor?  ( My computer skills are so dismal that this is not something I can do myself. )  I'm pretty confident that that would show two different guys.  And again, the Mayor's voice is very different from Tony's.

[JazzBill]

According to IMDb Mr. McGurn was played by Casey Columbo. Chuck Callahan had a uncredited role as a waiter. IMDb also says that Casey Columbo  plays Tony In Grips Grunts and Groans. Somethings wrong somewhere. I'm pretty sure McGurn and Tony are the same guy but I don't know about the Mayor.

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

Well, that certainly muddies the waters.  Do I understand correctly that IMDB is far from infallible?  Again, this sort of trivia is not what I'm really into, so I'm not acting naive, I'm really kind of at sea here, and can't believe I've got myself in this deep.  My curiosity, though, has been piqued, I'll admit.

[JazzBill]

It's never a wise move to doubt BeAStooge so I'll take his word for it.

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

This sounds like trouble.  Actually, it sounds like Lieutenant Duck to me.

[BeAStooge]

According to IMDb ...

The IMDb information is wrong.  As you know, the staffs of The Three Stooges Journal and The Stoogeum have worked many years to compile the most accurate information available, and this site's cast list reflects that work.

Yes, that is Chuck Callahan in the roles listed above.

[JazzBill]

The IMDb information is wrong.  As you know, the staffs of The Three Stooges Journal and The Stoogeum have worked many years to compile the most accurate information available, and this site's cast list reflects that work.

That's why I took your word over IMDb.

[garystooge]

Casey Columbo's daughter provided us with critical information....that her father was 5'11" tall and weighed 200 lbs. Since Mr. McGurn is a very slightly built guy (he appears to be even shorter than the 5'4" Stooges) we knew there's no way that Columbo played Mr. McGurn.  For those of us trying to nail down these supporting players, IMDB is almost a curse. It perpetuates a lot of misinformation and when we uncover mistakes, others think we're off base because "that's not what IMDB says."
Gary

[Larrys#1]

An above average episode. Not one of my favorite, but not one of my least favorites either. Some funny moments such as... Larry spilling the beer all over Moe, the chickens hatching out of the eggs, and the stooges thinking that the horse ate the dynamite.

8/10

[TiskaTaskaBaska]

I think this short is pretty poor. As with all Stooges shorts there are quotable moments, good / great moments, awesome moments....but the story was blah and you kind of don't care about it. After watching it I will sing, "Just remember the Red River Valley" for HOURS, and regardless of the identity of the piano player, I love the little Stooges theme riff at the end of the song. I love the "Western Surprise" drink scene...."Do you know what you did? ..... Grab him" at the fade out. "If a dumb guy like that can dig up gold, so can we" always makes me smile.   Once they get into the wilderness it get sketchy and I forget what the story is. The bull's eye that Curly lands on Moe's head always merits rewind and rewatch....and every time I'm doing something borderline stupid or dangerous at the house I say, "I'll handle it as though it were eggs....I mean I'll be careful." One dumb thing that has bothered me is when Curly does the xylophone riffs on the ribs....he runs up the ribs and then down the ribs, so one xylophone riff clip should be ascending and one descending. Is that expecting too much?  I totally lose interest by the time of the cigar horse chase. I'd say this one is a 6.5.

[JazzBill]

This is a middle of the road short to me. It's pretty good but nothing great. I do enjoy shorts that the boys sing in, I think Dick Curtis plays a great bad guy and Moe dishes out a fair amount of punishment. I wonder how many takes it took for Curly to bonk Moe on the head with that rock? I'll rate it a 8.