For years, HELLO POP was a lost film that almost every Stooge fan was dying to see. When it was found, it got a little bit of publicity, people watched it and it’s now been damned to the blasé purgatory all the other Healy MGM shorts reside in. I’m glad this was found nonetheless.
This is a real loud comedy with Ted Healy screaming at Henry Armetta and others with bits of The Three Stooges and musical numbers with some Rudy Vallee wannabes. There’s also a bunch of leggy showgirls for good measure. It’s obvious Ted Healy did not have a character to carry a feature length film and was served well going into supporting roles. Just too loud and abrasive when relying on his own character to carry things, I find him hard to take in this short.
As for The Three Stooges themselves, the few moments they do have show promise, especially when they are reading over the script. Most interesting is Moe’s interaction with the leading lady of the play and how he aggressively kisses her. Columbia Moe was child like around women, so this moment indeed is the biggest revelation about HELLO POP. All Three Stooges hiding under her dress may also be the most risqué gag they ever did - definitely a pre-code moment.
Overall, a bizarre acid trip of a short that has The Three Stooges in it. The comedy, music and pacing of the thing is very quick and without rhyme or reason, very dream like. Even the end with pretty girls falling from the Heavens is dream like. A strange film that’s interesting to see but at the same time, not the reason I, and I assume most others, are Three Stooges fans.
