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An Ache In Every Stake (1941)

metaldams · 58 · 27985

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Offline metaldams

By the way, well done to you, Metaldams, on losing all that weight.  How long did that take?

Thanks!  Yeah, I've kept the weight off to this day,  it took me maybe 4 or 5 months....can't remember, it's been a couple of years now.
- Doug Sarnecky


Offline metaldams

Just watched this and a few other shorts with my seven year old nephew and brother.  My nephew was laughing like crazy and called every other part his "favorite part."  Definitely fun watching these with a child, it gives these shorts an innocent perspective.  Watching with my brother/his father and his reaction as Mary Ainslee and Etherelda Leopold walked on the screen in their tennis outfits from IN THE SWEET PIE AND PIE wasn't so innocent.  [pie]
- Doug Sarnecky


Offline MrsMorganMorgan

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Just watched this and a few other shorts with my seven year old nephew and brother.  My nephew was laughing like crazy and called every other part his "favorite part."  Definitely fun watching these with a child, it gives these shorts an innocent perspective. .  [pie]

One of my favorite stories: our friend Mark was in his house and his 10 year old son was downstairs watching TV letting out these big  belly laughs. Mark went into the living room and saw that Matt was watching the Stooges. Matt turned around with tears in his eyes and said with awe, "Dad, who ARE these guys??"
You hear that? The old lady's a crook. Let's give her the razzle-dazzle!


Offline 7stooges

Keep your eyes on Larry in the kitchen scenes, particularly while Moe is busy mixing. At one point, Larry decides to pour some wine in his hair. Very random, but funny!


Offline metaldams

Keep your eyes on Larry in the kitchen scenes, particularly while Moe is busy mixing. At one point, Larry decides to pour some wine in his hair. Very random, but funny!

I've always loved that part.
- Doug Sarnecky


Offline MrsMorganMorgan

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I love that the recipe calls for "a dash" of baking powder. Only a guy could write that; baking powder has such specific measurement in any recipe, even down to an eighth of a teaspoon. Of course, the butter overage is awesome. And I love how they frost a cake right out of the oven; you'd never do that. Plus they frost the pan!!! I love my stooges in the kitchen. A non-kitchen aside: I love how Vernon is talking up the hottest cutie during Curly's dance scene. He always gets the babes. And also keep an eye on the couples in the background during Curly and Simona's slapfest. The one guy can barely keep the smile off his face. Priceless!
You hear that? The old lady's a crook. Let's give her the razzle-dazzle!


Offline Big Chief Apumtagribonitz

Mrs. MM, you are way too young to know any of this arcana, and actually so am I, but being, for no earthly good reason, a student of the early 1900's, I can tell you that the legendary status of the Fannie Farmer Cook Book in the early 1900's was that it was the first cookbook ever to use mathematical measurements like cup, teaspoon, quart, tablespoon, 1/4 cup, etc.  Before that, everything was a dash, a pinch, a dollop, etc.  Moe was using an outdated cookbook, and of course, even using that wrong.


Offline Paul Pain

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Mrs. MM, you are way too young to know any of this arcana, and actually so am I, but being, for no earthly good reason, a student of the early 1900's, I can tell you that the legendary status of the Fannie Farmer Cook Book in the early 1900's was that it was the first cookbook ever to use mathematical measurements like cup, teaspoon, quart, tablespoon, 1/4 cup, etc.  Before that, everything was a dash, a pinch, a dollop, etc.  Moe was using an outdated cookbook, and of course, even using that wrong.

And it wasn't for a while longer that a "cup" was standardized.  Before, it was just whatever cup you grabbed!
#1 fire kibitzer


Offline MrsMorganMorgan

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And it wasn't for a while longer that a "cup" was standardized.  Before, it was just whatever cup you grabbed!

Apparently a cup measure was standardized in 1896! My obsession is cookbooks from the 1920s and the Depression and measurements were standardized by then; though spelling wasn't ("cooky"; "sirup"). The forewards to these books also tell the cook to make sure to use standard measuring equipment!
You hear that? The old lady's a crook. Let's give her the razzle-dazzle!


Offline Big Chief Apumtagribonitz

I believe for the first few years it was called the Boston Cookbook and only later became Fannie Farmer.


Offline MrsMorganMorgan

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I believe for the first few years it was called the Boston Cookbook and only later became Fannie Farmer.

I've got to get me one of those Fannie Farmer cookbooks! The only thing better than a cookbook from the 1930s is one from the 1910s!
You hear that? The old lady's a crook. Let's give her the razzle-dazzle!


Offline Paul Pain

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Apparently a cup measure was standardized in 1896! My obsession is cookbooks from the 1920s and the Depression and measurements were standardized by then; though spelling wasn't ("cooky"; "sirup"). The forewards to these books also tell the cook to make sure to use standard measuring equipment!

My great-grandmothers and all their relatives born in the 1910s used coffee cups, and my grandmother born in the 1930s uses similar techniques.

Italian power!
#1 fire kibitzer


Offline Signor Spumoni

I've got to get me one of those Fannie Farmer cookbooks! The only thing better than a cookbook from the 1930s is one from the 1910s!

Mrs. Morgan-Morgan, do you, by chance, have Household Discoveries and Mrs. Curtis's Cookbook?  My edition has the copyright dates 1914, 1913 and 1908. 



Offline MrsMorganMorgan

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I do not!!! Oh no; now I have to buy another vintage cookbook.....once I find out it exists, I have to have it...
You hear that? The old lady's a crook. Let's give her the razzle-dazzle!


Offline Signor Spumoni

I do not!!! Oh no; now I have to buy another vintage cookbook.....once I find out it exists, I have to have it...

Finding this book can be easy or difficult.  I happened to obtain mine when helping someone clear a house after a death in the family.  I was allowed to take whatever I wanted, within certain limits, of course.  I got a number of vintage cookbooks, among other things, and that was very nice as I've a lifelong interest in cooking and baking. 

But back to the book.  I looked it up on abebooks within the past year and found various copies selling for only a few dollars.  Just today I looked it up and found only one copy selling for more than a few dollars and with a hefty shipping rate (coming from New Zealand, I believe).  Alibris has no copies.  If you have antique bookshops near you, you might contact them to ask if they have this book in stock.

The recipes are what one would expect for the time.  The cleaning instructions are quite interesting, including instructions for cleaning a basement which had to take a couple of days, minimum.


Offline MrsMorganMorgan

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The recipes are what one would expect for the time.  The cleaning instructions are quite interesting, including instructions for cleaning a basement which had to take a couple of days, minimum.

I LOVE stuff like that. Before I even knew how to boil water I was given an incomplete set of the late 50's / early 60's Women's Day Encyclopedia of World Cookery. Once I started reading it I had to buy a whole set of volumes just to complete mine. The writing, the information, some beautiful feature story pieces about say cooking with turnips or mom's authentic Jewish cooking or reflections on canning or making correct cocktails, all written by major writers of the day, and the most beautiful food photography you've ever seen is what made me want to cook. I am an extremely budget-conscious cook and try to use everything we grow, buy or are given (being hungry at times taught me that), and I have found ways to use everything in such inventive ways that we never ever eat the same thing twice. I love this stuff; it takes me back to a simpler time when maybe if I had been born then I wouldn't have to work so hard in an office getting eaten alive everyday and deal with *tards on Facebook when I'm just trying to rescue cats and all the fun stuff we have to deal with in modern day life. Anyway, sorry to take everyone so off course.
You hear that? The old lady's a crook. Let's give her the razzle-dazzle!


Offline Big Chief Apumtagribonitz

Mrs. MM, do you rescue cats?  For a living?  God bless you.  My wife and I lost all three of our cats last year, bing, bang, boom, all from different kinds of cancer.  My poor wife was a mess.  On July 3rd , 7 weeks ago, in the rain, I made a late-night run to the grocery store and, to make a long story short, found a five-week-old black kitten abandoned in some shrubbery.  We brought him home and called him Moses because we found him in the weeds and brought him home to live with (ahem) The Quality.  We found out later that some asshole of an old bag was throwing kittens out of her car window in our neighborhood.  Luckily they caught her, arrested her, and, hopefully, threw her under the jail.  A cuter, mellower, smarter cat you'll never see.  I hope you have great good luck placing your cats.


Offline Lefty

My wife volunteers at a cat rescue place, which is where we got kitties #3 and #4, and we have an eye or 3 on kitty #5, once it's old enough to be fixed.  As for the old hag-bag who tossed kittens out, just put her in a room with a "big kitty," a la Batman in Catwoman's first appearance, or to get back on topic, put her in an ice box and send her down those hundred or so stairs.  "Let's bring the ice bag down to the ice!"


Offline metaldams

An old girlfriend of mine also used to volunteer at a rescue shelter and at one time had eleven, yes, eleven cats herself.  How she could afford it I don't know, but those were the days before I was a cheapskate fiscal conservative who questioned such things.  I had two cats in my life.  My childhood cat making it to 15 but my last cat only made it to six.  Fuck cancer, as well as any lady who'd throw a cat out a window.  Sick people. I miss my cats, especially the one who died at six, because he realistically could still be living (my first cat, Tiger, would be 29).
- Doug Sarnecky


Offline MrsMorganMorgan

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You guys, come see me on Facebook -- Flo Werner and MissFlorence Worrall (two profiles because FB keeps kicking me off). I have two group pages -- Shelter Reform for our Vote!! and Shelter Reform Action page. I do rescue in my spare time; used to only be a "FB networker" but on Sunday I had the old man in North Philly  trying to find an injured cat. The "crazy" part of "crazy cat lady" comes up slowly but inevitably. We have 11 cats. I know we're off topic here but we're all friends in the Stooges so it's okay.
You hear that? The old lady's a crook. Let's give her the razzle-dazzle!


Offline MrsMorganMorgan

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  • I used to do toe work until I broke both ankles
Mrs. MM, do you rescue cats? 

I know we're really off topic here but I cannot resist an audience like this -- I am for national shelter reform and national no-cost spay and neuter. Over 9 million adoptable animals are put to death each year in US shelters. I am trying to change this. If anyone would like to be a part of it, friend me!! It is the purpose of my life and means more to me than Star Trek or the Stooges....that is a hard thing for me to say.
You hear that? The old lady's a crook. Let's give her the razzle-dazzle!


Offline Signor Spumoni

You're doing a hard job, Mrs. MM.  As Big Chief said, God bless you.  I have a couple of animal shelter cats, myself.  Although mine are handicapped, they are very happy little characters.  [Sorry, but I'm not on Facebook.]

Big Chief, please tell me you call Moses "Moe" for short.  :)

Lefty, your ice box punishment for the "hag bag" is inspired!  I approve.

Metal, I'm sorry about your cats, especially the one that died young.  It's hard to lose friends.


Offline Woe-ee-Woe-Woe80

Very hilarious episode and one of my Top 10 favorite Stooge shorts, Curly is definitely at the top of his game in this short and it has one great moment after another, one of my favorite moments in this short that seems to get overlooked and hasn't been mentioned yet is when Moe puts the ice tongs in Larry's ears and tortures him with him, the look on both of their faces in that scene is hilarious! I've thought the dancing scene with the spring in the rear was just as great here as it was in the classic "Hoi Polloi"

I've thought Larry was given a little more to do here in this short than usual during this time period.

I give An Ache In Every Stake a perfect 10/10



Offline metaldams

Watching the short now and I don’t see it mentioned here, but if any of you would like to see Shemp stuffing a turkey, using a pinch of salt, dicing potatoes, separating two eggs, etc. I would seek out the Vitaphone short he stars in with Daphne Pollard - in 1934! It’s called A PEACH OF A PAIR.   Shemp is just as funny and it’s a classic short.
- Doug Sarnecky


Offline Dr. Mabuse

"An Ache in Every Stake" remains among the all-time great two-reel comedies. With director Del Lord at the helm, there's not a wasted frame. The Stooges have the ability to take Laurel & Hardy material and make it their own with no duplication. Story and screenplay by Lloyd French, who also directed "A Peach of a Pair" and the L&H classic "Busy Bodies."

10/10