Interesting because I don't remember. I do remember one part when Mrs. Bixby address him as Signor, but never mentions Spumoni..... but I could be wrong and my memory may not be correct.
I agree on the cherry throwing bit. It was hilarious. I like this better than the grape throwing bit in PARDON MY SCOTCH.
I just watched this again on youtube. My apologies to you Larrys#1; you are correct that no one ever says the name, Signor Spumoni. He is addressed only as Signor. Moe and Larry are introduced as Signor Grosso and Signor Gusto even though they never state their names to Symona Boniface. So I don't know how I knew my namesake's name, just that I knew it before I found this site.
I agree that the "Pardon My Scotch" grape-throwing isn't as funny as the cherry-throwing in this short. I put that all down to the reactions of Gino Corrado, especially when he appears to choke on some of the cherries.
I forgot how many funny things this short has. I like Moe's radio announcer bit. [By the way, I, too, remember the Serutan/Nature's ad.
] I notice that it's Fred Kelsey who whacks Signor Spumoni with the wrench. All the Stooges do at that point is to be social inferiors who burst into Signor's room and run around him and underneath things while yelling. Fred Kelsey is also his social inferior, but he has some authority, which is, I assume, why Signor breaks his violin over Moe's head and not over Fred's.
This has one of my favorite Larry lines, "Reminds me of the reform school."
This is also a very good looking short for having been made in 1945. Other shorts of this time from the Stooges and from other performers often look bare bones.
This was the favorite Stooges short of the late comedian and fellow Stooges fan, Bernie Mac, and I can see why. I like Chester Conklin's drunken pianist who claims to have written the "sextet from Lucy," as the Stooges call it I like watching Larry lip-sync because he appears to be at least somewhat familiar with the piece. I like seeing the obviously fake records being thrown at the end of the short (notice the records are light on one side and black on the other side). The pacing is good in this short, and the comedy proceeds from personalities and circumstance. Later shorts seem to rely on the notion that a Stooge can do or say anything stupidly just because he is a Stooge, and that doesn't amuse me. Yes, we must suspend our disbelief for a number of things, but so must we do for many comedies by many comedians and clowns.
