Topic: All Gummed Up (1947)

[metaldams]

http://threestooges.net/filmography/episode/103
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039142/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fG5Uo6bzMGw

Watch ALL GUMMED UP in the link above

http://www.emilsitka.com/allgummedup1947.html

Read Emil Sitka's diary entry thoughts from ALL GUMMED UP



      A good short usually has a good start, and ALL GUMMED UP indeed has a good start.  I really like the way each Stooge gets their little introductory bit doing their own bit as a salesman.  Larry gets to sell the fountain pen without ink to the customer...except it has ink.  Moe gets to work with that funny light bulb gag, and Shemp really shines selling the fishing rod.  Frankly, he shines the best, sounding like an overexcited carny.  Love the gag where he reels in Symona's skirt and the young man's line, "That's no lady, that's my mother in law!"

      The story is then set up that The Stooges are going to loose their lease on their store and that the jerk owner is also leaving his wife for having the nerve to grow old looking.  Emil Sitka and Christine McIntyre, both in their 30's, do a wonderful job here, among their best performances ever in a Stooge short.  The boys were really lucky to have these two, as they really added a lot to the Shemp years.

      The Stooges then come up with the ingenious idea of inventing a formula to make old people young.  I love the way they just casually toss this idea off, as if it's such a simple task.  The whole extended bit where they are inventing the formula is a Stooge classic.  For all of you who are fans of making up bizarre names for chemical formulas and medicines, ALL GUMMED UP is your Valhalla.  Sam Davis indeed!  Shemp after eating the strange jumping bean formula is a hoot to watch jumping around and I've always loved the look on Larry's face when Moe is trying to get Shemp to try the formula.  Moe's neck chopping Kung fu action to get the stuff down Shemp's throat is great as well, I literally chuckled just typing about it.

      Christine getting young again is great and it's not just her looks, but her vibrancy that's also great.  She seemed like fun.  The singing and the way the boys were dancing with her is great stuff.  Sitka getting the chaser is a great scene, cackle fruit anyone?  Then there's the finale with him turning into the bearded man child baby thing!  Story wise, the short really ends here.  The rest of the short is the gum scene which is totally entertaining, but tacked on nonetheless.  Some people feel BUBBLE TROUBLE is superior to this short because of the better placement of this scene in it, but I'll post my opinion on that later on.  I think it's worth mentioning here, though.

      Overall, a great short, and I now turn the mic over to Paul Payne...and the rest of you.

9/10

[Dr. Hugo Gansamacher]

In this one, Cy Shindell appears as a non-goon!

"Ow! My lumbago!" That scene is funny in a mildly gruesome way, but also bizarre (mustard and horseradish plasters?).

There is a surprise non-gag gag when Moe and Larry hammer on Shemp's head to make the idea at the back of it come forward: "I've got it!" "What is it?" "A terrific idea!" Instead of "A terrific headache!" as in In the Sweet Pie and Pie.

"After you, doctor!": a rare moment in which the two subordinate Stooges collaborate in punishing Moe--in this case, with a kick in the rear accompanied by the sound of a gong.

The scene of making the elixir seems to me the best part of the short. "Meshugas!" "Meshugas!" "Are you crazy? Meshugas!" "Oh, meshugas!" I especially relish the bit in which Moe responds to Larry's feeble joke "The mortar, the merrier!" by hitting him with the pestle, once again establishing the law that jokes by Stooges other than himself are punishable offenses.

But the ending, which gives the short its name, is so feeble that it almost spoils the whole short. I always skip it.

[Shemp_Diesel]

Yep, one of those mysteries in life--at least for me--is the people who say Bubble Trouble is better than this short. But, I'll save any comments about "Bubble" for the distant future.   

Gummed Up is good, not great--but then again, every short can't be in the 9 or 10 range. I would describe this short as easy going fun with some good laughs sprinkled throughout.

I think Metal and Dr. Hugo covered most of the highlights--although I don't think anyone mentioned the great conga line part as the boot with the formula starts generating. And a small thing I've always liked was Christine's little tribute to Shemp and Curly after she swallows the formula.

Overall, I rate it a solid 7 out of 10...

[Paul Pain]

Folks, you shall never feel the same about this short or BUBBLE TROUBLE again.  I'll start by giving this a 9/10.

The opening scenes are classic Stoogedom, particularly Moe testing the light bulb.  Cy Schindell does great with the acrobatics as the distressed customer.

Emil Sitka is a fantastic grouch who takes his pain well in this one.  Back torture... the "preliminary examination," and getting the "fountain of youth."

Christine McIntyre's vivacity in this short is incredible.  Her happiness emanates out of the screen throughout.  So how better to reward her youth-restoring heroes than by baking them a cake with marshmallows.

We all know that Shemp messes up and puts bubble gum on the cake (marshmallows and bubble gum both coming in chunks that big in regular boxes on a daily basis?).  But what we don't know is...

Ever notice how... shiny... that bubble gum... is?  Ever notice how it pops back in their mouths so readily?  Well... that ain't bubble gum they're chewing.  It's not even a balloon.  Balloons are too expensive at probably $0.015 each back then!  Have to go even cheaper!

They're chewing on condoms.

I'll let y'all chew on that for a while.

[Dr. Hugo Gansamacher]

Ever notice how... shiny... that bubble gum... is?  Ever notice how it pops back in their mouths so readily?  Well... that ain't bubble gum they're chewing.  It's not even a balloon.  Balloons are too expensive at probably $0.015 each back then!  Have to go even cheaper!

They're chewing on condoms.

I'll let y'all chew on that for a while.

Well, it is a drug store, I suppose.

[Paul Pain]

Well, it is a drug store, I suppose.

Ah, our resident sophist (I mean that in a good way), Dr. Gansamacher.

[Dr. Hugo Gansamacher]

Another stray observation (which seems to be all I've got for this short): Larry has one of his finest moments in this short. When the first batch of would-be elixir has been prepared, Moe holds a spoon laden with the glop and says, looking in Shemp's direction, "Now, all we have to do is to get somebody to try it. Who's going to try it?" The camera pans from right to left to show Larry, who is looking past Shemp at Moe with THIS look (see attached image) fixed on his face--absolutely fixed and unchanging for several seconds. And fixed it should be, as it is unsurpassable. I am not, in general, given to raving about Larry, but that look, in this particular situation, is comic perfection. Well done, Mr. Fine.

Ah, our resident sophist (I mean that in a good way), Dr. Gansamacher.

I take it in a good way!

[metaldams]

Another stray observation (which seems to be all I've got for this short): Larry has one of his finest moments in this short. When the first batch of would-be elixir has been prepared, Moe holds a spoon laden with the glop and says, looking in Shemp's direction, "Now, all we have to do is to get somebody to try it. Who's going to try it?" The camera pans from right to left to show Larry, who is looking past Shemp at Moe with THIS look (see attached image) fixed on his face--absolutely fixed and unchanging for several seconds. And fixed it should be, as it is unsurpassable. I am not, in general, given to raving about Larry, but that look, in this particular situation, is comic perfection. Well done, Mr. Fine.

I take it in a good way!

That is the exact expression I am referring to in my review, thanks for the screenshot and I'm glad someone else agrees.

[metaldams]

Ever notice how... shiny... that bubble gum... is?  Ever notice how it pops back in their mouths so readily?  Well... that ain't bubble gum they're chewing.  It's not even a balloon.  Balloons are too expensive at probably $0.015 each back then!  Have to go even cheaper!

They're chewing on condoms.

I'll let y'all chew on that for a while.

Correct.  I hope you guys are reading these Emil Sitka entries I'm posting on these shorts, because there's some really good stuff in them, including his relationship with the boys, his idea on roles, and yes, the condoms that are used in this short as bubbles.  The final shot of Shemp having the bubbles/condoms protruding out of his ear took on a whole new meaning for me last night now that I know the truth.

Also, ever notice how wimpy Christine's bubble shots were compared to the others?  It was probably a chore to get her to do even that because according to Emil, she was not too happy about having to blow condom bubbles.  As somebody who had strict Catholic grandparents roughly ten years younger than Christine, I know that generation of Catholics especially were not fans of birth control.  From what I've read, Christine was also a very devout Catholic, so my guess is that's where she's coming from on this issue.  Even used as a mere prop, trust me, my grandparents would have flipped.

[Paul Pain]

Correct.  I hope you guys are reading these Emil Sitka entries I'm posting on these shorts, because there's some really good stuff in them, including his relationship with the boys, his idea on roles, and yes, the condoms that are used in this short as bubbles.  The final shot of Shemp having the bubbles/condoms protruding out of his ear took on a whole new meaning for me last night now that I know the truth.

Also, ever notice how wimpy Christine's bubble shots were compared to the others?  It was probably a chore to get her to do even that because according to Emil, she was not too happy about having to blow condom bubbles.  As somebody who had strict Catholic grandparents roughly ten years younger than Christine, I know that generation of Catholics especially were not fans of birth control.  From what I've read, Christine was also a very devout Catholic, so my guess is that's where she's coming from on this issue.  Even used as a mere prop, trust me, my grandparents would have flipped.

Condoms, to me, are gross no matter how one looks at it from a moral standpoint.  This begs the question: what's worse?  To use it for... deep relationships... or as a mock up of chewing gum?

[Lefty]

There are "a lot of many" good scenes in this short, mostly mentioned above.  The names the Stooges made up for their inventions sounded like "Zemdayfis, Mishegoss, Pyreecon, Ingenzomen, and Anacanapanasan."  Every closed-captioning of it seems to be different (most showing "Ireecon" for the third thing).  Christine McIntyre and Emil Sitka were "wunnerful, wunnerful," as it were.  Of course, the ending was terrible, which is why I rank "Bubble Trouble" higher.

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

This does indeed have a very soft ending, but that is no reason to rank  Bubble Trouble ahead of it.  Every bit of new footage in  Bubble Trouble sucks ass compared to All Gummed Up.  We'll discuss this in good time, and I'll admit that the C section of All Gummed Up should have been the B section, with additional gags to bring the B section to a climax, but AGU is at least funny all the way through, which Bubble Trouble, which descends to the grotesque ( which happens more and more as the Shemp shorts go on ) for sure is not.

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

And the double-talk ingredients, Zem-dafus,  Py-reecan, Anna-canna-panna, are absolutely fabulous. You have to interact with another stooge idiot to get the laughs out of this, but once you get 'em, they're huge,  My wife has some health problems, and I swear one of her medicines is Anacanapanasan.

[Kopfy2013]

Solid short. Great supporting cast.  McIntyre fabulous.  Love it when she takes the elixir, then is stripping down to younger clothes.

Totally agree cake part should have been in middle ... I think Sitka crying like baby would've been fine ending.

I went with a 7. May change it to 8. I am on the fence.

[Dr. Hugo Gansamacher]

I just noticed the pun in my previous post. It was unintentional. 

Larry has one of his finest moments in this short.

[Paul Pain]

metaldams, it appears you and I are the only ones really surprised by the whole condom thing.

[metaldams]

metaldams, it appears you and I are the only ones really surprised by the whole condom thing.

I know, I mean, you'd at least think somebody would be pitching titles like ALL SCUMMED UP or RUBBER TROUBLE or something!  Yup, I gotta play the bad guy again.

It's worth repeating, but that shot of Shemp at the end, the bubbles coming out of his ears, now knowing those are condoms, just got 1,000 times funnier.

[Larrys#1]

Correct.  I hope you guys are reading these Emil Sitka entries I'm posting on these shorts, because there's some really good stuff in them, including his relationship with the boys, his idea on roles, and yes, the condoms that are used in this short as bubbles.  The final shot of Shemp having the bubbles/condoms protruding out of his ear took on a whole new meaning for me last night now that I know the truth.

Also, ever notice how wimpy Christine's bubble shots were compared to the others?  It was probably a chore to get her to do even that because according to Emil, she was not too happy about having to blow condom bubbles.  As somebody who had strict Catholic grandparents roughly ten years younger than Christine, I know that generation of Catholics especially were not fans of birth control.  From what I've read, Christine was also a very devout Catholic, so my guess is that's where she's coming from on this issue.  Even used as a mere prop, trust me, my grandparents would have flipped.

I never knew about this little piece of trivia until just now. Religious or not.... putting condoms in the mouth is just nasty. This episode is now going to be quite disturbing to watch from this point forward. That latex material must've left a bad taste in their mouth. I did notice that McIntyre bubble shots were not only brief, but her bubbles were very clear and see through while the stooges' bubbles were not clear like that. They must've used something else for McIntyre's bubble gum scenes.

Times must've changed because today, balloons are way cheaper than condoms. Condoms are actually pretty expensive.

[Dr. Mabuse]

A refreshingly offbeat foray into fantasy, "All Gummed Up" is a total delight from start to finish. No matter how many times I have seen this two-reeler, I never felt that the "marshmallow jumbo" scene was tacked on. Special kudos to Charles Clague's handsome art direction. One of the best Shemp outings helmed by Jules White, who rarely approached this high level of quality during the late 1940s and early 1950s.

9/10

[Daddy Dewdrop]

One of my favorite Shemp shorts.  I rank it at #25 overall.