Topic: Heavenly Daze (1948)

[MrsMorganMorgan]

I never knew that Cucamonga was a real place until I looked it up, as this short was the first I had ever heard of the town.

I am an office manager and do the mail where I work; I had to send a package to Cucamonga and I was so excited that it actually exists; Stooges and Looney Tunes are now validated!!

[Dr. Hugo Gansamacher]

Shemp's butt is on fire for a really long time; it's almost painful to watch, like how long Dorothy Appleby has to go without taking a breath in Cuckoo Cavaliers. I have a few random thoughts on this one.....the angel that Shemp thinks is sexy.....uh, no? They could have done better than that. I LOVE Shemp running across the soundstage right into the cloud and getting zapped in the rear by the lightning bolt. Also, how on earth did they do that dollar bill trick? And yeah, I would definitely buy a fountain pen that wrote under whipping cream from those two. Wouldn't you? 

Shemp's burning butt: Yes, I've noticed the duration of that too, with concern.

Uncle Mortimer's secretary: Whatever you think of her looks, she must have died very young!

The dollar-bill trick: My guess is that the cards were filmed being sucked up by a fan outside the frame (like the handbills going into Shemp's vacuum cleaner in Three Dark Horses) and then the footage was used backwards.

[Desmond Of The Outer Sanctorum]

The nice thing about this short is, if anything doesn't make sense, you can just put it down to "dream logic"! Besides a "fountain pen writing under whipped cream" (even though there actually is an explanation for that), why would Shemp's eligibility for heaven happen to be determined by someone related to him? And how likely is it that someone would have an "uncle" (unless it were a great- or great-great-uncle) who apparently died an old man before he was even born?

[Signor Spumoni]

On the subject of the pen which wrote under water - - I recall the jokes and commercials, too.  At least one source credits the slogan to The Reynolds Pen, the first ballpoint pen to reach the market, and that was in 1945.  It sold for $10 per pen, a whopping great sum at the time, and still quite a lot for a pen.

[Signor Spumoni]

Another reference to the famous pen that writes under (whatever).  1953 "I Married Joan" episode wherein Joan is inside a giant pot jotting down a soup recipe.  She's sitting in piles of vegetables, etc., when tens of gallons of water pour into the pot over her as she writes.  She mutters, "Good thing I have a pen that writes under soup."

[Signor Spumoni]

The nice thing about this short is, if anything doesn't make sense, you can just put it down to "dream logic"! Besides a "fountain pen writing under whipped cream" (even though there actually is an explanation for that), why would Shemp's eligibility for heaven happen to be determined by someone related to him? And how likely is it that someone would have an "uncle" (unless it were a great- or great-great-uncle) who apparently died an old man before he was even born?

Not to be a pain in the neck, but this could happen easily.  I'm a generation older than my step-siblings, and two generations older than their children.  It's not unlikely that I could die old before the step-siblings finish having children, thus becoming those children's "Uncle Mortimer." 

[Desmond Of The Outer Sanctorum]

Not to be a pain in the neck, but this could happen easily.  I'm a generation older than my step-siblings, and two generations older than their children.  It's not unlikely that I could die old before the step-siblings finish having children, thus becoming those children's "Uncle Mortimer."

OK. Fine. 

[jimymac]

Hello gentleman, My first post I hope you like There's something about heavenly daze I've wanted to talk about for years and its about Larry's so called accident, If you watch closely you see a wire attached to the pen,By observing other shorts with knives being thrown "Ache in Every Stake for example when the knife goes through curly's hat you see a wire attached to the knife , now I am quite sure these scenes were done by reverse photography the knife was all ready through the hat pulled out and curly acted the rest, much safer then actual knife throwing, so my theory is this exact procedure was done with Larry's pen. the pen was sticking into something on Larry's head was pulled out and Larry acted the opposite. there is no way the prop men would throw a pen at someones head ....What do you think, thanks for letting me get this off my chest HAHA

[ThumpTheShoes]

There is no way the prop men would throw a pen at someones head.

They did, but the prop guy sailed the pen along the wire with too much force and the pad on Porcupine's head wasn't thick enough so the tip of the pen went through, according to legend. Shemp's lightning bolt in the butt was done the same way, and that seemed more dangerous with the little explosion that followed.

[jimymac]

I respectfully disagree easier to pull it out then sail into his head

[Desmond Of The Outer Sanctorum]

I respectfully disagree easier to pull it out then sail into his head

Easier or not, it does seem to be documented that it was "sailed."

[jimymac]

Well this accident being one of THE most talked about incidents in the stooges history, Doesn't mean that the version most talked about is true, And I think with the video evidence and the history of props being thrown or pulled especially knives and other sharp objects I personally think this widely talked about accident is debunked, in my humble opinion

[Paul Pain]

Well this accident being one of THE most talked about incidents in the stooges history, Doesn't mean that the version most talked about is true, And I think with the video evidence and the history of props being thrown or pulled especially knives and other sharp objects I personally think this widely talked about accident is debunked, in my humble opinion

The visible blood debunks everything you've said.  Either that, or the people who were there are liars...

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

Yes, it's easy to tell when an effect is done by running in reverse, i.e. when Larry takes a golf ball in the mouth in Nazty Spy.

[Shemp_Diesel]

I'm not sure what the debate is about here--is it whether or not the pen actually hurt Larry? Who would know better than the man himself, Larry Fine, who actually did the stunt--if Larry says the pen pierced him, who are we to call him a liar?

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

There is no debate. We are trying, for better or worse, to be polite to an argumentative guy with a whopping three posts under his belt.

[jimymac]

Oh gosh I am truly not trying to be argumentative I was just stating something I've thought of for years, forgive me if I seem angry.

[hiramhorwitz]

Larry Fine himself says on the Three Stooges Story DVD that the tip of the fountain pen indeed punctured him and he let Jules White have a few choice words afterwards.

In Larry's words, as published in Stroke of Luck:

For this trick, they had attached to my forehead a tin plate, with a hole in the center, and attached to the tin plate was a spring wire that was to direct the pen to the hole in the center of the plate.  The idea was that at the moment the pen "pops" from the bowl, the prop man would throw the pen attached to the wire at my forehead, and it was supposed to stick to the center hole.

I protested that the hole in the center of the plate was too large, and that the pen would go through it and I might get hurt.

"Oh no, Larry, everything will work smoothly," said the director.

At the moment of action, the prop man throws the pen, it goes through the center hole, and sticks in my forehead.  I pulled the pen out of my forehead, and I was bleeding like a stuffed pig.  Needless to say...I wanted to kill the director!

[Desmond Of The Outer Sanctorum]

Maybe it would have been better if they had done the effect with reversed footage. I'm sure Larry would agree!

[Dr. Mabuse]

A wonderful change of pace and a great vehicle for Shemp (I never could envision Curly in this particular role). However, Moe and Larry are equally memorable as bereaved Stooges — with the added bonus of Moe as an inspired Uncle Mortimer.  A first-rate directorial effort from Jules White, with an imaginative script by Zion Myers. Definitely among my Top 10 Shemps, "Heavenly Daze" is always worth revisiting.   

9/10

[Daddy Dewdrop]

I'm not quite as high on this short as others, but I always enjoy it.  Ranks at #13 (Shemp) and at #61 overall.