Scrambled Brains (1951)

metaldams · **on:** October 30, 2015, 04:47:12 PM

http://www.threestooges.net/filmography/episode/131
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044007/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2mwUmg8gQcg

Watch SCRAMBLED BRAINS in the link above

OK, folks, I have a confession to make. I, Metaldams, a man of great control, virtue, and moral superiority, on Thursday night drank too much alcohol. Godfrey Daniels! My head was throbbing all day and I feel much better now, hence I'm ready for this review. I am ashamed to say I did not listen to Ozzy Osbourne's warning in the lyrics of "Demon Alcohol," so if there is a lesson to be learned, it's listen to those Ozzy lyrics, especially the ones penned by Bob Daisley. You're welcome for the wisdom, I make these mistakes so you don't have to. Now let's discuss some Stooges.

Discuss some Stooges, I say, but this just ain't any Stooge short, it's friggin SCRAMBLED BRAINS. Picture a nice sunny day, early 70's, and you want to visit a certain Larry Fine. Chances are he might show you a Stooge short upon your visit, and the chances are great SCRAMBLED BRAINS would be the one he'd show you. Larry was very fond of this short, and rightfully so. Like Thump mentions below, there are very surreal bits in this short, unlike anything you'd see on other Stooge shorts, and the comedy and performances throughout are pretty top notch.

First off, the doll and "mama" gag. This is actually an old warhorse of a gag that I'm not too fond of in general, but the energy is so good in this short that the performers make it work. It's Shemp's spastic reactions, Emil Sitka's bizarre glasses and German accent, and the huddle behind Shemp's back that make this bit fun. Then what follows is the pill swallowing bit, highlighted by Moe trying to shove the entire bottle of pills in Shemp's mouth and forcing them down via Kung fu chop to the throat. Ah yes, brotherly love at its finest, and in the real world, a drug casualty waiting to happen. Fortunately, this is not the real world, so yes, this bit is pretty funny.

Ah yes, we must discuss Babe London, making her only Stooge appearance. She's a bit older here than her Laurel and Hardy and Chaplin appearances. In her younger days, she played what in modern terms would be known as a "BBW," if that's your thing (to each their own, my friend), but yeah, she's older now and a bit hideous looking. I think it's by design, I'm at least hoping that gap between her teeth was false. Her vocal inflection after Shemp states he's going to take her to a honeymoon on the isle of Stromboli, if memory serves me correct, if appropriately garbled and hideous. One of the great ugly girl roles, right up there with anything Dee Green ever did, and the hallucination of Shemp thinking she's a young pretty nurse is a wonderfully fun and surreal bit.

Speaking of surreal, Shemp at the piano, holy shittake mushrooms, Batman! What a brilliant scene. My favorite part would be the hands playing the swinging ragtime bit while they do the close-up of Shemp excitedly getting down to the music, but the whole scene rocks the casbah. I'm also a big fan of the chopped off, isolated fingers slowly playing the piano as Shemp looks on in horror. Overall, a Stooge scene unlike any other, a true stand out in this epic discussion we are having.

Oh but wait, there is more. The greatest Stooge phone booth scene ever can be found here, the boys tearing it up with Vernon Dent. As for Larry, the close ups of him with broken egg shells on his head as well as the milk pouring all over him rank among his best shots ever,and with Larry, that's really saying something. I can understand his enthusiasm for this short based on these shots alone. Poor Vernon getting the cake in the kisser and the epic stunt dummy fall when the phone booth falls down are all great moments, as is poor Vernon's aftermath stuck in the corner, tangled up in wires, a complete groggy mess.

One of the all-time greats, there are no other shorts like this one.

10/10

Paul Pain · **Reply #1 on:** October 30, 2015, 05:25:39 PM

A comedy classic right here! All comes together in this perfect storm of a short. Maybe it's those 58 face slaps delivered in this short?

Shemp is insane. His friends are getting help in a sanitarium. And who does Shemp fall in love with but the ever hideous Nora? And then it turns into marriage.

Shemp returns home, where we get the memorable doll scene and a lovely exchange involving Emil Sitka and the boys (and the neighbor, Mary, who is now a young 73 years). The pill routine here is much better than it was in EVEN AS IOU. This leads to a piano scene and another bout of insanity before a hilariously painful encounter with Vernon Dent.

Ironically, Babe London also co-starred in this week's Laurel and Hardy short. She isn't given much to do, but she does it well enough to be memorable in her own right. But now I need another drink because I can still see her face.

Shemp is of course great as he switches between a sick man, a man, and a total nutcase. Shemp is as lovable as ever here. But Shemp isn't stumpy, or is he? I want to know how they did the pill scene. How does Shemp spit out 25 pills when Moe pours only 10-15 into his mouth? (obviously they were there already, but still) "Off! Gub blub klug. Augh! Black gub! Goood!". And the disembodied hand at the piano (how apropos for Halloween!)...

Larry gets some good one-liners here. Some abuse delivered to him, and don't forget a pill too! The thing with the open window literally takes the entire short to come to fruition.

And Moe is a pill too. He finally gets Shemp to sleep though only to lose a few teeth later.

Emil is effective in his scene, and a money grubber too! He did humor well and could have made a great star in his own right.

Lastly, Vernon Dent is fantastic. He takes his abuse well as he gives one of his legendary performances.

Shemp_Diesel · **Reply #2 on:** October 30, 2015, 08:27:47 PM

Yeah, I don't think we'll have much in the way of dissenting opinions about this one. As soon as you see the sign "Croakers Sanitarium," you know you are in for a great 16 minute ride.

Love that first reaction shot by Moe & Larry when they get an eyeful of "Beautiful" Nora--and, Larry trying "see that" on Moe after his "that don't bother me."

I would say all three stooges are great in their role, but Shemp definitely owns the majority of this short. Seeing an ugly nurse as a shapely blonde, not being able to sleep, the piano adventure--but I would be remiss if I didn't mention the all time great "phone booth" scene.

Larry sure gets messy during that part & when you see all three stooges jammed in there with Vernon Dent, you know something great is going down. Great ending to the short too--"Hey Moe, Hey Larry."

A definite 10 out of 10....

ThumpTheShoes · **Reply #3 on:** October 30, 2015, 09:00:31 PM

This was one I waited for as a kid. Years ago. Many years ago. When this came on, siblings gathered 'round the tv like a ritual. This, and the Tom and Jerry cartoon with "Is You is, or is You Ain't My Baby?". True. It is so very different from the classic Curly and even the majority of Shemp short pictures. Surreal? A hand from the chimney?! Nora as Bugs Bunny? The kid in me just equated it with a Warner Bros cartoon world-- just plain zany.

The adult lurking somewhere within me thinks the light-bulb-in-the-mouth punishment is one of the most heinous. yet. satisfying forms of vigilante justice ever committed to film. I await the day when I can put that to use in real life. And I just might! I've thought about it more times than I should admit.

The mackerel. The mackerel! Didn't Tony Nelson have the same, or similar, mackerel in his "loft"?! Oh, the Screen Gems props that must have been recycled!

Dr. Hugo Gansamacher · **Reply #4 on:** October 31, 2015, 07:47:08 AM

The Three Stooges. The Three Stooges—all three—in a telephone booth. The Three Stooges in a telephone booth—with Vernon Dent. The Three Stooges in a telephone booth with Vernon Dent—with bags of groceries. The Three Stooges in a telephone booth with Vernon Dent with bags of groceries—WITH A CAKE!

Hmm, what could happen there?

Amazingly, the scene is as good as that recipe promises, with Dent at his foul-tempered, violent best. In fact, it is even better, as we eventually get the business with the light bulb in Vernon Dent's mouth, which is sublime Stoogery. This morning at the gym, I was shaking with silent laughter as I recollected this scene, before I had even given the short a recent viewing.

That said, the short does take a bit of time to get started. Do we really need to hear the talking doll say "Mama!" four times? One time would establish the joke; two would make it unmistakable; three would be overdoing it; four is a bore.

metaldams · **Reply #5 on:** October 31, 2015, 08:38:28 AM

Quote from: ThumpTheShoes on October 30, 2015, 09:00:31 PM

This was one I waited for as a kid. Years ago. Many years ago. When this came on, siblings gathered 'round the tv like a ritual. This, and the Tom and Jerry cartoon with "Is You is, or is You Ain't My Baby?". True. It is so very different from the classic Curly and even the majority of Shemp short pictures. Surreal? A hand from the chimney?! Nora as Bugs Bunny? The kid in me just equated it with a Warner Bros cartoon world-- just plain zany.

The adult lurking somewhere within me thinks the light-bulb-in-the-mouth punishment is one of the most heinous. yet. satisfying forms of vigilante justice ever committed to film. I await the day when I can put that to use in real life. And I just might! I've thought about it more times than I should admit.

The mackerel. The mackerel! Didn't Tony Nelson have the same, or similar, mackerel in his "loft"?! Oh, the Screen Gems props that must have been recycled!

Thump, my review is coming up within the hour, but before I post it, I just want to say the Tom and Jerry cartoon you speak of is a favorite of me, my brother, and my young nephew, as well as the film we're discussing here.

Lefty · **Reply #6 on:** October 31, 2015, 10:42:06 AM

First off, the "pretty" Nora was played by Pamela Britton, best known as Mrs. Brown in "My Favorite Martian" and Blondie Bumstead in the 1957 show "Blondie." Unfortunately, she died of a brain tumor at age 51.

As for "Scrambled Brains," it is a very good short, highlighted by the phone booth scene, the "magic fingers" on the piano, and Emil Sitka's Svengarlic-wannabe hypnosis.

The best line may have been when Larry and Moe were looking at Nora, and Larry said to Moe, "You know, I think she's even uglier than you are," or something to that extent. Then Moe realized what Larry said, and Whack!

Big Chief Apumtagribonitz · **Reply #7 on:** October 31, 2015, 12:38:01 PM

Lefty, I do believe that Blondie and the neighbor on My Favorite Martian were played by Penny Singleton. IIRC, there was more than one Blondie, but only one MFM neighbor.
More to the point, do you guys really rank this up with the best of the Curlys? With Cash and Carry, or A-plumbing We Will Go, or They Stooge to Conga, or Violent is the Word for Curly, or Cactus Makes Perfect, or the two Hitler spoofs? If so, I most respectfully and vehemently disagree. Of the many reasons I could bore you to death with, here's just a couple: Dent and Shemp look downright elderly, Shemp looking bad ( zits, blotches ) even if you excuse it by saying he's playing a sick man, because those blemishes are not theatrical make-up; and I agree with Dr Hugo that the doll sequence moves at a snail's pace and is at least twice as long as the humor, what there is of it, lasts. And gosh, the writers must have spent all of six seconds coming up with such a clever name as Dr. Gesundheit.
I'll agree completely with two things: Larry is indeed very good in this, and had every reason to be proud of it in his old age, and that Tom and Jerry cartoon is fabulous. The song, incidentally, was sung there by Pee Wee Hunt, the jazz trombonist who was also in Time Out For Rhythm. But on the whole, they're running on fumes.

Big Chief Apumtagribonitz · **Reply #8 on:** October 31, 2015, 01:36:29 PM

At the same time, I will add that I am completely simpatico with those who gathered voraciously around the TV as kids, devouring their favorite episodes regardless of the varying quality, because exactly the same thing happened to me and my friends a decade previously with the Curly Joe movies. We were exactly the age group that they were then aiming at, and we went wild. We knew that they weren't as good as the Curlys and some of the Shemps, but THERE THEY WERE! Still alive, still making movies, still on TV, sometimes on live TV! Pies still flying! Think of it!

GreenCanaries · **Reply #9 on:** October 31, 2015, 01:54:24 PM

Quote from: Lefty on October 31, 2015, 10:42:06 AM

First off, the "pretty" Nora was played by Pamela Britton, best known as Mrs. Brown in "My Favorite Martian" and Blondie Bumstead in the 1957 show "Blondie." Unfortunately, she died of a brain tumor at age 51.

I know that's what the filmography says, but not 100% convinced. Something about the nose, in particular, looks a bit off. Also, wasn't she still in somewhat sizable roles around this time? Perhaps sizable enough that why would she do a quick, almost miniscule bit in a Stooge short?

Quote from: Big Chief Apumtagribonitz on October 31, 2015, 12:38:01 PM

Lefty, I do believe that Blondie and the neighbor on My Favorite Martian were played by Penny Singleton. IIRC, there was more than one Blondie, but only one MFM neighbor.

Penny was Blondie in the movies, but Pamela played her in the 1957 TV series. Pamela was the neighbor in MFM, but no sign of Penny.

Big Chief Apumtagribonitz · **Reply #10 on:** October 31, 2015, 02:08:02 PM

Had my Blondies backwards, I guess.

metaldams · **Reply #11 on:** October 31, 2015, 05:27:38 PM

Quote from: Big Chief Apumtagribonitz on October 31, 2015, 12:38:01 PM

More to the point, do you guys really rank this up with the best of the Curlys? With Cash and Carry, or A-plumbing We Will Go, or They Stooge to Conga, or Violent is the Word for Curly, or Cactus Makes Perfect, or the two Hitler spoofs? If so, I most respectfully and vehemently disagree. Of the many reasons I could bore you to death with, here's just a couple: Dent and Shemp look downright elderly, Shemp looking bad ( zits, blotches ) even if you excuse it by saying he's playing a sick man, because those blemishes are not theatrical make-up; and I agree with Dr Hugo that the doll sequence moves at a snail's pace and is at least twice as long as the humor, what there is of it, lasts. And gosh, the writers must have spent all of six seconds coming up with such a clever name as Dr. Gesundheit.

The answer is yes, I do rank this up there with the best Curly shorts. The scene with Shemp at the piano is easily one of the funniest, most creative, and most memorable scenes in all of Stoogedom. I also would put the phone booth scene up against any other slapstick scene, and as far as the appearances of Shemp and Vernon, yes they look older, and no it doesn't bother me. Older I can accept, sickly to the point of it hurting the performance, like the latter Curly shorts, is what I don't care for.

The doll scene I can understand criticism of. Like I said, I think it's a weak gag, but I feel the actors did a great job carrying it.

Paul Pain · **Reply #12 on:** October 31, 2015, 06:54:57 PM

Quote from: metaldams on October 31, 2015, 05:27:38 PM

The answer is yes, I do rank this up there with the best Curly shorts. The scene with Shemp at the piano is easily one of the funniest, most creative, and most memorable scenes in all of Stoogedom. I also would put the phone booth scene up against any other slapstick scene, and as far as the appearances of Shemp and Vernon, yes they look older, and no it doesn't bother me. Older I can accept, sickly to the point of it hurting the performance, like the latter Curly shorts, is what I don't care for.

The doll scene I can understand criticism of. Like I said, I think it's a weak gag, but I feel the actors did a great job carrying it.

The Golden Girls had one foot in the grave, and they were still hilarious. Just cause an actor doesn't have gobs of makeup doesn't mean he isn't funny.

The doll scene is the essence of comedy: taking something that should be funny once or not at all and finding ways to make it seem like new, especially when the focal point should be the actors' reactions to the doll noise, not the doll noise itself.

Big Chief Apumtagribonitz · **Reply #13 on:** October 31, 2015, 08:00:03 PM

O K, with the Golden Girls, the whole arc of the show was that they were old. That was the meta-joke. That's surely not what the stooges are trying to convey here. And I'm not sure I'd agree that they did anything new with the Mama-doll routine, either - maybe Dr. ( ha ha ) Gesundheit's goggle-glasses.
I'm not saying this one's terrible, it's not. God knows they get a lot worse. I have a theory that TV sitcoms about this time began to have an influence on the stooge shorts, and those fifties sitcoms were so bland that they made shorts like Scrambled Brains look like Tillie's Punctured Romance. But if ( let's say ) A-Plumbing We Will Go or Who Done It? is a 10/10 and this one is also a 10/10, we're surely using a sliding scale.

Big Chief Apumtagribonitz · **Reply #14 on:** October 31, 2015, 08:43:39 PM

Which is why, BTW, I don't like scoring these like diving competitions. I'd rather just discuss their interesting issues.

Paul Pain · **Reply #15 on:** November 01, 2015, 05:08:52 AM

OK, folks, I have a confession to make. I, Metaldams, a man of great control, virtue, and moral superiority, on Thursday night drank too much alcohol. Godfrey Daniels! My head was throbbing all day and I feel much better now, hence I'm ready for this review. I am ashamed to say I did not listen to Ozzy Osbourne's warning in the lyrics of "Demon Alcohol," so if there is a lesson to be learned, it's listen to those Ozzy lyrics, especially the ones penned by Bob Daisley. You're welcome for the wisdom, I make these mistakes so you don't have to. Now let's discuss some Stooges.
[/quote]

metaldams · **Reply #16 on:** November 01, 2015, 06:43:53 AM

Quote from: Big Chief Apumtagribonitz on October 31, 2015, 08:43:39 PM

Which is why, BTW, I don't like scoring these like diving competitions. I'd rather just discuss their interesting issues.

The ratings are just for fun and not meant to be taken seriously. I'll be the first to admit the comments themselves have more weight than the ratings.

metaldams · **Reply #17 on:** November 01, 2015, 06:44:49 AM

Quote from: Paul Pain on November 01, 2015, 05:08:52 AM

OK, folks, I have a confession to make. I, Metaldams, a man of great control, virtue, and moral superiority, on Thursday night drank too much alcohol. Godfrey Daniels! My head was throbbing all day and I feel much better now, hence I'm ready for this review. I am ashamed to say I did not listen to Ozzy Osbourne's warning in the lyrics of "Demon Alcohol," so if there is a lesson to be learned, it's listen to those Ozzy lyrics, especially the ones penned by Bob Daisley. You're welcome for the wisdom, I make these mistakes so you don't have to. Now let's discuss some Stooges.

LOL!

vomit · **Reply #18 on:** November 08, 2015, 09:11:41 PM

Quote from: metaldams on October 30, 2015, 04:47:12 PM

http://www.threestooges.net/filmography/episode/131
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044007/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2mwUmg8gQcg

Watch SCRAMBLED BRAINS in the link above

OK, folks, I have a confession to make. I, Metaldams, a man of great control, virtue, and moral superiority, on Thursday night drank too much alcohol. Godfrey Daniels! My head was throbbing all day and I feel much better now, hence I'm ready for this review. I am ashamed to say I did not listen to Ozzy Osbourne's warning in the lyrics of "Demon Alcohol," so if there is a lesson to be learned, it's listen to those Ozzy lyrics, especially the ones penned by Bob Daisley. You're welcome for the wisdom, I make these mistakes so you don't have to. Now let's discuss some Stooges.

Discuss some Stooges, I say, but this just ain't any Stooge short, it's friggin SCRAMBLED BRAINS. Picture a nice sunny day, early 70's, and you want to visit a certain Larry Fine. Chances are he might show you a Stooge short upon your visit, and the chances are great SCRAMBLED BRAINS would be the one he'd show you. Larry was very fond of this short, and rightfully so. Like Thump mentions below, there are very surreal bits in this short, unlike anything you'd see on other Stooge shorts, and the comedy and performances throughout are pretty top notch.

First off, the doll and "mama" gag. This is actually an old warhorse of a gag that I'm not too fond of in general, but the energy is so good in this short that the performers make it work. It's Shemp's spastic reactions, Emil Sitka's bizarre glasses and German accent, and the huddle behind Shemp's back that make this bit fun. Then what follows is the pill swallowing bit, highlighted by Moe trying to shove the entire bottle of pills in Shemp's mouth and forcing them down via Kung fu chop to the throat. Ah yes, brotherly love at its finest, and in the real world, a drug casualty waiting to happen. Fortunately, this is not the real world, so yes, this bit is pretty funny.

Ah yes, we must discuss Babe London, making her only Stooge appearance. She's a bit older here than her Laurel and Hardy and Chaplin appearances. In her younger days, she played what in modern terms would be known as a "BBW," if that's your thing (to each their own, my friend), but yeah, she's older now and a bit hideous looking. I think it's by design, I'm at least hoping that gap between her teeth was false. Her vocal inflection after Shemp states he's going to take her to a honeymoon on the isle of Stromboli, if memory serves me correct, if appropriately garbled and hideous. One of the great ugly girl roles, right up there with anything Dee Green ever did, and the hallucination of Shemp thinking she's a young pretty nurse is a wonderfully fun and surreal bit.

Speaking of surreal, Shemp at the piano, holy shittake mushrooms, Batman! What a brilliant scene. My favorite part would be the hands playing the swinging ragtime bit while they do the close-up of Shemp excitedly getting down to the music, but the whole scene rocks the casbah. I'm also a big fan of the chopped off, isolated fingers slowly playing the piano as Shemp looks on in horror. Overall, a Stooge scene unlike any other, a true stand out in this epic discussion we are having.

Oh but wait, there is more. The greatest Stooge phone booth scene ever can be found here, the boys tearing it up with Vernon Dent. As for Larry, the close ups of him with broken egg shells on his head as well as the milk pouring all over him rank among his best shots ever,and with Larry, that's really saying something. I can understand his enthusiasm for this short based on these shots alone. Poor Vernon getting the cake in the kisser and the epic stunt dummy fall when the phone booth falls down are all great moments, as is poor Vernon's aftermath stuck in the corner, tangled up in wires, a complete groggy mess.

One of the all-time greats, there are no other shorts like this one.

10/10

Here! Here! A classic!!! I love this one. An Epic Shemp.....Oh Nora, oh Nora.....LOL!

Kopfy2013 · **Reply #19 on:** November 11, 2015, 03:10:22 PM

For one thing I agree with Chief that this does not hold up with many of the Curly greats . I wrestle with rating these . I think this is a great Shemp short. Not the best of Shemp in my opinion but still really good. But when rating with the whole Stooge Chronicles it has to be a seven or even a six. My mistake is not rating more shorts in the 1 to 5 range which would allow for more accurate ratings of my feeling's towards that particular short.

For this short I love the sleeping pill into Larry's mouth. Very good phone booth scene. Larry stars in it and the whole short in general.

I give this 7.

Big Chief Apumtagribonitz · **Reply #20 on:** November 21, 2015, 06:43:58 PM

Kopfy, my brother.

Woe-ee-Woe-Woe80 · **Reply #21 on:** November 30, 2017, 09:50:52 PM

Definitely my Top 5 favorite Stooge shorts featuring Shemp Howard, this short is IMO even on par with the best Curly shorts, this short features one of Shemp's best performances of all time and he is given more to do here than usual which is a great thing, Moe & Larry also give great performances as well, the phone booth scene in this short is IMO even better than the phone booth scene in Brideless Groom and I love what the stooges do to Vernon Dent in the phone booth, plus the scene where milk and eggs fall on Larry was hilarious!

For those who don't like Shemp as much as Curly should check out "Scrambled Brains", this short will change your mind about Shemp.

I give this short a 10/10 and it's IMO the best of the 1951 bunch although "Three Arabian Nuts" isn't far behind.

vomit · **Reply #22 on:** November 27, 2018, 02:11:09 PM

Wanted to bump this one back up. Me & the kids were discussing this the other day.....and I brought up the scene where Shemp "grows" another set of hands and was rocking at the piano. Both kids remembered it and laughed.....I think it hit home cuz both play piano. What a great short!

Daddy Dewdrop · **Reply #23 on:** December 19, 2021, 07:19:01 AM

I appreciate the surreal touches as much as anybody, but I don't necessarily find them "funny" at least in the Stooges sense. That said, I can see why many rate this one higher than I do. To each his own.

#97. Scrambled Brains

Count Jerome “Curley” von Gehrol · **Reply #24 on:** March 26, 2023, 07:19:57 PM

Hello all!

This is my first (foist?) post on here. I was first introduced to the Three Stooges by my uncle. In fact, the first Third Stooge I was introduced to was Shemp (it was Gents in a Jam, A Snitch in Time, and Goof on the Roof). I watched the Stooges’ Slap Happy Hour on Spike (my favorite has always been Curly). I fell out of them for a while but then I got back into them (mostly because I find the shorts to be fascinating time capsules).

I was looking at the Wikipedia article for Scrambled Brains and the article says that Nora was played by Babe London (born Jean Glover). Now, all of you guys have a better understanding of the history of the Three Stooges than I do. If this is her, the gapped teeth were a very convincing piece of makeup as there is a picture from 1964 where she has very well kept teeth.

EDIT: I did not see this mentioned. So please forgive me if this sounds condescending. I hope I am not putting anyone down.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babe_London