Topic: Gents In A Jam (1952)

[metaldams]

http://www.threestooges.net/filmography/episode/140
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044655/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

http://www.veoh.com/m/watch.php?v=v6310195EJMZem7Y

Watch GENTS IN A JAM in the link above

      This week, we discuss the last short the McCollum/Bernds unit would ever make with The Three Stooges.  I always liked the fact that once things got settled, there were two production units working on shorts, it always lent different feels, whether the director was Charley Chase, Del Lord, or Ed Bernds.  After this, it's 100% Jules White.  We say the stock footage was because of budgetary limitations, and I'm sure that's true, but the idea of Jules White now needing to carry twice the workload I'm sure must have played some part as well.  As far as Edward Bernds, he had a pretty nice career after this.  I can't recommend enough you Stooge fans check out The Bowery Boys films he did after this, some which use Stooge routines.  I maintain those one hour b features are what the Stooges should have moved onto after this, not stock footage Hell.  Ed Bernds will enter the discussion again, but that's not until we get to the Detita features about a year from now.

      As far as GENTS IN A JAM, there is absolutely nothing, zero, zippo, to criticize on this one.  OK, as a silent comedy nerd, I'm saddened to see Snub Pollard, once Harold Lloyd's sidekick and a guy who made some funny Hal Roach silents on his own, now being reduced to being knocked out as a telegram boy and nothing else.  Anything for a paycheck.  There's my incredibly minor nitpick, something I'm sure most of you could care less about.

      Tons of slapstick in this one!  Some of those paintbrush shots Moe gives Larry at the beginning are quite funny, Larry covered in white paint, grimacing, hair all sloppy.  He's sorry for what he's done, but Moe must give out paintbrush comeuppance anyway, because Moe's a freak like that!  Word.  Shemp's salty back talk to the sink faucet is quite funny, and the radio gag has always been a favorite of mine!  Love the energy the short has when the music plays, and the poor radio meeting its watery, asphyxiated demise is something I always remember about this short.  Also want to know how to tame a woman?  Just listen to Moe, pure ladies man, in another classic scene.

      Really, minus my silent comedy dork heart yearning for more Snub Pollard, the entire cast in this one is used brilliantly.  The Rocky Duggan character who tears telephone books in half is great.  Notice the shot where he and all Three Stooges are all together.  They do a low camera angle, like CITIZEN KANE, to accent the much taller appearance of Duggan compared to the boys.  Kitty McHugh is wonderful here and Emil Sitka takes one hell of a beating! 

      An excellent short overall, and a nice swan song for Hugh McCollum.  From this point forward, the shorts are all Jules.  The classics going forward, if I can count them on two hands, and that's a maybe, there won't be many fingers on the second hand.  This week, though, a gem.

10/10

[Shemp_Diesel]

Well, this would be the swansong for Ed Bernds at Columbia. And I would say he goes out with a bang, not a whimper. I'm wondering what would have happened if Ed Bernds had not been fired by Columbia--would the stock footage rehashes continued, with Jules White being limited to only remaking his shorts.

At any rate, Gents is packed with great material. The opening section with the boys trying to spruce up Ms. McGruder's apartment, the great scenes with Moe and Larry, particularly Moe's "cause I got all the brains around here, any objections. Objections overruled." Then, of course, there's Moe's no look shot to Larry with the rolling pin.

Other great stuff would be Emil Sitka, in what I would call his greatest supporting role. Yes, even better than his role from "Brideless Groom." I just love watching Emil getting bumped and slammed around and his nervous energy throughout that whole scene where the boys are running from Rocky Duggan. Priceless humor.

And that knee shot that comes cracking at Emil towards the end of this short--I'm giggling as I type. Farewell Ed Bernds--you were one of the all-time greats.

10 out of 10...

[Dr. Hugo Gansamacher]

Excellent slapstick in this one. "Hey, imbecile! Move the radio!" "Oh, move the radio!" I now start chuckling as soon as Shemp starts trying to pull the radio off the shelf, and then inevitably laugh out loud when he sets it down and it springs back and crashes through the window.

I agree with Shemp_Diesel that this is Emil Sitka's finest role in the Stooge shorts. The moment when he steps cautiously into the hall and his knee wobbles with a loud crunching noise is one of my favorites. And Kitty McHugh as Mrs. Battleax is excellent. "You take her!" "You've got her!" "YOU WORM!"

The bit with the telegram messenger has always seemed a bit weird to me, in the way that we don't see the messenger at all until he has been knocked unconscious. Now I learn from Metaldams that he was a talented comic player. That makes it all the more disappointing that he is given nothing to do until we see him knocked out with the telegram in his hand.

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

Emil rules here, all right.

[Lefty]

This was a great Shemp short.  The radio and sink gags were pretty good.  And Moe, talking about the biddy-battle-axe when she was right behind him, is worth a rewind to see again.  For a 49-year-old, Kitty McHugh sure looked 79.  Hopefully that was makeup for her (and for Emil Sitka).  And of course, Mrs. Duggan slipping on the cake mixture and Shemp ripping her dress, after which Rocky found out and turned into the villain of the show.  The Eagles could use someone like him on defense.  As for Snub Pollard, instead of him being shown knocked out holding the telegram, someone should have landed on his foot, which would then have been cured, and -- wait a week, that was done already.

This website lists Kathryn "Kitty" McHugh as not only Mrs. McGruder here and as Mrs. Henderson in "Listen, Judge," but also as Duchess in "Hoi Polloi."  That is quite a turnaround in personality for her.  Yet imdb.com, never known for perfection, lists Katherine "Kitty" McHugh as the then-49-year-old of "Gents in a Jam" and "Listen, Judge," but as a separate individual, Kathryn McHugh, with no date of birth or death, in "Hoi Polloi."

[Paul Pain]

There isn't much to complain about here.  OK, there's nothing to complain about here.  This short is pretty much what we have come to look for in the ideal Shemp short: verbal and physical abuse.  For once, the jealous husband angle works, and it works BEAUTIFULLY.  Perhaps making it all better is that all the actors are on their A-game, even the one-off Dani Sue Nolan and Mickey Simpson.  Both of our one-hit wonders could have done well with the Stooges, but then again sitting and wishing for them to discover a lost short with Christine McIntyre, Bud Jamison, Kenneth MacDonald, and Vernon Dent all in it hasn't worked yet for me.

I got to this too late; all you other guys took all the good ideas.  I will point out that, in a rarity, we have a funny chase scene as well.

The high praise for Emil Sitka is surprising considering how little he actually shows up in this one.  But he was par superior in what little he did have, so it is rather justified.  OK, the praise is well-deserved; he kicked .

The next few shorts should be interesting as we have shorts varying from "all-time classics" to "only for refined Stoogephiles" to "total crap."

Ed Bernds will enter the discussion again, but that's not until we get to the Detita features about a year from now.

Yeah, but who's Detita?

[Shemp_Diesel]

I've always been a Jules White fan, and--if I could--I would say the last 4 or 5 years of stooge shorts with stock footage, the back of Joe Palma's head and Joe Besser shouldn't tarnish all the great output Jules did before that.

That being said, the classics will be few and far between once we creep into 1953 and 54. Now that I think about it though, there's a handful of great shorts within the 1953 releases--so, maybe it's not all bad. Just my $0.02....

[metaldams]

Yeah, but who's Detita?

A typo, but after seeing him in minimal clothing in THE OUTLAWS IS COMING, perhaps I subliminally meant it.

[Kopfy2013]

Did not Emil Sitka share his thoughts  on his last few shorts?   I enjoyed reading his take.

 This short  is above average for me.   Moe steps up bit it almost seems like he's trying to hard.

 I like how he's going to handle the ladies.

I give it a 6.

[Woe-ee-Woe-Woe80]

Edward Bernds really went out with a grand slam with his final Stooge short he wrote and directed (although he did direct a couple of the 1960's Three Stooges films), this short is hilarious from the beginning to the end and each stooge (especially Moe) gives a great performance, Kitty McHugh and Emil Sitka also give great performances with their roles, I believe this was also Dani Sue Nolan and Mickey Simpson's only appearances with the Stooges and they do a fair job with their roles, I sometimes wonder how the mid 1950's Stooge shorts would fare if producer Hugh McCollum and director/writer Edward Bernds had remained with them, I always thought Hugh McCollum getting fired and Edward Bernds resigning was the true beginning of the end era of the Three Stooges shorts.

Overall I give this short a classic 10/10

[Curly Van Dyke]

Mickey Simpson was a former Boxer who played countless tough-guy roles. He did loads of Westerns,especially on TV.
He had a big fight with Johnny Weissmuller in "Tarzan and the Huntress" and played a Native in the classic,
"Bela Lugosi meets a Brooklyn Gorilla"(any Mitchell & Petrillo fans out there?)
Wih the beard he looks like Trumpeter Al HIrt.(I play Trumpet so I had to throw that in).

[metaldams]

Mickey Simpson was a former Boxer who played countless tough-guy roles. He did loads of Westerns,especially on TV.
He had a big fight with Johnny Weissmuller in "Tarzan and the Huntress" and played a Native in the classic,
"Bela Lugosi meets a Brooklyn Gorilla"(any Mitchell & Petrillo fans out there?)
Wih the beard he looks like Trumpeter Al HIrt.(I play Trumpet so I had to throw that in).

Never realized Mickey Simpson was in BELA LUGOSI MEETS A BROOKLYN GORILLA.  I’ll look out for him next time I watch it.  I do know Muriel Landers from SWEET AND HOT is in it. 

Mitchell and Petrillo - the sincerest form of flattery.

[Curly Van Dyke]

Regarding Mickey Simpson-In "Bela meets Brooklyn" he's Bela's Native Assistant.
The Native girl,Charlita is quite a Babe.

[Daniel L. Daniels]

Hello, folks.  I have been lurking on this forum for over 15 damn years and am just now making my first post to share a small discovery I made yesterday.
I was browsing thru the Stooges filmography and noticed that "He Cooked His Goose" and "Gents in a Jam" were released one day apart, July 3 and July 4.  I remember noticing this odd release spacing when looking through Stooge literature in the past and decided to look into it.
There is a website called Lantern (http://lantern.mediahist.org/) that has searchable archives of vintage film trade publications.  Searching for "Gents in a Jam" brings up entries in Harrison's Reports and Box Office Barometer listing its release date as September 4, 1952, not July 4.
An admittedly minor nugget of info, but I thought it was worth sharing.  Unrelated, but I've also been searching through Lantern to compile exhibitor reviews of Stooge shorts from the Motion Picture Herald's "What the Picture Did For Me" column, and if I ever finish it I'll be sure to share it with you knuckleheads.

[metaldams]

Hello, folks.  I have been lurking on this forum for over 15 damn years and am just now making my first post to share a small discovery I made yesterday.
I was browsing thru the Stooges filmography and noticed that "He Cooked His Goose" and "Gents in a Jam" were released one day apart, July 3 and July 4.  I remember noticing this odd release spacing when looking through Stooge literature in the past and decided to look into it.
There is a website called Lantern (http://lantern.mediahist.org/) that has searchable archives of vintage film trade publications.  Searching for "Gents in a Jam" brings up entries in Harrison's Reports and Box Office Barometer listing its release date as September 4, 1952, not July 4.
An admittedly minor nugget of info, but I thought it was worth sharing.  Unrelated, but I've also been searching through Lantern to compile exhibitor reviews of Stooge shorts from the Motion Picture Herald's "What the Picture Did For Me" column, and if I ever finish it I'll be sure to share it with you knuckleheads.

Just checked the threestooges.net database and 9/4/1952 is the release date.  Either it was there the whole time or somebody just made the correction based on your post.  Either way, thanks.  Feel free to post more, love to hear from you.  I have to confess there are some boards I’m basically just a lurker as well.

[Daddy Dewdrop]

I agree with most of the comments here, some great slapstick in this one.  We're now in the "upper half" of the countdown and things keep getting better and better...

#94. Gents In A Jam

[Samurai]

I'm not sure how many times I've seen this episode, but it's likely 30+. In the past week, I've watched it twice...carefully...and was surprised how many times I cackled out loud. Moe being extra punative, as well as the bit with the radio and Shemp fighting the sink seemed new to me. I do remember Uncle Phin getting kneed in the face by Mrs. Duggan, but I don't remember laughing as hard as I did this time. I'm starting to think that many episodes I viewed in my younger days were horribly edited for time (like AMC and IFC often do today).

Fortunately, I live in the epicenter of retro TV (MeTV/Antenna/Decades/Movies), so I get 21 complete/uninterrupted Stooge episodes a week (not to mention 8 Laurel & Hardy's/week). This has given me a newfound appreciation for Shemp that I never really had, as well as Laurel & Hardy...which were rarely shown.

And for two years, this site has been my go-to for info on all of it...as a filthy lurker. Now, I get to share my...clears throat...'wisdom'. 

[metaldams]

I'm not sure how many times I've seen this episode, but it's likely 30+. In the past week, I've watched it twice...carefully...and was surprised how many times I cackled out loud. Moe being extra punative, as well as the bit with the radio and Shemp fighting the sink seemed new to me. I do remember Uncle Phin getting kneed in the face by Mrs. Duggan, but I don't remember laughing as hard as I did this time. I'm starting to think that many episodes I viewed in my younger days were horribly edited for time (like AMC and IFC often do today).

Fortunately, I live in the epicenter of retro TV (MeTV/Antenna/Decades/Movies), so I get 21 complete/uninterrupted Stooge episodes a week (not to mention 8 Laurel & Hardy's/week). This has given me a newfound appreciation for Shemp that I never really had, as well as Laurel & Hardy...which were rarely shown.

And for two years, this site has been my go-to for info on all of it...as a filthy lurker. Now, I get to share my...clears throat...'wisdom'. 

I just appreciate you put some thought in your posts.  Glad this board has been helpful.

Not sure of your age but I was a kid in the 80’s, but same deal for me.  Way more Stooges on TV than Stan and Ollie.  DVD and blu ray has solved that issue since.

[Samurai]

Not sure of your age but I was a kid in the 80’s, but same deal for me.  Way more Stooges on TV than Stan and Ollie.  DVD and blu ray has solved that issue since.

I'll put it this way. When I was born, the President sounded just like Mayor Quimby, and the Chicago Bulls didn't yet exist...but WGN showed the Stooges every afternoon. 

[Paul Pain]

I'll put it this way. When I was born, the President sounded just like Mayor Quimby, and the Chicago Bulls didn't yet exist...but WGN showed the Stooges every afternoon. 

Oh, so a 1960s Chicago-ite! 

This is one of those shorts where something new pops out with each viewing, especially as you watch more contemporary material and become more familiar with the era.