Topic: Income Tax Sappy (1954)

[metaldams]

http://www.threestooges.net/filmography/episode/152
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047115/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VdCHPb9YFgQ

Watch INCOME TAX SAPPY in the link above



      Not quite as awesome as reviewing IDLE ROOMERS on Halloween night, we still get to discuss INCOME TAX SAPPY in early April, right in the middle of tax season.  Released in Feb. 1954 as tax season was beginning, this short was only filmed a few months before in Nov - Dec 1953, no doubt to be rushed into theaters as people were starting to file their returns, a tradition the founding fathers all started years after their deaths around 1913.

      The boys play tax evaders in this one.  Really, this short is split into two parts - living room slapstick as the boys scheme tax loopholes and business, and dinner slapstick after they are successful at their business and some government employees go undercover to pay a visit.  I like the first part better.  Not much to say about it other than the boys can still be placed in a room, be given a bare minimum plot, and just work with props, hands, voice, and body and make me laugh.  Moe battling a sandwich is immature fun, as is him trying to get Larry's superglued hair off of him.  The zipper surgery gag ranks as one of the more violent Stooge gags.  Throw this in with the wire gag in PARDON MY BACKFIRE as the envelope gets pushed further.  Overall, a fun scene.

      The dinner scene, eh, not my thing.  I never have been a big Benny Rubin guy other than his role in TRICKY DICKS.  Guys like Bud Jamison and Vernon Dent work with the Stooges.  Benny Rubin I almost feel competes with the Stooges, there's a difference.  It's as if he's his own show.  I prefer swanky dinner s ends where the boys are truly low class and they are dealing with real high society people.  The dinner shenanigans feel natural there, here, it feels forced.  Middle class Stooges vs government employees doesn't have the same slapstick ring as rubbish camp boys vs. the diamonds and tuxedo set.  Larry with the lobster just makes me miss Curly, done better when the latter did the oyster soup gag.  The ending is rushed and uneventful.

      An OK short, and it's nice to see original footage.  Next week, oh boy.

7/10

[Paul Pain]

Well, I see metaldams and I agree in many regards on this one, but for whatever reason we differ on how it affects our score.

INCOME TAX SAPPY is the last fully original concept of the Shemp era (the latter unique shorts all use recycled concepts).  And here we see the results: loads of fun.  There are some cringe-worthy moments in the first half with Moe shaving and testing the blade on his tongue before shaving his eye, and then there's Larry and the zipper.  Comedy gold, but violent stuff on paper.  It is great to hear Shemp do all this double-talk to justify cheating on taxes.  Likewise, Moe and the hotdog is one of those all-time classic moments, especially with the hot dog running away.  Miss Buckshot is fine in her final Three Stooges role, but in her few shorts she provided some worthwhile moments.

Benny Rubin, once again, sucks horribly.  Oh my God, how can they have Vernon Dent in this short and not have he and Benny switch roles?  Or better yet why not Emil Sitka, or for crying out loud even reanimate Bud Jamison's corpse?  Benny Rubin lacks something important in many of his roles: personality.  He is great in a support role, like in TRICKY DICKS or even the Besser horse and space ship sh*tshows, but he is always bad as a co-star.  There is nothing wrong with such roles as the Chester Conklin's and Joe Palma's are an important part of the equation.  Bean me.

I don't mind Larry with the lobster as I feel like it is just his interpretation of that routine.  He is fine in his own way, but it definitely is better with Curly.  Thus the adage: routines are usually done best by those for whom they were written.  No one knows who played Frances, but she has a beautiful voice that makes me wish she had been used more often.

The ending is pretty lousy and forced.  The back door is locked?  Well unlock it stupid!  They could have had a great Shemp era chase scene, and instead we have the Stooges fry their rears.  The ending and Benny Rubin are an awful lot to swallow, but the rest makes this a go to short for me, so...

9/10

[Shemp_Diesel]

If my math is correct, one of the last 2 Shemp originals that will score a 9 or 10--Blunder Boys will get a 10 from me.

Nothing too much wrong with this one in my eyes--the first half is basic Shemp era Stooges; confined to one room and doing their thing like seasoned show-biz veterans. Highlights for me would be Shemp beaning Moe with the bowling ball and his various screams as Moe comes after him with fury. Then there's the superglue and Larry's hair and Moe commanding Larry to get him a sandwich (and no backtalk).

As for the 2nd half--I guess I'm in the minority, but I've always been amused by Benny. Whatever personal feelings he may have had about the stooges doesn't color how I view him as a comic--and what rule is there that you have to like everybody you work with?

At any rate, with Shemp's somewhat limited role at the dinner party, Benny steps up admirably to the plate--You are very loose eater.

Overall, 9 out of 10....

[GreenCanaries]

TRIVIA TIME:

- The final appearance of Margie Liszt, and the first in several years (since her 1951 trifecta).
- The final appearance of Nanette Bordeaux for another few years (sadly, that next appearance would be released posthumously).
- The first appearance of Joe Palma in over three years (his last appearance was all the way back in SLAPHAPPY SLEUTHS!).

"I just love gravies! A-one! A-two!..."

Anyone know exactly what Benny Rubin said about the Stooges? I know someone brought up that he "dissed" them in a previous thread.

[Dr. Hugo Gansamacher]

I don't share the anti-Benny Rubin sentiments that seem to prevail here. The only moment in his performance in this short that puts me off is when he asks for "some mustache" and "some A-6 sauce" in his salad—trying to be funny with what appear to be unscripted lines. In this he is indeed, as Metaldams says, competing with the Stooges rather than working with them—a very unwise choice. But his comic German accent is excellent, and the final stages of his progressive degradation at the dinner table, when first he gets a fistful of Larry's gumbo soup (which he manages to take calmly: "You are a very loose eater!") and then three scoops of mashed potatoes in his face (which makes him finally lose his cool, and his disguise), are for me among the best moments in this short.

But the one thing in this short that makes me look forward to watching it more than anything else is Shemp's helping himself to mashed potatoes and gravy. His incongruous bit of Ebonics, "Oh, I loves gravy!", has a place for me just below his riff on the "bee-bopper" in Spooks. The disgruntled and heedless way in which he flings the food off his dickey and straight into the face of Herr Kasch recalls the disastrously self-absorbed character that he played in the shorts that he made before rejoining Moe and Larry.

[Lefty]

My wife is a CPA and she is in her busy season now.  She likes this episode, especially the parts about the inventive deductions and Benny Rubin getting pelted with food.  I like this short as well, for these reasons and the glue that Moe had to get off his eye.  Of course, the ending was not so great. 

Speaking of Benny Rubin, it was always strange to hear his natural, American voice.  The only other time I remember that was in his appearance on "Hizzonner the Penguin," when he was mad that Batman would not kiss his (Rubin's) grandchild and threw down the campaign button.

Back in 1954, tax exemptions were $400, now they are $4,000, and next year they will be $4,050.  So Shemp would put down $44,000 for dependents now for "my ex-wife and 10 bartenders!"

"We each made $100,000 last year!"  "And no taxes!"  Sounds like politicians and wealthy corporate clowns to me, only with 2 or 3 extra zeroes in there.

A better ending would have been the Stooges stuffing the Infernal Revenooers' faces in the stove fires.

[vomit]

One of my faves!  I love the part where Larry is making a sandwich for Moe, and he is talking to himself, "...and a little mustard....and I know he'll like that!"  Just the way Larry says it and his expression is priceless!

[Desmond Of The Outer Sanctorum]

A little historical side note: I recently read that 1954 was the year that the due date for taxes changed from March 15 to April 15.

[Kopfy2013]

I like that the storyline was someting different.  There were some good one-liners. I thought Larry was at the top of his game.  Great to see fresh material.

Rated 7

[Curly Van Dyke]

Poor Vernon Dent looks rough when he and Joe Palma appear as the IRS men.
He's very haggard and thin.
The scene when he chases the boys around the dinner table is funny,but also very sad-
knowing his condition.

[Paul Pain]

Poor Vernon Dent looks rough when he and Joe Palma appear as the IRS men.
He's very haggard and thin.
The scene when he chases the boys around the dinner table is funny,but also very sad-
knowing his condition.

He seems very slow during this scene as well.

[Hollister56]

How the expression on Moe's face changes during the laughter when Moe says, "it's not that funny you laughing hyenas."

Then the way Moe slaps Shemp around and kicks him in the ass.

All the ways to get tax deductions, do you have any bad debts?  Charity begins at home.......

Also when Moe get the face full of mustard, wow a direct hit.

So many other funnies in this short. 

Also the Benny stuff is really funny too, especially towards the end when he really starts getting the nailed with food.

This short really makes me laugh every time I watch it, over 50 years and it still cracks me up.   

[Woe-ee-Woe-Woe80]

Gosh I don't understand why people dislike Benny Rubin so much, I think he was a great foil for the stooges and was always a lot of fun to watch, I wish he'd gotten to appear in more Stooge films, as for "Income Tax Sappy" I've thought it was one of the best Stooge shorts during the late Shemp era, Moe is definitely irritable and grouchy in the first half of the episode and the zipper gag Moe performs on Larry was a classic!

I do notice in the second half of the episode Shemp doesn't get as much attention or screen time as Moe & Larry and I loved their scenes with Benny Rubin, I also loved seeing Benny Rubin getting mad at the stooges, as for Larry's gumbo scene it tried to be a rehash of the scene where Curly has a battle with an oyster in his soup in "Dutiful But Dumb" but wasn't as great.

I also loved the ending where the Stooges get hauled off to jail with their behinds on fire!

"Income Tax Sappy" is IMO one of the more underrated Stooge shorts during the Shemp era and I give it a 9/10

[Umbrella Sam]

Gosh I don't understand why people dislike Benny Rubin so much, I think he was a great foil for the stooges and was always a lot of fun to watch, I wish he'd gotten to appear in more Stooge films, as for "Income Tax Sappy" I've thought it was one of the best Stooge shorts during the late Shemp era, Moe is definitely irritable and grouchy in the first half of the episode and the zipper gag Moe performs on Larry was a classic!

I do notice in the second half of the episode Shemp doesn't get as much attention or screen time as Moe & Larry and I loved their scenes with Benny Rubin, I also loved seeing Benny Rubin getting mad at the stooges, as for Larry's gumbo scene it tried to be a rehash of the scene where Curly has a battle with an oyster in his soup in "Dutiful But Dumb" but wasn't as great.

I also loved the ending where the Stooges get hauled off to jail with their behinds on fire!

"Income Tax Sappy" is IMO one of the more underrated Stooge shorts during the Shemp era and I give it a 9/10

I haven’t seen any of the Rubin shorts in a while, though I do recall him being alright and actually did enjoy his brief bit in TRICKY DICKS, though the fact that Vernon Dent’s role is so reduced doesn’t help.

Rubin appeared frequently on THE JACK BENNY PROGRAM as various characters and could be pretty funny on that. Whenever I watch that, I always look forward to his appearances, right up there with Mel Blanc and Frank Nelson.

[Dr. Mabuse]

One of the better Shemps from the mid-1950s. However, I never warmed up to Benny Rubin, who displays zero chemistry with the Stooges. Apart from the lackluster ending and Rubin's flawed presence, a mostly enjoyable two-reeler.

7/10

[Daddy Dewdrop]

One of the better "later Shemp" efforts.  We're starting to move from the "average" to "slightly above average" phase of the worst to first countdown.

#95. Income Tax Sappy

[HomokHarcos]

I watched this again recently and was literally in tears from laughing. I never thought anything would surpass my passion for classic cartoons and pro wrestling, but classic comedians like The Three Stooges, Laurel and Hardy and the great silent clowns might be the exceptions.

[HomokHarcos]

Watched this again, same reaction. It's got a lot of very funny lines in the beginning.

"Do you expect to pay it? Then it's a bad debt."
"Why not? Charity begins at home."
"Looks like a V8."
"My ex wife and 10 bartenders."

[metaldams]

OK, you want to know something bizarre?  I rewatched this short tonight without reading my initial review and what I wrote in my initial review remains true word for word.  I had the same thoughts in my head without remembering I wrote them years ago.  Yup, I’m not a Benny Rubin guy, but I do enjoy that beginning.

OK, one change - I enjoyed Larry with the lobster more.

[Shemp_Diesel]

I'm always amazed that there are no visible strings or wires that make Moe's hotdog run away from the dinner table....