Topic: Pick a Peck of Plumbers (1944) - Shemp Howard and El Brendel

[metaldams]

http://www.threestooges.net/filmography/episode/275
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0141728/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yfnNjqbHyP0

Watch PICK A PECK OF PLUMBERS in the link above



      Let's see how this solo Stooge thing works, though PICK A PECK OF PLUMBERS is not exactly solo, as Shemp is teamed with El Brendel.  El Brendel was a Columbia shorts comedian for almost ten years, going back and forth in solo films or being thrown in hastily assembled teams with comedians like Shemp and Harry Langdon.  He never really caught on, and it's easy to see why.  El Brendel's entire schtick was that he spoke in a Swedish dialect, yet he did nothing funny, showed no other signs of uniqueness, and wasn't a particularly gifted physical comedian based on what I've seen.  Contrast him to Shemp, who does a wonderful near sighted routine, gets a nice little shaving gag, and gets a moment alone throwing items in a box and tripping in the process.  El Brendel doesn't have moments like this, just a one horse dialect comedian.  As far as him being teamed with Shemp?  No chemistry.  There are points in the short where the two yell at each other, and I find myself cheering Shemp on instead of wishing to see them work together.  Not exactly good comedy team chemistry.

      Other than what's mentioned above, even Shemp is given little to do.  I guess Columbia was still trying to figure out how to use his talents.  Fortunately, later solo shorts are much better as far as that goes.  The film itself is good for all the great plumbing gags that involve electrical pipes turning into water pipes and everyone getting wet.  This was also done in A PLUMBING WE WILL GO, but with a huge difference.  In this short, all we remember are the gags themselves towards the second reel, the comedians themselves leave little impression.  In A PLUMBING WE WILL GO, we remember Curly with the maze of pipes, we remember Moe and Larry's interactions, we remember Dudley.  Here?  Just a lot of wet gags that could have been done by anyone.  The main comedians are barely present.  Entertaining, but not a great showcase for the comedians.

      Fortunately, things get better for Shemp, and we'll see less of El Brendel in the future.  A good gag film towards the end, basically.

6/10

[metaldams]

Doing research, it appears the water clogged ceiling gag is stock footage from ANDY CLYDE GETS A SPRING CHICKEN.  Can't escape that stock footage it seems!

[Paul Pain]

This isn't all that terrible for a first effort of a new teaming.  This was basically an attempt to revive El Brendel's career, as many shorts at this time were.  He was more a verbal gag specialist.  His Swedish-import routine created lots of verbal gags, but in the world of Columbia shorts this is a significant minus.  He created most other situations by being a bumbling idiot that resulted in the supporting cast taking comedic falls.  He has much better shorts outside this one, but he's not at his worst here either.  There'll be a little more El Brendel bashing on this board, I think, in the somewhat distant future.  I have been doing a lot of research on his shorts, among others.  There are reasons most El Brendel shorts involve one of (1) being teamed with another, (2) being a recycle of another short or being recycled later as another short, (3) being not very slapsticky.

This short, on paper, would have made a great short with just about any other comedy pairing Columbia had: Collins-Keaton, Kennedy-Howard, Vernon-Quillan.  But not with Brendel-anyone.  Kathryn Keys, who just turned 100, has the worst hairdo I've ever seen in a Columbia short.  I believe she shows up in another Columbia short.

In short, the only time this short doesn't fall short is when Shemp wears the shorts and dishes out some good moments.  But, for the most part, it kinds of sucks.  It's fun to see the first Columbia short with Shemp in a starring role, but it's worse than what came before and what comes after.

4/10

Edit: Yeah, my review starts of "not that bad" and turns into "burn in hell."

[Shemp_Diesel]

It has been awhile since I've watched the Shemp solos, so maybe I need to see them again to give a better analysis of them--although I did watch Where the Pest Begins recently.

What I remember of Plumbers is not very good. I'm not sure if Benny Rubin was considered a "dialect comedian," but outside of him, dialect comedians in general do very little for me--my mind flashing to the awful Gobs of Fun from Shemp's Vitaphone collection. And I would lump El Brendel in with the rest.

From what I remember of it, Shemp isn't given very much memorable stuff to do either--but again, maybe another viewing is required.

4 out of 10 pokes....

[Kopfy2013]

This is cool .... totally swamped (behind in the Stooge Weekly Discussions also) but will be viewing this as soon as I can. 

Thanks metaldam!

[GreenCanaries]

Kathryn Keys, who just turned 100, has the worst hairdo I've ever seen in a Columbia short.  I believe she shows up in another Columbia short.

Two. One is another Brendel short, I SPIED FOR YOU (1943), which can be viewed here, and in addition to the usual Columbia shorts regulars, also features Barbara "What a Lulu" Slater! The other is SHOT IN THE ESCAPE (1943), starring another makeshift pairing, this one of Billy Gilbert and Cliff Nazarro. She also shows up in the Leon Errol RKO short RADIO RUNAROUND (1943), which can be viewed in two parts here and here.

As for this short: not super-impressed by Brendel, and it's been a bit since I've watched this short, but I do recall getting a laugh from him calling Mrs. Dinwitty "Mrs. Dimwit" towards the end when they find the ring and rush off (before the final scene) -- easy a joke as it is. I don't remember much of what Shemp does, which probably speaks to how "small" (for lack of a better word) his co-starring role is.

Something I do remember: when El and Shemp fall through the hole at film's end, look closely at "Shemp" -- a second role for Al Thompson!

[luke795]

What is the name of the song played in the opening and ending credits?

[Paul Pain]

What is the name of the song played in the opening and ending credits?

"Mary Had a Little Lamb" or "Merrily We Roll Along."  Both songs have the same tune, so opinion plays in as to which it is.

[metaldams]

Two. One is another Brendel short, I SPIED FOR YOU (1943), which can be viewed here, and in addition to the usual Columbia shorts regulars, also features Barbara "What a Lulu" Slater! The other is SHOT IN THE ESCAPE (1943), starring another makeshift pairing, this one of Billy Gilbert and Cliff Nazarro. She also shows up in the Leon Errol RKO short RADIO RUNAROUND (1943), which can be viewed in two parts here and here.

As for this short: not super-impressed by Brendel, and it's been a bit since I've watched this short, but I do recall getting a laugh from him calling Mrs. Dinwitty "Mrs. Dimwit" towards the end when they find the ring and rush off (before the final scene) -- easy a joke as it is. I don't remember much of what Shemp does, which probably speaks to how "small" (for lack of a better word) his co-starring role is.

Something I do remember: when El and Shemp fall through the hole at film's end, look closely at "Shemp" -- a second role for Al Thompson!

That El Brendel short, while no classic, is the best thing I've seen him in.  Barbara Slater is gorgeous as usual, but there's too little of her.  Good Bud Jamison stuff, and this appears to be the same battleship set from BACK FROM THE FRONT.

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

I think the word would be " mechanical ".

[Kopfy2013]

Interesting.... This helps me appreciate the Stooges more.  Great seeing some Stooge bit players.

I give this a 5.

What I hate that I hated in Stooge shorts is the glasses.  TAKE OFF THE GLASSES SO YOU CAN SEE !!!

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

That seems to have been a Shemp trademark, donning the coke bottle glasses.  He's in a feature called Butch Minds The Baby, too, wherein he plays a bootlegger who went blind from drinking his own booze.  Not totally blind, just enough to wear the glasses.  Somebody about a year ago commented that nobody shaves like Shemp.  True enough, and we get both shticks here.  Intriguing how both are funnier in a stooge context, although I would agree that the glasses are not particularly funny, and as I said, mechanical, in any context.

[Paul Pain]

Bad news, metaldams.  I guess your link brought the page to the attention of someone around here with C3/Sony connections and they got just about the entire channel pulled.  That sucks, because I was leaning on that channel heavily for when I took over post-DeRita.  Sony had every video pulled except for the public domain shorts.

[metaldams]

Bad news, metaldams.  I guess your link brought the page to the attention of someone around here with C3/Sony connections and they got just about the entire channel pulled.  That sucks, because I was leaning on that channel heavily for when I took over post-DeRita.  Sony had every video pulled except for the public domain shorts.

She-it

[Paul Pain]

Agreed.  That channel was the only one that had many of the Healy, Besser, and DeRita shorts.  You always find something, though!

[JWF]

Boy, Columbia sure got their money's worth out of this plotline... they got 5 shorts out of this basic story line.

Plumbing For Gold
A Plumbing We Will Go
Pick A Peck Of Plumbers
Vagabond Loafers
Scheming Schemers

Not that there should be any logic in this short, but a couple of things bothered me....

The woman whose house is destroyed didn't seem all that bothered by the damage...

And what was the point of having the judge (who could have been the exact same character he played in "A Plumbing We Will Go") turn up at the real plumbers workshop?  Neither Shemp or El Brendel seem to remember him, and after a few lines of dialogue, they literally toss him offscreen, where he's never heard from again.

[Dr. Hugo Gansamacher]

I find the nearsightedness act tiresome no matter who does it.

What is the name of the song played in the opening and ending credits?

"Mary Had a Little Lamb" or "Merrily We Roll Along."  Both songs have the same tune, so opinion plays in as to which it is.

The music also has a few measures of a second tune in the middle of it, which sounds like "Oh, Susanna!" or "Good Night, Ladies," though it's not quite either one.

[falsealarms]

I've always liked this short. I'd give it a solid 8. As some mentioned, Shemp's shaving gag is pretty good (the whole bathroom scene is solid). The early part of the film in the workshop is good too, like the part when Brendel tries to put tools in Al Thompson's chest (literally). Another highlight is when Brendel falls down the basement and Shemp shows absolutely no regard for him even though Brendel is wailing in agony. It's amusing in a cruel sense.

[falsealarms]

Also, I *believe*  the hallway set in this short is the same hallway set used in No Dough Boys, which was also filmed in April 1944. The way the staircase railing curves at the end match.

[Paul Pain]

Another highlight is when Brendel falls down the basement and Shemp shows absolutely no regard for him even though Brendel is wailing in agony. It's amusing in a cruel sense.

I think Shemp even say "You get what you deserve" as he's standing there huffing that coughin' nail.

[Seamus]

Finally watched this last night, pretty weak stuff.  I agree with most people's assessment of El Brendel's entertainment value (zero).  I suppose there were ways to find dialect comedians funny in their proper time and place, but apart from Chico (who gets by more on his personal charm than anything else), their shtick is about as amusing as tetanus today.

Even Shemp gives a pretty low-energy performance in this.  At first I thought it was because he was being held back by the restrictions of the near-sighted act, but he was able to deliver some really funny work within those parameters in DIZZY AND DAFFY (granted, he was a decade younger then). 

[dom dip]

In all the 3 stooges episodes, i lov it when the 3 stooges are plumbers and they repair or connect the pipes in the craziest ways, then the original small leak that they tried to fix turns into a disaster.

[Paul Pain]

TThe other is SHOT IN THE ESCAPE (1943), starring another makeshift pairing, this one of Billy Gilbert and Cliff Nazarro.

Billy Gilbert and Cliff Nazarro worked together for a while.  For a spell, Columbia tried to pair them with Shemp Howard in an attempt to create a different version of The Three Stooges.

[GreenCanaries]

Billy Gilbert and Cliff Nazarro worked together for a while.  For a spell, Columbia tried to pair them with Shemp Howard in an attempt to create a different version of The Three Stooges.

I've admittedly been scratching my head at this comment for a while, thinking it was some bizarre joke.

But now that I look at it again: are you by any chance thinking of the Shemp / Billy Gilbert / Maxie Rosenbloom (not Nazarro) flickers for Monogram Pictures (not Columbia)?

[Paul Pain]

I've admittedly been scratching my head at this comment for a while, thinking it was some bizarre joke.

But now that I look at it again: are you by any chance thinking of the Shemp / Billy Gilbert / Maxie Rosenbloom (not Nazarro) flickers for Monogram Pictures (not Columbia)?

That's what I was thinking of!  Head bonk for me.   

[falsealarms]

Kathryn Keys, who co-starred in this short, just recently passed away.

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/latimes/obituary.aspx?n=sarah-margaret-frame-peggy&pid=188773255

[Umbrella Sam]

Personally, I’m not too familiar with El Brendel’s work outside of WINGS, which I thought he was alright in. From what I can gather, he was apparently most known for his word confusion resulting from his dialect, which might be funny in small doses as a supporting player, but really does not make him a good lead.

Yeah, the two do not make a good team and have no chemistry whatsoever, though I don’t want to blame El Brendel entirely for this. It feels like this could have been written for just about any other team at Columbia, considering that really neither one of them is the leader. El Brendel seems to be the leader of the duo at first, then it suddenly shifts to Shemp. JWF also makes a good point about the scenes with the judge; why have him there if there is no real payoff from him recognizing them? As much as we may like to blame El Brendel, I feel Felix Adler should get just as much blame for a shoddy writing job here, especially considering this plot line isn’t even original.

It’s a shame because I’ve always loved when Shemp plays a nearsighted character. I can’t really explain, but there’s just something so appealing whenever he does this, as though he perfectly timed out when he needed to crash into people or just simply make a witty comment. I really wish I could see his version of the Maharajah routine.

The best scenes are when Shemp is by himself, particularly when he’s putting the tools and the box and when he’s trying to cork the pipe. It’s just nice to see him making witty comments without interruption and I think these scenes should have been enough proof for Columbia that he could carry his own series.

It’s not horrible, but there really isn’t much of interest here beyond seeing Shemp play his nearsighted character.

4 out of 10