Can this be considered the best Stooges short with Joe? Maybe. Can it be considered Joe's best performance with the Stooges? Possibly. But to me this short stands out as being the one where Joe most seems like he's part of the team. For the first time there is not a clear division between Joe and the others. Uncoincidentally, the "trio" nature of the Stooges is emphasized here (actually, a trio of trios). On the evidence of this short alone, I would never have guessed that Besser was widely considered a misfit, second-rate third Stooge. If anyone in charge had really cared, subsequent Besser shorts would have been more like this one, and less like... well, less like the way they actually were.
In this short the Stooges are too busy getting abused by the ladies to spend much time hitting each other. Nonetheless, Joe takes his share of abuse: a bonk on the head (his only punishment from Moe), champagne in the face, five slaps in the face (including getting triple-slapped with the others), multiple whacks with a purse, and a plate broken on his head. (He also gets pinched by Moe, gets dough in the face, and gets bumped/knocked [along with Moe] during the "happy dance" in a way I can't quite determine -- elbowed by Larry, maybe?) In this short, Joe doesn't seem at all to be the "sheltered Stooge" he's so frequently criticized for being (though, oddly, he'd still seem that way at times in later shorts).
I can honestly say that a number of my favorite moments in the short are Joe moments:
"Oo! Ow!..." ("What's the matter?") "Nuth-in'! Nice piece of acting, though, isn't it?"
Moves wallet from shirt pocket, in case that's what the lady's really after.
"I like to watch women fight over me!" (Runs hands through nonexistent hair.)
After "Copy!," Joe turns to look at Larry, and both of them jump as if startled.
That last one is a nice throwaway gag (I never even noticed it until someone else pointed it out), and highlights something I picked up on before this but didn't really think about: since Larry was clearly more accepting of Joe off-camera than Moe was, it only makes sense that Larry would interact better with Joe on-camera.
This short has what is clearly Frank Sully's best performance with the Stooges. In fact, it took me a while to realize he even had other Stooge roles. In the last act of the short the focus is more on him than the Stooges, but it works well.
