Topic: The Glove Slingers (1939) - Noah Beery, Jr., Shemp Howard, and Paul Hurst

[Paul Pain]

https://www.threestooges.net/filmography/episode/270
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0132189/

The Glove Slingers series was Jules White's ill-conceived notion (that phrase, "Jules White's ill-conceived notion," is as common as "bread and butter" around here) of what young people of his era wanted in mildly dramatic but still humorous short subjects, and the series is named for the opening short GLOVE SLINGERS.  All the shorts involve the character Terry Kelly and his misadventures.

This is actor Paul Hurst's only role with any of the Stooges.  He is best known as the Yankee soldier who Scarlett O'Hara shoots in GONE WITH THE WIND.  Sadly, he committed suicide after being diagnosed with terminal cancer.  Noah Beery, Jr., son of Noah Beery, Sr. and nephew of Wallace Beery, had quite the career.    The man taking the bets at the warehouse, Robert Sterling, later played the lead character in then famous 1960s movie VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA.

This short is the highlight of the entire series.  If you don't like this, then you won't like any of them as the next one, PLEASED TO MITT YOU, is way worse and fortunately the last leg of our trip through this series (for now, anyway) as Shemp Howard only appeared in the first two, both as the witty, bossy, and reckless Uncle Pat Kelly.  In fact, Dorothy Vaughan was the only one of the 5 actors featured on the poster to make it past the 2nd installment, and she survived to the end of this nightmarish series.

It's not a bad product overall.  Noah Beery Jr. does fairly well in what would be his only appearance as Terry Kelly, and he at least is convincing in the role.  Paul Hurst provides most of the humor as Shemp's dopey sidekick.  The best thing about the short is that it has a coherent plot that is introduced and fully resolved within the entire 20 minutes.  It's also helped by what is a really fantastic supporting cast, including Richard Fiske (in two roles!), Dorothy Vaughan, Cy Schindell, Dick Curtis, a

The negative is that it's just plain trite and cliché.  There are no unique or stand out gags here that one can point out.  It's all pedestrian material that's just livened by quality actors.

7/10

[GreenCanaries]

Gotta give Noah Beery Jr. credit for the stunt where he leaps over all of the boxes then slips on the eggs (regardless of the cut before the slip, still some nice athleticism). According to the Okuda/Watz book, NBJ suffered a broken nose at one point during filming.

I believe I spotted Stooge semi-regular Charlie Phillips doubling Paul Hurst in a couple of moments.

Also, Betty Campbell (Terry's sweetheart) is cute as a button.

[metaldams]

It’s been a while but I don’t remember being terribly impressed by The Glove Slingers series.  Will give this a look again and pitch in my thoughts soon.

[Umbrella Sam]

Got to give Jules White credit for ambition, but it is very clichéd and the ending incredibly rushed (the girl is seriously that quick to forgive him for beating up her brother?). The Columbia stock gags also just don’t fit in very well with the tone of the short. The best part about it is the cast, who do as well as they can with a fairly weak script, and it is interesting to see Shemp in a slightly more serious role than usual. I also do find it amusing how quick the mother is to change from being mad at her brother to getting mad at Terry for not doing well in the boxing match. Not a terrible short by any means, but it’s clear even from the first short why the series didn’t last.

5 out of 10

[I. Cheatam]

Got to give Jules White credit for ambition, but it is very clichéd and the ending incredibly rushed (the girl is seriously that quick to forgive him for beating up her brother?). The Columbia stock gags also just don’t fit in very well with the tone of the short. The best part about it is the cast, who do as well as they can with a fairly weak script, and it is interesting to see Shemp in a slightly more serious role than usual. I also do find it amusing how quick the mother is to change from being mad at her brother to getting mad at Terry for not doing well in the boxing match. Not a terrible short by any means, but it’s clear even from the first short why the series didn’t last.

5 out of 10

I sort of wonder if this was originally intended to be a one-shot comedy before they decided to retool the series by turning Terry into a 20-something giving up boxing and heading to college.