Moronika
Film & Shorts Discussions => The Three Stooges - Curly Years => Topic started by: metaldams on May 23, 2014, 10:49:30 PM
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http://www.threestooges.net/filmography/episode/57
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033312/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Yes yes yes, yes yes yes yes YES!
They simply don't get much better than this one. An all-time classic top two short for me. Even though I love this short to death, it has also been a while since I've seen it, and I forgot how many classic scenes they were able to throw in there in less than twenty minutes. Curly's head in the ice, getting the ice up the stairs, the confrontation with the chef, the shaving of the ice, Moe over compensating ingredients, Curly stuffing the turkey, Curly shaving the ice, the reprise of the spring on Curly's ass gag, the gas inflatable birthday cake, the fun and stupid happy birthday song, the cake explosion, the boys sledding down the stairs, multiple shots of Vernon Dent covered in cake gunk.....I rest my case.
A few random observations is that the boys and kitchens are always a wonderful thing for some reason. I guess the kitchen has so many possibilities where things can possibly go wrong that idiots like The Three Stooges make sure they do. As the shorts get more indoors and domesticated later on the Shemp era, we'll see plenty more great kitchen scenes.
Curly gives a friggin' tour de force in this one. His random shrieks,screams and howls are hysterical more so than usual, my favorite being the noise he makes in the kitchen battle with the chef as he stops the action and has them look into the bowl. The shaving of the ice scene is also great, I love the barber act he does.
Also, I always loved Curly bowling with the ice and empty milk bottles. Like the taking a bath in the sprinkler in SO LONG MR. CHUMPS, it's Curly improvising and having fun in a childlike way in a situation where it's not exactly socially acceptable. You're not supposed to bath in public, you're not supposed to knock down other people's milk bottles like bowling pins with ice, but he does so with glee and the care of an overgrown man child.
The supporting cast is great. It's got Bud and Vernon, and I don't think Bess Flowers had ever been better used as the worrisome wife trying to make sure things go right when they all end up tragically wrong. As for Symona, best female slapping partner Curly's ever had, she's fantastic.
I kind of like this short.
10/10
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Yes sir, this short is one of the all-time greats & Curly gives us what may be his all-time greatest performance as a stooge. Moe and Larry are not too shabby either, but Curly definitely owns this one.
Highlights: "I got a perfect score." "No you haven't, you need another strike."
And now that I'm watching it again, I forgot about Larry's "what a brain" comment.
Curly explaining to the lady to get an electric ice box & her "say that again" and of course, Curly just barks at her.
Curly shaving the ice, needs no explanation....
Curly stuffing the turkey, Curly's slapfest with Symona, Larry taking the gaspipe, the exploding cake & the ending which ranks as one of the better ones in stooge history.
I know there are some who think this particular short is overrated, but I'm not one of them.
10 out of 10....
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One of my favorite shorts. A definite 10.
If you are in the Los Angeles area you have to go see the steps... it is like a spiritual experience !! [3stooges]
I was at the Stoogeum a couple of weeks back and a few of my travelers went into the theatre and this short played and these women were laughing ... it was great, I was out of sight and look at the Hall of Shemp and could hear them laugh ...
I love the block of ice scene where it becomes an ice cube ...'Have a sample' ....
I forget how many steps there are ... I am sure I have it documented somewhere - 122? ... can't remember... If I lived close I would run those steps a few times a week to keep in shape.
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No argument here; it's definitely a mess-ter-piece of Stooge-osity, if I may pull a Howard Cosell and make up words. Metaladams said it all, but I would also like to add the performance of Gino Corrado Liserani as the cook. When the spices (or whatever) fell on him, they played different musical notes, and when the Stooges looked into the bowl and got him to do so, they stuffed his head in it. I wonder if he liked that better than the grapes flung into his mouth in Micro-Phonies.
As for the rather extensive stairway outside, it reminds of me of my old neighborhood where some houses were so far above the main drag, the mailman probably got a week's worth of exercise each day. Of course, 122 steps is nothing compared to the 904 steps inside the Washington Monument. Of course, the Monument does not have a good view except by the windows at the top.
"Did you have a pink tie on? No? Well here's your lip!"
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A five star classic, all around. "I told you to be careful!" Also, when in LA visit the steps, it really is an experience and has a cool vibe.
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I was disappointed to come on here and not see everything I admire here covered. I personally believe that this short is overrated, and I STILL give it a 10/10, if that makes sense. I think what people try to do is look for more of the verbal gags found in shorts like I'LL NEVER HEIL AGAIN. This is exactly what it sounds like. If something is done or said and you didn't laugh, you never will.
My personal favorite moment is Larry with the gas. When Moe says, "Get some [blank]," Larry never fails to get it... for himself!
Curly is perfect with the turkey... did he really show is 29 inch arm all the way up to his shoulder in a 15 inch turkey? Here of course we see the origins of the zipper-turkey gag in motion... dicing potatoes the separation of eggs... oysters... soaking a loaf of bread... shaving the ice... it goes on and on. Does anyone notice how vile this stuffing recipe sounds?
Of course people find jewelry and other disgusting prizes in the food, which Symona Boniface just finds delightful!
"My father died dancing... at the end of a rope!"
I will leave my spiel at that because last week's post was too long.
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Paul, I tend to notice in general, not just for this short, that a lot of reviews are reciting favorite verbal lines. It's just the way people like to talk about shorts, and that's fine. But yeah, I agree, shorts like AN ACHE IN EVERY STAKE are definitely more physical than the last short, which is definitely more my style when it comes to The Three Stooges. I also purposely try NOT to cover every point, just to give others a chance to fill in the blanks and perhaps create a discussion.
As for the stuffing recipe, you're correct, it IS vile, even when you take into account only the items that actually qualify as food. Potatoes? Oysters? However, just to prove personal point of view effects how one views thing, I get freaked out by....the quantity of bread. You know, the ingredient you're actually supposed to make stuffing out of. I'm on some primal diet that's helped me lose about 40 or 45 lbs and keep it off, and this involves avoiding bread, so for me to see a huge loaf of bread like that, ew, gross! However, Moe sticking an entire tub of butter in his little concoction is just fine, because, you know, that's primal. Yes, an eccentricity on my part.
Yeah, I too find the reactions strange about the "prizes" in the turkey. Vernon Dent basically smiles when it's first discovered.
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An all-time Stooges classic, easily one of their all time best. The pacing is perfect and the Stooges' comic timing is impeccable. Just a joy to watch from start to finish. This is the one to show your Laurel and Hardy friends!
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Not only is this one in my top favorites list but it's in my top 3 list. This is one of the shorts I would show someone to explain what the Stooges are about. Great location shots and a great supporting cast, including the horse help this short move along. Add the boys mixing with high society and you can't go wrong. I give this short my first 10 rating.
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IIRC, Bess Flowers holds the all-time record of most motion picture appearances, from extra appearances, to tiny speaking parts, to more heavily featured parts like this one. Also, IIRC, that number is a hefty 777. I probably read this on this site somewhere. I think I've also read somewhere that in the running for second place is Oliver Hardy, among others, though no one is sure of that and in any case the runner-up totals aren't even close, more like in the mid 400's.
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't this Bess Flowers' last stooge short? I know of one of her small speaking parts, about 3 years after Ache, in The Mummy's Ghost and her hair was all grey....
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't this Bess Flowers' last stooge short? I know of one of her small speaking parts, about 3 years after Ache, in The Mummy's Ghost and her hair was all grey....
This is a quote from Wikipedia, "The film marked the final appearance of supporting actress Bess Flowers with the Stooges." But the Stooges Info section here says she appeared as a party guest in the short "Micro-Phonies" in 1945. She is one of the guests sitting on a couch.
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My favorite part is after the Stooges knock Dent into the cake, Jamison telling him "I told you to be careful".
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't this Bess Flowers' last stooge short? I know of one of her small speaking parts, about 3 years after Ache, in The Mummy's Ghost and her hair was all grey....
That would be sad as that would mean The Mummy's Ghost was made in 1944, meaning Bess was only 46 at that time. She died in 1984!
Paul, I tend to notice in general, not just for this short, that a lot of reviews are reciting favorite verbal lines. It's just the way people like to talk about shorts, and that's fine. But yeah, I agree, shorts like AN ACHE IN EVERY STAKE are definitely more physical than the last short, which is definitely more my style when it comes to The Three Stooges. I also purposely try NOT to cover every point, just to give others a chance to fill in the blanks and perhaps create a discussion.
As for the stuffing recipe, you're correct, it IS vile, even when you take into account only the items that actually qualify as food. Potatoes? Oysters? However, just to prove personal point of view effects how one views thing, I get freaked out by....the quantity of bread. You know, the ingredient you're actually supposed to make stuffing out of. I'm on some primal diet that's helped me lose about 40 or 45 lbs and keep it off, and this involves avoiding bread, so for me to see a huge loaf of bread like that, ew, gross! However, Moe sticking an entire tub of butter in his little concoction is just fine, because, you know, that's primal. Yes, an eccentricity on my part.
Yeah, I too find the reactions strange about the "prizes" in the turkey. Vernon Dent basically smiles when it's first discovered.
Actually, if you notice, it's just me. It just makes it easier for me to know what I am writing about as I have not seen many of these shorts in 5-15 years.
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IIRC, Bess Flowers holds the all-time record of most motion picture appearances, from extra appearances, to tiny speaking parts, to more heavily featured parts like this one. Also, IIRC, that number is a hefty 777. I probably read this on this site somewhere. I think I've also read somewhere that in the running for second place is Oliver Hardy, among others, though no one is sure of that and in any case the runner-up totals aren't even close, more like in the mid 400's.
777? Pfft, mere child's play! Actually, imdb gives her 843 credits if you count television. Eight hundred and forty bleepin' three credits. Yeah, safe to say she was always bringing home a paycheck. What an awesome career she had.
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Another Universal horror connection: Gino Corrado, the mad chef from this short pops up in House of Frankenstein...
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Another Universal horror connection: Gino Corrado, the mad chef from this short pops up in House of Frankenstein...
Don't blink or you'll miss it, but also from this short, Symona Boniface is one of the Satanic cult guests in THE BLACK CAT (1934).
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As Shemp Diesel says, Curly shaving the ice needs no explanation, but what is understated in the bit is that he's apparently never heard the term shave some ice, AND HE'S A FRIGGING ICEMAN.
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And Paul Payne, Heartthrob of millions, you are correct: calling this one overrated and still giving it 10/10 makes no sense at all.
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And while I'm on a roll, I've been waiting for an opening to point this out for a while: speaking of Gino Corrado, go to YouTube and watch the clip of Buster Keaton's Pest From The West. At the end of the clip, where Buster and Gino have been whamming each other with the bulkhead door, not only will you hear Curly's howl as Gino supposedly falls down the cellar stairs, a second or so later you will also see Gino morph into Cy Schindell as Cy takes a fall for Gino. That sounds confusing, but it's perfectly apparent when you watch it.
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I've been studying stunt doubles in Stooge shorts for a while (it's something of a hobby - don't ask), and I'm wondering: in the opening shot where Moe and Larry are tossed out of the wagon by the horse -- is that George Gray (http://www.threestooges.net/cast/actor/62) doubling Larry?
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This episode is really good. The whole melting ice scene was hilarious. I like the scene with the chef (who later returns as the hilarious Signor Spumoni in MICRO PHONIES). Curly stuffing the turkey and shaving the ice was great to watch. Vernon Dent is great here. It's hilarious watching him trip and land on his birthday cake and later start chewing the food on the table and then smiling to everyone and pretending to enjoy it. Vernon Dent is such a great straight man and I can see why he's used repeatedly in the stooges episodes.
Larry has a great moment here when he blows on the gas pipe. During this time, Larry wasn't given much to do. I guess it's because Curly was so energetic and funny at this point of his career so they ended up making Curly the center of attention with less focus on Larry. So, it's always a joy seeing Larry doing something funny, even though it's only something small.
10/10
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Vernon Dent is such a great straight man and I can see why he's used repeatedly in the stooges episodes.
I have to agree with that statement--as far as male actors go, to me Vernon was definitely the greatest in the stooge films....
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I enjoy this short very much. I'd love to visit that flight of stairs.
Other things, which may or may not have been mentioned already, which I like: the opening visual of the gasping thermometer as it fluctuates between 120' and 130'; the ice box chasing Vernon down the stairs; the housekeeper's opening comment about "those dumb ice men:" "Yesterday they put the ice in the radio!"; Moe's line to Larry, "Take the gas pipe," and the way the inhaled gas doesn't bother Larry; the smart horse that can read the sign showing that a house takes Zero brand ice; the way we can hear the Stooges snoring in the wagon before we see them; "Defrost me!' "Oh, a frozen dainty!" "Ice with personality, Coal with oomph;" the little tune the spices make as they hit my man Gino on the head (does anyone recognize the tune? It sounds like a real song); Curly's putting the shaving cream in his pocket, then telling the ice that he's "saving this for this children, to make mud pies;" the "diced" potatoes; the zipper on the turkey; the "prizes" in the dressing, reminiscent of Stymie's prize cake in "Birthday Blues;" the breathing oven; and yet another explosion from Columbia to take us to the ending.
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By the way, well done to you, Metaldams, on losing all that weight. How long did that take?
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By the way, well done to you, Metaldams, on losing all that weight. How long did that take?
Thanks! Yeah, I've kept the weight off to this day, it took me maybe 4 or 5 months....can't remember, it's been a couple of years now.
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Just watched this and a few other shorts with my seven year old nephew and brother. My nephew was laughing like crazy and called every other part his "favorite part." Definitely fun watching these with a child, it gives these shorts an innocent perspective. Watching with my brother/his father and his reaction as Mary Ainslee and Etherelda Leopold walked on the screen in their tennis outfits from IN THE SWEET PIE AND PIE wasn't so innocent. [pie]
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Just watched this and a few other shorts with my seven year old nephew and brother. My nephew was laughing like crazy and called every other part his "favorite part." Definitely fun watching these with a child, it gives these shorts an innocent perspective. . [pie]
One of my favorite stories: our friend Mark was in his house and his 10 year old son was downstairs watching TV letting out these big belly laughs. Mark went into the living room and saw that Matt was watching the Stooges. Matt turned around with tears in his eyes and said with awe, "Dad, who ARE these guys??"
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Keep your eyes on Larry in the kitchen scenes, particularly while Moe is busy mixing. At one point, Larry decides to pour some wine in his hair. Very random, but funny!
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Keep your eyes on Larry in the kitchen scenes, particularly while Moe is busy mixing. At one point, Larry decides to pour some wine in his hair. Very random, but funny!
I've always loved that part.
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I love that the recipe calls for "a dash" of baking powder. Only a guy could write that; baking powder has such specific measurement in any recipe, even down to an eighth of a teaspoon. Of course, the butter overage is awesome. And I love how they frost a cake right out of the oven; you'd never do that. Plus they frost the pan!!! I love my stooges in the kitchen. A non-kitchen aside: I love how Vernon is talking up the hottest cutie during Curly's dance scene. He always gets the babes. And also keep an eye on the couples in the background during Curly and Simona's slapfest. The one guy can barely keep the smile off his face. Priceless!
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Mrs. MM, you are way too young to know any of this arcana, and actually so am I, but being, for no earthly good reason, a student of the early 1900's, I can tell you that the legendary status of the Fannie Farmer Cook Book in the early 1900's was that it was the first cookbook ever to use mathematical measurements like cup, teaspoon, quart, tablespoon, 1/4 cup, etc. Before that, everything was a dash, a pinch, a dollop, etc. Moe was using an outdated cookbook, and of course, even using that wrong.
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Mrs. MM, you are way too young to know any of this arcana, and actually so am I, but being, for no earthly good reason, a student of the early 1900's, I can tell you that the legendary status of the Fannie Farmer Cook Book in the early 1900's was that it was the first cookbook ever to use mathematical measurements like cup, teaspoon, quart, tablespoon, 1/4 cup, etc. Before that, everything was a dash, a pinch, a dollop, etc. Moe was using an outdated cookbook, and of course, even using that wrong.
And it wasn't for a while longer that a "cup" was standardized. Before, it was just whatever cup you grabbed!
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And it wasn't for a while longer that a "cup" was standardized. Before, it was just whatever cup you grabbed!
Apparently a cup measure was standardized in 1896! My obsession is cookbooks from the 1920s and the Depression and measurements were standardized by then; though spelling wasn't ("cooky"; "sirup"). The forewards to these books also tell the cook to make sure to use standard measuring equipment!
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I believe for the first few years it was called the Boston Cookbook and only later became Fannie Farmer.
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I believe for the first few years it was called the Boston Cookbook and only later became Fannie Farmer.
I've got to get me one of those Fannie Farmer cookbooks! The only thing better than a cookbook from the 1930s is one from the 1910s!
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Apparently a cup measure was standardized in 1896! My obsession is cookbooks from the 1920s and the Depression and measurements were standardized by then; though spelling wasn't ("cooky"; "sirup"). The forewards to these books also tell the cook to make sure to use standard measuring equipment!
My great-grandmothers and all their relatives born in the 1910s used coffee cups, and my grandmother born in the 1930s uses similar techniques.
Italian power!
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I've got to get me one of those Fannie Farmer cookbooks! The only thing better than a cookbook from the 1930s is one from the 1910s!
Mrs. Morgan-Morgan, do you, by chance, have Household Discoveries and Mrs. Curtis's Cookbook? My edition has the copyright dates 1914, 1913 and 1908.
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I do not!!! Oh no; now I have to buy another vintage cookbook.....once I find out it exists, I have to have it...
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I do not!!! Oh no; now I have to buy another vintage cookbook.....once I find out it exists, I have to have it...
Finding this book can be easy or difficult. I happened to obtain mine when helping someone clear a house after a death in the family. I was allowed to take whatever I wanted, within certain limits, of course. I got a number of vintage cookbooks, among other things, and that was very nice as I've a lifelong interest in cooking and baking.
But back to the book. I looked it up on abebooks within the past year and found various copies selling for only a few dollars. Just today I looked it up and found only one copy selling for more than a few dollars and with a hefty shipping rate (coming from New Zealand, I believe). Alibris has no copies. If you have antique bookshops near you, you might contact them to ask if they have this book in stock.
The recipes are what one would expect for the time. The cleaning instructions are quite interesting, including instructions for cleaning a basement which had to take a couple of days, minimum.
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The recipes are what one would expect for the time. The cleaning instructions are quite interesting, including instructions for cleaning a basement which had to take a couple of days, minimum.
I LOVE stuff like that. Before I even knew how to boil water I was given an incomplete set of the late 50's / early 60's Women's Day Encyclopedia of World Cookery. Once I started reading it I had to buy a whole set of volumes just to complete mine. The writing, the information, some beautiful feature story pieces about say cooking with turnips or mom's authentic Jewish cooking or reflections on canning or making correct cocktails, all written by major writers of the day, and the most beautiful food photography you've ever seen is what made me want to cook. I am an extremely budget-conscious cook and try to use everything we grow, buy or are given (being hungry at times taught me that), and I have found ways to use everything in such inventive ways that we never ever eat the same thing twice. I love this stuff; it takes me back to a simpler time when maybe if I had been born then I wouldn't have to work so hard in an office getting eaten alive everyday and deal with *tards on Facebook when I'm just trying to rescue cats and all the fun stuff we have to deal with in modern day life. Anyway, sorry to take everyone so off course.
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Mrs. MM, do you rescue cats? For a living? God bless you. My wife and I lost all three of our cats last year, bing, bang, boom, all from different kinds of cancer. My poor wife was a mess. On July 3rd , 7 weeks ago, in the rain, I made a late-night run to the grocery store and, to make a long story short, found a five-week-old black kitten abandoned in some shrubbery. We brought him home and called him Moses because we found him in the weeds and brought him home to live with (ahem) The Quality. We found out later that some asshole of an old bag was throwing kittens out of her car window in our neighborhood. Luckily they caught her, arrested her, and, hopefully, threw her under the jail. A cuter, mellower, smarter cat you'll never see. I hope you have great good luck placing your cats.
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My wife volunteers at a cat rescue place, which is where we got kitties #3 and #4, and we have an eye or 3 on kitty #5, once it's old enough to be fixed. As for the old hag-bag who tossed kittens out, just put her in a room with a "big kitty," a la Batman in Catwoman's first appearance, or to get back on topic, put her in an ice box and send her down those hundred or so stairs. "Let's bring the ice bag down to the ice!"
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An old girlfriend of mine also used to volunteer at a rescue shelter and at one time had eleven, yes, eleven cats herself. How she could afford it I don't know, but those were the days before I was a cheapskate fiscal conservative who questioned such things. I had two cats in my life. My childhood cat making it to 15 but my last cat only made it to six. Fuck cancer, as well as any lady who'd throw a cat out a window. Sick people. I miss my cats, especially the one who died at six, because he realistically could still be living (my first cat, Tiger, would be 29).
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You guys, come see me on Facebook -- Flo Werner and MissFlorence Worrall (two profiles because FB keeps kicking me off). I have two group pages -- Shelter Reform for our Vote!! and Shelter Reform Action page. I do rescue in my spare time; used to only be a "FB networker" but on Sunday I had the old man in North Philly trying to find an injured cat. The "crazy" part of "crazy cat lady" comes up slowly but inevitably. We have 11 cats. I know we're off topic here but we're all friends in the Stooges so it's okay.
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Mrs. MM, do you rescue cats?
I know we're really off topic here but I cannot resist an audience like this -- I am for national shelter reform and national no-cost spay and neuter. Over 9 million adoptable animals are put to death each year in US shelters. I am trying to change this. If anyone would like to be a part of it, friend me!! It is the purpose of my life and means more to me than Star Trek or the Stooges....that is a hard thing for me to say.
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You're doing a hard job, Mrs. MM. As Big Chief said, God bless you. I have a couple of animal shelter cats, myself. Although mine are handicapped, they are very happy little characters. [Sorry, but I'm not on Facebook.]
Big Chief, please tell me you call Moses "Moe" for short. :)
Lefty, your ice box punishment for the "hag bag" is inspired! I approve.
Metal, I'm sorry about your cats, especially the one that died young. It's hard to lose friends.
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Very hilarious episode and one of my Top 10 favorite Stooge shorts, Curly is definitely at the top of his game in this short and it has one great moment after another, one of my favorite moments in this short that seems to get overlooked and hasn't been mentioned yet is when Moe puts the ice tongs in Larry's ears and tortures him with him, the look on both of their faces in that scene is hilarious! I've thought the dancing scene with the spring in the rear was just as great here as it was in the classic "Hoi Polloi"
I've thought Larry was given a little more to do here in this short than usual during this time period.
I give An Ache In Every Stake a perfect 10/10
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Watching the short now and I don’t see it mentioned here, but if any of you would like to see Shemp stuffing a turkey, using a pinch of salt, dicing potatoes, separating two eggs, etc. I would seek out the Vitaphone short he stars in with Daphne Pollard - in 1934! It’s called A PEACH OF A PAIR. Shemp is just as funny and it’s a classic short.
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"An Ache in Every Stake" remains among the all-time great two-reel comedies. With director Del Lord at the helm, there's not a wasted frame. The Stooges have the ability to take Laurel & Hardy material and make it their own with no duplication. Story and screenplay by Lloyd French, who also directed "A Peach of a Pair" and the L&H classic "Busy Bodies."
10/10
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That was a cool video to find! Looks like it's still a nice little spot to be!
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My second favorite Stooges short.
Nothing to add that hasn't already been said, except that I drive my wife crazy by singing "The Birthday Cake Song" whenever it's someone's birthday, or texting a link to a clip of them singing it. [cool]
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My second favorite Stooges short.
Nothing to add that hasn't already been said, except that I drive my wife crazy by singing "The Birthday Cake Song" whenever it's someone's birthday, or texting a link to a clip of them singing it. [cool]
My number 2 as well, behind A PLUMBING WE WILL GO.
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't this Bess Flowers' last Stooge short?
It was Bess Flowers' last significant Stooge role. "The Queen of the Hollywood Extras" made a final Stooge appearance as a party guest in "Micro-Phonies."
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Early iceman inspiration, directed by Del Lord.
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This is definitely in my top 5 curly episodes. Easily one of the best shorts they ever made. Top-tier. I always loved the gas/air cake they blew up
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I'm not quite as high on this one as the rest here seem to be. Now that we're inside my all-time Top 40 favorites, the difference in quality is smaller and smaller. Plenty of laughs and Curly is at the top of his game. I rank this as my #34 overall.