Moronika
Film & Shorts Discussions => The Three Stooges - Curly Years => Topic started by: metaldams on July 05, 2013, 09:57:25 PM
-
http://www.threestooges.net/filmography/episode/11
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0027097/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
So, Del Lord is still at the helm, does the hot streak continue? The answer is yes, absolutely. THREE LITTLE BEERS is yet another Three Stooges classic, but in some ways is a completely different short than HOI POLLOI. HOI POLLOI has the sophisticated themes of heredity vs environment and high society v. low society running throughout, but THREE LITTLE BEERS has very little, if any of that. No, THREE LITTLE BEERS is a slapstick tour de force, plain and simple. It has to rank among the top shorts in pure mayhem and destruction, and the beer barrel chase scene towards the end is in the tradition of great silent comedy chase scenes. While the obvious use of stunt doubles makes the chase scenes lack the authenticity of Keaton or Lloyd, the stunt doubles do add to the surrealism of it all and are entertaining in their own right. Del Lord, with his Sennett background, was ideal to direct chase scenes like this.
The Three Stooges are just flat out ignorant about the game of golf in this one and they get good mileage out of it. Some favorite bits on that end are Moe saying, "Just my luck" about him hitting the ball on Curly's hat ino the hole, Moe bragging to the Italian groundskeeper that the divots he's creating are getting progressively smaller, Curly's "Look at the golf's" line (a nod to "Look at the grouse" from POP GOES THE EASEL), and Curly's response o Moe about what he shot yesterday about being a pair of sevens. Oh, and speaking of Curly, he is about as manic here as you'll ever see him, especially the part when he's trying to get the ball out of he tree. Bud Jamison and Tiny Sanford are also great in their opening scene.
So yes folks, the streak of classics continues. HOI POLLOI is the chicken cordon bleu to THREE LITTLE BEER's juicy steak. One's more sophisticated, but both are satisfying.
10/10
-
Yes sir, Del Lord does it again. I get the feeling we're going to keep saying that in the coming weeks for him & for Preston Black.
You know, I never stopped to think if sports was a subject that the stooges often tackled, at least it doesn't seem they did it as often as some other themes (detective episodes for instance), but sports is a theme they often tackled well, so to speak as we saw in Three Little Pigskins, this short & the later Grips, Grunts and Groans.
Of course, the wholesale destruction of the golf course is classic & as is the beer barrels rolling down the street, but I think my favorite part might be Curly doing his laundry with the ball washing machine (Lady Godiva, eh).
10 out of 10
-
Excellent short all the way through, though I always thought the final scene was lame and disappointing after all the great stuff that came before. It's like they just ran out of time and ended it with no clever or inspired gag.
-
Hellooooo Hellooo Hellooooooo....Hello!
I'm new to these here parts. I added my review of Three Little Beers on its page.
I most certainly loved it.
My one curiosity: I always wondered if the Italian gardeners were supposed to be some sort of stereotype of the day.
-
Didn't somebody say that golf course is still there?
-
Once again this short is loaded with some great location shots. Just as soon as the warehouse foreman says, "I just hired three new men and everything is going to be alright....I hope". You know he couldn't be more wrong. To a certain extent I believe this short puts the boys against high society people again. Maybe not to the extent as in Hoi Polloi but the people at the golf club come across as stuffed shirts to me. A lot of people play golf today but I believe during the depresion in 1935 it was a rich mans game. But I could be wrong. This short is high on my list of favorites and I rate it a 9.
-
My one curiosity: I always wondered if the Italian gardeners were supposed to be some sort of stereotype of the day.
I imagine that they were, at least around Los Angeles.
Why you choppa, choppa, choppa? You think you-a George-a Wash?
-
Didn't somebody say that golf course is still there?
Yes it is. It is in Santa Monica, California and is a public course.
It is on my to do list to play it!
-
Didn't somebody say that golf course is still there?
Rancho Park is in Los Angeles, on Pico Blvd. near 20th Century Fox.
It's the same acreage, but not the same course. When the Stooges filmed there, it was a private course. Seized for unpaid taxes, the course was plowed under and used as a vehicle depot during WW2, storing tanks, trucks, jeeps before they were shipped out to the Pacific. In the late '40s, it was turned back into a golf course by the city of L.A.; the Parks Dept. owns it, and it's a public course.
-
Excellent short all the way through, though I always thought the final scene was lame and disappointing after all the great stuff that came before. It's like they just ran out of time and ended it with no clever or inspired gag.
Of course, a proper Stooge ending has to have the three of them running away from the people whom they have enraged, with Curly going "Woo-woo-woo!"--rather like what happens when they leave the golf course, although the short doesn't end there.
-
Rancho Park is in Los Angeles, on Pico Blvd. near 20th Century Fox.
It's the same acreage, but not the same course. When the Stooges filmed there, it was a private course. Seized for unpaid taxes, the course was plowed under and used as a vehicle depot during WW2, storing tanks, trucks, jeeps before they were shipped out to the Pacific. In the late '40s, it was turned back into a golf course by the city of L.A.; the Parks Dept. owns it, and it's a public course.
Thanks for the clarification. Jim Pauley's book mentioned Santa Monica.
Thanks also for the information that the golf course was razed and built over again. I did not know that.
-
It takes a whale of a paunch on Jack Lipson to make Bud Jamison look fit and trim by comparison. Plus I like the sneaky little pun on Panther Pilsner Beer.
-
In many of the shorts, you can find one moment when some little thing happens that is quite unlike any action in the other shorts. For me such an action is Moe's whirlwind driving practice, when we see him walloping a series of golf balls in fast motion, and then see, somewhere out on the course, a number of golfers who have collapsed, apparently felled by the balls driven by Moe, as further balls drop down among them. I can't think of another instance in which he inflicts harm on several unoffending people (by which I mean non-Stooges!) out of sheer preoccupation with one task and disregard of its effects. Anyway, analysis aside, I've always found this moment funny and distinctive.
Big Chief Apumtagribonitz, please tell me what the pun is in "Panther Pilsner Beer." I fear that I shall want to smack my forehead when I am told, but if there is a gag in that name (which, of course, there should be), it has escaped my notice.
-
At least where I come from, bad beer is called Panther Piss.
-
At least where I come from, bad beer is called Panther Piss.
I've never heard such an expression (so I'm not smacking my forehead), but it sounds like a plausible reference. There must, after all, be some reason why they would give the company such a specific name as "Panther Pilsner" and not something colorless like "Best Beer." Thanks for the explanation.
-
This is one of my favorite shorts.
In trying to analyze it I think it is many things such as all the different locations, being outside. The fact that golf is integral to the short and how well they make fun of golf.
I love it when Moe looks around then kicks the ball (the old fashioned foot wedge) ... How Moe's pretentious walk makes fun of the 'elitism' many golfers feel they have.
Many of the points have already been discussed and I like them too. Larry getting slapped and hurting his neck, Moe hitting him the other way to straighten it out.
"Sold to the man with the spittoon haircut" ... making fun of themselves ...
"Pointing to you" "No pointing to where I was"
"Press, Press, Pull"
I also find it funny that the one women golfer, the brunette is smiling on all the shots she is in. She was cracking up.
I used Jim Pauley's book to check out the locations for this short and he was dead on with the info. It was very cool to see. Someone on this site mentioned that there were 3 streets that the barrels were rolling on. Jim shows and talks about 2. I would be curious on where the 3rd street was.
Where the cop got bowled over Jim mentions that it basically looks the same as it did 75+ years ago and he is right. Telephone poles and everything. Pictures to compare then and in 2013 are below. The drugstore is now a coffee shop. I went in there and it was packed. There are murals and portraits painted on the walls but no stooges. I wanted to talk to the owner/manager about that but the place was packed.
As I stated stated in an earlier post, I have to play that golf course and if there is slow play will do as Curly says 'We wait for no one!"
-
One of my favorite odd little bits in this short occurs around 9:30. We see a shot of a man (who, so far as I can tell, never appears in any other shot in the movie) driving a ball and then cut to a shot in which, with a bizarre, jerky animated effect, the ball hits first Larry, then Moe, then Curly on the head in quick succession—with, of course, accompanying comic sound effects. "Oh," says Moe to Larry, "a wise guy, a head clonker, eh?", giving him a slap, and subsequently dealing one to Curly too when he asserts Larry's innocence.
The business of Moe blaming each of the other two Stooges in turn for some harm to him that is due to neither of them occurs many times in the shorts, of course, but I don't know of another in which the cause is a person out of frame who, so far as one can tell, causes the injury unintentionally and unwittingly.
-
One of my favorite odd little bits in this short occurs around 9:30. We see a shot of a man (who, so far as I can tell, never appears in any other shot in the movie) driving a ball and then cut to a shot in which, with a bizarre, jerky animated effect, the ball hits first Larry, then Moe, then Curly on the head in quick succession—with, of course, accompanying comic sound effects. "Oh," says Moe to Larry, "a wise guy, a head clonker, eh?", giving him a slap, and subsequently dealing one to Curly too when he asserts Larry's innocence.
The business of Moe blaming each of the other two Stooges in turn for some harm to him that is due to neither of them occurs many times in the shorts, of course, but I don't know of another in which the cause is a person out of frame who, so far as one can tell, causes the injury unintentionally and unwittingly.
Nice observation, I do enjoy that part.
It's funny, as a kid I simply enjoyed the slaps and bonks for their own sake but now I appreciate the character motivation and team dynamic behind them, and the way you described that scene is a great example.
-
Aah, one of my top 5 favorites - it always seems to score a hole in one with fans (sorry - couldn't resist!)
It starts off with a bang when the Stooges are delivery men for the Panther Pilsner Brewing Company. They're informed of a company golf contest with a prize of $100, and when they find themselves right in the middle of ' a GOLF place', they seize the opportunity to sneak in a little practice.
Favorite moments:
'How're we gonna shoot golfs without guns?' and 'Look at the golfs!'
Seeing the Stooges in their golfing clothes (especially Moe's baggy pants)
'I shot a SEVEN, but they wouldn't give me the money!'
Curly hitting the golf ball which richochets off the tree and smacks Moe in the forehead
Moe's 'Just my luck!'
Watching the missing balls fall out of Curly's shirt
Curly doing his laundry (Oh, Lady Go-diva, eh?)
Watching each of the Stooges create their own seperate chaos and destroying the golf course
The climatic beer barrel chase scene and the ending as they wind up stuck in the wet cement
This one has Waaay too many higlights to mention. Was so glad when Sony gave this one a PROPER DVD release with the scene with Curly and the golf balls intact.
I absolutely love this one - 10/10!
It's also interesting to hear that the golf course is still around.
[3stooges]
'Oh, a wiseguy, a head-clunker, hey?' *SMACK*
-
Where the cop got bowled over Jim mentions that it basically looks the same as it did 75+ years ago and he is right. Telephone poles and everything. Pictures to compare then and in 2013 are below. The drugstore is now a coffee shop. I went in there and it was packed. There are murals and portraits painted on the walls but no stooges. I wanted to talk to the owner/manager about that but the place was packed.
Thanks a lot for the photos, but--what is the location?
-
Echo Park area of LA ... I do not have the exact address on me but if you want the exact address let me know and I will get it.
-
Echo Park area of LA ... I do not have the exact address on me but if you want the exact address let me know and I will get it.
That's okay: once I had the information "Echo Park, Los Angeles," I put it together with "Chango," the name on the coffee shop, and found the location on Google Maps (https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Chango+Coffee,+Echo+Park+Avenue,+Los+Angeles,+CA&hl=en&ll=34.081624,-118.254519&spn=0.005865,0.006781&sll=34.081384,-118.254666&layer=c&cid=11429608445863264472&cbp=13,239.26,,0,1.51&cbll=34.08154,-118.254531&hq=Chango+Coffee,+Echo+Park+Avenue,+Los+Angeles,+CA&t=m&z=17&panoid=yEE480LfbwbqNp9LwARU1A).
-
It is very cool to see if you get a chance ... I will be going back ... have to get a coffee and talk to the manager ... they need to put something Stooge in there !!!
-
It is very cool to see if you get a chance ... I will be going back ... have to get a coffee and talk to the manager ... they need to put something Stooge in there !!!
A decorative beer barrel would be nice! It could be displayed along with your still from the movie showing the building with the "Ex-Lax" sign.
-
One of my favorite shorts!
"Press. Press. PULL!! Nyuknyuknyuk!!!" And the poor guy behind the counter's reaction to this...
For duty and humanity,
JohnH aka QuinceHead
-
The August/September issue of Fore Magazine (the official magazine of the Southern California Golf Association) has an article on Rancho Park Golf Course. Many of the points in the article were on this site (once a private club, course taken over by government, then bought back by the city of LA) but what wasn't - or I forgot - was that a wild fire destroyed alot of the course in 1944.
There is an aerial view picture showing the course in 1956... they pretty much gutted the links and started over. However, most of the buildings (clubhouse etc. are still the originals).
What was not mentioned was that the course was used by the Stooges in one of their shorts. Off went an email to the editor of the magazine!
All I can say is 'mmmmmm that's a victim of soicumstance!"
[3stooges]
-
My #1 favorite!! Love the scene where Curly denies stealing the guy's golf ball and once he gets bonked on the head by Moe, he does woo woo and drops a plethora of golf balls from his clothes. And then Moe swings at all those golf balls and the balls start knocking everyone unconscious.
Curly doing his laundry and chopping the tree was hilarious. And boy oh boy, what chaos the stooges caused when all the beer barrels fell out of their truck!!
10/10
-
Where to start with this one? It has it ALL. Bud Jamison gets abused with the beer barrels. Press, press, pull. Curly uses the golf ball sink for his clothes. Larry chops down a tree, and Moe divots the joint up. Guaranteed laugh when you sit with this one.
-
Three Little Beers have always been one of my favorite shorts. I rate this episode on my top 10 list. I am 64 yrs old and the Three Stooges have always been my favorite comedy team. The press, press, pull scene is priceless.
-
"4th golfer on 18th" is Harry Keatan* again, in his second of three appearances in this short (first, he says "Pardon me" as he and Charles Dorety move between the Stooges and out of the locker room, leading to the Stooges thieving the golf clothes; third is the already credited "It's up in the tree!").
I believe "1st cop at golf course" (one next to Harry Semels, I guess?) is Sam Lufkin?
* Additionally, he was born in Suwa?ki, Poland, per his WWII draft registration card, and his real name was Ark Keatan: https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1-16370-95149-40?cc=1861144
-
* Additionally, he was born in Suwa?ki, Poland, per his WWII draft registration card, and his real name was Ark Keatan: https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1-16370-95149-40?cc=1861144
The info reflects the biography compiled by Frank Reighter for the Three Stooges Journal files and Stoogeum archives; done in association with Harry Keatan's daughter and her family's documents. If you have something different, share it with Frank.
-
"4th golfer on 18th" is Harry Keatan* again, in his second of three appearances in this short (first, he says "Pardon me" as he and Charles Dorety move between the Stooges and out of the locker room, leading to the Stooges thieving the golf clothes; third is the already credited "It's up in the tree!").
Thanks on the '4th golfer.' The ID was made months ago when we ID'ed Keatan, but that "unidentified" bit was overlooked in the updates.
Dorety and Keatan both appear a few times... they're the same character at different points in the story, so only receive 1 cast credit each... I use the one that best describes their most prominent contribution in the short.
I believe "1st cop at golf course" (one next to Harry Semels, I guess?) is Sam Lufkin?
Don't agree. Too tall. Face is off too.
-
Don't agree. Too tall. Face is off too.
Touché. It looked like him to me when I first rewatched the short yesterday anyway... oh well...
-
Dad and I both love this short! Dad recorded this off of local TV in Winston Salem on one of his first VHS tapes and he told me he used to watch it over and over, and memorized almost every line. I love the dialogue when the Stooges are trying to fit in at the club...
Man 1: I shot a Birdie yesterday! Man 2: Ya did, that's great! (Moe looks to Curly) Moe: (to Curly) Well, Jasper, what did you shoot yesterday? Curly: (pretending to throw imaginary dice) I shot a 7, but they wouldn't give me the money! Moe: You did? Curly: "Yeah! (Moe shrugs at Larry, then slaps Curly) Larry: Ya know, I shot a.. Moe: (Moe interrupts and grabs Larry by the hair) Yeah. Go grab a bag of bats, killer!
-
Don't agree. Too tall. Face is off too.
Rewatched this again and I have to maintain my original position. When Semels isn't contorting his body in his exaggerated portrayal, I'd say he and the cop he's next to are roughly the same height... as were Semels and Lufkin in real life. Various directories and almanacs have Semels at 5'9", and his WWII draft registration card "shrinks" him by a half-inch. Lufkin isn't in any of the directories, but he does have a WWII draft registration card which pinpoints his height at a mere quarter-inch short of a "full" 5'9".
Semels ---- 1917 directory (https://archive.org/stream/moctu00moti#page/79/mode/1up/search/semels) -- 1918 directory (https://archive.org/stream/motrestu00moti#page/79/mode/1up/search/semels) -- 1929 Blue Book (part 1 (https://archive.org/stream/motionpicturenew1929moti#page/194/mode/1up/search/semels) | part 2 (https://archive.org/stream/motionpicturenew1929moti#page/196/mode/1up)) -- 1930 Blue Book (https://archive.org/stream/motionpicturenew1930moti#page/238/mode/1up/search/semels) -- 1931 Almanac (https://archive.org/stream/motionpicturealm00quig_0#page/n200/mode/1up/search/semels) -- 1932 Almanac (https://archive.org/stream/motionpicturealm00quig#page/n185/mode/1up/search/semels) -- 1937-38 Almanac (https://archive.org/stream/international193738quig#page/755/mode/1up/search/semels) -- WWII Draft Registration Card (front (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1-16388-12067-35?cc=1861144) | back (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1-16388-12226-40?cc=1861144))
Lufkin's WWII draft reg. card -- front (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1-16371-119006-66?cc=1861144) | back (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1-16371-119062-54?cc=1861144)
Also: it may not quite resemble Lufkin in the first shot, but I definitely think it's him in the second shot when Semels points our boys out. (Inset photo is Lufkin in HORSES' COLLARS.) I also think it may be Lufkin as the unidentified studio policeman in MOVIE MANIACS (the voice definitely sounds similar in his one line -- "So did I!" -- to other instances where I've heard him speak).
-
Bud Jamison and Tiny Sanford are also great in their opening scene.
We wish Tiny Sanford was in this short! [pie]
-
Stooge Goof alert:
WRONG DAY OF YEAR. The date on the entry blank showing the prize money for the golf tournament is listed as "Sunday, December 19, 1935." December 19, 1935 fell on a Thursday.
-
Great stooge short that gets better with each viewing, I love the damages each stooge causes in the golf course but the best moments were the barrels causing havoc on the city streets and the stooges trying to retrieve them and the Stooges getting stuck in the wet cement, admittedly when I've first seen this short I only thought it was just a good short but now it's starting to become one of my favorites.
I give this short a 10/10 (on first viewing I gave this one a 7/10)
-
Definitely one of their best. Good to watch when you're in a silly mood!
-
Stooge Goof alert:
WRONG DAY OF YEAR. The date on the entry blank showing the prize money for the golf tournament is listed as "Sunday, December 19, 1935." December 19, 1935 fell on a Thursday.
You are absolutely right - I never thought to check the date before. I've added this to the Goofs listed on the short's page on ThreeStooges.net.
My apologies for not noticing this one sooner, but better late than never!
-
In the annals of short comedies, "Three Little Beers" remains as iconic as "Easy Street," "Cops," "The Music Box" and "The Fatal Glass of Beer." Moe, Larry and Curly deliver the slapstick goods on a lavish scale, with the legendary Del Lord directing one of the fastest two-reelers in cinema history. A mini-masterpiece.
10/10
-
In the annals of short comedies, "Three Little Beers" remains as iconic as "Easy Street," "Cops," "The Music Box" and "The Fatal Glass of Beer." Moe, Larry and Curly deliver the slapstick goods on a lavish scale, with the legendary Del Lord directing one of the fastest two-reelers in cinema history. A mini-masterpiece.
10/10
That’s esteemed company you’re comparing this one too, and well deserved. The Chaplin and Fields films I’ll get to someday.
-
I've decided I'm going to go through these Curlys (well, it's still Curley, isn't it?) and praise and celebrate my favorites, and ignore the rest.
This one is a classic all the way, from the "something's bound to happen in this scene from Three Little Beers" opening (you know your Leonard Maltin, don't you?) to the "What? No Beer!" reprise at the grand finis.
I'll just quote the dialogue from my favorite moments:
"There's nothing like a game of golf to keep a man physically fit!"
"A hundred bucks! Count me in!"
"A golf place!"
"Pull! N'yuck, n'yuck, n'yuck!"
"Whatya do? You think you'ra George Wash?"
"Can't you see the holes are gettin' smaller?"
"He's pointing to where you are!"
"You mean he's pointing to where I was!"
"Woo! Woo! Woo!"
Del Lord is here! We're saved! Del will be the best Stooges director until the Advent of (heavenly chorus) Charley Chase! (Please show anybody from the White family the door--damn! He's head of the whole short subjects department? Here come 10, 000 belches, burps and farts!) [3stooges]
-
A classic among classics, and definitely a top 5 Stooge short for me. This and A-PLUMBING are the ones most casual Stooge fans seem to remember.
Not much to add to what's already been said, but my favorite part is the "press, press, pull" routine.
I've never seen any of their pre-Columbia work except for brief clips and their scene in HOLLYWOOD PARTY, but it's amazing how quickly they hit their stride so early with the Columbia shorts.
Eagle-eyed Laurel and Hardy aficionados will spot Nat Clifford (aka Frank Terry) as one of the golfers in the locker room. I have seen him in at least one Stan Laurel solo-silent short (HUSTLING FOR HEALTH), and he of course was in MIDNIGHT PATROL, ME AND MY PAL, and FRA DIAVOLO. He was the person who handed Harold LLoyd the ill-fated real bomb (instead of a fake) that exploded and nearly killed Lloyd. He was the Alec Baldwin of his time. He later became a missionary in Hawaii and served as a Chaplain in a leper colony in Honolulu. He supposedly wrote the "We are the Sons of the Desert" song for SONS OF THE DESERT. (These interesting facts come from the book, "The Laurel and Hardy Encyclopedia", by Glenn Mitchell, published in 1995. His entry is over a page long.)
-
"Press, press, pull"
-
My first post - hope I don't mess this up!
I've put together a website https://ChrisBungoStudios.com (https://ChrisBungoStudios.com) that looks at The Three Stooges films that shot scenes on location (thank you Jim Pauley and your Three Stooges Filming Locations book!) and I've put together then and now videos and photo comparisons of these scenes from the Stooges films. Here's a preview from one of the videos - it's from Three Little Beers.