- 5/23/2025
Step into the golden age of comedy with Movie Maniacs (1936), a classic short film starring the legendary Three Stooges! In this hilarious misadventure, Moe, Larry, and Curly mistakenly find themselves in Hollywood, causing chaos on a movie set as they believe they're famous producers. Full of slapstick humor, absurd situations, and classic one-liners, this film is a must-watch for fans of vintage comedy.
Restored from public domain sources for historical and entertainment purposes.
Restored from public domain sources for historical and entertainment purposes.
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00Hey, get that iron on. I want my white pants pressed. I want to look my best when I get to
00:06Hollywood. How are we going to get in pictures? We know nothing about movies. There's a couple
00:10of thousand people in pictures now who know nothing about it. Three more won't make any
00:14difference. The Three Stooges came to Columbia Pictures just as it was beginning to have a
00:20comedy shorts department. Let's try this one. I don't see any watchmen around. So they kind
00:26of grew up together. Gentlemen, welcome to Hollywood. I've been expecting you. Welcome,
00:33welcome. And a lot of the Stooges' brand of humor became the house style. Cut, cut, cut. You ain't
00:40shooting the picture right. Why, what's the matter with it? There's no action.
00:47And I think that reflected largely the taste of Jules White, the producer in charge. He ran the
00:54shorts department in tandem with a man named Hugh McCollum. And there were two units that were
00:59always working. Give the doctor a little anesthesia. A winner every time. No blanks.
01:05A stooge in burlesque or vaudeville was a sidekick or a patsy or a dummy for the star comedian. So when
01:14Ted Healy, a star of vaudeville and even Broadway, had henchmen or assistants, he ultimately referred to
01:20them as his Stooges. And the act for why was called Ted Healy and his Stooges. When they decided
01:26to break with Healy and went out on their own, they became the three Stooges. Will showed these
01:31Hollywood guys how to make pictures right now. It was Moe who made the deal for them with Harry
01:36Cone, who oversaw Columbia with an iron fist till this dying day. I think they were in the right place
01:42at the right time. Because Columbia was trying to establish itself as a purveyor of comedy two
01:48reel shorts, two reels being approximately 20 minutes long. Hal Roach was getting out of that
01:54business. Theater owners weren't willing to pay more to rent the shorts and they were costing more
02:00to make. So he got out of the shorts business around the same time that Jules White was setting
02:05up Columbia and got the benefit of that. Sold to the man with the spittoon haircut. Oh, getting
02:11personal, eh? Yeah. When they worked with Healy, there was really no individuality to Moe or Larry
02:18or Curly. It was only when they started making their own films at Columbia that the personalities
02:24of the individuals came through. What are you doing? You told me to hold it. Well, you can let go now.
02:31They arrived at Columbia just as the studio was completing a run of shorts using rhyming dialogue.
02:40That early film of theirs, Woman Haters, was directed by Archie Gottler, who was also a songwriter.
02:46They were shoehorned into that formula for just one film. We'll sign an agreement that we three will
02:51stick together for life and never even look at a girl and never take a wife.
03:01And then Moe claimed authorship of punch drunks, which started to explore them as individual
03:09characters.
03:09Some of their trademarks came about naturally. Ted Healy had slapped them around. They were
03:39used to that. Larry had briefly been a boxer.
03:42Oh, you mean like this? No, like this. Oh, quiet, corcupine.
03:51Columbia, which had been such a scrappy, low-budget studio, had a turnaround in the mid-30s,
03:57almost entirely due to Frank Capra. When Capra's It Happened One Night swept the Oscars in 1934,
04:03that meant everything to Columbia Pictures. But that same year, they got an Oscar nomination
04:08for a Three Stooges short, Men in Black, the title of which was a parody of a very popular
04:14film with Clark Gable called Men in White, about doctors and hospitals.
04:18Calling Dr. Howard, Dr. Vine, Dr. Howard.
04:20Get up, Judith. Get up, Judith. Get up, Judith.
04:25What are you working here for?
04:27For duty and humanity.
04:30Calling Dr. Howard, Dr. Vine, Dr. Howard.
04:32It shouldn't come as a shock to anybody that Moe was the driving force of the act. He wasn't
04:42violent. He didn't poke anybody in the eyes in real life. But he oversaw everything. And
04:48he did a good job of it.
04:50On your toes, men.
04:51Not my toes.
04:53In later years, when people asked Moe what was the jumping-off point for any of their shorts,
04:57he said, well, we would think, where would we be most out of place? And the answer was
05:03anywhere.
05:03Permit me to transform you men into gentlemen.
05:06At a society dinner party.
05:08Shall we, Doug?
05:09Why, certainly?
05:14At a school graduation.
05:15You'll just love it. Bill do have a lovely student body.
05:19Yours wouldn't be so bad either if you took off about 20 pounds.
05:21What?
05:22Taking census.
05:23We just got a job. We're working for the census.
05:25You mean Will Hayes?
05:26In jail.
05:27Well, I'll be hanged.
05:29You will.
05:30At a workplace. At almost any workplace.
05:36Before his brother, Moe, called on him, Jerry Howard had a full head of hair and virtually
05:42no show business experience.
05:44But he was a natural. I mean, he's one of the great screen comedians of all time.
05:51He has a childlike way about him and an innocence.
05:54He's actually a surreal character.
05:57If we only had a saw.
05:59Hey, what about these?
06:02Well, where'd you get these?
06:04I say bottle tops.
06:05You can run a saw over his head, and it'll bend the teeth of the saw.
06:11How much is four cents times a hundred thousand?
06:13He can become an adding machine.
06:15A dollar and a half.
06:28Very skilled with pantomime.
06:30What they stepped into at Columbia under Jules White was a world of comedy that had begun with Max Sennett in the teens.
06:54And people like Bud Jameson and Vernon Dent became part of their stock company, usually playing adversaries.
07:01Help!
07:03They were veterans.
07:09They'd been working since 1914, 1915.
07:12So for them, this was just a continuation that lasted into the 50s.
07:21Yay!
07:22Just amazing.
07:23How old are you?
07:24What address is this?
07:25102.
07:26You don't look a day over 80.
07:28Simona Boniface turns up in some Charlie Chase shorts in the mid-20s, playing a grand dame, even when she was young.
07:35How did sugar?
07:36Cheerio.
07:37Cheerio.
07:38You say the most amusing thing.
07:42Can't know.
07:43Everybody's looking.
07:44She became an all-purpose punching bag for the Stooges.
07:48He did it.
07:50But you started it.
07:52Christine McIntyre came to Hollywood with aspirations of utilizing her trained singing voice.
08:04Hey, boys.
08:05I must be dead.
08:06I hear an angel singing.
08:07She became the Stooges' all-purpose leading lady and worked with them quite harmoniously.
08:17Senorita, you are marvelous.
08:18I enjoyed your singing so much.
08:19I'm Mrs. Bixby.
08:20Microphone is one of my all-time favorite Stooges' shorts.
08:23Mr. Allen told me he had a wonderful new personality for my crispy, crunchy program.
08:38He was so right.
08:39It's agreed, then.
08:40You'll work for me.
08:41I have the contracts right here.
08:42And the showcase is Christine McIntyre and her lovely voice.
08:46Oh, my dear, you were wonderful.
08:51You'll sing for us now, won't you?
08:53And it showcases Curly and his gift for pantomime.
08:57It's not coincidental that that short was written and directed by Edward Burns, who had become their primary director for a number of years, but he'd worked with them before.
09:19He was Columbia's top sound recordist.
09:21He had the headphones on when Frank Capra called action.
09:25He would also pay attention to what was filming on the lot.
09:28And sometimes they built elaborate sets and he would take advantage of that and write a short around the set.
09:45Jules White liked action.
09:47Please!
09:48He liked knockabout comedy.
09:51Oh!
09:52Oh!
09:53His shorts tended to be more violent.
09:55Shake!
09:57Oh!
09:59Del Lorde is one of my heroes.
10:01He was a Max Sennett veteran who apparently drove the Keystone Cops police wagon in the silent era.
10:08And he transitioned to become a director.
10:10I shall fire the magic gun.
10:12And what have we in here?
10:14The little lady.
10:17And one of the best comedy directors who ever lived.
10:21Whoa!
10:25Come on, hurry up!
10:30He was a master at staging stunts, gags.
10:33He'd done it all.
10:34Opening the door, what have we here?
10:36The little...
10:37Come on!
10:38Come on!
10:39Come on!
10:40Come on!
10:41Come on!
10:42Come on!
10:43Come on!
10:44Come on!
10:45Come on!
10:46Come on!
10:47Come on!
10:48Come on!
10:49Come on!
10:51I wish there were a paper trail to explain how the Stooges got around to parodying Hitler and
10:56Mussolini before Charlie Chaplin did.
10:59We must throw off the yoke of monarchy and make our country safe for hypocrisy!
11:05They may have heard that Chaplin was working on The Great Dictator and figured they would
11:13scoop Charlie Chaplin.
11:14And they did.
11:15You!
11:16I shall give Mickey Finlan.
11:17If I take Mickey Finlan, I better be Russian.
11:19Then quit Stalin.
11:20Their first short, You Nasty Spy, was so well received they made another one called I'll
11:25Never Heil Again.
11:26And, of course, the fact that they were Jewish, which Chaplin was not, gave an added irony
11:32to the parody.
11:41Curly had a stroke.
11:43These days they might call it a series of mini strokes.
11:46His movements were affected.
11:48His speech was affected.
11:50But he could still function to some degree.
11:52Give me that pie.
11:53I'll get over there and sit down before I crown you.
11:55Go on.
11:56But then he had a major stroke that put him out of commission.
11:59And all of a sudden the Stooges needed to replace him.
12:03And the obvious choice was his brother, Sam, known as Shemp.
12:09Gotta get out of this.
12:10All right.
12:11There isn't much time left.
12:12You know that, don't you?
12:13Shemp had built a reputation of his own with good parts in Evan Costello films, W.C. Fields
12:19The Bank Dick.
12:20But he was willing to rejoin the act.
12:22Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
12:24I don't know who would say no to Moe, but he said yes.
12:27I oughta.
12:28You oughta what?
12:29I oughta be a little more careful.
12:31The problem was, following Curly was a tough act.
12:35Shemp, expert comedian though he was, was no Curly.
12:38How many feet you got?
12:41Two.
12:43You skillet head.
12:44Give me that tape.
12:48In the years that have passed since my childhood discovery of the Stooges, I've come to like Shemp.
12:53I'm the evil spirit that guards the rootin' tootin' diamond.
12:58And appreciate Shemp.
13:01And Shemp has a following of his own.
13:03I would leave it on.
13:04People don't know if you're comin' to go on with this on.
13:06The sound effects made their slapstick action play.
13:10Oh, oh, Moe, Moe, I'm blind!
13:14If you poked Shemp in the stomach, you heard the sound of a timpani drum.
13:17What does your watch say?
13:18Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick.
13:19Oh, quiet.
13:20Oh!
13:21I was a little too quick for you, wasn't I?
13:25Yeah!
13:26The sound department really enjoyed working on these shorts.
13:29Ow!
13:30They could feel free to use any exaggerated sound they could concoct.
13:34Give him this!
13:35And that!
13:36And this!
13:37And this!
13:38And this!
13:39And this!
13:40And here!
13:41Oh, thanks.
13:42You're certainly a pal.
13:43That's all right.
13:44Come right in, folks!
13:45So here's the license.
13:46My pal wants to get married in a rush.
13:47Oh, splendid!
13:48Emil Sitka was a journeyman actor who got cast in a Stooges film of the late 40s.
13:53Your drink, madam.
13:57Pardon me, madam.
13:58And filled it so well, they kept hiring him.
14:01Oh, come in, come in, Dr. Gesundheit!
14:03Emil Sitka tended to play eccentric characters.
14:09Uh-huh, very interesting.
14:11Mad scientists, inventors.
14:13But he could also play justices of the peace, as he did memorably.
14:17Hold hands, you love bird!
14:20He wound up appearing in so many of the Stooges films, even into the 60s, when they made their feature films, that some people called him the fourth Stooges.
14:28When Shemp passed away in 1955, Moe and Larry were stuck again for a partner.
14:42At first, they got away with using footage of just the two of them with a stand-in for Shemp.
14:47Boys, we gotta be careful and make sure nobody follows us.
14:49Right!
14:50Which must have been very, very odd, not to mention emotional.
14:53And then they turned to Joe Besser.
14:55Hello!
14:56Hello!
14:57Hello!
14:58Hello!
14:59Hello!
15:00Who had already made solo shorts for Columbian, for Jules White.
15:04Oh!
15:05Oh!
15:06Oh!
15:07Oh!
15:08Oh!
15:09I can't!
15:10Oh!
15:11Joe, Joe, Joe!
15:12What's the matter?
15:13What's the matter?
15:14Nothing!
15:15Nice piece of acting, though, isn't it?
15:16I'll get you.
15:17He was a wonderfully funny comedian.
15:18But he didn't really fill that third Stooges role, ideally, because he was the solo comic.
15:22Pitch me!
15:23See if I'm dreaming!
15:24Ow!
15:25Not so hard!
15:27Ow!
15:28Not so hard!
15:29Oh, copy!
15:30And there were some where they tried to use stock footage from an earlier shirt with
15:34Curly and just substitute the footage of close-ups with him.
15:38And they kind of pulled it off.
15:40Help!
15:41Ow!
15:42At the end of that contract, though, and the end of the release schedule in 1959, it was
15:48over.
15:49The Short Subject Department of Columbia was over.
15:55Jules White's contract was over.
15:58It's not coincidental that Harry Cohn had just died in early 1958.
16:03Harry Cohn did have a sentimental streak of some sort, as well as a good business sense.
16:08In any case, the Stooges went into limbo, not so much retirement as limbo.
16:13Until Screen Gems, their television division, started releasing their shorts to television.
16:23Just a little surprise, dear.
16:25I hope you like it.
16:26Oh!
16:27At first, they released 78 of the curly shorts, and they were a sensation.
16:33I was alive then.
16:34I was seven years old.
16:36And I'll never forget seeing them for the first time and falling in love with them.
16:40Suddenly, there was demand again for the three students.
16:45Screen Gems then released all 190 to television, and they've never gone away.
16:50Knockabout comedy and slapstick comedy still plays to an audience.
16:55And it plays especially to an audience of kids, because it's grown-ups acting like children.
17:00But they present a united front.
17:03They are all for one and one for all.
17:06For duty and humanity.
17:07Dr. Howard, Dr. Vine, Dr. Howard.
17:10Whoa!
17:12They got me!
17:14For duty and humanity!
17:20Whoa!
17:22Whoa!
17:23Okay!
17:24And it's working.
17:25Ba-da-wa!
17:27Grand and
17:36carved and有沒有 approval?
17:38Au revoir.
17:39Come on.
17:40How's it going?
17:41We've got to make a big head?
17:43We've got to make a big head now.
17:44We've got toή kanji.
17:45We've got to keep.
17:46All the jobs and practise, quite a big head of business.
17:47Oh!
Recommended
1:23:24
|
Up next
1:07:58
1:44:48
1:30:42
12:12
1:39:06
1:34:08
1:31:36
1:27:07
56:20
56:01
56:37
1:15:35
13:23