A Pain in the Pullman

Poor Bud Jamison. As "Johnson," he keeps banging his head on the upper berth in his Pullman train every time his obnoxious and loud boss screams his name. He's a go-fer for spoiled "celebrity" "Paul Pain" (James C. Morton), who is victimized by the Three Stooges throughout this story. Mainly, the gag involves a little monkey stealing Pain's hairpiece.

Most of the gags - at least the good ones - involve the same shtick worked over numerous times, such as Johnson banging his head, the hairpiece stolen, the boys trying to get into an upper Pullman berth and then always falling out, the boys not having a clue how to eat a delicacy - in this case crab meat (which they call "a turtle!," etc. My favorite part was Curly thinking he got lucky with this beautiful sleeping babe in one berth.

The mayhem on the train is only in the last eight minutes of this 20-minute short feature. The first part sets up the train and shows the down-and-out Stooges living in poverty and then preparing to go to the train station en route to a "gig" someone got for them. The early jokes are not that much except for Curly cooking a "filet a sole and heel," meaning cooking his boot in the oven.

The Three Stooges has always been some of the many actors that I have loved. I love just about every one of the shorts that they have made. I love all six of the Stooges (Curly, Shemp, Moe, Larry, Joe, and Curly Joe)! All of the shorts are hilarious and also star many other great actors and actresses which a lot of them was in many of the shorts! In My opinion The Three Stooges is some of the greatest actors ever and is the all time funniest comedy team!

This is one of My favorite Three Stooges shorts with Curly! All Appearing in this short are Bud Jamison, James C. Morton, and Eddie Laughton! This one is so hilarious! Curly has a great performance here and in My opinion its one of his best. I strongly recommend this Three Stooges short!

"A Pain in the Pullman" is a not especially distinguished short from the Three. It's not bad...but there really aren't the usual laughs you'd expect from the team.

When the story begins, the Stooges are out of work, hungry and owe rent. Fortunately, their agent calls because they have an acting job....and interestingly through the film they are referred to as The Three Stooges!

Once they arrive at the train for the acting company, the the make such nuisances of themselves that soon everyone on board hates them and the manager is threatening to toss them and their pet monkey off the train.

That's really all there is to the plot. As far as laughs go, as I mentioned there aren't a lot and most of the jokes rely on the team acting like clods on the train. Passable entertainment...not much more.

N the days of riding the rails, comedy was built in and around train cars to tremendous effect, largely because the close confinement of the inside berths offered a number of hilarious situations. The Three Stooges' June 1936 "A Pain in the Pullman" took advantage of that fact, making their 16th short one of their more popular films.

Jack White (Preston Black) both directed and wrote the script where our three heroes, after skipping rent, head to their next acting engagement by way of the rails. Compounding the mayhem on board is their pet monkey, Joe, who serves as a spark for many of the movie's knee-slapping laughs. White may have been inspired by ZaSu Pitts and Thelma Todd's 1932 'Show Business,' posing as out-of-work vaudevillians, who, like the Stooges, possessed a pet monkey that delivered belly-aching guffaws.

One scene that caused fits for Moe was when he and his two associates come across a table full of crabs, which the Stooges say in the film they had never seen before. Curly eats the shell and all, while Moe, in real life, hated all forms of shellfish. He said he couldn't even put a real cooked crab claw in his mouth, never mind simply lick it. Black, the director, ordered the prop crew to concoct a lookalike claw with sugar and food coloring. Moe in his autobiography said he was still uncomfortable with that fake, noting, "I was afraid they had coated the real shell with sugar and that that awful claw was underneath. I chewed that claw during the scene, but if you'll notice, I did it very gingerly."

"A Pain in the Pullman" is the longest film two-reeler the Stooges ever produced, running at 19 minutes and 46 seconds. And rare for the trio, several people in the film actually call them by their act, The Three Stooges.

The moment I saw this comedy, I immediately thought of Laurel and Hardy's outrageous film, BERTH MARKS (1929). Anything that could go wrong on a CRAMPED train goes wrong, and very fast. Shades of CHOO CHOO (1932), an Our Gang/Little Rascals comedy, which was totally insane.

This film is the team's longest running production, clocked at nearly 20 minutes. Yes, I agree, it's also one of their most popular, frequently in reruns. A Top Five contender. Strugging entertainers Moe, Larry and Curly, who can't pay the rent, hop aboard a train to get to their next big gig. This time for kicks, they have a pet monkey called Joe -- who gets them in a ton of trouble. Director and writer Jack White (alias Preston Black) rewrote the script from the Thelma Todd-Zasu Pitts comedy, SHOW BUSINESS, including their monkey. White's brother, Jules, directed that short.

The Stooges chase Joe all over the train, bumping into spoiled movie star James C. Morton, who loses his wig! Morton's stage name is Paul Pain? Wacky recurring gag featuring stone-face Bud Jamison continuously bumping his head, similiar to a bit in CHOO CHOO with Del Henderson getting punched in the nose by Spanky.

In the injury department, Moe claims Curly cut the roof his mouth biting into shellfish. Moe added he disliked any kind of fish with claws, and if you notice the scene, he very gingerly tastes the fish.

Character actress Loretta Andrews plays one of the show girls, who appeared in several 30s musicals, including GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933. Silent comedy star Bobby Burns also has a bit part, frequently used by the team.

A comedy winner on steroids. Always on Columbia remastered dvd box sets, generally by decades, 30s, 40s and 50s episodes. Big thanks to METV for running these gems every Saturday.