Nertsery Rhymes

What I'm reviewing is historical for this is the first M-G-M short film that featured Ted Healy and his Stooges (Moe, Larry, and Curly). It's also the first of many appearances with them of a now-forgotten female player named Bonnie Bonnell-credited as Bonny here-who at the time was dating Healy. Ted plays the "father" of the boys as Howard, Fine, and Howard keep asking for a bedtime story while Healy keeps trying to sneak out at night for a drink. Quite fascinating seeing this early version of this now-iconic act what with all the shenanigans and in two-strip Technicolor, to boot! Doesn't make a whole lot of sense especially when a couple of musical numbers from other pictures are shoehorned in. And this Bonnie lady seems to be from another planet when she performs. Still, I laughed plenty when I watched this-having seen the Stooges segments previously on Leonard Maltin's "The Lost Stooges" VHS tape-again on YouTube. So on that note, I recommend Nertsery Rhymes for any Stooges completists out there.

From their earliest career period when they were still part of Ted Healy's act, this short subject Nertsery Rhymes is a chance to see the Three Stooges in color on the screen. Although Nertsery Rhymes is in bad need of restoration and the color is pretty washed out, still seeing Moe, Larry, and Curly in all shades of the rainbow is something.

The guys play three precocious lads who father Ted Healy is trying to put to sleep so he and Bonny Bonell can go out to a beer joint. Note they don't say speakeasy as it looks like happy days have arrived and Prohibition is gone.

The fantasy musical numbers are nothing to write home about. But nice to see Moe, Larry, and Curly in their salad days even in washed out color.

After seeing this film and looking at the reviews, it's obvious that this film is yet another case where rabid fans see EVERYTHING their favorite stars is in is pure cinema gold! Heck, giving ANY Three Stooge film a 10 is hard to imagine, but in the case of this abysmal film, it's a crime against common sense and IMDb fans! The reality is that this is a truly awful film in every possible way, though it is very important historically since it's the first Three Stooges film. Even most of the die-hard Stooges fans will hate this film as it's nothing like later films and just isn't funny.

Like all the early Stooge's films, their front man was Ted Healy--a rather obnoxious and abrasive vaudevillian who spent all his time smacking the crap out of the hapless Stooges. While in later Stooge films without Healy this violence was funny and comical, with Healy it tended to just be cruel and it was a great move by the boys to dump their rather vicious front man.

So why was it so bad? Well, it's very obvious that MGM didn't know what to do with the team and put very little effort into producing the film despite the fact that it was in the expensive Two-Color Technicolor process. This decision was less based on their commitment to the team and more because they had some existing two-color clips and wanted to combine them with the Stooge clips to save a few bucks. This was certainly NOT done in a seamless manner and the existing song and dance clips were simply dreadful--totally dull and unappealing. Plus, some of the clips and dialog have absolutely nothing to do with Nursery Rhymes! The end result was uninteresting and showed little to indicate that the team would one day make it big. Unfortunately for the studio, this trend continued until the team made the jump to Columbia and the rest is history.

See it only for historical purposes--don't say I didn't warn you!

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!

One of the most hilarious and unique Three Stooges shorts is Nertsery Rhymes. In this short are Ted Healy and Bonnie Bonnell. There are many funny scenes here that I think most Three Stooges fans will love! In My opinion this one of the most different Three Stooges shorts. I recommend this one to all!

I disagree with plankton rules on several points. I would never give Nertsery Rhymes a 10, but I don't think it's despicable. I watched this short on TCM in the mid nineties and was very pleased for the surprises it held. It's a kind of patchwork, where it was obvious, being a 1933 film, that the two musical numbers had been taken from the earliest 1929/1930 MGM talkies. I was, at first, struck at seeing the three stooges perform a smoothly timed and really funny story. In fact, this is the only film where I have found the Three Stooges'act getting across. I agree with M. Planktonrules that Healy was nasty, and that the more talented Stooges did the right thing when they dumped him one year later. But, overall, the farce turns out quite well, with many unexpected comedy twists as well in the action as in the lines spoken. As to the "Lady in the fan" and "Lady in the shoe" clips, the worse it can be said is that they hardly fit in the screenplay. However, their music, in one case to Nacio Herb Brown's credit, is nice and pleasant and the staging charmingly out of date. The colour quality is also strikingly good. In short, I think this is the kind of film that makes people getting interested in old movies.