Gents Without Cents

When I first saw this Three Stooges short as a kid watching in the late '70s, it was during the "Niagra Falls" skit. I remember laughing quite a bit at that one. I saw a little more on AMC during the '90s but now I've seen the whole thing recorded from MeTV just now. It has the boys and their girlfriends from above doing their acts for a show they hope to get in. I'll just now say that the rest of the short was also pretty entertaining but the highlight was definitely that routine that was also performed by Abbott & Costello in their feature Lost in a Harem though the location changed for their version which they performed with Murray Leonard. Worth a look for fans of Moe, Larry, and Curly.

"Gents Without Cents" on the surface may seem like another Stooge comedy for an indiscriminating audience, but underneath it emerges as one of their finest comedies of the World War II period.

The Stooges play entertainers trying to get a booking with promoter Manny Weeks (John Tyrrell). They meet up with three ladies who also have an act. Can they all convince Manny to give them a shot in his show?

"Gents Without Cents" includes two classic Stooge routines. The first is when they audition in Manny Weeks' office. They do their "rat-tat-toodle-toodle-day-day" song and show that they were capable of more than slapstick. Second, the film features their all-time classic "Niagara Falls" routine.

It is interesting to note that "Gents Without Cents" was filmed without the "Niagara Falls" routine. The scene with their "Niagara" performance was meant for the 1943 Columbia feature "Good Luck Mr. Yates" but was edited out of the final print. Luckily, the scene was saved and was inserted into "Gents Without Cents" seamlessly when the rest of the short was filmed in mid-1944.

It is wonderful to see Curly in great form here, handling his lines and scenes with precision. When the Stooges made another "variety" film in 1946, "Rhythm and Weep," Curly had had a stroke and the results were not the same.

"Gents Without Cents" stands out among a crop of generally weak 1944 Stooge shorts. 10 out of 10.

One of the better stooge shorts from a period when the quality and budget of their films was declining, "Gents without Cents" will forever be immortalized for the boy's rendition of the old vaudeville staple "Slowly I Turned" (a.k.a. "Niagra Falls"). Here they collectively essay a role that most reflects what they really were -- seasoned comic players who managed somehow to bring verve and added dimension to timeworn and/or second-rate material. Their performance of this old skit is definitive.

Incidentally, I have always wondered if it was strictly coincidental that Abbott and Costello revived "Slowly I Turned" in the same year, 1944, for their MGM romp "Lost in a Harum". I don't know the answer, but it would certainly please Moe Howard (who intensely disliked Abbott and Costello) to know that the version in "Gents without Cents" is considerably better than Bud and Lou's.

Gents Without Cents (1944)

** (out of 4)

Moe, Larry and Curly are practicing their act when the people above them keep making stuff from the ceiling fall. The boys go up there for a fight but are happy when they see that it's three women doing a dance act. Soon the six are trying to get on a talent show.

GENTS WITHOUT CENTS has to be the least entertaining Stooges short up to this point. Throughout the running time there are a few slaps, punches and eye-pokes but there's really not too many scenes that even attempt for laughs. The majority of the running time is devoted to a "show" that the boys put on and there certainly aren't any laughs here. Then you've got the girl's act, which is the most entertaining thing here.

September 1944's "Gents Without Cents" had an interesting gestation when a routine of theirs was cut from 1943's "Good Luck, Mr. Yates' with Claire Trevor. Their act, called the 'Niagara Falls' number, included dialogue of Moe and Larry saying, "slowly I turn...step by step...inch by inch..." Felix Adler took the excised clip from the film showing the Stooges on a stage and composed his script around the sketch. The comedy opens with the Stooges rehearsing their act when the tenants upstairs cause a racket. They march upstairs, only to find much to their surprise the female trio of Lindsay, Laverne & Betty perfecting their dancing act. The six eventually hook up, and audition for a talent agent. At this audition they make fun of the Axis leaders: Moe imitates Germany's Adolf Hitler, Curly Italy's Benito Mussolini, and Larry Japan's Hideki Tojo. A number of television stations have snipped out Larry's parody of the Japanese military leader because he uses his two fingers to spread his eyes wide.

The Stooges are hired to perform their schtick on the stage, which was the segment from 'Good Luck, Mr. Yates." The snippet producer/director Jules White was in possession of had the Niagara Falls routine. What is bizarre about the scene is Larry screws up his line after both state "Slowly I turn." While Moe is saying "step by step," Larry is heard skipping to "inch by inch." No explanation has ever been given why the mistake remained in "Cents for Gents," one of the deep mysteries in the Stooges canon.