Scrambled Brains

Shemp is mostly the showcase for this bizarre outing who is suffering severely from hallunications, so much so that he thinks his ugly nurse Nora (Babe London, a successor to Dee Green, who always played ugly characters in the Shemp shorts) is a beautiful angel. The great supporting performances by Emil Sitka as a near-sighted German doctor and Vernon Dent as Nora's hot-headed father adds a lot of belly laughs to a typical Jules White-directed short.

This 3 Stooges short subject has Moe and Larry getting Shemp out of an asylum. But he may be worse than when he went in. He's fallen in love with a nurse played by Babe London. To all else she's a plane Jane, but to Shemp she's a playboy bunny.

The guys try all kinds of things leading into a number of burlesque routines to cure Shemp. All of course to no avail.

Love is truly blind, for sure it's nt 20/20.

Even back in the 1950's, socialized medicine was an issue, especially psychiatric medicine. Here we have poor Shemp, institutionalized in a sanitarium, and Moe and Larry are forced to withdraw him because they can no longer afford the hospitalization. Ah, the pathos! Apparently though, they can still afford Shemp's medication, as we see him popping pills like crazy in the opening reel. Whether this medicine has side effects, or is just plain ineffective, we don't know, but we do know Shemp hallucinates like mad. He imagines Babe London, his nurse, as a shapely blonde. Of course Babe, blacked-out teeth and all, is no dummy. She's not about to let a great catch like Shemp get away, hallucinations or not. Just the same, it's best she's not in the scene when Shemp imagines he's grown two extra hands whilst pounding away a lively jazz tune on a piano. By the way, the look on Shemp's face, just before realizing he has four hands, is priceless. It doesn't last, though. He goes into utter hysterics, pounding Larry's and Moe's heads while ranting like a lunatic. Yeesh! The best part of the short is when Vernon Dent, bedecked in a ten gallon hat, interacts with the Stooges in the usual way, in a phone booth, no less. He's Babe's father who has arrived in town for the impending nuptials. The final scene gives us round two of the Vernon Dent-Stooges fracas, where we see that Babe inherited her strong and independent will from her great uncle Jack when she grabs Shemp out of the fracas, hoists him over her shoulder, and hums the wedding march. She may not be much for looks, but she knows what she wants and she takes it! I know there's an allegory here in all this, but I haven't figured it out yet. Do you want a deep, complicated, thought-provoking Stooges short? Brother, this is it.

One of the greatest Three Stooges 2-reelers. Hell, one of the best comedies by anybody. Shemp is a very sick man, suffering from nerves, hallucinations & who knows what else. Moe & Larry can't afford to keep him in a sanitarium, so they have to bring him home to cure him.

Of course, the fact that Shemp suffers from hallucinations leads to some very hysterical moments, the best of them being that he envisions this homely nurse (to put it mildly) as a shapely blonde who he intends to marry. And there's a piano playing session that doesn't end well. Some other funny bits include Shemp's reactions to swallowing his liquid medicine, Emil Sitka as the screwy doctor who examines Shemp and of course, the immortal phone booth scene with Vernon Dent.

How anyone can watch this short & not laugh is beyond me, Shemp fan or not. Funny is funny and "Scrambled" delivers big time. A definite 10 stars.

Scrambled Brains is another one of my favorite Stooge episodes! It starts off as Moe and Larry come to pick up Shemp whom was staying at a hospital and plays the role of a bedlam suffering from hallucinations. Moe and Larry bring him home thinking they could cure him themselves. And along the way discover Shemp is engaged to an ugly nurse he meet at the hospital named Nora. To top it all off, Shemp has a hallucination that the nurse is beautiful!

The funniest scene in this whole episode was when our heroes encounter Nora's domineering father (played by stooge-regular Vernon Dent) in a phone booth! That whole scene just keeps me laughing for a long time!

Shemp was a very photogenic, bubbly, and I have always adored his charisma as a comedian! And I have always loved that about him! He had a wonderfully hilarious sense of humor, too! But sadly, Shemp is the most underrated Stooge. That's because Curly (who I like second best) was always more popular.

So, please stooge fans RUSH to see Scrambled Brains! I have this episode on tape, reserve your copy today! Long live Shemp Howard!!!! :)