Hold That Lion!

Actually Curly did not pass away until January 18,1952. And he made another cameo as an Angry Chef in the 1949 Malice In The Palace,and after he married for the 4th time,and had his second daughter. He is funny in this Comedy,and its nice to see the Howards all together. Its a shame that he didn't take better care of himself. Shemp is excellent here,and is under rated. And Kenneth McDonald is so good here,as he was as the Judge on the Perry Mason shows. His granddaughter Andrea Server is a fine Singer. RIP Curly,you were Funny! And its nice to see Curly as he is quite good in what was clearly an improvised,off the cuff appearance. And Dudley Dickerson was a scream as always.

Seeing a previous user comment about Curly's appearance:

There is a train passenger with a beard, but I didn't think HE was Curly. The passenger I recognize as Curly did indeed have a full head of hair, but NO BEARD.

There are two big surprises about "Hold That Lion!". First, it has an appearance of post-Stooges Curly Howard...making this the only Stooges short with all three Howard brothers (Moe, Shemp and Curly). Second, it's surprisingly funny and worth seeing.

When the short begins, you learn that the Stooges are expecting an inheritance and the executor, Mr. Slipp, has apparently run off with the money! When they try to find him at his office, he attacks them all...beating them up and running away from the boys. So, they head for the train, as Slipp is trying to use it to make his escape. Aboard the train, they spend their time avoiding the conductor since they don't have tickets as well as looking for Slipp. Ultimatley, they accidentally release a lion and hilarity ensues.

Curly Howard had a debilitating stroke the year before this short was made. As a result, his older brother Shemp joined the team (he'd been a Stooge back in the early stage days). Here, Curly remains seated on the train....because he was wheelchair bound at this point. He was offered the bit part to lift his spirits....sadly it was his last film appearance before his early death in 1952.

Overall, this is a pretty funny short. It is more original than many of the Stooge films (many of the Shemp shorts were actually remakes of earlier Stooge shorts) and made me laugh a few times. This, combined with Curly's appearance, make this a must-see for mans.

Watch this film very carefully for a piece of show biz history. The one and only time on film we see the three brothers Howard (Moe, Shemp and Curly)together. Curly has a full head of hair, a bushy beard and no dialog, but the snoring he makes as a sleeping train passenger are vintage Curly all the way.

Just watched this unique Three Stooges short on YouTube. What's so unique about this one, you say? Well, if you've read the comments here or are familiar with Stooges history, this is the only time all three Howard brothers-Moe, Shemp, and Curly-appeared in the same scene together. I also believe the same film together. Anyway, Curly has a funny cameo as a passenger in a train with a derby on his head and a clothespin on his nose. When the boys lift the pin, Curly goes into his patented snore and "woo woos"! The rest was hilarious as well especially with the title animal causing havoc with the boys and scaring an African-American porter played by Dudley Dickerson though one may pause a little bit before laughing since that was a stereotype of that race at the time. Throw in Emil Sitka as the Stooges attorney and Kenneth MacDonald as the one who attempts to steal their inheritance and you've got one classic Stooge short! So yes, I highly recommend Hold That Lion!