Three Sappy People

This is one of my favorite Three Stooges episodes because it's wild from start-to-finish.

It begins in the first 30 seconds with a young wife driving her car through the house into the living room, where people are waiting to celebrate her birthday. Apparently, she's done stuff like this before.

The husband has had it, so he calls for psychiatrists: Dr. Ziller, Dr. Zeller and Dr. Zoller and "their methods are known to be peculiar." Well, the Stooges are phone repairmen who just happened to be fixing the switchboard at the doctors' office when the call comes in for help. Desperate, they take the job and pretend to be psychiatrists. Notice how often the Stooges wind up in situations like this, impersonating others?

Anyway, that gives you an idea about the insanity and this pure frenetic Three Stooges short which has a crazy woman and the farcial Stooges having a lot of fun together at the birthday party....at the funny expense of everyone else at the party. The dinner food-fight is a classic!

Three Sappy People (1939)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Hilarious short has the Three Stooges playing phone repairmen who are working at the office of some famous psychiatrists when they learn they're in desperate need of money. They receive a phone call from some rich folks needing some help with a crazy wife so they pretend to be doctors and all hell breaks loose. This is perhaps one of the most famous shorts that the Stooges ever did and it's easy to see why as it's action-packed from start to finish with some terrific dialogue and great jokes. I'm normally not a fan of food fights and they can be from any film be it the Stooges or those early Keystone pictures but the one here is actually pretty funny and wild. One of the biggest highlights come from the boys trying to check reflexes but of course they can't do this right and it ends with Curly checking one man's who just happens to have a wooden leg. Other great jokes include a sequence at the dinner table when the boys make pigs out of themselves. The greatest scene in the film has to be when Curly accidentally eats a powder puff.

In this great Stooges short we see a rare treasure indeed - worth many thousands of dollars today - a Springfield, Massachusetts-built 1928-1931 Rolls Royce Phantom I with left-hand drive. The car is an unusual one, in that the coach-builder apparently built the body into somewhat of a cabriolet - the top is longer than that of a roadster, but shorter than a full phaeton. The car appears to have only two doors, the normal Phantom I wire wheels have custom complete color-coded wheel covers, and the car is painted an unusual color (not black). Having built many detailed models of this chassis with several body styles, the example in this Stooges short makes it a treasure beyond the great humor that made seeing it possible.

I was very excited when I was able to add this gem to my movie collection.

I remember seeing this about 3-4 years ago and I remembered most of it but not all of it. Curly stole the show!!!!! Classic Stooges to the hilt!!!!!!!

If you thought that upper class were prim and proper, then you MUST see this Stooges short.

Of course there is the classic pie fight at the end and this is where the fun really is. Curly is having pies thrown at him by Moe and he (Curly) has to protect himself. So he stands behind the countess. Moe throws the first pie and Curly ducks behind the countess and she gets the pie in the face. Curly comes from behind the countess for a couple of seconds as Moe is preparing to throw the next pie and Curly gives his famous "Nyuk Nyuk". He ducks behind the countess again as Moe hits the countess with the second pie. Curly then comes out from behind her and says to Moe "Ya missed me, Nyah" (He sticks out his tongue like a 6 or 7 year old).

All Curly's facial expressions and noises that emanate from him throughout the movie are hilarious!!!

Now these men are supposed to be professional "psychiatrists". What a way to help a patient out her her dilemma!!!! They themselves need the help.

This film is so nutty it is really funny!!

For a fun filled evening, I suggest you rent this one, for sure!!!

You want insane. You got it. The Stooges hit their stride with ultra comedy film shorts like this, thanks to writer Clyde Bruckman, who let it roll, taking every opportunity to make it as bananas as possible.

Another case of mistaken identity, which fit Moe, Larry and Curly's style. They play phone repairmen mistaken(?) for distinguished psychiatrists? Introducing Drs. Z. Ziller. X. Zeller and Y. Zoller?

Mission: Cure(?) wealthy Mr. Rumford's (Don Beddoe) wife of being NUTS. Fact of the matter, everyone is nuts here. Ann Doran, a fabulous character actress, steals the show playing the Countess. Just watch her face. Bud Jamison is right at home as the poker face butler, from the school of James Finlayson who played off Laurel and Hardy. This features one of the BEST food fights the Stooges ever got themselves into, although behind the scenes actress Lorna Gray (who plays the dippy wife) claims she was hit so hard by a cream puff it partially lodged in her throat. The casualties of comedy.

Gloria Blondell, sister of actress Joan Bondell, plays the switchboard operator. Gloria co-starred in the LIFE OF RILEY tv show, later the voice of Walt Disney's Daisy Duck.

Fasten your seat belt for this party FEST. Always on remastered Columbia dvds, generally by decades, 30s, 40s and 50s episodes. Thanks to METV for running these golden oldies every Saturday.