Calling All Curs

In August 1939, the Three Stooges' 41st short, "Calling All Curs," two supporting cast members stand out with interesting backgrounds. The film offered one of the rare times the Stooges held a respectable profession, this as veterinarians. One of their patients, a poodle, belongs to a rich socialite who is kidnapped by hoodlums posing as newspaper reporters for ransom. Not wanting to upset its owner, the Stooges disguise a similarly-built dog with fake fur. When they delivered the dog to its wealthy owner, her maid played by Libby Taylor, while vacuuming sucks up the pooch's coat of fakery, revealing the mutt. Back in 1933, Taylor was a struggling actress in Harlem theatres when starlet Mae West offered a position as her personal maid whenever she wasn't working. West steered her in several roles, including the part as Tia's (West) hairdresser in 1933's "I'm No Angel," 1939's "Babes in Arms" with Judy Garland, 1941's "Santa Fe Trail" with Errol Flynn, and 1951's "Two Tickets to Broadway" with Ann Miller.

Actor Lynton Brent, who played one of the two disguised reporters who kidnapped the poodle, later made his mark in literature. After appearing in 300-plus films during his twenty-year acting career, he turned to his typewriter, churning out mostly Westerns. Brent's niche was injecting into his stories a strong dose of sex appeal with strikingly beautiful women. His book titles give a hint of the eroticism in them, including 'Violent Love Stalks the Plains,' 'Silent Sex Trail,' 'Passionate Peril at Fort Tomahawk,' and his 1965 classic, 'Lesbian Gang,' which the gay community has enthusiastically embraced.

"Calling All Curs" was one of Curly's favorite Stooges films because, as a lover of dogs, he had the opportunity to be around canines all day. This included the hilarious scene where several dogs are sitting at a long adults' dinning table ready to chow down on plates full of bones.

For the last few weeks, I've discovered "watch parties" on facebook in which someone posts either a TV show, music video, or feature films or shorts live in order for anyone watching as it happens comment on what they see during it. So it was I discovered someone playing various Three Stooges shorts online. This particular one was colorized and didn't look bad though I did notice Moe's black hair wasn't colored-just kept the way it was in black and white. Anyway, he, Larry, and Curly are veterinarians in a pet hospital who are charged to take care of a certain dog for a rich lady to prepare it for a show. A couple of men show up intending to take that dog away for nefarious purposes...This was quite a funny one to watch especially when the focus is on Curly. So on that note, Calling All Curs is recommended.

Calling All Curs (1939)

*** (out of 4)

Funny Three Stooges short has them running a pet hospital where they get a prized poodle owned by a very rich woman. A couple men pretend to be reporters and take off with the dog so the Stooges must try and track them down or go to jail. The opening few minutes of this short is pretty much a build-up joke that really doesn't work as it gets no laughs but after this it's all comedy as we get one great joke after another as well as some snappy dialogue. One of the highlights of the film is when the boys take the reporters on a tour of the hospital where we get to see various dogs who are suffering from various problems ranging from eating out of the trash to one who like to drink beer. The pay-off to the trash gag is priceless as poor Moe takes one for the team. Other funny jokes include a maid sucking the hair off a dog, the final fight with the bad guys and another good sequence at the dinner table. If you think about it too hard you'll wonder how anyone as dumb as the Stooges could become vets but just sit back and enjoy all the laughs.

Our three favorite goofs are veterinarians, if you can believe it, and are still the same slap- happy saps who are silly but fun to watch. We get sight gags right from the start as Curly swallows soap and then blows bubbles out of his mouth.

Anyway, after a bunch of typical Stooges clowning, mostly corny stuff, their three beautiful assistants prepare them with surgical clothing, and we see that it's a black poodle who will be their prey, er subject for operation. Apparently, "Garcon" belongs to a rich lady named "Bedford" and their "operation" is simply taking a thorn out of the dog.

Later, the boys give two reporters a humorous tour of the facility, with the drunken lap dog, the garbage can moocher with a bad case of "scavengeritus," and other corny comments. After the tour, the reporters turn out to be "dognappers, taking "Garcon" and holding him for a ransom.

There are many Stooge-like sight gags in this short and some still made me laugh, even though I've seen them hundreds of times. I liked Moe going through the intercom, the dogs all dressed with bibs sitting at the dinner table, the dog-bone sandwich biting Curly, the maid "scalping" Garcon, Moe being used as a punching bag, etc.

Goofy? Yes, but still funny. In fact, if you wanted to show someone what the Stooges were all about, this one would provide a good demonstration.

Lotsa Nyuk Nuyks in this one. I agree it's one of their best short subjects. They were best in the 'old days' of the 1930's and early 1940's. It got sort of lame after the original Curly retired, then died. They're all-time Great Comedians, especially if you love the silly crazy slapstick variety of comedy. Shemp was good, but not as good as Curly. It was cool that Moe employed members of his family to be Stooges- The original Curly (Jerome Horwitz 'Howard') and Shemp (Samuel Horwitz 'Howard')

They did so many short films together and a few feature-length films as well as TV cartoons, which you can now find on home video.