Vagabond Loafers

This short, as with a lot of the shorts made with Shemp, is merely a remake or better yet retread of something that was done far better the first time. In the late forties and early fifties, Columbia was trying to "kill off" their shorts department but were still contractually obligated to produce shorts with the Stooges. That didn't mean that they were going to write new stories or gags or at least keep the production levels as high as they were previously with Curly. Hence why they resorted to just redoing a lot of the earlier "Curly" shorts now with Shemp and some of these bits are funnier with Curly because they were written specifically for his character and not Shemp. All of this does a disservice to Shemp's own abilities and unique comedy style. Columbia was SO cheap at this time that they even would just edit clips from the earlier Stooge's shorts into these later ones with Shemp. For example, the scene with the cook dealing with the crazy faucet at the sink and the stove turned into a sprinkling system is a direct edit from the original 1940 "A Plumbing We Will Go." This is not a bad short but just not as good as the original.

A socialite is hosting a dinner party celebrating a recent purchase of a high priced portrait. She needs emergency plumbers and calls the Stooges. It's not a good call until two party guests steal the painting and the Stooges stumble into capturing them.

Plumbing is good Stooges' mayhem. Water is spraying everywhere. They hit each other with pipes. Pipes are connected in wacky ways. It's all there for them. It's a Shemp Stooges and it's as good as he gets.

Formulaic remake omits the intro trial scene and police chase subplot, and drops the trio into a mansion with a leak during a ritzy dinner party. Here, the three really are plumbers by trade, sort of (Moe is even reading How To Be A Plumber!) Shemp traps himself in a cage built from the water pipes, exactly like Curly did in the original. Never would have expected that. Nor would I have expected to see the footage of the cook from the original, and Larry digging in the yard, lifted whole from the earlier short film.

Everything moves along too quickly here, everything seems rushed to its predictable conclusion. The theft of a valuable painting has been added as a subplot to pad out the run time. Mistaken identities ensue, but it all just ends up distracting and over-complicating what was originally a quite funny, simple story. Emil Sitka has the funniest line, "Short circuit, no doubt!"

Moe, to Larry: "What do you charge to haunt a house?" Larry: "How many rooms?"

The Three Stooges has always been some of the many actors that I have loved. I love just about every one of the shorts that they have made. I love all six of the Stooges (Curly, Shemp, Moe, Larry, Joe, and Curly Joe)! All of the shorts are hilarious and also star many other great actors and actresses which a lot of them was in many of the shorts! In My opinion The Three Stooges is some of the greatest actors ever and is the all time funniest comedy team!

Vagabond Loafers is a funny Three Stooges short with Shemp! There is another short with alternate scenes called Scheming Schemers. Christine McIntyre and Kenneth MacDonald are really neat a couple. They were also a couple in the two shorts with alternates scenes called Crime on Their Hands and Hot Ice! Symona Boniface, Emil Sitka, Dudley Dickerson, and Herbert Evans also appear in this short! This is great short with Shemp!

VAGABOND LOAFERS is a reworking of the 1940 Curly classic A-PLUMBING WE WILL GO. Scenes from the original are used in this film, such as Larry digging a hole and Dudley Dickerson as a cook in the family kitchen. This short has great gags, but I won't spoil them for those who haven't seen it.

**** out of 4 stars.

Trivia- Remade as SCHEMING SCHEMERS in 1956.