Hook a Crook

Hey, alive, am I -- Who? Jim Hawthione.

Thanx for your comments. It was also my hope that the Besser association would be an ongoing reality as I love films and shall never forget the time I took an off-ramp adjacent to a drive in movie theatre and there I was doing that double take on the huge screen. Talk about timing, it appeared that my eyes followed me during the fleeting moments passing by. Somewhat scary, seeing yourself looking and following you while wheeling by.

Movies forever!

Jim

Joe Besser had a solo career before becoming the guy who took Shemp's place with The Three Stooges. It's interesting that his solo comedy shorts were made for Columbia and I'm sure this had something to do with his being cast as a Stooge since the Stooges made their shorts for the same studio.

Many of the Stooges films with Besser are cheap remakes of previous Stooges movies. In the case of "Hook a Crook", it's a remake of a Three Stooges film ("Dizzy Detectives") AND one of Besser's shorts, "'Fraidy Cat"...talk about lazy film making!! Additionally, to save time and money, most of the footage in "Hook a Crook" is actually from "'Fraidy Cat"!

I hated "Dizzy Yardbird" because it lacked originality. I REALLY hated this one because it was even lazier and is essentially an earlier film chopped to pieces and released as a new one! Unfunny and annoying to fans of the Stooges (I didn't say fans of Besser because I honestly don't think there are any!).

This short takes it's storyline from an old Three Stooges film and re-does it with the new comedy duo of Joe Besser and Jim Hawthorne. Director Jules White tries to give it the old stooge treatment, but it just doesn't quite work. Joe Besser does his usual shtick, but the real treat (for me anyway, a diehard Hawthorne fan) is seeing a young Jim Hawthorne at the height of his fame in the 50's. Hawthorne was a popular Los Angeles radio and TV personality in the 40's and 50's, and these shorts are just a hint of what he could have achieved had Columbia not stopped all production of short subjects in the mid 50's. Teaming Besser with Hawthorne was an odd choice, but they work well together by each doing his own style of zany physical comedy to compensate for the flimsy plot. Hawthorne's pop-eyed double takes alone make it worth a look. Sadly since no footage exists of Hawthorne from his TV shows, these shorts are all we have to give a glimpse of him from his era. I recommend this and all the Besser-Hawthorne shorts for that alone.