The Sitter Downers

This isn't there best short but its funny. The stooges get married and go on a honeymoon but first they have to build a house. The funniest part was when Moe was chasing Larry around and Curly was smoothing cement and Moe and Larry kept running through it.

I saw this with another Stooges short, "Violent is the Word for Curly." By the late 30's they were trying all sorts of forms. "Curly" was based on the Marx brothers form. This is based on a famous Keaton gag.

The three marry sisters (drawing lots), and get a house kit that they assemble incompetently.

There's a Laurel and Hardy precedent and before that the famous Keaton "One Week." That's hilarious and clever. This isn't, except for having stooge women.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

In the Three Stooges' November 1937 "The Sitter Downers," the film capitalizes on that period's ongoing work stoppages occurring in several industries, especially General Motors' huge sit-down strike in April. The Three Stooges stage their own personal strike when their (hopefully) future father-in-law (James Morton) refuses his three daughters' hands in their marriage proposal. In a highly publicized protest in the in-law's home, the Stooges finally get him to agree to their marriage, where to boot they receive a donated house-which they have to assemble. The subsequent adventures in constructing their home in the most crazy-quilt fashion imaginable was copied from a similar situation in Buster Keaton's famous 1921 classic "One Week."

One of the Stooges' wives is Dorabell, played by Marcia Healy. She was the sister of Ted Healy, the manager and straight man for the Stooges before they branched out on their own. After the three left him, Healy remained employed with MGM, who loaned him out to other studios on several occasions where he appeared in secondary roles in both dramatic and comedic parts. "The Sitter Downers" was the last Three Stooges' film Healy got to see before his untimely death on December 21, 1937, at 41. The night before he died Healy was celebrating the birth of his son at a nightclub on Sunset Strip in Los Angeles when he purportedly got in a fight with three "college fellows." Later, rumors emerged that actor Wallace Beery and Albert Broccoli, later producer for the James Bond movies, were the participants in the brawl. The L. A. coroner ruled that an inflammation of Healy's kidneys caused by his acute alcoholism was the medical reason for the actor's death. Through his generosity to many down-and-out friends, Healy died broke, leaving his wife and child in poverty. Besides playing a big role in the Stooges' career, Healy served as a mentor and was a major influence for several comedians, including Milton Berle, Bob Hope and Red Skelton.

A long-time friend and fellow Stooges fan (we're in our fifties) and I sat down with a few glasses of 'Cab-Sav' (Cabernet Sauvignon for the uninitiated) and spent some enjoyable hours p***ing-ourselves laughing. Of the twelve classics in this collection, TSD was the last in order on the DVD but paradoxically the first released: 1937.

It is a real hoot but, more than that, surprisingly contemporary and with some insights into the American psyche. Yes, Virginia, there ARE female Stooges! The uncredited trio of actors playing the wives are a feminist's delight: just as stupid as the boys. Now there's equality for you! There are pointed comments about Unionism, the notion of lotteries, and even how the selection of wives is, in itself, a lottery. The final scene with its pre-fab nightmare (the house that 'crack' built) would have made Dali proud! Escher would rise from the dead just to applaud this surreal masterpiece!

What makes TSD different from many of the Stooges' shorts is that it does not fit neatly into their vaudeville act (for surely that is where many of their set-pieces were derived). While it shares the same anarchistic bent, it is at once more pointed in its criticism of the American world-at-large as it is of life-in-general. Put simply, it is a masterpiece of its genre and can stand alone as an indication of just how brilliant Moe, Larry and Curly were. Enjoy!

Yes, time for the Stooges to settle down and get married? The brides to be(?) are Flora Bell (June Gittelson), Dora Bell (Marcia Healy) and Cora Bell (Betty Mack). But... but Mr. Bell (James C. Morton) is against the whole darn thing.

So what do the guys do? They go on a "sit down strike," obviously patterned after the famous Detroit auto strike! They win the war, and better yet, win a contest for a prefab house, which they must build on their own?

What happens when Curly burns up the plans??? I agree with the last reviewer, shades of LAUREL AND HARDY, who knew how to destroy a house. Moe, Larry and Curly decide to improvise and put the place together their OWN WAY, and its laugh out loud stuff. Ewart Adamson's script had some truth to it all, due to the fact prefab homes required skill to assemble -- and you needed plans!

Historically, this film was a prelude to the prefab market that hit the US during WWII, where the housing market exploded, and new homes had to be built ASAP.

Notable cast; plump June Gittelson returns to the series, in a featured role, also western and comedy actress Betty Mack. Marcia Healy co-stars, the sister of Ted Healy, long time friends with Moe Howard, who began a comedy act with him in vaudeville. Always a treat to see slow burn James C. Morton, who worked with Laurel and Hardy and Our Gang/Little Rascals.

Director Del Lord turns this one upside down, and with some clever pokes at the construction business. Amen.

Always on remastered Columbia dvd, generally released by decades, 30s, 40s, and 50s episodes. Thanks to METV for running these golden oldies Saturdays.