Violent Is the Word for Curly

CONTAINING A WHOLE slew of young starlets, putting the boys on the open road and a usually dependable ploy of putting the Stooges in the middle of an inextricable case of mistaken identity are all excellent reasons to recommend this short.

ADDING TO THESE, we have lively gags and an emphasis on music. Often an overlooked aspect of the Stooges' makeup, carrying a tune and being able to sing a little are definitely potent aspects of their arsenal. With this outing, they are able to display such prowess to good advantage. Their choice of "The Alphabet Song" probably couldn't have been better. Lively interplay with the female student body and the boys' novelty approach to making the music combine to make for the high points of this romp. *

THE EVER PRESENT questions about college athletics, both pro and con, are brought into focus as a sort of sidebar or subplot. As is now the case and was then; after seemingly endless amounts of rhetoric being expended, no one takes any real stand in the opposition to Collegiate Sports, he prosper to this very day. Wy, we'd venture to say that the 'Simon Pure' NCAA sanctioned competitions are stronger than ever! FROM THE BEGINNING to the movie's 2 reel ending, it's Stooges comedy at its very best. For our money, this comedy ranks at the top of the late 1930's output.

NOTE: * When the great 3 Stooges comeback occurred in 1958-59 with the release of their Columbia Shorts to the television market, Moe and Larry, now joined by Joe DeRita (as 'Curly Joe') cut a 33 1/3 LP vinyl record for Coral Records. Titled THE NONSENSE SONGBOOK, the featured fare was a collection of mostly novelty songs from the previous 50 years; with 'The Alphabet Song' being one of those so featured.

We had no idea of the song's history with the 3 Stooges, until about 20 years or so later; when we saw this short at St. Xavier's College in Chicago. We were accompanying our sister, Rose Mary and her boyfriend, Don.

Interestingly, the album is still available on CD or Casette.

The secret for the success of The Three Stooges was their hard work behind the scenes. The three would read the upcoming film's script and fine-tune the comedy bits until they wore out their directors from rehearsing. A good example finds the three posing as college professors in July 1938's "Violent is the Word for Curly."

While in front of a college class, the three proceed to teach the students how to remember the letters of the alphabet written on the blackboard. Comedian Charley Chase, director for "Violent is the Word for Curly," remembered as a boy his family's maid would sing the 1875 composer Septimus Winner song 'The Spelling Bee' to teach him the alphabet. He adapted her lessons to the Stooges film by renaming it 'The Alphabet Song.' Moe led off with a pointer singing each letter beginning with "B": "B-A-bay, B-E-bee, B-I-bicky-bi, B-O bo, bicky-bi bo, B-U bu, bicky bi bo bu." Curley belts out a couple of letters, intermixed with the singing students getting the hang of it by tackling a few. The sequence turned out to be one of the Stooges' more famous skits, credited because of all the rehearsing and fine-tuning The Three Stooges did to the song.

"Violence is the Word for Curly," whose title is a modification of RKO Pictures' 1936 film 'Valiant is the Word for Carrie,' follows the Stooges as they begin their first day on the job as gas station attendants. Their first customer is a car with three visiting college professors, whose luggage the Stooges throw into an ice cream truck parked next to them to clean the interior of their car. Things get so chaotic the three escape in the truck with Curly trapped in the back refrigerator. Running out of gas, Moe and Larry discover Curly frozen in the ice cream storage compartment. They put him on a rotating spit above a fire to thaw him out. During filming, future Stooge director Edward Bernds, assisting on the production, noticed Curly's weight prevented Larry and Moe from turning the crank. "The straps holding him slipped and he was hanging directly over the fire," Bernds remembered, when a sudden gust of wind kicked up the flames. "Before they could get him off, he was pretty well seared. Curly was hollering his head off, and I don't blame him. Being roasted alive belongs to the Inquisition, not making two-reel comedies." "Violent is the Word for Curly" is also known for being colorized from black-and-white much later. Trouble was the color made the female college students, dressed in athletic shear tops with nothing underneath them, transparent in the scenes they're playing basketball.

In The Three Stooges' earlier 31st entry, May 1938 "Healthy, Wealthy and Dumb," Curly won $50,000 in a radio contest. They decide to splurge in a fancy hotel stay, only to be unsuccessfully fleeced by three pretty gold diggers residing in the next room. The title was a parody on Ben Franklin's advice, "early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise." Actress Lucille Lund, 25, plays one of the ladies cozying up to the Stooges. She's best known for her role as the wife of the Boris Karloff character in 1934's horror classic "The Black Cat."

Working at a gas station, the 3 Stooges provide "super service" to three visiting European college professors. They accidentally blow up their car, and escape by borrowing a truck "Yukon Ice Cream Co., frozen dainties." Since Curly fell asleep in the back, he becomes a frozen dainty. Moe and Larry barbecue Curly to thaw him out, Moe quips, "20 minutes to a pound-- we'll be here a month." Donning the caps and gowns the professors had in their luggage, the 3 Stooges hitch a ride to Mildew College. Their academic lesson consists of leading the girls in singing along with the very catchy number, "Swingin' the Alphabet." B-A, Bay. B-E, bee. B-I, bickey-bye, (etc.) When the real college professors arrive, they announce they are going to leave the college, but the Stooges get them to come back-- with a bang.

This story was written by the incomparable Elwood Ullman. In the 1930s, he had written for the legendary magazine "Captain Billy's Whiz Bang," which in 1939 inspired "Whiz Comics" in which Billy Batson became Captain Marvel with the Bang of a magical thunderbolt. Elwood would write 37 "Three Stooges" shorts, 14 Bowery Boys movies, and capped his career by writing 2 "bikini" movies for AIP. This short was the debut for Marjorie Deanne (Miss Katsby), her first film in which she played a character with a name. In Marjorie's 6-year film career, she would be in 2 other Stooges shorts: "Dutiful But Dumb" (1941) and "Matri-Phony" (1942). Trivia: the title of this short is a spoof of the movie "Valiant Is the Word for Carrie" (1936).

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!

One of the most hilarious Three Stooges shorts is Violent is the word for Curly. In this short are Marjorie Deanne, Eddie Fetherston, Gladys Gale, Pat Gleason, Bud Jamison, and John T. Murray, and Al Thompson. The acting by these actors are all very good especially by Jamison and Deanne. There are many funny scenes here that I think most Three Stooges fans will love! In My opinion this one of the most different Three Stooges shorts. I recommend this one to all!

I'm still swinging to the alphabet with this hilarious episode of the Three Stooges. Basically Moe, Larry, and Curly screw up their job cleaning and filling up cars with gas. When they run away, the get into a very wet situation causing them to steal professor gowns to stay dry. But when the dean of students over at Mildew Academy thinks that they are the three brilliant professors that they've been looking for, the boys take the job without asking. They have fun with the academy instead of teaching knowledge. This is one of the best stooge shorts, and I would highly recommend it.

10/10