Three Little Beers

Three Little Beers
Directed by Del Lord
Produced by Jules White
Written by Clyde Bruckman
Starring Moe Howard
Larry Fine
Curly Howard
Bud Jamison
Jack "Tiny" Lipson
Harry Semels
Stanley Blystone
Lew Davis
Althea Henley
Cinematography Benjamin H. Kline
Edited by William Lyon
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release date
  • November 28, 1935 (1935-11-28) (U.S.)
Running time
 16:32
Country United States
Language English

Three Little Beers is a 1935 film directed by Del Lord and starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard). It was the 11th short film released by Columbia Pictures starring the comedians, who released 190 short films for the studio between 1934 and 1959.

Plot

Gainfully employed in the delivery department of the Panther Pilsner Beer company (a reference to the derogatory slang term, characterizing poor quality beer as "panther piss"),[1] the Stooges suffer several mishaps while loading the back of their truck with a six-barrel tall stack of beer barrels. After learning of a golf tournament their company is sponsoring, in which cash prizes will be awarded, the boys quickly drive off to the Rancho Golf Club. To gain access they impersonate reporters by using knobs torn from bathroom fixtures as press badges. The ruse barely succeeds—Moe's and Larry's are marked "press", but Curly's reads "pull". Once inside, the Stooges steal some golfers' clothes, and split up to practice—although they know absolutely nothing about golf.

Curly gets his golf ball stuck in the tree and decides the only way to retrieve it is by chopping the tree down. Moe finds an open area to practice, but the only thing that he hits is the ground, which is soon pockmarked with hundreds of divots. Larry practices putting, but a root gets in his way, and he tears up the putting green in his efforts to extract the seemingly endless root. All of this destruction is noticed by the two outraged and angry Italian-ethnicity groundskeepers, to one of whom Moe's explanation of the field of divots was, was that "The Pieces are getting Smaller" - this drives the groundskeepers to complain to the golf course's management personnel, who respond by sending the police in pursuit of the trio.

The Stooges escape in their beer truck. As they drive up a steep hill, two barrels fall off the truck and roll away. Parking the truck, the Stooges give chase but to no avail. It gets worse when the parked truck's brake loosens and the truck rolls into a curb, jarring loose the rest of the barrels which head downhill as well—directly toward the Stooges, who are hurled into a freshly laid sidewalk of wet cement.

Production notes

Three Little Beers was filmed on location in Los Angeles, California on October 9-12, 1935; it features more outdoor locations than any other Stooges film.[2] The golf course featured was Rancho Golf Course, on Pico Boulevard and Patricia Avenue in Cheviot Hills, located across the street from 20th Century Fox studios. The scene featuring rolling beer barrels chasing the Stooges down a hilly street was filmed off of Echo Park Avenue in Los Angeles. This is the second of sixteen Stooge shorts with the word "three" in the title.[3]

Two slapstick routines from Three Little Beers were reworked in the Farrelly brothers 2012 Three Stooges film:

  • Moe smacks Larry, and Larry cries "Oh, my neck!", then Moe slaps him again and asks "How does it feel now" and Larry replies "All right," then Moe slaps him yet again and says "That's good. C'mon on! What's the matter with you?".
  • In a deleted scene on the DVD release, Curly is washing his clothes on the golf course (the original scene from 1935 featured Curly using a ball washer for laundering his clothes). Moe is about to smack Curly, but Larry butts in and asks what's going on. Moe tries to poke Larry's eyes, but Curly stops him. Moe then slaps Curly. He turns to Larry, who has his eyes covered. Moe smacks the top of Larry's head, Larry opens his hand, and Moe pokes his eyes, this continues twice. Moe sets up his fist, Curly smacks, Moe begins the around-the-world bop (or "hand-to-hand head clunk"), hitting Larry's chin in the process, then hitting Curly's head.

References

  1. ↑ Solomon, Jon (2002). The Complete Three Stooges: The Official Filmography and Three Stooges Companion. Glendale, California: Comedy III Productions, Inc. p. 73. ISBN 0-9711868-0-4.
  2. ↑ Three Little Beers at threestooges.net
  3. ↑ Pauley, Jim (2012). The Three Stooges Hollywood Filming Locations. Solana Beach, California: Santa Monica Press, LLC. pp. 261–269. ISBN 9781595800701.
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