source: Three Sappy People

source: Three Sappy People

For starters - Can you imagine a reliable phone company actually hiring repairmen like Curly, Larry, and Moe to take care of technical matters? 'Cause if that ain't asking for some serious trouble, then, I really don't what it would be. (Nyuck! Nyuck! Nyuck!) Well - As the story goes - Totally abandoning their service call as switchboard repairmen - The "eager-to-make-a-buck" Stooges pose as psychiatrists, Doctors Ziller, Zeller, and Zoller and, then, promptly head on over to the posh dinner party being held at the Rumsford mansion where the impetuous flake, Sherry Rumsford is celebrating her birthday. Anyway - As you can well imagine - It doesn't take but a minute for Curly, Larry, and Moe to really stir up all sorts of comically priceless shenanigans that shifts into high-gear once the elegant dinner is served up, resulting in some truly hilarious entertainment for one, and all. (Nyuck! Nyuck! Nyuck!)

Three Sappy People (1939) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Hilarious short has the Three Stooges playing phone repairmen who are working at the office of some famous psychiatrists when they learn they're in desperate need of money. They receive a phone call from some rich folks needing some help with a crazy wife so they pretend to be doctors and all hell breaks loose. This is perhaps one of the most famous shorts that the Stooges ever did and it's easy to see why as it's action-packed from start to finish with some terrific dialogue and great jokes. I'm normally not a fan of food fights and they can be from any film be it the Stooges or those early Keystone pictures but the one here is actually pretty funny and wild. One of the biggest highlights come from the boys trying to check reflexes but of course they can't do this right and it ends with Curly checking one man's who just happens to have a wooden leg. Other great jokes include a sequence at the dinner table when the boys make pigs out of themselves. The greatest scene in the film has to be when Curly accidentally eats a powder puff.

Tested over time this classic is timeless! I have seen this one numerous times and laugh again and again! I think the vast majority of folks that watch the Three Stooges and especially their shorts like this one, appreciate laughing at the snobby, and pretentious wealthy. And nowadays during our global economic troubles the folks that have little like laughing at the folks that have way too much. One thing though: Of all of the times I have watched this short, I could never identify the thing served on each plate that looked like a corn on the cob wrapped. However it was endlessly wrapped and had some inky liquid at its center. What in heaven's name was it!!!! Of course the biscuits were obvious and funny when confused with a lady's makeup powder puff. But maybe some one out there knows what that thing was that when squeezed squirted out black liquid??????

In this great Stooges short we see a rare treasure indeed - worth many thousands of dollars today - a Springfield, Massachusetts-built 1928-1931 Rolls Royce Phantom I with left-hand drive. The car is an unusual one, in that the coach-builder apparently built the body into somewhat of a cabriolet - the top is longer than that of a roadster, but shorter than a full phaeton. The car appears to have only two doors, the normal Phantom I wire wheels have custom complete color-coded wheel covers, and the car is painted an unusual color (not black). Having built many detailed models of this chassis with several body styles, the example in this Stooges short makes it a treasure beyond the great humor that made seeing it possible.

This is one of my favorite Three Stooges episodes because it's wild from start-to-finish. It begins in the first 30 seconds with a young wife driving her car through the house into the living room, where people are waiting to celebrate her birthday. Apparently, she's done stuff like this before. The husband has had it, so he calls for psychiatrists: Dr. Ziller, Dr. Zeller and Dr. Zoller and "their methods are known to be peculiar." Well, the Stooges are phone repairmen who just happened to be fixing the switchboard at the doctors' office when the call comes in for help. Desperate, they take the job and pretend to be psychiatrists. Notice how often the Stooges wind up in situations like this, impersonating others? Anyway, that gives you an idea about the insanity and this pure frenetic Three Stooges short which has a crazy woman and the farcial Stooges having a lot of fun together at the birthday party....at the funny expense of everyone else at the party. The dinner food-fight is a classic!

This Three Stooges short uses the old plot device of placing the blue-collar Stooges in high society surroundings, setting the scene for all sorts of lowbrow mischief at the expense of the upper crust and bringing the haughty rich down to the working-class level of the Stooges. In order to make fast money, the phone-repairmen Stooges pose as pricey psychiatrists Drs. Ziller, Zeller, and Zoller and crash a society birthday party at a swank mansion. After falling off their tandem bike, the Stooges consult wealthy Mr. Rumsford (Don Beddoe), who asks them to examine his young wife (the lovely birthday girl Lorna Gray). All manner of chaos ensues, especially when the Stooges sit down with the rich folks for a formal dinner party. Things naturally get quickly out of hand, and everything culminates in a wild upper crust cream puff fight, then the boys are paid $1,500, after which they scram. The action never slows down, the gags are hilarious, and the supporting cast is fine. A young Ann Doran appears as an unbearably stiff and haughty socialite, who is of course on the receiving end of her share of cream puff missiles. Lorna Gray is absolutely radiant and has a great talent for the Stooges' style of comedy. The dependable Don Beddoe is great as the exasperated Mr. Rumsford, who is unable to control his wild young wife. For some reason I can't identify, I've always thought that the Stooges crashing their tandem bicycle is one of their funniest gags ever. Even if you don't particularly like the Three Stooges, you might enjoy this bright and funny short subject.

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! This one is arguably the funniest of all the shorts. Plus this is one of My all time favorites! I love Ann Doran's Countess character just not because she is beautiful but also because she is very classy and she is always serious. Also the beautiful Lorna Gray performs quite well here. Three Sappy People is filled with great acting by not only the Stooges but also the other cast members which include Don Beddo, Bud Jamison, Beatrice Blinn, Richard Fiske, Eddie Laughton, and Victor Travers! I think that this is one of the greatest Three Stooges shorts of all time with great acting by everyone, it has beautiful women, and some of the most hilarious scenes ever seen on film! This is a very special Three Stooges short! Its a great one for Stooge for fans to watch and I strongly recommend it!

The Stooges are telephone repairmen mistaken for psychiatrists Ziller, Zeller, and Zoller. They are to treat Sherry (Lorna Gray), the wild and impetuous wife of a staid millionaire (Don Beddoe). Watch the slapstick cream puff throwing climax carefully. Sherry (Lorna Gray) gets hits right in the mouth with a cream puff that actually lodges in her throat. She closes her eyes tightly, turns her head down and to the right, and appears to choke, which she did. Director Jules White immediately stopped the shot but the incident is still in the finished product. Moe Howard talks about it in his book about The Stooges and says that Lorna nearly died. Jules White was really frightened by it. But in an interview later in life, Lorna Gray said that she never felt like she was in any real danger and was upset about Jules White nearly spoiling the scene by cutting too soon. Still, watch the cream puff throwing closely and it's obvious that Lorna is definitely in actual distress before the scene cuts away. I just watched this on MeTV on the regular Saturday afternoon-evening Stooge Fest.