Violent Is the Word for Curly (1938)

Three bumbling gas station attendants are mistaken for college professors arriving from Germany to teach at a prestigious women's college.

Director:

Charley Chase

Writers:

Al Giebler (story), Elwood Ullman (story)

Stars:

Curly Howard, Larry Fine, Moe Howard

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Curly Howard	...	Curly (as Curly)
Larry Fine	...	Larry (as Larry)
Moe Howard	...	Moe (as Moe)

Storyline

The stooges are left in charge of a gas station and manage to blow up the car of their first customers, three famous European professors. The stooges steal some of the academics' clothes and wind up at "Mildew", a women's college where the three professors are expected. Mistaken as the real thing, the boys take their place on the faculty. When the real professors show up, the stooges try to convince a rich woman, the schools benefactor, that an athletics programs is more important. Their athletics demonstration comes to an explosive end when the real professors slip them a nitroglycerin basketball.

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Plot Keywords:

college | women's college | gas station | college professor | nitroglycerin | 

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Taglines:

THEY'RE CRACKED IN THE CRANIUM...ON A CUCKOO CAMPUS!

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Genres:

Comedy | Short

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 July 1938 (USA)

Also Known As:

Curly el violento

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

18 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Victor High Fidelity Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The title of this movie short is a takeoff of a 1936 movie called Valiant Is the Word for Carrie.

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Goofs

After the lunchman says "Luncheon is served", the a shadow of the boom mic is moving about at the top left corner of the screen.

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Quotes

Miss Katsby: Oh, you'll just love it. Mildew has a lovely student body.
Curly: Yours wouldn't be so bad either if you took off about twenty pounds!

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Connections

Featured in Muppet Babies: A Punch Line to the Tummy (1990)

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Soundtracks

"Swingin' The Alphabet'
Written by Septimus Winner
Arranged by Charley Chase
Performed by The Three Stooges

User Reviews

B-A, Bay. B-E, bee. B-I, bickey-bye...

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).