Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise (1939)

Director:

Jules White

Writers:

Andrew Bennison (original screenplay) &
Mauri Grashin (original screenplay)

Release Date:

6 October 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Short

Plot:

The stooges are tramps looking for handouts. Although the boys are down and out, Curly seems to get everything he wishes for...

Plot Keywords:

Sprayed In The Face | Live Chicken | Wish Comes True | Egg | Barn

Cast

Curly Howard	...	Curly (as Curly)
Larry Fine	...	Larry (as Larry)
Moe Howard	...	Moe (as Moe)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Dorothy Comingore	...	April Jenkins (uncredited)
James Craig	...	Swindler Driving Car (uncredited)
Dick Curtis	...	Swindler in Back Seat (uncredited)
Richard Fiske	...	Mr. Johnson - Farmer (uncredited)
Lorna Gray	...	May Jenkins (uncredited)
Eddie Laughton	...	Swindler in Front Seat (uncredited)
Eva McKenzie	...	The Widow Jenkins (uncredited)
Dorothy Moore	...	June Jenkins (uncredited)
Victor Travers	...	Uncle Tim - Justice of the Peace (uncredited)

Directed by
Jules White

Writing credits
Andrew Bennison		(original screenplay) &
Mauri Grashin		(original screenplay)

Produced by
Jules White	....	associate producer

Cinematography by
Henry Freulich

Film Editing by
Charles Nelson

Music Department
Leigh Harline	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Ben Oakland	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Columbia Pictures Corporation

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures
• Image Entertainment (USA) (laserdisc)
• Screen Gems (1958) (USA) (TV)

Runtime:

18 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Australia:G

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

After the boys marry the sisters Moe says that now a set of quintuplets would make everything perfect, Curley says that they will just honeymoon in Canada. This is a reference to the Dionne quintuplets who were born in Corbiel Canada in 1934 and were the first known set of quintuplets to survive infancy.

Quotes:

Larry:An inkwell!
Moe:That's not ink! That's earl!
Curly:What d'ya mean, earl?
Moe:You know! Coal earl!
Curly:You mean oil! It's a geezer! An oil geezer!

Movie Connections:

Edited into Oil's Well That Ends Well (1958)

Very Funny Short

Oily to Bed, oily to Rise (1939)

*** (out of 4)

Very funny short has the Three Stooges broke, hungry and looking for food but thankfully Curly starts wishing for things and getting them. They end up at the farm of a woman when they strike oil there but she's sold her deed to some bad guys so the Stooges must try and get it back. This is certainly one of the better shorts in the series as we get one big laugh after another. There are many highlights here including a hilarious bit of dialogue coming from Curly as the boys are about to drive off a cliff. Other great scenes include the boys trying to saw a log, them messing up the water pump and of course Curly's "chicken fit" at the start of the film. This here is a perfect example of why the Stooges were so funny as we get plenty of rough violence, zany dialogue and of course the boys are as dumb as ever.