Gents in a Jam (1952)

Shemp's rich Uncle Phineas comes to visit the stooges who are broke and about to evicted. The boys convince their landlady Mrs. McGruder not to toss them out as Shemp is set to inherit a ... See full summary »

Director:

Edward Bernds

Writer:

Edward Bernds

Stars:

Shemp Howard, Larry Fine, Moe Howard

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Shemp Howard	...	Shemp (as Shemp)
Larry Fine	...	Larry (as Larry)
Moe Howard	...	Moe (as Moe)
Kitty McHugh	...	Landlady
Emil Sitka	...	Uncle Phineas Bowman
Danni Sue Nolan	...	Mrs. Gertie Dugan (as Dani Sue Nolan)
Mickey Simpson	...	Rocky Dugan

Storyline

Shemp's rich Uncle Phineas comes to visit the stooges who are broke and about to evicted. The boys convince their landlady Mrs. McGruder not to toss them out as Shemp is set to inherit a fortune. The boys also have trouble with a circus strongman after Shemp accidentally rips off his wife's dress. Uncle Phineas gets in the middle of the fight, and Mrs. McGruder ends it by knocking out the strongman. It turns out that Uncle Phineas and the landlady were childhood sweethearts and he marries her, leaving the stooges out of the bucks once again.

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Plot Keywords:

remake | the three stooges | slapstick

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Genres:

Comedy | Short

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 July 1952 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

16 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This was the final Three Stooges short that was directed by Edward Bernds and the final short produced by Hugh McCollum, McCollum was fired from the Columbia Shorts Department due to a string of falling outs with producer/director Jules White and Edward Bernds left Columbia on his own accord out of loyalty to Hugh McCollum, the remaining Stooge shorts are produced and directed by Jules White.

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Quotes

Larry: How come you give all the orders around here?
Moe: Because I got all the brains around here. Any objections?
Larry: Yeah!
[Moe slaps Larry]
Moe: Objections overruled.

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Connections

Remake of Hot Heir (1947)

User Reviews

You take her . . . You got her . . . YOU WORM!

This is another brilliant Shemp short, topped off by Emil Sitka's delightful performance. The boys are in a fix: broke again and facing eviction. Worse yet, Shemp and Larry are petrified of the landlady, Mrs. MacGruder. Moe has a great scene when he soliloquizes on his mastery over women. He shows his true colors when Mrs. Battleaxe, oops, I mean Mrs. MacGruder, comes on the scene (and you must check out Shemp and Larry when this happens). Sitka portrays Shemp's wealthy Uncle Phineas, and an air of mystery is imparted when the landlady repeats out loud, "Phineas Bowman" in an obvious tone of recognition. Then, of course, we have the jealous-husband-beautiful-wife subplot (thankfully, plots never matter where the Stooges are concerned). Rocky Duggan, the strongest man in the world, performs his service to humanity by asking people if they have any phone books they would like torn in half. He would have little to do here in the Virgin Islands; our phone books aren't that thick, and that's even with the British Virgin Islands thrown in. Nonetheless, I wouldn't want to get on his bad side, which is exactly what the Sttoges do through no fault of their own. Except for the scene when Rocky throttles Shemp's double, it is Emil Sitka who inadvertently takes the brunt of Rocky's wrath. Emil truly shines here. But if I were Uncle Phineas, I'd think twice about marrying a woman with the most devastating right cross in history. Rocky's still spitting out his teeth.