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 & screenplay), Elwood Ullman (story & screenplay)

Stars:

Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly 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:

slapstick comedy | college | women's college | gas station | college professor | 

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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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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 July 1938 (USA)

Also Known As:

Violent Is the Word for Curly

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:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This short contains the classic Stooges rendition of "Swinging the Alphabet", originally composed by Septimus Winner, under the title "The Spelling Bee". Charley Chase's family maid taught it to his children, and Charley brought it to the attention of the Stooges.

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Goofs

When the Stooges rush out of the gas station with their equipment, the three professors in the car mysteriously have their lunch laid out.

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Quotes

Moe: Don't ya know it's bad etiquette to reach in front of a person when said person is trying to snag a morsel of food?

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Connections

Edited into Stop! Look! and Laugh! (1960)

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Soundtracks

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

User Reviews

Violent is the Word for Curly

I'm still swinging to the alphabet with this hilarious episode of the Three Stooges. Basically Moe, Larry, and Curly screw up their job cleaning and filling up cars with gas. When they run away, the get into a very wet situation causing them to steal professor gowns to stay dry. But when the dean of students over at Mildew Academy thinks that they are the three brilliant professors that they've been looking for, the boys take the job without asking. They have fun with the academy instead of teaching knowledge. This is one of the best stooge shorts, and I would highly recommend it.

10/10