Friday, June 28, 2013

Their Second Mistake

Ah, pediatrics and the Stooges.  Hopefully that's the first and last time those two concepts are in a sentence together.  Unfortunately, the Stooges thought it was cinematic gold... and back to the mine they go!

ACT ONE

Well, you gotta hand it to the Stooges.  Much like today's schoolteachers buying supplies with their own money, Shemp is cutting bibs out of the curtains.  "Lemme put the bibby on!" says Shemp, twice.  He's putting a bib on an actual baby... isn't he?  We hear baby noises, don't we?  What gives?  We get a shot of Moe looking angry in the wrong kind of clothes to be angry in, lol.  And then... the illusion gets shattered.  We get a long shot, and each of the Stooges has a baby, quote unquote.  Thinking it's a tackle football game, they "hike" their babies to each other: Larry throws his baby to Moe, and Shemp throws his baby at Larry.  I guess that means that Moe throws his baby at Shemp.  I had to re-watch it to make sure I got it right.
Shemp nearly misses it, but to be fair, it was a bad throw by Moe.  Shemp leans forward and catches the baby.  "Be careful, will ya?" says Shemp.  But, Movie Hooligan, you ask, what's Larry all of a sudden?  Chopped liver?  Yes, but he does get his own scene, finally.  He burps his baby, and it sounds like an adult when it belches.  Or maybe babies sound like adults when they belch, I actually don't know yet.  Go figure, right?  A blogger who's not a father, what a shock.  This blog is my baby, damn it, and no one's guessed my password yet.
Anyway, back to the action.  Now Shemp gives his "baby" a bottle, stands up and starts walking forward.  And then... yup, the nightmare is laid at our feet, as Shemp trips on the rug and pitches forward, not only dropping the baby, but landing on top of it.  We hear the cry of a baby.  Jesus.  But just as Sandra Bullock hit a baby carriage full of cans in Speed, the Stooges are actually just using dolls.  We find out the source in a few seconds... I hate to Monday night quarterback here, but they softened the blow of this scene when they hiked their babies earlier.  Gilding the lily again.  Go figure; the Stooges for once are trying to cause less emotional damage to the national psyche than they already have.  Just to drive the point home, Moe says to Shemp, "It's a good thing you didn't bust this doll or I'd'a busted your skull!"  Moe heaps physical abuse upon Shemp, at least until Larry valiantly steps in to stop Moe.  At this point, Moe hits Larry on the head with the doll's head.  What an intriguing noise that makes, wood on ivory!
Suddenly... there's a knock on the door.  Time once again for three part harmony.  If only some so-and-so with a lot of time on their hands could compile all these clips, hint hint...  It's the landlady!  The landlady is played by a woman named Margie Liszt... no relation to the famous composer.  But who knows?  Having the same name probably didn't hurt either.  Now, according to the IMDb, one of my favourite web sites of all time, she did four Stooge shorts altogether.  The one I know her best from is the iconic Income Tax Sappy.  She seems to be to the Stooges what Katherine Helmond is to Terry Gilliam, for those of you SAT Test fans out there.  I only point this out because this Stooge short doesn't have the usual gang of idiots: Emil Sitka, Vernon Dent, Kenneth MacMillan, what have you.  It's unsettling!  Anyway, as it turns out, the Stooges borrowed the landlady's daughter's dolls so that they could practice being babysitters.  Good thing the landlady didn't see them practice!
Moe shows her the teeny tiny book they're using to practice, and Shemp seals the deal by suggesting she recommend the Stooges to her friends.  You know, to babysit.  Sheesh.  She agrees, but on the condition that she collect the money.  "Don't worry, we'll give you every cent!" says Moe.  The landlady, Mrs. Crump, goes out the door.  Thinking that they're safe, the Stooges all stick out their tongues at the door and say "Nyaah!!!"  Mrs. Crump comes back in and says, and I quote, "Nyaah yourselves!  Nyaah!"  Or maybe it's bleah, I don't know.  Then she barks twice and closes the door.  Well, she's a good sport, anyway.  Larry and Shemp try to bark back in vain, but they don't sound as much like a dog as Mrs. Crump did when she barked.  Moe gets his Stooges back in line, and fade to black.  Oh, it's just too sad to contemplate.

Fade-in... this seems to be where Act Two should start, but we're not even three minutes into this damn thing!  Anyway, having bagged their first sitting job, they go to a moderately fancy front door.  Moe ends up knocking on Shemp's head instead of the front door (you know how it is), and a pretty lady answers the door.  This is apparently her first and last Stooge short.  Her name is Lynn Davis, and some of her other titles include I Led 3 Lives, The I Don't Care Girl and Strip Tease College Girls.  Oh my!  Sounds almost as tawdry as that Mamie Van Doren vehicle, Sex Kittens go to College.  Apparently, she was also a singer that sang on the 1980s films The Woman in Red and Little Shop of Horrors... somehow, I think that's a mistake, like Brad Garrett in Eight Men Out.  It's not the Everybody Loves Raymond Brad Garrett!
Anyway, the Stooges go into the house proper.  Shemp heads right for the knick-knack cabinet, but Moe holds him back.  Plenty of time for that when the parents go out for the night.  This was before all these damn video cameras were all over the place!  This Lynn Davis is kind of a wooden performer, but she seems to get this part right.  She says "Now, boys, I... GASP!"  She doesn't actually say the word "gasp," like Bugs Bunny in Falling Hare, but she makes the noise.  And why?  Well, her baby seems to have a gun in its mouth... in fact, yes, it does!  Now we're talking.  Finally!  A couple as bad with children as the Stooges!  Even the Stooges know that what they've just seen is not a good thing, and the four of them immediately run over to the crib.  The woman takes the gun away and casually points it at the Stooges... oh, my mere brief description just can't do it justice.  And, of course, it doesn't help that I can't directly link to the damn scene!  Sorry, folks, but I'm still sore about that.  As it turns out, this woman is a single mother, and she's concerned that a "certain party" is going to kidnap her kid.  Probably the father, right?  Well, she's concerned, but she's dressed to kill and she kinda looks like Britney Spears.  A girl like that has to have some fun sometime, am I right?  And so, she goes out, and the Stooges are left alone with the kid.
It's probably once again time for Act Two, but it's not even the five minute mark yet!  Moe quickly takes the opportunity to lay down some marching orders: Moe will take care of the kid, Larry is ordered to "rustle up some toys," and Shemp's on kitchen patrol.  Now, NRA members, pay attention to this next sequence.  It might come up in your future.  Moe points the gun at Shemp, and Shemp says "HEY!  Look out with that pistol."  See, this is why they're comedians and not cowboys.  COMEDIANS DON'T USE GUNS!!!  Okay, back to the action.  Moe reassures Shemp that the gun's not loaded, and gives him a good shove to the side.  You know, so Shemp can test the gun.  Shemp starts trying out each chamber of the gun and... yup, he manages to find one bullet in it.  Jesus.  Moe gets a comedy injury out of the deal: he gets a perfect line taken out of his hair... hmm!  Must've been the last day of filming or something.  It still looks pretty good!

ACT TWO

Okay, I can't take it anymore.  Time for Act Two.  Moe tries to kick Shemp, but falls on his ass instead.  Looks like it was really him, too, poor guy.  Still doing his own stunts at 53.  And then... the baby starts crying.  And, just as in real life, a crying baby brings everything to a halt.  Moe summons his Stooges.  Why, Shemp even returns!  That's the power of the Stooge summons.  Moe says "See if you can quiet that kid.  He's driving me nuts!"  Let's just skip that part for now... actually, no.  I don't know why, but on behalf of parents everywhere, let me just say what you're thinking.  Less than ten seconds of a baby crying drives you nuts?  Tell me he just didn't say that.  Okay, back to the action.  First up: Larry tries to calm down the baby with the old "kitchy kitchy coo" trick.  He ends up getting bitten.  Baby: 1, Stooges: 0.
Over to Moe and Shemp.  Fortunately, Moe's brought the book with him.  He orders Shemp to read it, but Shemp says "Aw, you know I can't read good!"  Oh, the things comedians could get away with back in the day.  Nowadays they gotta be all smart 'n sh.. stuff.  And so, Moe reads the book.  The book suggests that an adult standing on their head will de-sour and sweeten a crying baby.  Brought to you by Geritol.  Shemp is elected and says... I was contemplating skipping this detail, but I might as well note it, as it is a Stooge detail.  Shemp says "EUREKA!" and Moe responds "You don't smell so good either!" and hits Shemp with an apple.  Actually, Moe presses an apple to Shemp's forehead, then smashes it, scattering bits of apple all over the Lloyd's nice, once-clean floor.  Congratulations, Lloyd family.  You're now a member of the extended, ever-growing worldwide Stooge family.
And so, Shemp goes into action.  Not bad for a guy his age!  I gotta stop obsessing about age so much.  Shemp runs over to the wall and stands on his head.  And... it works!  The baby starts laughing.  Of course, that's the audio.  The visual looks like the baby's suddenly possessed by a lesser imp or demon.  Pediatricians, help me out here: does that look like any laughing baby you've ever seen?  I mean, seriously?  Maybe it's Mickey Rooney with heavy pancake makeup pretending to be an infant, who knows.  Speaking of audio, I think they had to dub in his lines after he stands on his head.  You know, like how Britney Spears has to lip sync her songs on stage.  Hard to dance and sing at full blast at the same time, you know!  It's a necessary evil.  Anyway, back to upside-down Shemp.  He's able to stand on his head okay, but he has trouble sticking the landing, so to speak, and his fellow Stooges have to help him down.  It's a two-man job getting Shemp off of his head, it is.  And then, as the Stooges often do, they visit other comedian's homes and steal jokes from their desks.  In this case, the Stooges pay homage to the silverware gag at the end of Animal Crackers.  So tacky.  So tacky.  But, to be fair to the Stooges, they do a paraphrased version of it, which Jiminy Glick would probably appreciate... actually, I take that back.  It might be longer.  Moe orders Shemp to pick up all the dropped silverware.  Moe then doubles down and kicks Shemp in the ass, but Moe loses this time.  Shemp's got a plate in his ass from the war... oh, wait, it's just the Lloyd's.  "I fooled him that time!" says Shemp.  Shemp and Larry start laughing like it's happy hour.  Shemp turns around and does the block.  "I fooled him AGAIN!!" says Shemp.  Shemp and Larry are still enjoying that laugh.  Moe eventually gets that eye-poke in on Shemp, at which point Larry sobers up right quick.  "You couldn't fool ME that way!" says Larry.  See, Larry felt his part was a little thin in this one.  Moe fools Larry, then sends him away to watch the kid.  Moe orders Shemp to put the silverware in the drawer of a cabinet behind them.  Repeat babysitting business, here they come!
Larry watches the kid by giving him a bottle of sody pop.  "And I just happen to have a nipple with me!" says Larry.  Now before you call the Creepy Police... they are everywhere these days in the Internet Age, you know... remember, it's a plastic babysitting nipple!  It's only slightly creepy.  The kid starts going to town on the bottle of soda.  "Hey, take it easy!  You'll drown yourself!" says Larry.  He's a fine babysitter, he is.  Eventually, however, the kid's eyes start burning from the soda.  Ah, sweet indoctrination into the sody pop lifestyle.  There's nothing like it on this planet or any other.  The kid goes so far as to wipe his eyes with his blanket.  Now, screenwriters take note: Larry turns around and talks to the Stooges.  While Larry's head is turned, the kid pretends he's playing baseball with the soda bottle.  The kid winds up, and... POW!  Whoa, dude.  As you know, I don't often feel sorry for Lawrence, but that was pretty harsh.  Cut back to the kid, who makes Linda Blair look tame in comparison... okay, maybe not that much.
So!  The kid's full, but what about the Stooges?  They're hungry, too!  It is time to feast on what figgy pudding the Lloyds possess, and the Stooges won't go until they get some.  Shemp goes to the kitchen to wreak some more havoc.  Moe and Larry stand by the bowl of fruit that provided the bounty for Shemp's head earlier in the proceedings.  Larry helps himself to a leopard banana.  Moe grabs a nut and says "Oh, nuts!"  Larry says "HEY!"  Moe points to the nut in his hand, and Larry calms down.  And of course, because it's a raucous comedy, Moe eats the shell and Larry eats the banana's sour, sour peel.  Yeesh.  Let's see what chef Shempa Deen's up to in the 1950's style kitchen... oh, this is going to be good.  See, normally the funny stuff happens when they're not looking, when it comes to the Stooges.  But what happens when illiteracy is thrown into the mix?  Bet they won't even have that in the Dumb and Dumber sequel.
It gets better.  Even illiterate Shemp knows that powdered soap by itself is no good.  Over to the spice rack he goes.  He's quite the chef indeed!  Shemp grabs several different types of spices and dumps copious amounts of them into the mix.  For some reason, he avoids the rather large containers of "kitchen salt" and "kitchen cleanser."  Probably for the best.  I dare say he's killing some time here!  He gets frustrated with the "moose-stard" and throws the whole box into the pot.  My favorite's probably the "gloves."  "Oh, little gloves!" says Shemp as he dumps the whole box into the pot.  Coming in a close second, if only for sentimental reasons: Shemp confuses baking powder with powdered bacon.  Oh, Shemp... always skirting the laws of kashrut.  For shame. 
Back to the other two idiots.  The baby's crying again, and they require Shemp's head-standing-on abilities.  Someday I gotta find out that Nickelodeon cartoon where the "guy" uses an eight ball, and ends up rapidly climbing the corporate ladder in Hudsuckerian fashion.  Alas, Yahoo's not that good.  I need more specifics.  Klasky-Csupo?  Bulging, veiny eyes?  Nope, still not enough.
And so, Shemp stands on his head again, and the kid laughs (audio) demonically (video).  And once again, Shemp's got some swag.  Lol.  This time he's got an alarm clock in his jacket.  This is probably the highlight of the whole damn film.  "What does the clock say?" asks Moe.  Can you guess the answer?  You can?  Ah, but which film had it all previous-like?  Oh, for crimin' out loud, I'll never find it!
Anyway, Larry's been in this one too much.  Moe sends him away to check on Shemp's unholy concoction that they think is soup.  "That's an order!" says Moe.  Time for the ol' slap salute, of course.  And then... back to Shemp, whose sticky fingers are about to get him in a little more trouble.  He finds a bottle in the Lloyd's liquor cabinet.  "You know, there's a thousand reasons why I shouldn't drink," he tells Moe.  Maybe that's the problem right there.  Who's got the mental capacity to keep track of a thousand of anything?  Anyway, no sooner does Shemp have a mouthful of the stuff in him, when Moe gives Shemp a good pound in the stomach and ends up with his own share of the pilfered liquor on him.  Perhaps that description doesn't do the scene justice, I'll be the first to concede that.  Moe ends up breaking the whole bottle over Shemp's head just for good measure.  I'm sure Mrs. Lloyd will understand.  Boy!  A lot of broken bottles on heads in this one.  The Stooges must've just acquired the means to do so.
And so, Larry brings in three steaming bowls of... whatever.  We get a brief shot of the kid looking on.  It's almost as bad as him laughing!  Sheesh.  And so, the boys sit down to have some damn soup.  First up: Larry with four spoonfuls of the stuff and a big smile on his face.  But then... the smile drops, the spoonfuls stop, and he looks quizzically over at Moe.  Next up: Moe.  As Larry stops, we hear Moe slurping off camera.  Soon, Moe's on camera and he gets in two more spoonfuls... then stops.  "BAH!" he grumbles.  Or maybe it's more like "WAH!"  Good noise either way.  "Tastes like a dead horse," says Moe.  Well, it takes one to know one... something like that.  Living through The Great Depression will never go away for some.  Over to Shemp, who's a little more refined in his soup consumption.  He holds up the bowl to his mouth, much like Emily Post might, except for the pinkies.  Shemp gets in three slurp-fuls of soup, then he stops.  Too bad he couldn't take a cue from the other two.  Shemp says "You know, if I hadn't of made this myself, I'd swear there's a little soap in it!"  Well, it takes one to know one... something like that.
And then... it's the Lawrence Welk show.  Cue the human bubble machines!  Some of the shots are head-on shots of the boys spitting out bubbles.  Some shots are side shots, and they've obviously hidden a spigot with their head, much like Mr. Creosote in The Meaning of Life.  Maybe vomiting is the meaning of life!  A little complexity to life; it can't all be about eating and excreting all the time, must it?  I hate to say it, but some of Larry's moans are downright pornographic.  The Stooges were never terribly family-friendly, and this one may be the best, most frightening example of that.
The kid proper wants to get into the act, too!  You know how kids are: always wanting to do all the fun adult things like smoke and drink and make love.  And you know, maybe they have a point.  Wait til you get old, kids!  You'll still want to do all those things, but you just might pine for your lost youth.  Take Mickey Rourke, for example... anyway, the kid reaches for a couple of bubbles, but eventually he climbs out of the crib.  Larry, after so eagerly consuming as much soup as he did, ends up on the floor, poor guy.  All he wants to do is try and rest his poor, aching stomach.  The kid goes over, sits on Larry's extruded belly, and starts hitting him.  Bubbles pour out of Lawrence's mouth when the kid does this.  Nothing more interesting to a kid than cause and effect.  But wait!  Bubbles haven't come out of anyone's ears yet!...

ACT THREE

Cross-fade to next scene.  Scene: 3'o clock... a.m.?  Did I misspell o'clock?  Will no one call me out on it?  Good Lourdes.  I've tended my own blog much too long.  Anyway, Mrs. Lloyd comes home to every parent's worst nightmare: the front door's wide open.  The three Stooges have overcome their food poisoning and are now fast asleep... with Shemp in the baby's crib.  "Gentlemen!  GENTLEMEN!!!" says Mrs. Lloyd.  This woman is not an actress.  The Stooges wake up.  After explaining to the Stooges that the front door was wide open and that the kid might be missing, they decide to double check.  Shemp tells Mrs. Lloyd that the kid was sleeping in the crib with him.  We'll just skip that part for now.  "Maybe he's between the spring and the mattress!" says Shemp.  Of the crib, that is.  Shemp looks to find that there's no kid between the spring and the mattress.  "HE'S GONE!" declares Shemp.  Now, most parents in this situation wouldn't let things get this out of hand, but obviously Mrs. Lloyd is a rare, rare exception.  Definitely in that 99.7 percentile, probably more.  Besides, she already knows that this is the work of her husband.  She tells the Stooges where her husband lives: the Folger Apartments.  The Stooges swear that they'll get the kid back.  Hearing that would make anybody cry, and so too does Mrs. Lloyd.  When suddenly, Shemp gets an idea...
Next scene: the Folger Apartments proper.  Boy, the Stooges sure spend a lot of screen time in one hallway after another.  To make matters worse, Larry reminds us all that Mrs. Lloyd forgot to give them the apartment number.  Oh well.  I have a feeling they'll find it soon enough.  Meantime, Moe directs Shemp to look under one of the doors.  Moe and Larry leave Shemp to his own comedy defences, so to speak.
As it turns out... boy, did Shemp pick the wrong door to look under.  As you might have noticed, the door's a little higher up off the ground than your average front door.  Shemp squats down and looks under the door.  There's a sweeping sound, and Shemp gets a faceful ... face full?  A face full of white powder... no, not the illegal kind.  Besides, they wouldn't just blow it around like that, would they?  Interesting thing about this clip: the edit happens in mid-blast.  You'd think he'd squat down, look under the door, THEN have the edit, THEN spray the powder.  Not so!  The Stooge's crew were nothing but Jack Brown professionals, and they could handle a shot as complex as this one... and possibly even more complex!  Anyway, Shemp ends up with a big mouthful of the powder.  Ain't that always the way?  Okay, so looking under the door didn't work... how about through the keyhole?  Shemp takes a look and... well, I hate to use the phrase tour de force to describe a Stooge film... oh, wait, it's no longer the Bush Administration, so French phrases are okay, for one.  But Shemp gets an old-fashioned key stuck in his eye.  It's a key about a foot and a half long, and Shemp stretches it out.  The key then dislodges itself from his eye and hooks onto Shemp's nostril, pulling him back towards the door.  Shemp's screaming the whole time, by the way.  Shemp hits his head against the doorknob... but there's no comedy sound effect!  Needles to say, Shemp has met his match... and it's just a door!!!  Shemp calls for Moe and Larry and starts crying, and rightfully so.  Shemp says "There's something fishy going on in there!"  That's putting it mildly!  Moe decides to investigate, and orders Larry to boost him up to the transom.  Moe looks and gets hit in the face with something, possibly a loaf of artisan bread.  All the Stooges fall down.  And it's really them, too!  150 years of stunt man experience between them.
In his rage, Moe assumes that Shemp is in collusion with the suspicious apartment.  "So!  You framed me, eh?" says Moe.  Shemp covers his head and turns away from Moe.  Moe, never one to shy away from stabbing someone in the back, kicks Shemp in the ass.  Shemp spits out a bunch of bubbles.  "You gonna start that again?" says Moe.  See how they did that?  The callback, that's what that is right there.  At this point, Lawrence comes to Shemp's defense, sort of.  "Pick on somebody your size!" Larry taunts Moe.  Moe ignores Larry's challenge and turns away from Larry.  Larry turns away as well.  Moe seems to know this, and he gives Larry a good shove in the posterior.  Larry breaks down the door he's in front of and... wow!  That was quick!
And so, after little effort, the Stooges have located "Junior."  Suddenly... in comes Mr. Lloyd.  George Lloyd is played by a dude named Myron Healey.  As with Lynn Davis, he doesn't seem to be much in the acting department, but I'm perfectly willing to give credit where it's due.  He did after all appear in over 300 titles, and this was his first and last Stooge short, which is assuredly for the best.
But back to the action.  Mr. Lloyd insists that the Stooges can't take his son, let alone enter his apartment in such a fashion as they did.  The Stooges insist that they have the right to take Junior.  As often happens in these Stooge films, we are at an impasse.  Will nothing break this stalemate?  As it happens... something will!  If you're watching this on YouTube like me, you probably didn't notice that Junior is playing with a hammer.  Obviously, these people need to get this kid a more proper flavor of children's toys.  But Junior's been practicing, and he seems to be a born Stooge.  Junior raises his hammer and begins his hammering.  What does he hammer?  Shoes, of course!  And apparently he's quite strong, too.  No small irony that the first one to get hammered, so to speak, is Junior's father.  Moe wags his finger towards the dad's face, and he gets hammered next.  Then Larry, then Shemp.  Soon, all four of the adults in the room are hopping on their feet, crying in pain.  Makes the kid seem mature by comparison, dontcha think?  Alas, no one to do a Russian jig this time.
His fatherly instincts overcoming the extreme dorsal pain, Mr. Lloyd picks up Junior and sits his delinquent ass on the chair.  Lloyd hobbles his way over to the table at Stage Left.  Moe and Larry go over to Lloyd and reassert themselves.  They're taking that kid, see?  They then congratulate each other.  "I guess you sure told him!" says Larry to Moe.  That's Larry all over for you: never taking credit for his own bravery.  After all, he told Lloyd off first!  But the main thing to remember, screenwriters, is that the Stooges don't have time to react to what's coming.  Lloyd picks up two pieces of paper off of the table and holds them, one in each hand, and he says "Boys?"  The two Stooges turn and say "Yes?"  And then... FPLAF!  Right in the face.  I take full responsibility for the onomatopoeia on that one.  It's my own design.  Whaddaya think?  It was either that or "pflaf."  Reminds me: I gotta buy more rice pilaf next time I go to the store.
Back to Shemp.  Shemp has recovered from his foot injury, only to have his sense of injustice toyed with.  He goes over on behalf of Moe and Larry and their new maskies.  Looks like the big finale's going to happen here at the Folger Apartments, on account of the time.  Shemp slaps Lloyd on the arm to get his attention, and then it's fisticuffs time.  Time for Shemp to kill some time doing his boxing bit.  Mr. Lloyd looks a bit skeptical at first, but he puts up his dukes just in case.  When suddenly... the kid starts crying.  God bless him, Shemp puts the fight on hold to stand on his head.  It works again!  And the kid looks like he's actually laughing this time!  Whew.  Maybe he's not devil spawn after all.  And on top of that, Shemp is able to un-headstand himself for once!  Good thing Moe and Larry didn't see that.
Back over to the dad, who's just so happy that the little brat's not crying.  Shemp resumes the fight, and Lloyd grabs Shemp by his lapel.  Boy!  Taking Shemp in a fight is far too easy.  Shemp starts flailing his arms around and... yup, he ends up knocking himself in the jaw.  At this point, before things get even worse for Shemp, in comes Mrs. Lloyd.  She sees the kid and says "Baby!" in a very loving, maternal fashion.  She turns to look at George and says "George!" as if she's completely surprised.  And why wouldn't she be?  She's only come to George's apartment; why would she see him?  Oh, and I almost forgot... apparently, these two were separated, and the mother was worried that the kid would get kidnapped.  But that's all forgotten now.  The young couple embrace, and the hubbie says "What fools we've been!"  Why, I bet the Stooges feel a tad foolish, too, but I'll leave that for intellects superior than mine own to hammer that one out.

EPILOGUE

I forgot to mention that this was a childhood favourite of mine, especially the part where Moe peels the flypaper off his face, says "Flypaper!", then gets it slapped back onto his face by a careless Lawrence.  But what about Shemp in the midst of all this emotional upheaval?  Well, Mrs. Lloyd goes over to Shemp and thanks him personally, as apparently he was the catalyst that brought this dysfunctional family back together, leaving them primed and  ready to housesit a haunted mountain lodge some fateful winter from now.  Mrs. Lloyd cries tears of joy, which brings the waterworks out of Shemp.  The kid looks on with concern and... no, he's not.  They wouldn't.  They did!  The kid stands on his head... or maybe it's a dismount played in reverse, that's more like it.  Incidentally, as long as I'm highlighting the cast, let's not forget about the kid.  The kid is named David Windsor and, like so many of his generation, they did one film and left the biz permanent like.  Would this not be the time to come out of hiding and tell stories about those fateful days spent on Baby Sitters Jitters?  Alas, there's no money in it, at least not from me.  Never mind.  The point is, like Billy Barty's name, standing on your head is a sure-fire laugh getter.  Mrs. Lloyd's laughing, but it seems genuine this time.  As for Shemp, he gets stuck in mid eep-eep, and has to hit his chest.  I'll say... three stars.


Great double bill with: Daffy Duck in "The Up-Standing Sitter" and Season 1, Episode 49 of "Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog," and I probably don't need to tell you the name of that one!!

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-so sayeth The Movie Hooligan

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