All that’s here is – Halloween Ha ha’s (clap clap!)
Halloween Boo Boo’s! (clap clap!)
Haunted House Ha Ha’s
I saved the best for last! What better way to wrap up the Halloween Haunted House Ha Ha’s than with The Three Stooges? Now now, I know some readers out there be like, “Really? These guys?” To youze guyz and galz, I unequivocally and proudly declare “YES. These guys! They are the best!”
The Three Stooges, some love them, some hate them. I love them. As I mentioned in a post at the beginning of this month, these three gentlemen of above average intelligence are partly responsible for my love of horror. When I was a kid, Moe, Larry and Curly or Shemp were on television every weekday afternoon. They had several spooky episodes. These were my favorites!
For your viewing pleasure, until Youtube removes them (if this is the case at this time, I’m sorry), I have gathered several, if not all the episodes which I think qualify as “haunted house” shorts. There are many more spooky episodes out there, but this being a haunted house blog, I am only featuring the shorts that take place in some kind of mansion, castle, or house where weird or spooky things are going on. There are some episodes that feature a killer or two chasing the Stooges around in some kind of house that are not part of this collection. While they might be enjoyable, they fall short of meeting my “haunted house worthy” standards. (I’m a haunted house snob damn it!)
I’m not going to bother describing The Three Stooges or analyze their style of humor. If you really unfamiliar with these comedians from the days of long ago, then gosh, I don’t know what to say! Nor will I will be “reviewing” these episodes either, not in a critical sense anyway. I will simply write up a little something about each episode. Brief plot descriptions, some trivia, shit like that! And then, I will post the Youtube links to the specific shorts that I am writing about (until they are taken down).
Ready? Here we go!!!!!!!!
(The first two episodes I present feature Curly as the third stooge)
Spook Louder – Short #69 – 1943
Plot in short:
In this creepy tale, The Stooges are tasked with watching over a creepy house while guarding top-secret inventions. The Stooges have their work cut out for them. They must outsmart three thieving spies that are trespassing on the premises and keep their cool in the midst of all sorts of spooky shenanigans. If all this isn’t bad enough, all parties in this house, spies and Stooges, must deal with a phantom pie thrower.
My observations:
If you are to only watch one thing from this short film, go to the 4:30 mark. There is a creepy clock on the wall that you MUST see. It’s a scene of a supposedly Russian clock, in the shape of a weird looking caricature of someone, and it speaks. It says “Yo…ho….ho…..ho!”
The three spies dress in costume. One dresses in black and wears a black hat, another dresses as a devil, another as a skeleton. In a later episode, these same three costumes are used are worn by another trio of Stooge antagonists. More on this later.
If a Body Meets a Body – Short # 86 – 1945
Plot in short:
Curly is due to inherit a fortune from a rich, deceased uncle. To collect, the Three Stooges must be present at the reading of the will, which is to take place in the late of night at the late Uncle’s spooky mansion. There will be murders. Possibly even ghosts!
Trivia via Wikipedia
This is the first film to star Curly after he suffered a stroke. It is noted that he is less energetic than in his previous films.
The plot device is borrowed from a Laurel and Hardy film The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case, The Laurel and Hardy film is a spoof on the 1927 film “The Cat and the Canary”
My observations:
In this film, a bird enters a skull and wears it like a shell. Bird walks around with it, scaring The Stooges into thinking it’s an animated skull. This comedic device of a flying creature manipulating a skull is repeated several times in different films. In fact, it appears in a couple more films featured here in this piece!
There is a rotating book case which leads to a secret room. This is also a reoccurring plot device featured in several of their films, not to mention being featured in other films that have nothing to do with The Three Stooges. A rotating book case in other films? Shocking!
(The remaining episodes feature Shemp as the third stooge. With one exception. You’ll see!)
Hot Scots – Short# 108 – 1948
Plot in short:
The Three Stooges answer an employment ad for The Scotland Yard. The ad seeks three “yard men” and the Stooges think they are applying for the positions of inspectors. Instead, they end up picking up trash in the yard. (Get it, “yard” men? Yuk Yuk!)
But the Stooges get their chance when they happen upon a piece of trash that was actually a request for three inspectors to guard a Duke’s precious antiques at his castle. The Duke leaves, The Stooges guard and the thieves come out to play, dressed in scary costumes.
Trivia via Wikipedia
This short was later remade as Scotched in Scotland , Short #158 – 1954 using stock footage. The 1950s found the Stooges in a predicament where they were contractually bound to produce more films in a short period of time with an ever-tightening budget. Director Jules White workaround was to rework old scenes into new scenarios.
My observations:
As a kid, I loved seeing this masked dude on my TV set.
This mask, worn by a thief in Hot Scots, made such an impression on me that I thought it was used as a prop in several episodes. As I combed through all the spooky Stooges episodes that I could get my hands on, it never resurfaced. So I guess I was wrong. The exception would be Scotched in Scotland, which has slightly different scenes, but the masked dude is in both. This part of the confusion.
The Ghost Talks – Short #113 – 1949
Plot in short:
The Stooges are movers tasked with moving various pieces of antique furniture and other items from a haunted castle. One such item is suit of armor that is haunted by the ghost of Peeping Tom. As per the legend, the spirit confides with the Stooges that he was beheaded one thousand years before for opening his shudders on the night Lady Godiva rode her horse naked through the streets. He will not have his armor removed. Meanwhile, ghostly skeletons haunt the place and scare The Stooges as well.
In the end, a fully clothed Lady Godiva on her horse enters the house and takes Peeping Tom in his armor away. History repeats itself and the devastating scene from 1000 years ago plays out. The Stooges open the shudders, hoping to see a naked Lady Godiva. They hear cheers. No, they don’t get beheaded. Instead, pies are thrown at the window and into their faces.
Trivia via Wikipedia:
This short was later remade as Creeps – Short #168- 1956 using stock footage
My observations:
The gag of “flying animal trapped in skull” reoccurs in this film. This time it is an own that dons the bonehead. He flies around saying “WHO! WHO! WHO!”
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein premiered was released in 1948. The film features a scene where the comedic duo are tasked with moving wax figures of monsters. These monsters are real, in fact, as a frightened Costello would observe. Perhaps the plot of The Ghost Talks, a short released in 1949, borrows from A and C? Maybe? Hmmmm??
Could not find this on youtube. So here is a dailymotion link
Dopey Dicks – Short #122 – 1950
Plot in short:
The Stooges must rescue a woman from a mad scientist. He has designed a man-robot, which looks like a robotic mannequin. Anyway, the robot keeps knocking its head off when he bumps it into anything. It can’t see! So the Mad Doc wants to replace the head with a human head and brain. For a good part of this film, The Stooges are chased by this headless robot.
My observations:
I say that this short barely squeaks in as a “haunted house” film. No ghosts or skeletons, but it is set in a creepy house with secret panels and passages. The headless robot kind of mimics a ghost.
Philip Van Zandt plays the mad scientist. I single him out because he plays a mad scientist in several Three Stooges shorts.
Spooks – Short #148 – 1953
Plot in short:
Very similar plot to Dopey Dicks. A mad scientist has kidnapped a woman once again. Again, the villain is played by Philip Van Zandt. This time, the mad doc wants to put the woman’s brain into the head of a gorilla. The Three Stooges must rescue her from this house of horrors.
Trivia via Wikipedia:
3D films were the thing in the early 50s. The Stooges wanted to get on the bandwagon. Therefore, this film was shot in 3D!
My observations:
After reading about the “filmed for 3D”, I noticed the places that would feature this effect. There is knife throwing, pitchfork lunging, blowtorch flaming, cleaver wielding, Moe’s two fingers poking. But perhaps the most outrageous three-dimensional horror is a bat with Shemp’s face! Shemp comments on what an ugly creature it is!
Scotched in Scotland – Short #158 – 1954
Plot in short:
This is the remake of Hot Scots. The introduction is different. In the original, Moe dances to bagpipe music with a woman while a man wearing a sheik outfit hides in a picture frame, disguised as the portrait. This scene is omitted in this film. Instead, Moe and Shemp are spooked by a , you guessed it, a bird in a skull that carries the bone head and a sheet when it flies.
A new soundtrack features the sounds of spooky winds.
Creeps – Short #168 – 1956
Plot in short:
This is a remake of the 1949 The Ghost Talks short using stock footage. This time, there are three baby stooges in bed and The Three Adult Stooges tell them a bedtime story involving ghosts, knights, and murders. They tell the story of the time they are movers and tasked with moving the haunted knight armor.
The scene involving Lady Godiva is omitted. It ends, instead, with the Baby Stooges not satisfied with the story, crying that they want another story. To get them to sleep, the adult stooges hit them over the head with a hammer.
My observations:
There is a barking bat-dog hanging on the wall again. This happens in Spook Louder.
EXTRA – Three Pests in a Mess, 1945 Short# 83 (Not a Haunted House short, but
a scary graveyard. And Curly Returns!)
Plot in short:
Curly mistakenly thinks things he murdered a man when he accidentally shoots a mannequin. The Three Stooges bag “the body” and take it to a cemetery. Their actions are observed by a night watchman. He phones for help, reporting that prowlers are on the loose. Three helpers arrive straight from a masquerade party. They are dressed in the same outfits as the spies in the short Spook Louder. This time, regular Stooge antagonist Vernon Dent dons the costume of the man in black.
(First Picture – Costumes used in 1943 Spook Louder. Second Picture – Costumes used in 1945 Three Pests in a Mess)
Yes, it gets better but hardly magnificent IMHO. My first impressions of the movie? Oh shit, there’s that guy that shot his cinematography director and director; man does Alec Baldwin look young!
See, when I had control of haunting visuals, when the threat of surprise and the dark notion of the unknown were removed from the equation, I loved the scenes of horror and the props that brought these scenes to “life.” I loved the Halloween decorations my Mom would put up every year. Black cats and skeletons hung on the walls. A light-up plastic ghost holding a pumpkin stood on our table. Every year my Dad would carve pumpkins, one with a Casper face and the other with a mean face. Lit up, they were placed outside above our front door. But what was most fun were the “props” that I could handle, play with. My favorite was a plastic skull connected to a black stick/handle below its jaw. It had pebbles inside its head and it was made for shaking. I guess it was supposed to resemble a skull prop in some Voodoo ceremony. I also had plenty of masks, slimy spiders and bats, and other ghoulish things.
into the dark bedroom where my Dad stood in the shadows holding a rope that was tied to the closet doorknob. He would pull the rope and “AAAAAAAHHHH!” – there was the spooky skeleton!
The Books of Daniel 