Continuing the series in a different manner, a series of traditional caches highlighting the talent of Curly Howard, everybody's favorite stooge. I will throw in a few puzzle caches about Curly's personal life here and there during this series.
Flat Foot Stooges is the 35th short subject starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges. The trio made a total of 190 shorts for Columbia Pictures between 1934 and 1959.
THE PLOT
The trio are firemen (a la 1936's False Alarms) at an engine company that still employs horse-powered engines. Sleazy salesman Mr. Reardon (Dick Curtis) fails to convince Fire Chief Kelly (Chester Conklin) that horse-powered engines are on the way out. His ideas are rejected, and he is sent on his way. Mr. Reardon, however, tries to sabotage the firehouse by committing arson. He drops a can of gunpowder into the old-fashioned pump boiler and the chief's daughter (Lola Jensen) sees him. Reardon does not know that the can has a leak, and a duck has been eating the spilled gunpowder. The duck alights on a window ledge in the station and lays an egg, which falls to the floor and explodes like a hand grenade, starting a fire. The explosion startles the chief's daughter which causes her to fall backwards and knock her head on the bed, unconscious. Realizing too late that the blaze is coming from their own fire station, the Stooges manage to arrive just in time to save the chief's daughter from the flames.
TRIVIA
Filmed on October 25–28, 1938, the title Flat Foot Stooges is a pun on the 1938 jazz song "Flat Foot Floogie".
This is the first short that features the Three Blind Mice theme song.
A rarity among Stooge shorts, the boys are shown reciting dialogue incorrectly on several occasions, a result of director Charley Chase's rushed directing style. Chase rarely stopped for retakes in an effort to finish a film ahead of schedule.
When Larry slides down the fire pole and is accidentally punched by Moe, he calls himself a "victim of circumstance". This marks the first time a Stooge other than Curly says the line.
Upon realizing they are heading in the wrong direction, Curly quips "Hey, we're doing the Corrigan!", a reference to aviator Douglas "Wrong Way Corrigan. Corrigan had recently returned from a transcontinental flight from Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, New York to Long Beach, California. Instead of returning to New York, he bypassed it, and headed to Ireland.
Curly Clips
Here are two short clips from this episode highlighting Curly's talent:
Curly's Invention: Episode 35 Flat Foot Stooges Clip1
Curly Smells A Mouse: Episode 35 Flat Foot Stooges Clip2
Enjoy the search!
Curly Code: 795-187