In The Sweet Pie And Pie is the 58th 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
Tiska (Dorothy Appleby), Taska (Mary Ainslee) and Baska (Ethelreda Leopold) Jones, three snippy society girls, are willed a huge inheritance so long as they are married by a certain time and date, but their fiances postpone their engagements. Their shrewd lawyer Diggin (Richard Fiske) suggests they marry three death row inmates (the Stooges) to retain the dough; once they are married, they get their inheritance, the convicts are hanged, and can marry their fiances free and clear. They do so, but the boys are pardoned by the governor, and as the girls celebrate their new bout of widowhood, the Stooges make their way into their house and make themselves at home.
Mortified, the devious debutantes try to think up an excuse to divorce their new beaus and decide to force them to become society gentlemen, something they feel the Stooges will be unable to accomplish. However, the Stooges realize what their wives are up to and decide they need to succeed so their wives cannot throw them out. After enrolling the Stooges in an ill-fated dance lesson, and after finding them to be more accommodating to entering society, the girls turn to their lawyer again for help. Diggin suggests that the girls throw a formal party, hoping the Stooges will make a shambles of the evening. They do, of course, and the evening ends with the Stooges first genuine pie fight (after Diggin bribes the butler to hit Moe with a pie and make it look like Moe was guilty). Diggin chastises the boys for their social ineptness and threatens to annul their marriages at once. However, the girls have had enough of Diggin. They, along with the Stooges and the other guests in attendance, strike back at Diggin by covering him in pie from head to toe.
TRIVIA
In the Sweet Pie and Pie was filmed between April 30 and May 3, 1941. The film makes references to several popular songs/series' of the era:
- Moe's comment "I am The Shadow" parodies the 1940 Columbia radio serial The Shadow.
- "Bill Stein," who broadcasts a "jerk-by-jerk" description of the hanging of the Mushroom Murder Mob, is a parody of real-life sportscaster Bill Stern.
- The title In the Sweet Pie and Pie is a play on the old song, "In the Sweet By and By"; the names of the sisters, Tiska, Taska, and Baska, were a play on the song, "A-Tisket, A-Tasket"; Curly's comment to Moe "I hear a rhipsody" parodies the 1940 song "I Hear a Rhapsody".
Footage was borrowed from earlier shorts and reused for In the Sweet Pie and Pie:
- The dancing lesson sequence was lifted from Hoi Polloi.
- The cell block footage was re-used in Beer Barrel Polecats.
- Several shots from the pie fight appeared in Pest Man Wins.
In the Sweet Pie and Pie marked the final appearance of supporting actor Richard Fiske. A perfect foil for the Stooges, Fiske's promising career was cut short when he was killed in action during World War II.
Larry Fine recalled that the most grueling scenes in In the Sweet Pie and Pie involved pies:
“Sometimes we would run out of pies, so the prop man would sweep up the pie goop off the floor, complete with nails, splinters, and tacks. Another problem was pretending you didn't know a pie was coming your way. To solve this, Jules would tell me 'Now Larry, Moe is going to smack you with a pie on the count of three.' Then Jules would tell Moe, 'Hit Larry on the count of two!' So when it came time to count, I never got to three, because Moe crowned me with a pie."
Curly Clips
Here are two short clips from this episode highlighting Curly's talent:
Curly And The Mushroom Murder Gang: Episode 58 In The Sweet Pie And Pie Clip1
Curly Gets Ready For Bed: Episode 58 In The Sweet Pie And Pie Clip2
Enjoy the search!
Curly Code: 593-059