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.
We Want Our Mummy is the 37th 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
Museum curators Dr. Powell (Bud Hamison) and Professor Wilson (James C. Morton) hire the Stooges as private detectives to locate Professor Tuttle of Egyptology, who went missing while attempting to find the mummy of Egyptian King Rootin' Tootin' in Cairo. The Stooges check the basement and help a man take a box onto a truck, not aware that Tuttle is bound and gagged inside. They are then told by the curators to find the tomb and bring back the mummy, for which they will be paid $5,000. They hail a taxicab in New York City, and inform the bewildered driver they are bound for Egypt.
Once in Egypt, the boys, under the duress of a mirage, believe an empty patch of sand is a lake of cool water, and dive in, inadvertently diving into a series of underground tunnels that may lead to the tomb of Rootin' Tootin'. They begin to investigate, but end up separated, as Curly runs afoul with a living mummy. He takes off running, and he and his pals reunite.
Upon their arrival, the Stooges learn that Tuttle is being held hostage by a group of thieves; they have him bound and gagged as the Stooges wander through the underground tunnels. Curly finds what the Stooges believe to be the mummy of Rootin' Tootin' in a secret room, activated by a trap door. When Curly tries to pick it up, he clumsily drops it, crumbling it to dust.
They then hear gang boss Jackson (Dick Curtis) threatening the professor in the hopes of getting him to tell the crooks where the mummy is. The frightened professor tells them, and is warned that if the mummy is not there, he and the Stooges will be killed. The Stooges realize they will be killed if Jackson discovers the crushed mummy, so Moe gets the idea to make a mummy out of Curly. Curly responds by stating, "I can't be a mummy, I'm a daddy!", but he relents when warned of the alternative. He lies on the stone slab in disguise when the crooks arrive. Jackson decides to search for the jewels by cutting Curly open, causing Curly to open the bandages on his chest when Jackson turns his head away. Jackson then searches in Curly's jacket, pulls a newspaper out and reads "'Yanks win World Series' — can you beat that!" Curly blows his cover by replying that he won a certain sum of money (see Curly Clip below). Realizing he has been tricked, Jackson charges Curly, but in the process of chasing the Stooges, he and his cronies fall into a well Curly had fallen into earlier and hid using a carpet. The Stooges admit to Professor Tuttle that Curly had destroyed the mummy; it turns out, however, that the mummy which was destroyed was not that of King Rootin' Tootin', but of his wife, Queen Hotsy-Totsy. He holds up a small mummy case, containing the real mummy of Rootin' Tootin', who was a midget.
TRIVIA
We Want Our Mummy is the first Stooge film to employ "Three Blind Mice" as the Stooges' official theme song (the song also appeared somewhat prematurely in 1938's Flat Foot Stooges, due to some confusion in that film's release date). This version of "Three Blind Mice," often known as the "sliding strings" version, would be used regularly up to and including 1942's What's The Matador?. An alternate version of the 'sliding strings' version would be used for a brief period starting with 1945's If A Body Meets A Body.
The reference to the 1938 World Series between the New York Yankees and Chicago Cubs is a rare acknowledgement of a real-life sporting event.
Curly Clips
Here are two short clips from this episode highlighting Curly's talent:
Curly Sees A Mirage: Episode 37 We Want Our Mummy Clip1
Curly The Mummy: Episode 37 We Want Our Mummy Clip2
Enjoy the search!
Curly Code: XXX-XXX