Larry Fine
Curly Howard
Nat Carr as Mr. Martin
James C. Morton as J.T. Walton
Directed by Del Lord
Story/Screenplay by Andrew Bennison
Produced by Jules White
Cinematography by George Meeham
Film Editing by James Sweeney
Johnny Kascier as Moe's stunt double (uncredited)
Do you know that some people review machine rolled stogies in serious fashion? It would seem that my sarcasm might be lost on that endeavor, so I light my Garcia y Vega hot turd, and instead embark on this here review right here of Pardon My Scotch, a 1935 short made just four months after Prohibition was repealed. Timely. Almost as so as You Nazy Spy! but not quite -- humsover, I just might be partial.
In this early Three Stooges offering, the ninth short the trio had ordered by Columbia, we start with any intro of our merry three as house painters with a decade's of experience and one can only imagine the half score of oil and flat painted, lead based, carnage.
It's the final hours before repeal and the Scotch shipment has be waylaid. Jones (an uncredited Al Thompson) is a drugstore soda jerk in the red, who hopes to become a barman in the black, but how? The distributor is no help -- cue The Three Stooges and their trademarked concoction gag.
Hold that cue.
Curly as the Super Stooge is in full effect and on brilliant display. Like a knuckleballer, you can tell right away when he's on his game. His nuanced mannerisms atop his overt ones are key, together with his high-water length and backward bib overalls are all floating like a boozing butterfly, from mound to plate.
"Let's see, the door goes on the right..." is a classic bit that serves this short so well, as to elevate it to "next-level" Stooge status. Adding to the folkloric feel here is the infamous scene wherein Curly saws the table out from under Moe. The apparent expected outcome was for Moe to fall straight through, but as you can see, the cookie failed to crumble that way. Instead, he cringe-worthingly falls all wrong and breaks three ribs in the blameless process.
Tough guy Moe gets to his feet, gathers bruised and broken aplomb, delivers the line and the slaps, then passes out from the pain. Production was halted, while he was taken to the hospital. Too, production finished on time, as a standing testament to Moe that Mick Foley would thumb up with toothless grin.
I think it's be appropriate now, that we should all take a moment to remember Johnny Kascier. As a Moe stand-in of long standing, he really shone here, albeit in uncredited fashion -- all the more notable, that.
Another item to note is that the rib-breaking footage is used again in 1943's Dizzy Detectives.
Onward here, we find that the feces rolls both ways, as on up the hill booze distributor J.T. (James C. Walton) can't get his hands on any hooch to distribute. Then, as luck would have it, a customer (Mr. Martin played by Nat Carr) staggers in on a down day, looking for a quick pick-me-up -- and I don't mean a derrick. With nothing readily on-hand, Moe Larry, and Curly concoct. Vintage Stooge running gag alert.
The resulting concoction explodes the mercury from a thermometer after it melts away a wicker chair turned melee strainer. "That stuff had teeth in it." Says a duly impressed Moe. Seconds later, the brew blows the hat off Mr. Martin. "Where'd you get this Scotch?" And they're all in business. 50/50, and I can't help but wonder if our boys split their 50 three ways, or if there's an even...oh, whatever. Something tells me to not sweat the small stuff here.
The remainder of this short is an absolute assault to the tender senses I own, surrounding proper table manners and social etiquette. But first a Fan Dance done in Kilts...
"No, we're from Lock Jaw," Corrects Curly and we, sirs, are off to the races. Races which include an homage to their friend Charlie Chaplin's fork dance put on by the Super Stooge, and Larry becoming the seemingly living embodiment of every Vaudevillian effort there ever was. It all breaks down into an Animal House and ends with most of the dinner off the table and on guests.
It's time to save the evening, with the aid of the piss de resistance, a sampling of Breath of Heather Scotch from our somehow Scotch trio, one of whom, Larry -- toasts "Ver derharget!" which is Yiddish for "drop dead." I almost plotzed.
Speaking of knuckleballs, although we haven't for a bit, get a load a Moe's pineapple! Vintage Del Lord direction. A moment on Del Lord, if I might and I might: he is credited with setting the course for our comedic trio, in a very fast yet somewhat surreal and loose manner of directing. Interestingly, his feature film efforts were of the melodrama variety.
Oh, the tapped oak barrel explodes in a frothy disaster and the evening is a shambles akin to a circa 1990s Ibiza foam party. Foam parties actually date back to the American '30s and specifically a 1932 short of non Stoogery called "A Rhapsody in Black and White" which starred Louis Armstrong and was directed by Aubrey Scott. I wonder -- are our boys being cutting edge once again?
According to www.threestooges.net, this short has a slap happy 17 slaps but no other variety of stoogery slap-stick. (eye-pokes, et al.) I'd count for myself, but my ribs hurt from thinking of poor Moe. I can't help but wonder if Pardon My Scotch feels a bit heavier on account of both these things. Remember how horrifying a scene, Moe trapped in the door while a saw went by his face, was? If film had a finish a la stogies and booze, this turn would linger heavily on the palate. Dizzyingly so, really, re: looking through sawed out floors from on high.
Who Done it?, for the sake of comparison, this short is not. Thankfully, however, it ain't Three Loan Wolves, neither.