Calling All Curs

In August 1939, the Three Stooges' 41st short, "Calling All Curs," two supporting cast members stand out with interesting backgrounds. The film offered one of the rare times the Stooges held a respectable profession, this as veterinarians. One of their patients, a poodle, belongs to a rich socialite who is kidnapped by hoodlums posing as newspaper reporters for ransom. Not wanting to upset its owner, the Stooges disguise a similarly-built dog with fake fur. When they delivered the dog to its wealthy owner, her maid played by Libby Taylor, while vacuuming sucks up the pooch's coat of fakery, revealing the mutt. Back in 1933, Taylor was a struggling actress in Harlem theatres when starlet Mae West offered a position as her personal maid whenever she wasn't working. West steered her in several roles, including the part as Tia's (West) hairdresser in 1933's "I'm No Angel," 1939's "Babes in Arms" with Judy Garland, 1941's "Santa Fe Trail" with Errol Flynn, and 1951's "Two Tickets to Broadway" with Ann Miller.

Actor Lynton Brent, who played one of the two disguised reporters who kidnapped the poodle, later made his mark in literature. After appearing in 300-plus films during his twenty-year acting career, he turned to his typewriter, churning out mostly Westerns. Brent's niche was injecting into his stories a strong dose of sex appeal with strikingly beautiful women. His book titles give a hint of the eroticism in them, including 'Violent Love Stalks the Plains,' 'Silent Sex Trail,' 'Passionate Peril at Fort Tomahawk,' and his 1965 classic, 'Lesbian Gang,' which the gay community has enthusiastically embraced.

"Calling All Curs" was one of Curly's favorite Stooges films because, as a lover of dogs, he had the opportunity to be around canines all day. This included the hilarious scene where several dogs are sitting at a long adults' dinning table ready to chow down on plates full of bones.