Pick a Peck of Plumbers

Apparently, when Shemp Howard ventured to Columbia Pictures to star in his own series of shorts for the comedy department, Jules White and the crew were not sure what do do with the once and future stooge.

Also, there was a dark period in American comedy history when "Dialect Comedians" were considered all the rage--explaining why Shemp was teamed with the comically challenged Swede, El Brendel. Just thinking about "Dialect Comedians" gets my mind going to dark places, like the woefully unfunny "Gobs of Fun" from Shemp's early Vitaphone days.

Aside from Benny Rubin--who I'm not sure was just classified as a dialect comic--the whole shtick does very little for me; much like this short. Fortunately, for Shemp he was given much better material not long after this--such as "Where the Pest Begins."

4 stars

The teaming of Ed Brendel* and Shemp Howard in Pick a Peck of Plumbers" is odd. Brendel's shtick was pretending to be Swedish and he played Swedes in a ton of films (much like John Qualen). As for Shemp, well, he played total idiots...and the pair would seem to have little in common. Yet, for some strange reason Columbia Pictures thought that pairing the two would provide some laughs. Whether or not they were correct, I was curious about the teaming.



The film begins with the pair in court. They need to find jobs as soon as possible and take jobs working as plumbers....even though they know nothing about it. Not surprisingly, they end of making a huge mess of things...EXACTLY like the Three Stooges did several times in other Columbia shorts. In fact, it was almost indistinguishable for a Stooges film...apart from being SLIGHTLY less violent! An odd curio but not a particularly inspired or original film.

*FYI, Brendel wasn't Swedish but was born in the States from Irish/German parentage.

El Brendel and Shemp Howard are two plumbers summoned to a house to find a diamond ring lost in a sink in this typical, ham-handedly executed Columbia comedy short.

Most of the Jules White comedy-of-destruction gags are on view here, including setting people on fire, drowning them -- the gas and water lines are substituted for each other -- and things thrown in people's faces -- here it's supposed to be mashed potatoes --amidst cheap props, loud sound effects, and shooting errors that should have been reshot, like the crew member's backside when the camera catches a glimpse of it -- except for Mr. White's contempt for his audience.

Comedies of pure destruction amuse some people vastly. As you might guess, they don't amuse me.

Shemp Howard was already a veteran of the Columbia Shorts Department by 1944. In this short, he is teamed with Swedish dialect comic El Brendel, who had his own series of shorts at the studio since 1936. By this time, Brendel was teamed with Harry Langdon in a series of shorts until the comedian's death in October 1944 from a cerebral hemmorage. Brendel's contract with the studio was subsequently terminated, as a result.

The standard plot as Shemp and El as vagrants who are given 48 hours to come up with $100 for wrecking a policeman's motorcycle. They get job as assistant plumbers, despite having no knowledge. They then go to a mansion where they proceed to wreak havoc trying to find a missing ring.

Shemp would soon after highlight his own series of two-reelers for the studio, but this short is decent thanks to his performance.