cellotune227

"A Merry Mix-Up" was a great short. However, when AMC and Spike TV showed the Stooges on television, Sony/Columbia failed to put this short (and others) in the television package. As a true Stooges fan, I enjoy seeing all of the episodes. Other Joe Besser shorts omitted were, "Sweet and Hot," "Flying Saucer Daffy," and a few others. I cannot find any Joe Besser Stooge shorts on DVD. Will any ever be released? There were some Shemp shorts omitted as well: "Pardon My Backfire, (originally in 3-D)," "Shot in the Frontier," "Self-Made Maids," and several others. I cannot find them on DVD either.

But let's give Joe his props. He might not have wanted to be hit like the other third-Stooges, but he got hit anyway. Some of Joe's Stooge shorts were unique as long as they were not shown everyday. A good Three Stooges television package each day may show a Curley episode first, then either another Curley on the second short, the next day a Shemp on the second short, Curley the next day on the second short, Shemp the next, and then Joe the next (nice rotation).

I liked this short because the Stooges played separate roles and Muriel "Tiny" Landers was comical (like some over-sized women I know). Moe and Larry did not wear their vintage Stooge haircuts, which gave a different flavor to this short. I was surprised to see Joe do a tap dance (I did not know he had such a talent). Larry did play the violin (for real) like in other shorts. The music was swinging.

As a die-hard Stooges fan, Spike TV (and AMC) have not shown this short. There are a lot of shorts that have not been shown by these two networks. I was told that Columbia owns the "missing" shorts and have not released them to television. Joe was alright as a Stooge. They were getting too old to hit anyway. I did see Joe get some hits in his shorts (unless that was a stunt man).