Busy Buddies

The Three Stooges were building such a lengthy portfolio of gags by the time they released March 1944's "Busy Buddies" their writers were repeating a few of the earlier laughs from past films. Writers Elwood Ullman and Del Lord (who also directed the short) dug back into the past following the trio as they attempt to raise $100 they need to pay a pastry company to keep their restaurant, Jive Cafe.

Before they ruined their inventory of pies, the Stooges, owners of a struggling diner, find themselves trying to pacify the pastry retailer with a cup of coffee while Curly is painting a sign nearby. The writers revisited the Stooges' 1938 classic "Tassels in the Air," showing a mix-up of the pastry guy drinking paint from a coffee mug while Curly applies a coat of coffee to his sign. Earlier, Curly ad a cook flings his pot holders in the air in the kitchen, only to land on the pancake dish a customer ordered. The mix-up causes Curly to prove to the irate customer what he cooked was indeed pancakes, only to cough feathers after eating it. The skit was similar to a scene in the Stooges' 1935's "Uncivil Warriors." Former newspaper and magazine writer Elwood Ullman was a reliable scriptwriter for producer Jules White, the head of Columbia Pictures shorts. He helped write the later Stooges feature films, including 1962's "The Three Stooges in Orbit." Ullman has an interesting footnote in Academy Awards history by his Oscar nomination for Best Story for the Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly and Frank Sinatra "High Society." Unfortunately, the Academy confused the star-studded 1956 "High Society" with the 1955 one with the same name with the Bowery Boys, the one Ullman formulated the story. The Academy, recognizing its mistake, still allowed Ullman to keep the prized nomination certificate. Said Steve Broidy, the president of the small studio which owned the Bowery Boys' contract, "This just proves what we've known all along - that the Bowery Boys series couldn't have lasted this long if not for the fine writers." Ullman also composed the text for the popular 1959-produced Three Stooges trading cards series.

Larry, Curly, and Moe run the failing Jive Cafe. They owe $97 for pastry and are threaten with the lost of the diner. They try to earn money by hanging posters. The posters advertise a county fair with a $100 milking contest and the boys get an idea.

I like the diner. I like its random stupidity and then it gets stupider. The cow milking is stupid but fun. That's all that one really wants from the Stooges, some stupid fun. It doesn't get much stupider than this.

(*Curly quote*) - "Hey! You can't do that to my cow!!"

"Busy Buddies" (from 1944) is definitely one of my very favorite Three Stooges' shorts of all. Yeah. I think that this episode's antics all come together very nicely in perfect comic timing.

Anyway - As "Busy Buddies'" story goes - Through some really hilarious circumstances at the Jive Cafe, the Three Stooges end up at the Carrot County Fair where (that's right) Curly becomes "K.O. Bossy" and he's now all set to start milking a cow (for the $100 prize money).

All-in-all - I think that any viewer who likes the Three Stooges is bound to enjoy "Busy Buddies" in a big-big way.

I love the 3 Stooges, but in their long career they inevitably would make a few clunkers, and this is one of them. The direction and editing are really awful. The story seems grafted together aimlessly: the boys go from restaurant owners to poster hangers to contestants in a cow-milking contest without any real rhyme or reason. Curly seems tired in this short; Moe doesn't really seem to have his heart in the role; and Larry's participation is almost non existent. He doesn't say more than a few words at most.

We don't have many gags, and they tend to fall flat due to faulty timing, which I think can be attributed to the poor editing.

While watching this short recently, I just kept thinking, what's going on here? Watching this short is almost surreal--it's like you're seeing somebody imitating the 3 Stooges--and not doing a very good job.

Busy Buddies (1944)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Decent but uneven short has The Three Stooges working in a cafe where all heck breaks loose. After destroying some pies they're given the weekend to come up with the money, which leads them to a cow milking contest.

There are several big laughs scattered throughout BUSY BUDDIES but there's no question that the short is rather uneven the say the least. There are basically three different story lines here and I would argue that they don't mix too well together. Each of them contains some big laughs but one wishes there was a better flow to it. One of the highlights deals with a fake cow but I won't ruin what happens to it. If you're a fan of the Stooges then you'll get a few laughs but this certainly isn't their best movie.