Ants in the Pantry

The Three Stooges loved to employ former silent film actors and actresses to their shorts. A pair of notable pioneers in cinema appeared in two of their February 1936 movies. In their 12th short, "Ants in the Pantry," the Stooges work for a financially-stressed pest exterminating company who's owner suggests the three plant ants and rodents into houses, spurring on the owners to hire them to get rid of the pests. The three set off to work and happen to arrive upon a high society party taking place inside a mansion.

Actress Clara Kimball Young plays Mrs. Beulah Burlap, one of many who is overwhelmed by the pests. Breaking into cinema in 1909 with Vitagraph Studio, Young climbed the rankings of early film's most popular stars, reaching number one in 1914. Her name recognition in the mid-1910s rivaled Mary Pickford and the Gish sisters. When she first started at Vitagraph, in Brooklyn, New York, 12-year-old Moses Horwitz hung around the studio to run simple errands for the staff. Horwitz later adopted the stage name Moe Howard.

The four-day shoot for Moe in "Ants in the Pantry" became a personal uncomfortable ordeal. When he was spreading ants around the house, Moe said, "I hadn't noticed that a small container of red ants had broken apart in my pocket and the little devils were crawling down my back, in my hair, and into my pants. It was insane. All through the scene I was scratching and squirming and slapping myself on the neck and face and on the seat of my pants. Elated, director Preston Black shouted, 'Great Moe. Keep up that squirming!' It was very funny-to everyone but me." "Ants in the Pants" was Preston Black's first Stooges' film he directed. After an ugly divorce, Preston had changed his birth name Jack White to make a complete break from his ex-wife. Jack older brother was the well-known Jules White, the producer and director for Columbia Pictures. Jack had previously directed for Educational Pictures, and was hired by his brother to direct the occasional Stooges' short.