Salt Water Daffy

This thirty minute short sure has an old time sense of humor. and some actors who would go on to Big Big things. Jack Haley would be the Tin Man in Wizard of Oz, and Shemp Howard had a long, successful career as one of the Stooges! Lionel Stander started out in movies, and later was the raspy butler Max on Hart to Hart. It's all okay. The sound and picture quality are pretty rough, but passable. The storyline is kind of silly, but it kind of holds together. it's all over pretty quickly. Shows on Turner Classic, usually between war-time films, but not always. Just a few years later, we'd be involved in WW II, and the navy probably wouldn't be quite as much fun..

Wilbur the Kleptomaniac (Shemp Howard) steals a watch from a naval officer. He and his friend Elmer Wagonbottom (Jack Haley) run from a cop into an office. It turns out to be a navy recruitment office and they get trapped into the navy. Chief Petty Officer Lambert (Lionel Stander) tries to whip them into shape.

Shemp is paired up with Jack Haley who is taking the comedic lead. Haley is most famous for Tin Man in Wizard of Oz. Shemp, of course, is one of the extra Stooges. This is much funnier than I expected. They are completely ridiculous. It's good irreverent fun.

I recently bought a DVD of Vitaphone comedies and one thing most of them share is that they aren't funny! I have been mostly disappointed...but not with "Salt Water Daffy"...a film that turned out to be pretty enjoyable.

Elmer (Jack Haley) and Wilbur (Shemp Howard) are friends who accidentally enter the navy recruiting office. The petty officer (Lionel Stander) has no intention of letting them escape once they realize their mistake and despite a valiant effort the pair end up in the navy. There they get into a lot of trouble because they are lazy idiots...yet, surprisingly, by the end they've managed to somehow do well despite themselves!!

This short is different from the rest in one important way...it's well written. It also kept my attention and in some ways played more like a movie than a short. Pleasant and enjoyable.

Shemp Howard and Jack Haley steal an admiral's watch, then wind up inept recruits under CPO Lionel Stander in the navy in this nicely performed short subject.

I first encountered the three comedy sketches included here in Abbot & Costello movies, which means they are burlesque standards. Howard and Haley perform them well, but at a slower pace than A&C's presto vivace.

This comedy is available on the DVD "The Three Stooges, The Early Years". Features Shemp Howard and a young Lionel Stander, who later appeared on the TV series "Hart To Hart" as Max.

Shemp and Jack Haley accidently signup to the Navy while trying to hide from the police. The Three Stooges did a somewhat similar storyline in their short "Boobs In Arms".