Pardon My Scotch

This is my review of the ninth short of The Three Stooges they made for Columbia Pictures. In this one, they are handymen who try to put a new door for a pharmacy. After the proprietor leaves, however, they're in charge of the fountain drink department when a customer, a alcohol businessman who's down-on-his-luck, comes and orders something strong. The drink Moe, Larry, and Curley (as his name was still spelled at the time) literally explodes to the point that the businessman wants to do business with them! I'll stop there and just say that this was a nearly hilarious short from beginning to end though I admit cringing a little when Curley had to use that saw! In fact, after he cut that table Moe stood on, Moe injured himself when he performed that stunt of falling on the floor though it's still funny even knowing that. The real highlights were at the society party afterwards where the boys throw grapes and bananas at the opera singer (The always funny Billy Gilbert) and their funny dance in Scots clothing, not to mention Curley's involvement with bread. And, finally, this is the first time that the people have to tolerate the Stooges to get what they want and we get the first of their several theme songs (this one is the one that ends that classic novelty song, "The Curly Shuffle"). So on that note, Pardon My Scotch is well worth seeing.

Being in Three Stooges' movies posed more physical injuries to the actors involved than probably any other long running movie series. In August 1935, "Pardon My Scotch," Moe sustained some serious injuries falling off a table.

The Three Stooges are carpenters in "Pardon My Scotch" when they're hired to hang a door inside a drug store as its owner prepares to convert it to a liquor store just as Prohibition is ending. In the scene, Moe is standing on a table working on a wall while he calls for a board to be cut. Larry and Curly place the board lengthways on the same table Moe is on and cut it with an electric saw. Once finished, unbeknownst to them, they had cut the table in two. The studio prop technicians designed the table to collapse inwards. But during filming the table's side where Moe stood failed to drop. As seen in the final cut, Moe lands full force on the upright edge of the table on his rib cage, and hits his head on the floor in the process. He heroically continues the scene, standing up, speaking his line, and slapping the two in the face before, not seen on the film, he passes out. Moe was rushed to the hospital where he suffered several broken ribs as well as a concussion. The production paused for a few days before Moe was able to return to the set. The Stooges picked up where he left off, filming the scene from a different angle to make the edit seamless. In a similar scene scripted years later for another movie, Moe insisted a stunt man perform the fall from the table.

The title "Pardon My Scotch," a variable of the phrase 'Pardon My French,' follows The Three Stooges as they're heralded by a liquor distributor who's impressed by their willy-nilly concoction of a cocktail based on a combination of several potent ingredients they made at the drug store. The so-called scotch has the distributor honoring the Stooges, dressed in kilts, at a formal reception as he introduces the drink for his guests to taste. For entertainment, Billy Gilbert as Signor Louis Cantino belts out an opera tune. To shut him up the trio flick grapes and a banana in his mouth, a gag used in later Stooges' shorts.

"Pardon My Scotch" was the first film the 1850s song 'Listen to the Mocking Bird' is heard in a Stooges opening credits. It quickly became their theme song. As a popular marching tune during the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln, a big fan of the song, described it "as sincere as the laughter of a little girl at play," apropos for the Stooges' adaptation.

Like a number of Three Stooges films, this was broken down into several segments where the boys could use extended gag scenes.

For instance, in the opening scene they are carpenters and are assigned to work on a big door. Before they get started, Moe tells Larry: "Get the tools."

"What tools?," asks Larry.

"The tools we've been using for the last 10 years.

"Oh, those tools."

This opening carpenter scene was used in later Stooges film almost a decade later with basically the same jokes.

The next comedy scene is when the boys, filling in the for the drug store owner who went to get some bourbon (it was still the Prohibition era), are asked by a feeling-low customer, are asked to "give me a pick-up," meaning make the man an alcoholic drink. The boys go out back to the pharmacy and concoct a beverage to remember! After being mistaken for Scottish distillers (their drink was a hit!), the boys are hired to provide the beverages for a swank party.

If you've seen many of the Three Stooges films, you know the chaos they cause as snobby parties! (I know it's stupid but I never to fail to laugh when one of the Stooges silences an opera singer by firing a banana into the guy's mouth!) Anyway, dressed in kilts and yelling "hoot, mon" make a farce out of the party, which always is fun to watch. One difference in this one: most of the snobs actually enjoy the Stooges!

Funny Three Stooges short has them in various situations over the span of its quick running time. They begin as clueless carpenters who are trying to install a new door (this routine is one of the best they ever did, and Moe explained in his memoirs that he actually broke his ribs doing a real fall from a table that gets sawed in two ... amazingly, he still managed to rise up and finish the shot before collapsing in pain!). Then the Stooges are mistaken for pharmacists, who inadvertently concoct a beverage that gets bought by a booze salesman. In the end they find themselves at one of those high class parties where they just don't fit in, causing riotous mayhem. *** out of ****

Many years ago, I read a book by Moe Howard and it was all about his days with the Three Stooges. One part that surprised me was Moe saying that of the three, he suffered the worst injuries making their shorts. And, if you don't believe this, watch "Pardon My Scotch". IMDB indicates that with the table bit, Moe was seriously injured...breaking ribs and suffering a concussion. Yet, like a trooper, he continued with the scene! Watch the bit...and you'll wince as you realize it's no trick...it's real!

As for the plot, the boys work for a pharmacist. A client comes in asking for some medicine but the pharmacist isn't in...so these idiots decide to make their own concoction! The resulting mixture should have killed the customer but he likes it...thinking it's an excellent sort of whiskey! Suddenly, they find themselves in the bootleg liquor business...which is lousy timing as Prohibition had been repealed a few months earlier and liquor is now legal.

Much of the film takes place when the boys are invited to a big society dinner. What takes place there is exactly what you'd expect, though it was nice to see Billy Gilbert in a supporting role here.

Overall, a silly film. Not among there very best but a decent and enjoyable outing that even non-Stooge fans might like.