Pop Goes the Easel

The Three Stooges has always been some of the many actors that I have loved. I love just about every one of the shorts that they have made. I love all six of the Stooges (Curly, Shemp, Moe, Larry, Joe, and Curly Joe)! All of the shorts are hilarious and also star many other great actors and actresses which a lot of them was in many of the shorts! In My opinion The Three Stooges is some of the greatest actors ever and is the all time funniest comedy team!

One of the most hilarious Three Stooges shorts is Pop goes the Easel. In this short are Bobby Burns, Phyllis Crane, Lew Davis, Jack Duffy, Phyllis Fine, Joan Howard, William Irving, Leo White, Geneva Mitchell, and Al Thompson. The acting by these actors are good especially by Dent, and Schindell. There are many funny scenes here that I think most Three Stooges fans will love! In My opinion this one of the most different Three Stooges shorts. I recommend this one to all!

Many times the theme of the Great Depression begins one of the Three Stooges films, and that's certainly the case here as the boys are all out on the streets wearing big signs proclaiming their plight. Their signs are corny but the message is the same on all three: need a job and money. As usual, though, they don't have much luck getting either.

A rich man stops in front of Curly and inquires about him. "I haven't had a bite of food in three days, mister," says Curly. "Well," the man answers, "I wouldn't worry about it. It still tastes the same." Wow - it's a cold world out there!

The boys, through circumstances, wind up being chased by a cop, a familiar storyline, filled with gags as the latter is never able to catch our three heroes. The guys wind up in an art studio posing as artists....and the cornball jokes and sight gags really begin in earnest. Most of them, to be honest, aren't the greatest.

However, the story is redeemed in the last three minutes when a mud- fight (at least it looks like big gobs of mud) ensues in the studio and all mayhem breaks loose, leading to some funny slapstick.

A friend of mine thinks that the opening shot of Larry is filmed in front of what became Dino's Lounge on 77 Sunset Strip. The sign says Richfield. Any Hollywood buffs have some input? Thanks.

This episode marked a huge turning point for the Stooges. Producer Jules White hired on Del Lord to direct, a former stuntman and Keystone Cop from the early days of silent comedy. An ideal match with writer Felix Adler. These two artists would unite to develop the most insane (yet) material for Moe, Larry and Curly.

It's safe to say Adler borrowed the "guys on the street" Depression scene from Laurel and Hardy, usually being chased by the cops for vagrancy. Same deal with the Stooges, managing to give the coppers the slip and dash into an artsy art school. Here we see lots of new gags, no doubt suggested by Del Lord, foremost Moe's famous "two fingers" poke in Curly's eyeballs. YOUCH! Curly also gets to walk around in drag! -- which would become a laugh out loud bit for years to come, opening the door to even more bizarro story ideas and routines.

And why not put to good use some of that modeling clay in the studio, right? New-found artists Moe, Larry and Curly get into a whopper of a clay fight, again thanks to Lord's creativity. As expected, this would inspire the famous (gooooey, crunchy, wall-splattering) Stooge pie fights over the next two decades.

Fun fact; Moe and Larry's young daughters are seen playing hopscotch in a bit part. Silent film comedian Bobby Burns plays Professor Fuller, also a dirctor of many early films like Del Lord. Interestingly, Lord would direct one comedy for the BOWERY BOYS in the 40s.

Always on remastered Columbia dvd, box sets generally ranging from each decade; 30s, 40s and 50s episodes. Many thanks to METV for running these gems Saturday nights.

Pop Goes the Easel (1935)

*** (out of 4)

The Three stooges are chased by a cop into an art school where they try their hand at painting. This is a pretty good short that features some nice dialogue as well as plenty of laughs through the fighting. The film ends with a big clay fight but for some reason these type of fights have never made me laugh. The Keystone brand of pie fights never worked for me either.

Now available on Columbia's 2-disc set, which includes over 20 shorts. The picture quality is outstanding.