Movie Maniacs

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 unique Three Stooges shorts is Movie Maniacs. In this short are Bud Jamison, Harry Semels, Mildred Harris, Kenneth Harlan, and Heinie Conklin. The acting by these actors are good especially by Jamison and Semels. 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 strongly recommend this one!

Some famous footnotes to this campy comedy, all set in a real movie studio. We actually get to see parts of Columbia Pictures in the 30s, which is a treat by itself.

Moe, Larry and Curly land in Hollywood, hoping to become movie stars or whatever?

As Stooge luck would have it, they're mistaken for executives -- who telegrammed they are on their way, but haven't shown up -- take over a film and do it their wacky way. Felix Adler's script is goofy as usual, filled with some surprises.

First off, the director, leading man and lady walk off the set in a huff. That leaves Moe to take over as director, Larry plays the leading man and, yes, it's Curly in drag(!) as the leading lady? Outrageous, a gag that would be repeated many more times to come. Curly was a comedy original. The charade doesn't last long when the real bosses show up, prompting the guys to make a run for it, bumping into some lions, and you can guess the rest. By the way, the movie studio is called Carnation Pictures, as in milk!

The lions were, in fact, famous. They were called Tanner and Jackie, known as the MGM lions. A fun bit of trivia. Silent film actress Mildred Harris, who married Charlie Chaplin at age 17, plays the leading lady. Kenneth Harlan, also a silent screen actor, plays the leading man. Harlan was reportedly married a record nine times. Bud Jamison wins the nutty name contest, this time called Fuller Rath.

Another treat by director Del Lord.

Always on remastered Columbia dvd, separated by years, 30s, 40s and 50s episodes. Thanks always to METV for running these golden oldies Saturday nights.

As a child and thru my lifetime I watched this movie several times. We always loved the 3 Stooges, but the real reason was my father's cousin Mildred Harris,the leading lady. She died before I was born, my older sister looks just like her. Her father and my grandmother were sis/brother. I would love to find some pictures and any other information available. I do know that she was divorced. There were no living children. When my grandmother died, seems most of the Harris Family lost contact. Most of her Dad's family is from South Dakota and Indiana. She is also cousin to Bongo Phil Harris, he was the voice from the Jungle Book cartoon and recorded music. All information would be appreciated. Thanks.

This Three Stooges short was a particular disappointment given the Hollywood milieu; in fact, the opening scene aboard the train is more inventive than the ensuing studio silliness! The comic trio are mistaken for movie executives and given the run of the studio (the president's name, Fuller Rath, emerges as the film's best gag): unsurprisingly, they drive the director and leading actors to distraction with their antics and end up by replacing them (with Moe as director, Larry the leading man, and Curley – naturally in drag – takes on the part of the leading lady)! The film is okay in itself, but clearly not in the same league as feature films on the subject starring other contemporary comedians – such as Harold Lloyd's similarly-titled MOVIE CRAZY (1932) and W.C. Fields' NEVER GIVE A SUCKER AN EVEN BREAK (1941).

The Three Stooges released two short films within one month, the first "Ants in the Pantry, the second, February 1936's "Movie Maniacs." Sneaking into a film studio lot, the three aspiring movie stars are mistaken for the newly-arrived studio executives. The trio walk in the middle of a shoot and take over from the frustrated director. The actress playing the 'Leading Lady' was Mildred Harris, who earlier was Charlie Chaplin's first wife. As a child film actress at age 10, Harris began her career in 1912, and attracted the attention of Chaplin, 29, when she was 18. The soon married, only to separate a year later. Harris was proliferate in silents during that era, but failed like many of her peers to make the successful transition into talkies.

"Movie Maniacs" contains one of the more controversial sequences in the Stooges' catalogue. Each Stooge demonstrates his kissing technique to the scantily dressed dancing girls on the set. When the short was shown on television in the late 1950s, the scene was sliced because of its suggestive nature to its young TV audience. "Movie Maniacs" used two lions, named Tanner and Jackie, the Stooges find themselves with in a room. Tanner was used in the MGM opening credits logo, who the more rambunctious Jackie was conscripted if more than one lion was needed in filming.