Three Sappy People

This Three Stooges short uses the old plot device of placing the blue-collar Stooges in high society surroundings, setting the scene for all sorts of lowbrow mischief at the expense of the upper crust and bringing the haughty rich down to the working-class level of the Stooges.

In order to make fast money, the phone-repairmen Stooges pose as pricey psychiatrists Drs. Ziller, Zeller, and Zoller and crash a society birthday party at a swank mansion. After falling off their tandem bike, the Stooges consult wealthy Mr. Rumsford (Don Beddoe), who asks them to examine his young wife (the lovely birthday girl Lorna Gray). All manner of chaos ensues, especially when the Stooges sit down with the rich folks for a formal dinner party. Things naturally get quickly out of hand, and everything culminates in a wild upper crust cream puff fight, then the boys are paid $1,500, after which they scram.

The action never slows down, the gags are hilarious, and the supporting cast is fine. A young Ann Doran appears as an unbearably stiff and haughty socialite, who is of course on the receiving end of her share of cream puff missiles. Lorna Gray is absolutely radiant and has a great talent for the Stooges' style of comedy. The dependable Don Beddoe is great as the exasperated Mr. Rumsford, who is unable to control his wild young wife. For some reason I can't identify, I've always thought that the Stooges crashing their tandem bicycle is one of their funniest gags ever. Even if you don't particularly like the Three Stooges, you might enjoy this bright and funny short subject.

The Stooges are telephone repairmen mistaken for psychiatrists Ziller, Zeller, and Zoller. They are to treat Sherry (Lorna Gray), the wild and impetuous wife of a staid millionaire (Don Beddoe).

Watch the slapstick cream puff throwing climax carefully. Sherry (Lorna Gray) gets hits right in the mouth with a cream puff that actually lodges in her throat. She closes her eyes tightly, turns her head down and to the right, and appears to choke, which she did. Director Jules White immediately stopped the shot but the incident is still in the finished product. Moe Howard talks about it in his book about The Stooges and says that Lorna nearly died. Jules White was really frightened by it. But in an interview later in life, Lorna Gray said that she never felt like she was in any real danger and was upset about Jules White nearly spoiling the scene by cutting too soon. Still, watch the cream puff throwing closely and it's obvious that Lorna is definitely in actual distress before the scene cuts away.

I just watched this on MeTV on the regular Saturday afternoon-evening Stooge Fest.

Three Sappy People (1939)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Hilarious short has the Three Stooges playing phone repairmen who are working at the office of some famous psychiatrists when they learn they're in desperate need of money. They receive a phone call from some rich folks needing some help with a crazy wife so they pretend to be doctors and all hell breaks loose. This is perhaps one of the most famous shorts that the Stooges ever did and it's easy to see why as it's action-packed from start to finish with some terrific dialogue and great jokes. I'm normally not a fan of food fights and they can be from any film be it the Stooges or those early Keystone pictures but the one here is actually pretty funny and wild. One of the biggest highlights come from the boys trying to check reflexes but of course they can't do this right and it ends with Curly checking one man's who just happens to have a wooden leg. Other great jokes include a sequence at the dinner table when the boys make pigs out of themselves. The greatest scene in the film has to be when Curly accidentally eats a powder puff.

In, December 1939's "Three Sappy People," their 43rd short. Lorna Gray stars as Sherry, the spirited rich wife of millionaire J. Rumsford Rumford (Don Beddoe). She's bored to tears during her birthday party and wants to venture out to more exciting adventures. Meanwhile, her husband calls psychiatrist Drs. Z. Ziller, X. Zeller and Y. Zoller, only to get telephone repairmen Moe, Larry and Curly working on the doctors' switchboard. Hearing about the amount of money the doctors would make by curing Sherry's ennui, the three pose as the psychiatrists and arrive at the wife's party. They soon turn the formal dinner party into a riotous affair, breaking out into an outrageous pastry altercation, much to the delight of Sherry.

During the filming Gray, 22, was injured by a thrown pastry which happened to lodge in her throat. Seen in the final edit, Lorna was taken by complete surprise when the cream puff entered her gullet. Director Jules White immediately stopped filming and sought the studio medical team. The actress in subsequent interviews brushed off the incident, claiming the story was exaggerated by White, saying she was never in any medical danger. Gray was one of the longest living actresses who played alongside Curly when he was with the Stooges, dying just a couple of months from turning 100. Born Virginia Pound, Gray took a second stage name, Adrian Booth, in 1945 after leaving Columbia Pictures. Lorna was strictly a B-film actress, starring in a number of Westerns for Monogram and Republic Pictures. She was the only actress at Republic beside Dale Evans to receive top-star billing for her movies at the studio. After retiring from Hollywood in 1951, Lorna attended a number of film festivals and Stooges' conventions well into her nineties. She received the prestigious 'Golden Boot Award' in 1998 for her many appearances in Westerns.

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!

This one is arguably the funniest of all the shorts. Plus this is one of My all time favorites! I love Ann Doran's Countess character just not because she is beautiful but also because she is very classy and she is always serious. Also the beautiful Lorna Gray performs quite well here. Three Sappy People is filled with great acting by not only the Stooges but also the other cast members which include Don Beddo, Bud Jamison, Beatrice Blinn, Richard Fiske, Eddie Laughton, and Victor Travers! I think that this is one of the greatest Three Stooges shorts of all time with great acting by everyone, it has beautiful women, and some of the most hilarious scenes ever seen on film! This is a very special Three Stooges short! Its a great one for Stooge for fans to watch and I strongly recommend it!