Gents Without Cents

This is a somewhat different kind of short feature from the Three Stooges, more of a variety show with some of their usual slapstick comedy added in. The boys are struggling singers/actors looking for a break, and are joined by a trio of acrobats (Flo, Mary, & Shirley), who are also hoping for stardom. There are a few slow spots in this one, although some of the non-comic parts are worth seeing. There is also a pretty good running gag that has to do with the comedy routine that the boys have been practicing. Overall, it's not as funny as many of their comedies, but it's worth a look.

"Gents Without Cents" on the surface may seem like another Stooge comedy for an indiscriminating audience, but underneath it emerges as one of their finest comedies of the World War II period.

The Stooges play entertainers trying to get a booking with promoter Manny Weeks (John Tyrrell). They meet up with three ladies who also have an act. Can they all convince Manny to give them a shot in his show?

"Gents Without Cents" includes two classic Stooge routines. The first is when they audition in Manny Weeks' office. They do their "rat-tat-toodle-toodle-day-day" song and show that they were capable of more than slapstick. Second, the film features their all-time classic "Niagara Falls" routine.

It is interesting to note that "Gents Without Cents" was filmed without the "Niagara Falls" routine. The scene with their "Niagara" performance was meant for the 1943 Columbia feature "Good Luck Mr. Yates" but was edited out of the final print. Luckily, the scene was saved and was inserted into "Gents Without Cents" seamlessly when the rest of the short was filmed in mid-1944.

It is wonderful to see Curly in great form here, handling his lines and scenes with precision. When the Stooges made another "variety" film in 1946, "Rhythm and Weep," Curly had had a stroke and the results were not the same.

"Gents Without Cents" stands out among a crop of generally weak 1944 Stooge shorts. 10 out of 10.

September 1944's "Gents Without Cents" had an interesting gestation when a routine of theirs was cut from 1943's "Good Luck, Mr. Yates' with Claire Trevor. Their act, called the 'Niagara Falls' number, included dialogue of Moe and Larry saying, "slowly I turn...step by step...inch by inch..." Felix Adler took the excised clip from the film showing the Stooges on a stage and composed his script around the sketch. The comedy opens with the Stooges rehearsing their act when the tenants upstairs cause a racket. They march upstairs, only to find much to their surprise the female trio of Lindsay, Laverne & Betty perfecting their dancing act. The six eventually hook up, and audition for a talent agent. At this audition they make fun of the Axis leaders: Moe imitates Germany's Adolf Hitler, Curly Italy's Benito Mussolini, and Larry Japan's Hideki Tojo. A number of television stations have snipped out Larry's parody of the Japanese military leader because he uses his two fingers to spread his eyes wide.

The Stooges are hired to perform their schtick on the stage, which was the segment from 'Good Luck, Mr. Yates." The snippet producer/director Jules White was in possession of had the Niagara Falls routine. What is bizarre about the scene is Larry screws up his line after both state "Slowly I turn." While Moe is saying "step by step," Larry is heard skipping to "inch by inch." No explanation has ever been given why the mistake remained in "Cents for Gents," one of the deep mysteries in the Stooges canon.

One of the better stooge shorts from a period when the quality and budget of their films was declining, "Gents without Cents" will forever be immortalized for the boy's rendition of the old vaudeville staple "Slowly I Turned" (a.k.a. "Niagra Falls"). Here they collectively essay a role that most reflects what they really were -- seasoned comic players who managed somehow to bring verve and added dimension to timeworn and/or second-rate material. Their performance of this old skit is definitive.

Incidentally, I have always wondered if it was strictly coincidental that Abbott and Costello revived "Slowly I Turned" in the same year, 1944, for their MGM romp "Lost in a Harum". I don't know the answer, but it would certainly please Moe Howard (who intensely disliked Abbott and Costello) to know that the version in "Gents without Cents" is considerably better than Bud and Lou's.

"Gents Without Cents" is another funny Three Stooges short film featuring the Three Stooges at their very best. The Three Stooges were at their best when Moe, Larry, and Curly were together (I never cared much for the films featuring Shemp or any of the other stooges that starred opposite Moe and Larry). Curly was the real deal in these Three Stooges short subjects, and "Gents Without Cents" is living proof of that. Here, the stooges play actors who act like burlesque comedians trying to find a job. They do find a job, along with three female dancers (and gymnasts), and are forced to put on a show. Uh oh, did Curly just say Niagara Falls?