Rhythm and Weep

It's the 26th theater that Larry, Curly, and Moe have been thrown out of. The manager tells them to jump off a tall building and they decide to do just that. On the roof, they meet three dancing girls, Wilda, Tilda, and Hilda, with the same idea. They fall in love and then someone starts playing a piano nearby. It's millionaire Mr. Walsh who hires the six performers for his show. This starts a little dark. The story moves a little rough. This is one of those Stooges shorts which rely on some dancing. It's not my favorite aspect of their flicks. This is still pretty good with a late stage Curly.

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!

I have always liked this Three Stooges short. Its hilarious, it has very good acting, it has three beautiful actresses Doria Patrice, Ruth White, Nita Bieber which dance incredibly in this short film. The scenes where the Stooges play the instruments are funny and the music is fantastic! This is an excellent one! One of My favorites!

After over a year afflicted with a series of minor strokes, Jerome 'Curly' Howard pressed on as a member of The Three Stooges. Director Jules White learned how to work around his physical weaknesses as shown in October 1946's "Rhythm and Weep," Curly's second to last complete movie. Filmed six months earlier in late April 1946, it was nearly sixteen months after Curly had his first stroke in December 1944. White revised the Felix Adler script by reassigning Curly's lines and action to Larry and Moe, leaving the ailing Stooge to handle a much lighter load.

Norman Maurer, Moe's son-in-law who became involved with the Stooges in the late 1940s, remembered Curly's performance while filming "Rhythm and Weep." "He was having trouble with his coordination," Maurer remarked. "He was supposed to pop pills in his mouth during the doctor's office scene, but the scene was switched to Moe putting the pills into Curly's mouth because of Curly's physical problems." Realizing Curly, 42, had trouble remembering his dialogue deep into a sequence, White would have him say his lines immediately after the cameras began rolling. The Stooges' short opens with the three told they're no good as actors, and they should end it. They meet three equally despondent female dancers on the top of a skyscraper ready to take the fatal leap. They suddenly hear a piano player who claims to be a millionaire ready to hire all six for a show after they successfully auditioned their talents.

The three female dancers, Gloria Patrice (Curly's partner who's still living at 99), Nita Bieber and Ruth Godfrey (Jules White's daughter-in-law, and the choreographer of the dance numbers in Cecil B. DeMille's 1956 "The Ten Commandments") were members of the Jack Cole Dancers, contracted to Columbia Pictures at the time. Cole, known as "the Father of Theatrical Jazz Dance," melded Asian with African-American dance styles into a modern movement, which is demonstrated in "Rhythm and Weep" by the three dancers. One scene cut shows the three dressed up as the Stooges while Moe, Larry and Curly impersonate ballerinas. This explains the final scene where the three women are wearing men's suits. The picture is also famous for Larry breaking the 'fourth wall' when he turns to the camera after hugging Ruth on the skyscraper's ledge and says, "This I like! And I get paid for it, too!"

This latter-day Curly short showcases mostly dancing routines and not very much slapstick. Curly is visibly wooden and sickly due to his declining health. He does get a pie in the face and takes a few hits, but that's about it. The closing sequence where the Stooges perform an army physical skit is decent, though.

This is a fair short, with Curly Howard having a good week, despite his health problems during this time. The highlight of this is Ruth White in her first feature. Her dancing is good and she proved to be a good asset to three stooges shorts. Ruth got to work with Curly , Shemp and Joe Besser. She is in the best short that Joe did with the Stooges " A Merry Mixup". Ruth became a well respected character actress on Broadway before her untimely death of cancer in 1969. Ruth was quite a talent and she shined brightly in the Stooges shorts she did with the boys ( given the material she had to work with ) And she went on to display her talents in films as well.