Studio: Columbia. Runtime: 18 minutes. Production Number: 159. Release Date: January 10, 1935. Director: Clyde Bruckman. Producer: Jules White. Story and Screenplay: Felix Adler. Cast: Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Jerry "Curly" Howard (Themselves), Fred Kelsey (Detective Hyden Zeke), Alice Belcher (Mrs. Zeke), Fred Kohler (Double Deal Decker), Dorothy Kent (Nell Higginbottom), Leo Willis (Lobo), Sam Lufkin, Slim Whitaker, George Chesebro, Bobby Dunn, Ralph ''Buck'' Bucko, Roy Bucko, Arthur 'Pat' West (Cowboys), Nelson McDowell (Bartender), Milton Douglas (Waiter), Bobby Callahan (Drunk), Jack Hill (Sax player), Bud McClure (Sheriff), Hilda Title (Curly's dance partner), Alice Dahl (Moe's dance partner), June Gittelson (Larry's dance partner), Allyn Drake, Nancy Caswell (Dance hall girls), Bert Young (Curly's double), Johnny Kascier (Moe's double), Ed Brandenburg (Larry's double). Cinematographer: John Boyle. Editor: James Sweeney. Music: Louis Silvers, Charles Rosoff, Constantin Bakaleinikoff, J. H. Wood. Shooting Days: 4 (11-23-1934 to 11-27-1934). Working Title: Hyden Zeke.
Horses' Collars marks the first Stooge film of 1935 and the first Stooge western. It is a winner on both counts.
In this film detectives Moe, Larry and Curly are hired to go out west and help Nell Higginbottom (Dorothy Kent) get back an IOU that her father was tricked into signing.
This is a very solid short. There is pretty much one great gag after another. Not only is the slapstick great but this film has many memorable lines. I especially love Moe explaining why mice drive Curly crazy by stating "'Cause his father was a rat." Speaking of Curly going crazy, this short is a perfect showcase for Curly. There are very few comedians who could go as over the top and zany as Curly does here without making it seem annoying. As always though Curly pulls it off. There is a wonderful almost animalistic element to him during these scenes that no other comedian could ever capture. It feels like someone unleashed a wild side that was always in them just waiting to come out. Watching this you fully understand why Curly is so many people's favorite Stooge.
There are however two things that keep this film from being as great as some of the Stooges' later westerns. One is that the pacing in these earlier shorts is simply not as strong as it would be in a year or two. Because of this there are a few slow points that would be unimaginable in later Stooge efforts. Another is that the villains here are neither that funny nor threatening.
This is the only Stooge film on which Clyde Bruckman would receive a director's credit. Bruckman would go on to be one of the Stooges main writers. As well as working with the Stooges, Bruckman had a wonderful career in film comedy. He wrote and directed for such greats as Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Laurel and Hardy, W.C. Feilds and Abbott and Costello. Probably his biggest claim to fame is that he received a co-director credit on what many consider to be Buster Keaton's masterpiece, The General (1927).
One line in this film is "You see this this heel? I ran that down!" This same line would later be used in Slaphappy Sleuths (1950). There is a dialogue exchange about a drink called a "tin roof," which is of course on the house. This would later be reused in the short film, A Merry Mix Up (1957) and the feature length movie, Rockin' in the Rockies (1945). One gag features a coin being thrown and the air, being shot and coming back down as a bunch of pennies. This gag would later be reused in Out West (1947) and Pals and Gals (1954). The Stooges paint open eyes on their eyelids to look awake. The same gag would be used in Slaphappy Sleuths (1950).
For those of you keeping count there are 29 slaps and 1 eye poke in this film.
As well as their film work, the Stooges would also make many live appearances during 1935. They would start the year by touring with singer and straight man Milton Douglas, who also did his own act as well as appearing with the Stooges. They first performed at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle Washington from January 1-7. For their performance on January 2nd, a reviewer would mistakenly call them Fine, Howard and Fine. This reviewer messed up more in his review giving Curly and Larry's last name as Howard, while calling Moe's last name as Fine. They would then perform at the Paramount Theatre in Portland, Oregan from January 9-15. Also appearing on the bill were the trained dog act Bartino's Dogs, Hermie King and his band and whistler Les Nichols. Those who think of the Stooges as clean comics may be surprised by one of the reviews. a review in the Oregan Daily Journal stated, "Perhaps the naughtier part comes from their joining Milt Douglas in the finale of his act, for Douglas and his aides are plain dirty at times." They would perform at the Biltmore Hotel on February 27 for the Academy Awards ceremony. They would perform at 41 club in Los Angeles on March 24, the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood on April 6, the Elks Club in Santa Monica on April 25 and the Memorial Auditorium in Sacramento on April 30, all with Milton Douglas.
Resources Used
The Three Stooges Scrapbook by Jeff Lenburg, Joan Howard Maurer and Greg Lenburg
A Tour De Farce: The Complete History of the Three Stooges on the Road by Gary Lassin
A Tour De Farce: The Complete History of the Three Stooges on the Road by Gary Lassin
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