Jules White Movies
Jules White started out as a child actor working for Pathe Studios during the 1910s. He was born in Budapest, Hungary. In the early '20s, he became a film editor and in 1926 became a director who specialized in comedies featuring such stars as Harry Langdon, Buster Keaton, and Charley Chase. White became the head of Columbia's short film division in 1933 and directed 136 Three Stooges shorts. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide- 1960
Enjoying a career renaissance in 1959 when their old Columbia two-reelers were released to television, The Three Stooges capitalized on their comeback with an enjoyable low-budget feature film, Have Rocket, Will Travel (1959). Response to this modest mirthmaker was so positive that Columbia decided to rush a second Stooges feature into production-without rehiring the Stooges! Stop! Look! And Laugh! is a pastiche of scenes lifted from the best Stooges shorts of the 1930s and 1940s, all featuring the immortal Curly Howard as the third Stooge. To provide a semblance of continuity, ventriloquist Paul Winchell and his dummies Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smif carry the film's "plot", which consists of Winchell attempting to get through the day despite constant interference by the Stooges. Also featured in two irrelevant sequences are the Marquis Chimps, who went on to star in their own TV series for Columbia's Screen Gems division, The Hathaways (1961). Veteran Stooge director Jules White produced, directed and cowrote the new footage. Among the vintage Three Stooges comedies represented via stock footage are Men in Black (1934), Goofs and Saddles (1937), Violent is the Word for Curly (1938), Calling All Curs (1939), Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise (1939), A-Plumbing We Will Go (1940), How High Is Up? (1940), Sock-a-Bye Baby (1942), Higher Than a Kite (1943), Micro Phonies (1945) and Half-Wits Holiday (1947). Stop! Look! And Laugh! was coproduced by the Three Stooges' agent Harry Romm, who quickly became their ex-agent when Moe Howard sued for unauthorized reproduction of the Stooges' likenesses. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1959
Released on June 4, 1959, Sappy Bull Fighters ended the Three Stooges' 20-year-plus association with the Columbia short subject department. Consisting mainly of stock footage from the earlier What's the Matador? (1942), the two-reeler incorporated footage, filmed in 1957, featuring Joe Besser and the statuesque Greta Thyssen. Sappy Bull Fighters actually competed with the enormously successful television re-release of the earlier Stooges comedies. The surprising TV following gave new life to the team and the Stooges would go on to a fairly successful feature-film career. But not with Joe Besser, who left the partnership in 1958. He was replaced by veteran vaudeville and short subject comic Joe DeRita (nicknamed "Curly Joe"), who joined the team for their feature comedies: Have Rocket Will Travel (1959), Snow White and the Three Stooges (1961), Three Stooges Meet Hercules (1962), The Three Stooges in Orbit (1962), The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze (1963), It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), and The Outlaws Is Coming (1965). Although several later prospects were discussed (with veteran Stooges foil Emil Sitka replacing Larry Fine, who had suffered a stroke), none came to fruition. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1958
About the best thing that can be said about this Joe Besser-era Three Stooges comedy is that it's not an exact remake of the boys' 1939 film Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise, a classic short which featured Curly Howard. Plus, it doesn't rely on recycled footage -- an unfortunate quality of many latter-day Three Stooges pictures. Once again, the Stooges have lost their jobs. Now their dad needs an operation, and he suggests that they search for uranium on his mining property. Joe, like Curly before him, has the uncanny ability to manifest anything he wishes for, from a cigar to milk (which shows up in the form of a cow). The boys locate the uranium, but run afoul of a load of dynamite (Joe accidentally sits on the detonator). Then, when they're trying to fix the water pump, it starts gushing oil. Joe tries to cork it by sitting on it, but he's sent flying into the air. When he wishes it would stop, it does, much to Moe and Larry's dismay. But he also gets it started again. This poor entry was one of the boys' final shorts for Columbia -- after the Stooges made two more pictures, the company's shorts department would be abruptly closed down. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1958
In their penultimate two-reel comedy, the Three Stooges used mainly stock footage from their earlier He Cooked His Goose. Bachelor Larry makes a play for Moe's wife (Mary Ainslee, in stock footage) and Joe's fiancée (Angela Stevens). The few new scenes featuring Joe Besser were filmed in 1957. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1958
Filmed in 1957, this Three Stooges two-reel comedy featured Muriel Landers as Joe Besser's sister, a singer suffering from stage fright. Several scenes consisted of stock footage from I'm a Monkey's Uncle (1948) and Besser's solo effort G.I. Dood It (1955). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1958
Joe Besser's French wartime girlfriend, Fifi (Vanda Dupre), moves in next door to the boys in this Three Stooges comedy two-reeler, a remake, with plenty of stock footage of Love at First Bite (1950). Christine McIntyre, who had retired in 1954, and Heinie Conklin appeared courtesy of the old footage. Fifi Blows Her Top was filmed in 1957. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1958
In their first two-reel comedy of 1958 (although filmed in 1957), the Three Stooges welcome blonde Greta Thyssen, Miss Denmark of 1952, and the last in a long line of pretty starlets to grace the team's little comedy shorts. The long-legged former double for Marilyn Monroe (Bus Stop), Miss Thyssen plays the niece of a fake millionaire out to bilk Joe Besser of his game show winnings. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1958
Joe Besser's photograph of a paper plate is mistaken for an UFO in this two-reel comedy starring the Three Stooges. Moe and Larry are paid handsomely for the picture, but when it is determined to be a fake, they are hauled off to jail. Joe, meanwhile, manages to photograph a real flying saucer and earns a fortune. Having cried wolf once too often, his two comrades-in-arms are shipped off to a sanitarium. Flying Saucer Daffy was filmed in 1957. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1958
A professor (Gene Roth) wages that he can turn the Three Stooges into refined gentlemen in this remake, with stock footage of Hoi Polloi (1935) and Half Wits Holiday (1947). Symona Boniface, who had died in 1950, and Helen Dickson appeared courtesy of the stock footage while new scenes were filmed in 1957 featuring Greta Thyssen, Miss Denmark of 1952, Milton Frome, Harriette Tarler, Johnny Kascier, and, as a butler, Emil Sitka. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1957
In their first sci-fi comedy, the Three Stooges land on Sunev (Venus spelled backwards), a planet inhabited by cannibalistic starlets such as Harriette Tarler, Lorraine Crawford, and Playboy Playmate Marilyn Hanold. Emil Sitka once again plays a deranged scientist, a favorite role of the popular supporting comic. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1957
Unbeknownst to each other, the Three Stooges fall in love with the same gold digger (Connie Cezan) in this two-reel comedy which consisted mainly of stock footage from the earlier Corny Casanovas (1952). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1957
A remake with stock footage of the Three Stooges' earlier Idiots Deluxe, Guns A-Poppin' has Moe Howard on trial for assaulting Larry and Joe. Vernon Dent appears in the old footage. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1957
The first Three Stooges short to co-star Joe Besser as the third Stooge, Hoofs and Goofs features Moe Howard in drag playing his own sister, Birdie. Joe dreams that Birdie is reincarnated as a horse who soon takes up every inch of space in the Stooges' apartment. Benny Rubin returned to the series after a long absence in this better-than-average entry written by producer/director Jules White's brother, Jack. White's son, Harold, was the credited film editor. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1957
This is one of the funnier shorts made by the latter day Three Stooges lineup of Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Joe Besser. The boys are assistants to Professor Jones (Emil Sitka) and they have traveled from Earth to the planet Sunev (which a title informs us is "Venus" spelled backwards). The planet's leader greets them cordially enough, but he has secret plans to bring prehistoric men to life and take over the earth. Jones finds out about the evil scheme and is promptly tied up. Meanwhile, the Stooges are making time with some Sunevian girls. Unfortunately, the girls are charged with "atomic electricity," which makes smooching a bit difficult. At dinner, the alien leader informs them that they are about to die, so they make a mad dash to escape. Getting the aliens out of the way is easy enough -- they short circuit their "atomic electricity" with Joe's hot water bottles (he thought it was going to be cold on Sunev). They have a much harder time getting rid of a prehistoric man (Bonanza's Dan Blocker), but they manage to free Jones and they begin to destroy all the equipment that would have brought doom to the Earth. It turns out that all this is a story the boys were telling their kids (played by the Stooges in baby bonnets). But then the baby-sitter shows up -- and she's got the same caveman face as the monster in their tale. The boys panic and leap out the window. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1957
This Three Stooges comedy was the second with Joe Besser in the lineup, and from the beginning it hardly seems like a Stooges film at all. It opens with the boys greeting their girlfriends and both Moe and Larry have their hair slicked back. (They never show their normal hairstyles throughout the rest of the picture.) Joe's girl, who is nearly twice his size (which is really saying something), is called Tiny, and she is distraught because her heirloom diamond ring is missing. The main suspect is Elmo Drake, a fellow employee at the warehouse where the Stooges and their girlfriends work. While on the job, the boys are determined to keep an eye on their co-worker, but that doesn't stop them from screwing things up in the shipping department. Besser actually has some funny parts while trying to wrap a package, and later, when he cleans up a mess of smashed eggs by scrambling them with a blowtorch. But, it's Tiny who finally lets Drake have it, defeating him with her pure heft. She then sweeps her prissy beau, Besser, off his feet and heads for the altar. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1956
This was the last Three Stooges film in which Shemp Howard appears. The only catch is that Shemp died almost a year before appearing in this comic short (the footage was lifted from previous Three Stooges films). At least Columbia used one of the trio's funnier shorts, Dunked in the Deep, for most of the scenes. The boys play janitors who work at a newspaper office. They're begging the managing editor to be given a chance to become reporters. He promises to think about it over dinner. The phone rings while he is out and Moe answers -- it's one of the boss's men, giving him a scoop that some important documents have been stolen by foreign spies. It turns out that the spy with the microfilmed documents (Gene Roth) lives next door to the Stooges. He and the boys wind up as stowaways on an ocean liner. There's one apparently new scene in which Moe and Larry steal a fish off a diner's plate. The fish turns out to be fake, but that doesn't stop the two of them, or the spy, from eating it. After some funny moments lifted whole from Dunked in the Deep, the boys discover the microfilm and the spy is knocked out cold. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1956
Ostensibly a remake, this Three Stooges comedy was basically stock footage from the earlier Who Done It? (1949) with a few new scenes added for good measure. Emil Sitka, Christine McIntyre (who had retired in 1954), and Duke York all appear in the old footage only. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1956
A remake with stock footage of the earlier Hokus Pokus (1949), this Three Stooges comedy once again featured Vernon Dent as the Great Svengarlic, a crook who hypnotizes the three dumbbells into helping him commit bank robbery. Filmed for this version were a couple of scenes featuring Columbia starlets Barbara Bartay, Beverly Thomas, and Bonnie Menjum. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1956
Containing a wealth of stock footage from the earlier Malice in the Palace (1949), this Three Stooges two-reel comedy featured the boys attempting to save their girlfriends (Harriette Tarler, Diana Darrin, and Suzanne Ridgeway) from the evil Sultan of Pish Posh (Vernon Dent). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1956
A remake -- with plenty of stock footage -- of Brideless Groom (1947), Husbands Beware once again asks the burning question: Can Shemp of the Three Stooges find himself a wife in a matter of hours and qualify for a 50,000-dollar inheritance? Columbia stretched the plot rather thin this time, hiring Lu Leonard and Maxine Gates as Shemp's ferocious sisters who marry Larry and Moe. Christine McIntyre, appearing in a delightful slugfest with Shemp, and Emil Sitka appear courtesy of the stock footage. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1956
The Three Stooges play plumbers searching for a diamond ring in this two-reel comedy which added footage from the earlier A Plumbing We Will Go (1940), Vagabond Loafers (1948), and Half Wits Holiday (1948) to a few newly filmed scenes. In a desperate effort to keep the series alive, Shemp Howard, who had died of a heart attack in November of 1955, was doubled by veteran Stooges player Joe Palma. Christine McIntyre, Kenneth MacDonald, Dudley Dickerson, Symona Boniface (who had died in 1950), and Emil Sitka all appeared in the stock footage. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1956
Containing a wealth of stock footage from the earlier Fuelin' Around (1949), this Three Stooges two-reeler features a gang of spies who mistake Larry for the inventor of a top secret rocket fuel. Christine McIntyre, who had retired from films in 1954, Philip Van Zandt, and Jock Mahoney all appeared in the stock footage, while new scenes were filmed featuring Gene Roth, Connie Cezan, Evelyn Lovequist, and Andre Pola. Producer/director Jules White should have stuck with the comedy's working title: "They Gassed Wrong." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
