Scheming Schemers

Scheming Schemers

Directed by	Jules White
Produced by	Jules White
Written by	Felix Adler
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Shemp Howard Joe Palma Emil Sitka Kenneth MacDonald Christine McIntyre Symona Boniface Dudley Dickerson
Cinematography	Ray Cory
Edited by	Harold White
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release dates	October 4, 1956 (1956-10-04) (U.S.)
Running time	15:54
Country	United States
Language	English

Scheming Schemers is the 173rd short film released by Columbia Pictures in 1956 starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Shemp Howard). The comedians released 190 short films for the studio between 1934 and 1959.

Plot

The Stooges are novice plumbers, whose first job is finding a valuable ring that went down a drainpipe at the home of the wealthy Norfleets (Emil Sitka and Symona Boniface). The Stooges happily retrieve the ring, but Larry knocks it out of Moe's hand, and back it goes down the drain. The Stooges then work their way to basement to shut the water off. Larry is assigned to finding the water cutoff and proceeds to dig up most of the lawn. Shemp later surmises that the pipes fail to work properly because they are "clogged up with wires." Shemp and Moe proceed to remove the electrical system from the pipes and connect a water pipe to the newly available pipe. The cook (Dudley Dickerson), who is in the kitchen trying to prepare an extravagant meal for the Norfleets, watches in bewilderment as the stove and chandelier gush water.

As the Norfleet's house transforms into Niagara Falls, two party guests named Mr. and Mrs. Allen (Kenneth MacDonald and Christine McIntyre) manage to swipe the prized Van Brocklin painting. Shemp heads for the upstairs bath to continue fixing the pipes, and Moe and Larry discover that the ring was stuck in Larry's hair the whole time. Mr. Norfleet is happy about his ring, but frantic that his painting was stolen. Moe and Larry see Allen hiding the painting in a pipe, and a pie fight ensues, extending to the other party guests. The Stooges manage to recover the painting, and Mr. Norfleet decides to reward them. Moe and Larry wonder where Shemp has been all this time. It turns out that he got himself stuck fixing the bathroom's pipes.

Production notes

Scheming Schemers is a remake of Vagabond Loafers, which in itself was a remake of A Plumbing We Will Go; additional pie fight footage was borrowed from Half-Wits Holiday. Scheming Schemers was one of four shorts filmed in the wake of Shemp Howard's death using earlier footage and a stand-in. This film is also the last to contain new footage with long-time Stooges supporting actor Kenneth MacDonald. In the scene where Mr. Allen (Kenneth MacDonald) puts the picture that he and his wife (Christine McIntyre) stole in the pipe and tells his wife to wait out in the car, that was not Christine McIntyre, since the last film to contain new footage of her was "Of Cash and Hash", instead she was replaced with a body double only showing the back of the double.

"Fake Shemp"

Main article: Fake Shemp

As Shemp Howard had already died, for his last four films (Rumpus in the Harem, Hot Stuff, Scheming Schemers and Commotion on the Ocean), Columbia utilized supporting actor Joe Palma to be Shemp's double. Even though the last four shorts were remakes of earlier Shemp efforts, Palma's services were needed to film new scene in order to link existing stock footage.^[1]

For Scheming Schemers, Palma appears for the shot of "Shemp" with his back to the camera, honking the horn of the Stooges' jeep. Palma then gathers several pipes, obstructing his face. Palma's one line of dialogue — "Hold yer horses, will ya?" — is Shemp's voice borrowed from the soundtrack of 1949's The Ghost Talks. This new footage was shot on January 16, 1956, only six weeks after Shemp's death.^[2]

References

↑ Solomon, Jon. (2002) The Complete Three Stooges: The Official Filmography and Three Stooges Companion, p. 481; Comedy III Productions, Inc., ISBN 0-9711868-0-4
↑ Lenburg, Jeff; Howard Maurer, Joan; Lenburg, Greg; (1982). The Three Stooges Scrapbook, p. 263, Citadel Press. ISBN 0-8065-0946-5

External links

The Three Stooges

Moe Howard Larry Fine Curly Howard Shemp Howard Joe Besser Joe DeRita

Works	The Three Stooges filmography The Three Stooges Collection Jerks of All Trades The New Three Stooges episodes The Three Stooges Scrapbook Kook's Tour Moe Howard and the Three Stooges

Related topics	List of supporting actors in Three Stooges films The Three Stooges in popular culture Yogi Bear and the Three Stooges Meet the Mad, Mad, Mad Dr. No-No The Robonic Stooges Stoogemania "Swinging the Alphabet" "The Curly Shuffle" 1984 arcade game 1987 video game 2000 TV movie 2012 feature film

Associated people	Edward Bernds Tiny Brauer Charley Chase Paul Garner Ted Healy Rich Koz Del Lord Hugh McCollum Frank Mitchell Joe Palma/Fake Shemp Fred Sanborn Elwood Ullman Jack White Jules White

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