''A Bird in the Head'' is a 1946

short subject A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

directed by

Edward Bernds Edward Bernds (July 12, 1905May 20, 2000) was an American screenwriter and director, born in Chicago, Illinois. Career While in his junior year in Lake View High School, he and several friends formed a small radio clique and obtained amateur li ...

starring American

slapstick Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such a ...

comedy team

The Three Stooges The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best remembered for their 190 short subject films by Columbia Pictures. Their hallmark styles were physical farce and slapstick. Six Stooges appeared ...

(

Moe Howard Moses Harry Horwitz (June 19, 1897 – May 4, 1975), known professionally as Moe Howard, was an American actor and comedian. He is best known as the leader of The Three Stooges, the farce comedy team who starred in motion pictures and television ...

Larry Fine Louis Feinberg (October 5, 1902 – January 24, 1975), known professionally as Larry Fine, was an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is best known as a member of the comedy act the Three Stooges. Early life Fine was born to a Russian Je ...

and

Curly Howard Jerome Lester Horwitz (; October 22, 1903 – January 18, 1952), known professionally as Curly Howard, was an American actor and comedian. He was best known as a member of the American comedy team the Three Stooges, which also featured his elder ...

). It is the 89th entry in the series released by

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

starring the comedians, who released 190 shorts for the studio between 1934 and 1959.

Plot

The Stooges are mediocre paperhangers. Their boss Mr. Beedle ( Robert Williams) advises the boys to do a good job, but the result looks like it was quickly cluttered with paper towels. Beedle is fuming, and threatens to kill the boys, who make a quick escape across the hallway into the laboratory of the insane Professor Panzer (

Vernon Dent Vernon Bruce Dent (February 16, 1895 – November 5, 1963) was an American comic actor, who appeared in over 400 films. He co-starred in many short films for Columbia Pictures, frequently as the foil and the main antagonist and ally to The Thr ...

) and his assistant Nikko (

Frank Lackteen Frank Lackteen (born Mohammed Hassan Lackteen August 29, 1897 – July 8, 1968) was an American film actor best known for his antagonistic roles. He appeared in nearly 200 films between 1915 and 1965, including several Three Stooges shorts. ...

). Panzer is searching for a human brain puny enough to place in the head of his gorilla Igor (Art Miles). Curly becomes the prime candidate, and Panzer locks the boys in his lab in order to secure Curly's "contribution." Then Igor gets loose, but takes a liking to Curly, which the feeble-minded Stooge reciprocates. Eventually, the boys destroy Panzer's lab and quickly depart, taking Igor with them.

Cast

as Moe *

as Larry *

as Curly *

as Professor Panzer *

as Nikko * Robert Williams as Mr. Beedle *

Art Miles Art is a diverse range of human behavior, human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imagination, imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no genera ...

as Igor the Gorilla (uncredited)

Production notes

The title ''A Bird in the Head'' is a pun on the phrase "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush." ''A Bird in the Head'' was filmed over a period of five days (April 9–13, 1945), which was longer than usual. Due to the death of President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

on April 12, filming ended early out of respect for the deceased Commander-in-chief. 41-year-old

had suffered a series of minor

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

s prior to filming ''A Bird in the Head''. As a result, his performance was marred by slurred speech, and slower timing. This film was the first directing effort for former Columbia sound man

. Bernds was thrilled that he was being given a shot at directing, but was horrified when he realized that Curly was in such bad shape (something Columbia short subject head/director

Jules White Jules White (born Julius Weiss; hu, Weisz Gyula; 17 September 190030 April 1985) was a Hungarian-American film director and producer best known for his short-subject comedies starring The Three Stooges Early years White began working in mo ...

failed to alert Bernds of). Years later, Bernds discussed his trying experience during the filming of ''A Bird in the Head'': Realizing that Curly was no longer able to perform in the same capacity as before, Bernds devised ways to cover his illness; Curly could still be the star, but the action was shifted away from the ailing Stooge. In ''A Bird in the Head'', the action focuses more on crazy Professor Panzer and Igor. This allowed Curly to maintain a healthy amount of screen time without being required to contribute a great deal. Bernds often commented that he and Jules White never really got along. Bernds feared that his directing days would be over as soon as they began if he released ''A Bird in the Head'' with a weak Curly as his first entry. Producer

Hugh McCollum Hugh McCollum (March 9, 1900March 16, 1968) was an American film producer best known for his credits on Three Stooges short subject comedies. Career McCollum was born in the Philadelphia suburb of Ridley Park, Pennsylvania. He attended the Epis ...

reshuffled the release order, and the superior ''

Micro-Phonies ''Micro-Phonies'' is a 1945 short subject directed by Edward Bernds starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard). It is the 87th entry in the series released by Columbia Pictures starring th ...

'' was released first, securing Bernds directing position. The

Screen Gems Screen Gems is an American brand name used by Sony Pictures' Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group, a subsidiary of Japanese multinational conglomerate, Sony Group Corporation. It has served several different purposes for its parent ...

television print deleted a scene where Curly and the gorilla drink some alcohol in the laboratory and suffer hilarious after effects.

References

External links

* *
''A Bird in the Head''
a
threestooges.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bird in the Head, A 1946 films Columbia Pictures short films The Three Stooges films American black-and-white films 1946 comedy films Films directed by Edward Bernds American comedy short films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films