''Half-Wits Holiday'' is a 1947

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

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 ...

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 ...

in his final starring role). It is the 97th 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

In the second Stooge adaptation of the 1913 play ''

Pygmalion Pygmalion or Pigmalion may refer to: Mythology * Pygmalion (mythology), a sculptor who fell in love with his statue Stage * ''Pigmalion'' (opera), a 1745 opera by Jean-Philippe Rameau * ''Pygmalion'' (Rousseau), a 1762 melodrama by Jean-Jacques ...

'' by

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...

, the trio are repairmen who make a scene in the presence of two psychologists, Professors Quackenbush (

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 Sedletz (

Ted Lorch Theodore "Ted" Lorch (September 29, 1873 – November 12, 1947) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 140 films between 1908 and 1947. Biography Born in Springfield, Illinois, in 1873, Lorch appeared in several Three Stooge ...

). Quackenbush makes a bet with Sedletz that he can turn the boys into gentlemen through environment. Training is slow and painful for the professor, who pulls his hair out in disgust. The Stooges take the opportunity to flirt with the professor's daughter Lulu ( Barbara Slater) while learning proper table etiquette. Finally, the winner of the wager will be decided by the boys' behavior at a fancy society party. The party goes awry. Curly greets guest Mrs. Smythe-Smythe (

Symona Boniface Symona Ferner Boniface (March 5, 1894 – September 2, 1950) was an American film actress, most frequently seen in bit parts in comedy shorts, mostly at Columbia Pictures, particularly those of ''The Three Stooges''. She appeared in 120 fil ...

) by kissing her hand and biting off the diamond in her ring. Realizing this, Moe and Larry take Curly to a secluded area to lecture him, only to find that Curly has taken a large handful of silverware as well. Curly grabs a pie from a pastry table and tries to eat it whole. Moe sees this, swipes the pie, and pushes Curly out of the way (the moment when Curly leaves the stage for the last time as a Stooge before suffering a stroke that would come to end his career). Seeing the approaching Mrs. Smythe-Smythe, Moe tosses the pie straight up, and it sticks to the ceiling. Noticing his nervousness and frequent upward glances, she sympathetically comments, "young man, you act as if the

Sword of Damocles A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed tip ...

is hanging over your head." Moe tells Mrs. Smythe-Smythe that she must be psychic and leaves. Bewildered, she looks up to see what had so concerned him and the pie falls onto her face. A pie fight ensues. Quackenbush ultimately loses the bet to Sedletz, believing that he had learned his lesson.

Cast

Credited

as Moe *

as Larry *

as Curly (final film) *

as Prof. Quackenbush * Barbara Slater as Lulu Quackenbush *

as Prof. Sedletz

Uncredited

Emil Sitka Emil Sitka (December 22, 1914January 16, 1998) was a veteran American actor, who appeared in hundreds of movies, short films, and television shows, and is best known for his numerous appearances with The Three Stooges. He is one of only two acto ...

as Sappington *

as Mrs. Smythe-Smythe *

Mary Forbes Mary Forbes (born Ethel Louise Young; 1 January 1883 – 22 July 1974) was a British-American film actress, based in the United States in her latter years, where she died. She appeared in more than 130 films between 1919 and 1958.

as Countess Shpritzvasser * Helen Dickson as Mrs. Gotrocks *

Al Thompson Al Thompson (September 21, 1884 – March 1, 1960) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 170 films between 1916 and 1958. Well known in the industry for performing the more difficult stunts, he kept busy as a stunt doubl ...

as Mr. Toms *

Johnny Kascier Johnny Kascier (born John Kacerosky; July 1, 1889May 10, 1974) was an American actor who appeared in over 90 films between 1932 and 1957. Modern viewers will recognize Kascier as the Emir of Schmow in the Three Stooges film ''Malice in the Palac ...

as Councilman *

Victor Travers Victor Travers (1884 – 26 May 1948) was an English character actor of theatre and film, known for his work in many of the Three Stooges films. During his career, which began in 1938 and ended with his death in 1948, he appeared in more than 8 ...

as Sleeping party guest *

Judy Malcolm Judy Malcolm (December 1, 1910July 22, 1998) was an American film actress. Born Marguerite Westergren, Malcolm appeared in approximately 25 films between 1933 and 1951. Malcolm is familiar to modern viewers for her roles in several Three Stooges ...

as Party guest

Production notes

''Half-Wits Holiday'' is a reworking of 1935's ''

Hoi Polloi Hoi polloi (; ) is an expression from Greek that means "the many" or, in the strictest sense, "the people". In English, it has been given a negative connotation to signify the masses. Synonyms for ''hoi polloi'' include "the plebs" (plebeians) ...

'', without the aid of any

stock footage Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures, and file footage is film or video footage that can be used again in other films. Stock footage is beneficial to filmmakers as it saves shooting new material. A single piece of stock ...

. ''Half-Wits Holiday'' would itself later be reworked as 1958's ''

Pies and Guys ''Pies and Guys'' is a 1958 short subject directed by Jules White starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Joe Besser). It is the 185th entry in the series released by Columbia Pictures starring the ...

''. The untimely absence of Curly from the pie fight would prove somewhat helpful when pie-fight footage was later needed. The footage was recycled in ''

Pest Man Wins ''Pest Man Wins'' is a 1951 short subject directed by Jules White starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Shemp Howard). It is the 136th entry in the series released by Columbia Pictures starring th ...

'', ''

Scheming Schemers ''Scheming Schemers'' is a 1956 short subject directed by Jules White starring American slapstick Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may invo ...

'' and ''

'', as well as the compilation feature film '' Stop! Look! and Laugh''.

Curly's departure

''Half-Wits Holiday'' was filmed May 2–6, 1946;''Half-Wits Holiday'' at threestooges.net
/ref> it marked the final appearance of outgoing Stooge

as an official member of the team. During the final day of filming (May 6), Curly suffered a debilitating

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 ...

on the set and was rushed to a nearby hospital, effectively ending his career. Curly was to be featured prominently in the pie-fight scene, but after Moe found him with his head slumped on his shoulder and with tears rolling down his eyes, it was apparent that Curly could not perform. Moe alerted director

of Curly's unfortunate situation, leading White to quickly rework the scene to be divided between Moe and Larry. Reaction shots from the supporting cast were spliced in more frequently to hide Curly's absence. Supporting actor

, who made his debut with the Stooges in this film as the first

footman A footman is a male domestic worker employed mainly to wait at table or attend a coach or carriage. Etymology Originally in the 14th century a footman denoted a soldier or any pedestrian, later it indicated a foot servant. A running footman deli ...

Sappington, remembered:

Aftermath

Even before the day when Curly suffered his debilitating stroke, he had been having problems taking direction from White during filming. Many of the lines intended for Curly were either given to Larry or eliminated altogether. One scene took much longer to film than it should have due to Curly's health problems, but that's how it came out. The Stooges are supposed to behave like proper, dignified gentlemen and communicate fluently when introduced to the wealthy

gentry Gentry (from Old French ''genterie'', from ''gentil'', "high-born, noble") are "well-born, genteel and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past. Word similar to gentle imple and decentfamilies ''Gentry'', in its widest ...

: :*Larry: "Delighted." :*Moe: "Devastated." :*Curly: "Dilapidated." :*Larry: "Enchanted." :*Moe: "Enraptured." :*Curly: "Embalmed." White later said, "I had a devil of a time getting that scene. Curly just couldn't get the hang of it. I should have realized then that he was deteriorating even further."

External links

* *
''Half-Wits Holiday'' at threestooges.net

References

{{Pygmalion 1947 films 1947 comedy films American black-and-white films The Three Stooges film remakes Films based on works by George Bernard Shaw Films directed by Jules White The Three Stooges films Columbia Pictures short films American comedy films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films