''"I Can Hardly Wait"'' is a 1943

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 ...

). It is the 73rd 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 defense workers at the Heedlock Airplane Corp., a pun on the

Lockheed Aircraft Corporation The Lockheed Corporation was an American aerospace manufacturer. Lockheed was founded in 1926 and later merged with Martin Marietta to form Lockheed Martin in 1995. Its founder, Allan Lockheed, had earlier founded the similarly named but o ...

. In the opening scene, they enter an apartment and break into a safe, which turns out to be a refrigerator. With the food they find, they prepare a late night meal of a single slice of ham, an egg, bread and coffee. Moe and Larry share the food, and Curly gets the bone and the eggshell. While eating, Curly breaks his tooth while attempting to eat the ham bone, resulting in a major toothache. Moe suggests he simply gets some sleep, and in the morning the toothache will be gone. The boys situate themselves for bed in a three-tiered

bunk bed A bunk bed is a type of bed in which one bed frame is stacked on top of another, allowing two or more beds to occupy the floor space usually required by just one. They are commonly seen on ships, in the military, and in hostels, Dormitory, dor ...

. Curly naturally receives the top bunk and his ascent thereto is not without mishap: faces are stepped on, and an attempt to alleviate Curly's pain using a hot water bottle ends in a soaking for Moe. When Curly does finally fall asleep, we are introduced into his dreams where his persistent moaning and complaining about his toothache aggravate the other two into action. His fear of dentists leaves the Stooges to improvise their own brand of home dentistry techniques. These techniques include trying to extract the tooth with a fishing pole and line, tying the tooth to the doorknob and violently closing it, tying the tooth to a ceiling light fixture and jumping from a ladder, and lastly, a firecracker. As the dream sequence continues, Curly is taken by Moe to the dentist, Dr. Tug (

Lew Davis Louis Davis (July 16, 1884—January 13, 1948) was an American film actor. He appeared in over 75 films between 1916 and 1948. Career A New York native, Davis appeared in his first film in 1916. He began to achieve fame after arriving at Columb ...

). A terrified and belligerent Curly makes the check-up difficult. Exhausted from wrestling with Curly, Dr. Tug enters the adjoining office of his partner Dr. Yank (

Bud Jamison William Edward "Bud" Jamison (February 15, 1894 – September 30, 1944)Okuda, Ted, and Edward Watz. 1999. The Columbia Comedy Shorts: Two-reel Hollywood Film Comedies 1933–1958'. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland. . was an American film actor. ...

) and asks him to complete the extraction. Meanwhile, Moe tries to placate Curly's fears by taking his place in the chair and simulating the procedure. Yank enters the office and—believing Moe to be the patient—knocks him out with ether in a rag and pulls his tooth, ignoring Curly's warnings. Yank hands the extracted tooth to Curly and, upon learning that Curly is the real patient, runs out of the room. Moe awakens and finds Curly holding the tooth. This understandably angers him to no end and he takes it out on Curly, who attempts to defend himself. This flailing action in the dream translates to similar action in his sleep, causing him to wake up and fall through the entire bunk bed, which collapses in a heap on top of his two sleeping compatriots. Enraged, Moe gives Curly a solid punch to the jaw. This dislodges the problem tooth and all is well. The boys fall asleep where they lie amongst the bed cushions and splintered wood.

Production notes

''"I Can Hardly Wait"'' was filmed on March 15–18, 1943.''"I Can Hardly Wait"'' at threestooges.net
/ref> It is a

remake A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same ...

of the 1928

Laurel and Hardy Laurel and Hardy were a British-American Double act, comedy duo act during the early Classical Hollywood cinema, Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–19 ...

silent short film ''

Leave 'Em Laughing ''Leave 'Em Laughing'' is a 1928 two-reel silent film starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Produced by the Hal Roach Studios, it was shot in October 1927 and released January 28, 1928 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Opening title ''What's worse ...

''. The film title is officially listed with quotation marks (as ''"I Can Hardly Wait"''), as it represents a phrase Curly repeats throughout the film.Solomon, Jon. (2002) ''The Complete Three Stooges: The Official Filmography and Three Stooges Companion'', p. 233; Comedy III Productions, Inc., The first two malapropistic lines of Curly’s song ("She was ''bred'' (

bread Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour (usually wheat) and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cultures' diet. It is one of the oldest human-made f ...

) in Old Kentucky/But She's only a ''crumb'' up here") is also the name of the song the Stooges performed as “Nill, Null, and Void” in the film '' Loco Boy Makes Good''. As ''"I Can Hardly Wait"'' was filmed during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, it contains references to wartime activities and propaganda, such as the Stooges working on fighter planes as defense workers and Moe’s reasoning for the dentist to have Curly’s broken tooth removed: “Listen, doc, we're defense workers. If you wanna cut down on absenteeism, yank this guy’s tooth! He won’t let us sleep, he’s sabotaging the war effort!”

References

External links

* *
''"I Can Hardly Wait"'' at threestooges.net
{{The Three Stooges 1943 films The Three Stooges films American black-and-white films Films directed by Jules White Films about dreams 1943 comedy films Columbia Pictures short films American comedy short films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films