''Nertsery Rhymes'' is a 1933 American
Pre-Code
Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorshi ...
musical comedy
short film
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 ...
starring
Ted Healy
Ted Healy (born Charles Ernest Lee Nash; October 1, 1896 – December 21, 1937) was an American vaudeville performer, comedian, and actor. Though he is chiefly remembered as the creator of The Three Stooges and the style of slapstick comedy th ...
and His
Stooges, released on July 6, 1933 by
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...
. It is the first of five short films the comedy team made for the studio.
Plot
The Stooges play Ted Healy's children who refuse to go to sleep unless they are told a bedtime story. Healy first tries singing a comic version of ''
The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere'' which ultimately fails putting the young lads to sleep. Healy's date, the
Good Fairy
In most contexts, the concept of good denotes the conduct that should be preferred when posed with a choice between possible actions. Good is generally considered to be the opposite of evil and is of interest in the study of ethics, morality, ph ...
(
Bonnie Bonnell
Bonnie Bonnell (August 1, 1905 – March 14, 1964) was an actress who played "straight woman" in seven early short comedies, most of which featured the Three Stooges when they worked with Ted Healy, between 1933 and 1934.
Career
According to S ...
) then tells them her own bedtime story, courtesy of a musical revue.
The trio eventually turn in for the evening, only to have Curly request a second bedtime story. Healy and the Good Fairy then proceed to tell the children about ''
The Woman in the Shoe''. When that fails to work, a frustrated Healy smacks the three lads over the head with a rubber mallet, knocking them unconscious.
Cast
*
Ted Healy
Ted Healy (born Charles Ernest Lee Nash; October 1, 1896 – December 21, 1937) was an American vaudeville performer, comedian, and actor. Though he is chiefly remembered as the creator of The Three Stooges and the style of slapstick comedy th ...
- Papa
*
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 ...
- son 1
*
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 ...
- son 2
*
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 ...
- son 3
*
Bonnie Bonnell
Bonnie Bonnell (August 1, 1905 – March 14, 1964) was an actress who played "straight woman" in seven early short comedies, most of which featured the Three Stooges when they worked with Ted Healy, between 1933 and 1934.
Career
According to S ...
- The Good Fairy
Uncredited cast
* Beth Dodge - Turn of a Fan Dancer
* Betty Dodge - Turn of a Fan Dancer
* Lottice Howell - Turn of a Fan Singer
* The Rounders - Woman in Shoe Quintet
*
Ethelind Terry
Ethelind Terry (14 August 1899 – 17 March 1984) was an American stage and film actress.
Career
Terry starred in one of the most famous Broadway shows of the 1920s, the musical '' Rio Rita'' produced by Florenz Ziegfeld. She also starre ...
- The Woman in the Shoe
Production notes
''Nertsery Rhymes'' was the first of three MGM Stooge-related shorts filmed using the
two-color Technicolor process, originally billed as Colortone Musical Revues.
[ This process would also be used in '']Hello Pop!
''Hello Pop!'' is the third of five short films starring Ted Healy and His Stooges released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on September 16, 1933. A musical-comedy film, the film also featured the Albertina Rasch Dancers and Bonnie Bonnell (Healy's gi ...
'' (1933), again starring Healy, Bonnell and the Stooges, as well as '' Roast-Beef and Movies'' (1934), a film featuring 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 ...
's only known solo appearance apart from the Stooges.[ The use of color was predicated on the decision to build plot devices in ''Nertsery Rhymes'' around the following discarded Technicolor musical numbers from 1930 MGM films:
* "The Woman in the Shoe" from the musical '']Lord Byron of Broadway
''Lord Byron of Broadway'' (1930), also known as ''What Price Melody?'', is an American Pre-Code musical drama film, directed by Harry Beaumont and William Nigh. It was based on a best selling book by Nell Martin, which "was widely praised by ...
'';
* "The Turn of a Fan" from the unreleased feature ''The March of Time
''The March of Time'' is an American newsreel series sponsored by Time Inc. and shown in movie theaters from 1935 to 1951. It was based on a radio news series broadcast from 1931 to 1945. The "voice" of both series was Westbrook Van Voorhis. Pr ...
''.[''Nertsery Rhymes'' at threestooges.net]
/ref>
References
External links
*
*
*
''Nertsery Rhymes''
on Dailymotion
Dailymotion is a French video-sharing technology platform owned by Vivendi. North American launch partners included Vice Media, Bloomberg and Hearst Digital Media. It is among the earliest known platforms to support HD (720p) resolution video. ...
The Three Stooges films
1933 films
1933 musical comedy films
Films directed by Jack Cummings
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer short films
American musical comedy films
1930s English-language films
1930s American films
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