''Pardon My Clutch'' is a 1948

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

Shemp Howard Samuel Horwitz (March 11, 1895 – November 22, 1955), known professionally as Shemp Howard, was an American actor and comedian. He was called "Shemp" because "Sam" came out that way in his mother's thick Lithuanian Yiddish, Litvak accent. He is ...

). It is the 105th 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

Shemp has been ill with a toothache. The Stooges' friend Claude (

Matt McHugh Matthew O. McHugh (January 22, 1894 – February 22, 1971) was an American film actor who appeared in more than 200 films between 1931 and 1955, primarily in small cameo parts. Career McHugh came from a theatrical family. His parents ran a s ...

), a self-proclaimed

Kevin Trudeau Kevin Trudeau (; born ) is an American author, salesman, and convicted fraudster known for promotion of his books and resulting legal cases involving the US Federal Trade Commission. His ubiquitous late-night infomercials, which promoted unsub ...

-ish doctor, gives Moe and Larry some specific instructions on how to cure the toothache, which, of course, they misinterpret every which way possible. After finally yanking the troublesome tooth, Claude suggests they take Shemp on a camping trip for a little R&R. Since the Stooges do not own a car, Claude offers to sell them a car that turns out to be a "

lemon The lemon (''Citrus limon'') is a species of small evergreen trees in the flowering plant family Rutaceae, native to Asia, primarily Northeast India (Assam), Northern Myanmar or China. The tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit is used for culin ...

." The trio run into a series of mishaps trying to get the car to work, including a flat tire that gets them into trouble with a local gas station attendant ( George Lloyd). Finally, things improve via a car collector (

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 ...

) who wants to buy the clunker at a premium. Claude gets wind of this, quickly gives his money back to the Stooges, and hands it to the collector. Within minutes, two men in white coats from the local

insane asylum The lunatic asylum (or insane asylum) was an early precursor of the modern psychiatric hospital. The fall of the lunatic asylum and its eventual replacement by modern psychiatric hospitals explains the rise of organized, institutional psychiatry ...

come to retrieve the supposed car collector, with Claude following right behind.

Cast

Credited

as Moe *

as Larry *

as Shemp *

as Claude A. Quacker

Uncredited

* Alyn Lockwood as Petunia * Wanda Perry as Narcissus * Doria Revier as Marigold * George Lloyd as Service station attendant *

as Car Collector/The Professor *

Stanley Blystone William Stanley Blystone (August 1, 1894 – July 16, 1956) was an American film actor who made more than 500 films appearances between 1924 and 1956. He was sometimes billed as William Blystone or William Stanley. Early years Blystone was ...

as 1st sanitarium attendant * Alfred H. Wilson as 2nd sanitarium attendant

Production notes

''Pardon My Clutch'' was filmed on May 19–21, 1947; it would be

remade Bas-Lag is the fictional world in which several of English author China Miéville's novels are set. Bas-Lag is a world where both magic (referred to as "thaumaturgy") and steampunk technology exist, and is home to many intelligent races. It is inf ...

in 1955 as '' Wham-Bam-Slam!'', using ample

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 ...

. Both films borrow plot elements from the

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 ...

shorts '' Perfect Day'' (1929) and '' Them Thar Hills'' (1934). This is the second of three Stooge shorts with the words "pardon my" in the title. The first was

Pardon My Scotch ''Pardon My Scotch'' is a 1935 short subject directed by Del Lord starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard). It is the ninth entry in the series released by Columbia Pictures starring the c ...

. Shemp is unable to convince the gas station attendant that the tire he is removing from the tire display actually came off his car and rolled into the gas station by accident. This was a stock routine that had been used in prior comedies. It had been performed by Joe Murphy and

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. ...

in ''I'm the Sheriff'' (1927) and

Edgar Kennedy Edgar Livingston Kennedy (April 26, 1890 – November 9, 1948) was an American comedic character actor who appeared in at least 500 films during the silent and sound eras. Professionally, he was known as "Slow Burn", owing to his ability to por ...

and Charlie Hall in ''Slightly at Sea'' (1940). A different variation of "

Three Blind Mice "Three Blind Mice" is an English-language nursery rhyme and musical round.I. Opie and P. Opie, ''The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), p. 306. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number o ...

" introductory theme is used in this entry. This version would be used again for ''

Crime on Their Hands ''Crime on Their Hands'' is a 1948 short subject directed by Edward Bernds starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Shemp Howard). It is the 112th entry in the series released by Columbia Pictures starr ...

'' and '' The Ghost Talks''.

Quotes

*Larry: "You know, fish is great

brain food Nootropics ( , or ) (colloquial: smart drugs and cognitive enhancers, similar to adaptogens) are a wide range of natural or synthetic supplements or drugs and other substances that are claimed to improve cognitive function or to promote rela ...

." *Moe: "You know, ''you'' should fish for a whale!" *SLAP!* ''(As the Three Stooges head out to pack their car:)'' *Shemp: "Well, fellas, let's get loaded." *Larry: "Hey, you know I don't drink!"

References

External links

* *
''Pardon My Clutch'' at threestooges.net
{{The Three Stooges 1948 films 1948 comedy films 1948 short films The Three Stooges films American black-and-white films Films directed by Edward Bernds Columbia Pictures short films American comedy short films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films