''Roast-Beef and Movies'' is a

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 ...

starring

George Givot George David Givot (February 18, 1903 – June 7, 1984) was a Russian Empire-born American comedian and actor on Broadway and in vaudeville, movies, television and radio. He was known for speaking in a comedic fake Greek dialect and was styled th ...

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 ...

(billed as "Jerry Howard"),

Bobby Callahan Bobby or Bobbie may refer to: People * Bobby (given name), a list of names * Bobby (actress), from Bangladesh * Bobby (rapper) (born 1995), from South Korea * Bobby (screenwriter) (born 1983), Indian screenwriter * Bobby, old slang for a constabl ...

, and the

Albertina Rasch Albertina Rasch (January 19, 1891 – October 2, 1967) was a naturalized American dancer, company director, and choreographer. Early life Rasch was born in 1891 (although she would later shave five years off her age), in Vienna (in what was th ...

Dancers, released 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 ...

(MGM) on February 10, 1934. The music is by

Dimitri Tiomkin Dimitri Zinovievich Tiomkin (, ; May 10, 1894 – November 11, 1979) was a Russian-born American film composer and conductor. Classically trained in St. Petersburg, Russia before the Bolshevik Revolution, he moved to Berlin and then New York City ...

, who was married to Rasch at the time.

Plot

Three good-for-nothings overhear a movie producer and his partners offering a grand sum if someone will present him with a sure-fire movie idea. The leader of the three dopes, Gus Parkyakarkus (

), barges into the meeting with his cohorts and proceeds to rattle off spiels for several inane prospective movies. The three are delighted to be told they have made a sale, but the producers turn out to be inmates from an insane asylum.

Cast

— Gus Parkyurkarkus *

Jerry 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 ...

— Secretary stooge *Bobby Callahan — Vice President stooge *

Frank O'Connor Frank O'Connor (born Michael Francis O'Donovan; 17 September 1903 – 10 March 1966) was an Irish author and translator. He wrote poetry (original and translations from Irish), dramatic works, memoirs, journalistic columns and features on a ...

— MPC President *Si Jenks — MPC Producer *

Warren Hymer Edgar Warren Hymer (February 25, 1906 – March 25, 1948) was an American theatre and film actor. Early life He was born in New York City. His father, John Bard Hymer (1875/1876 – 1953) was a playwright (with nine Broadway plays to ...

— Man at gunpoint *

Ed Brady Ed John Brady (born June 17, 1962) is a former American football player. Brady was raised in Morris, Illinois, and attended Morris Community High School, where he led the Morris Redskins football team to a state championship. Brady played for ...

— Gunman *

Dorothy Granger Dorothy Karolyn Granger (November 21, 1911 – January 4, 1995) was an American actress best known for her roles in short subject comedies in Hollywood. Career Granger, with her parents, two brothers, Richard and James, and their grandmot ...

— Easter Wester *

Jack Cheatham John Preston Cheatham (December 28, 1894 – March 30, 1971) was an American character actor of the 1930s and 1940s. During his career he appeared in almost 200 films, with 100 of them being features. Life and career Born John Preston Cheat ...

— 1st attendant *

Lee Phelps Lee Phelps (born Napoleon Bonaparte Kukuck; May 15, 1893 – March 19, 1953) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 600 films between 1917 and 1953, mainly in uncredited roles. He also appeared in three films that won the Acade ...

— 2nd attendant *James Burrows — "Blue Daughter From Heaven" vocalist * The Albertina Rasch Girls

Production notes

''Roast-Beef and Movies'' was an attempt by MGM (never known for producing skilled comedies) to create its own Three Stooge-themed comedy, with Givot as the

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 ...

-like leader, and

– an actual Stooge – in the role normally played by middleman

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 ...

. Third wheel Bobby Callahan portrayed the "dumb-but-likable" character that Howard normally played. The film is the only known solo appearance of Curly Howard, appearing without fellow Stooges Moe and Larry or then-superior

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 ...

. ''Roast-Beef and Movies'' was one of three MGM Stooge-related shorts filmed using the two-color Technicolor process, originally billed as Colortone Musical Revues. This process was also used in the 1933 films ''

Nertsery Rhymes ''Nertsery Rhymes'' is a 1933 American Pre-Code musical comedy short film starring Ted Healy and His Stooges, released on July 6, 1933 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It is the first of five short films the comedy team made for the studio. Plot The Sto ...

'' and ''

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 gir ...

'', both starring Ted Healy and His Stooges (Howard, Fine and Howard) and

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 use of color was predicated on the decision to build plot devices in ''Roast-Beef and Movies'' around the following discarded Technicolor musical numbers from earlier 1930 MGM films: *"Blue Daughter From Heaven" (Chinese ballet) from ''

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 c ...

''; *"Dust" from ''

Children of Pleasure ''Children of Pleasure '' is a 1930 American pre-Code MGM musical comedy film directed by Harry Beaumont, originally released with Technicolor sequences. It was adapted from Crane Wilbur's 1929 play, ''The Song Writer''. Plot Danny, an acclai ...

''.''Roast-Beef and Movies'' at threestooges.net
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Home media

Warner Archive The Warner Archive Collection is a home video division for releasing classic and cult films from Warner Bros.' library. It started as a manufactured-on-demand (MOD) DVD series by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on March 23, 2009, with the inte ...

released ''Roast-Beef and Movies'' on September 24, 2014 on DVD in region 1 as part of the ''Classic Shorts From The Dream Factory Series, Volume 3 (featuring Howard, Fine and Howard)''. The film was released with five other Ted Healy/Stooge shorts made for MGM: ''

Plane Nuts ''Plane Nuts'' is the fourth of five short subjects starring Ted Healy and His Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard) released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on October 14, 1933. A musical-comedy film, the short also featured Bonnie Bonnell as ...

'' (1933), ''Hello Pop!'' (1933), ''

Beer and Pretzels ''Beer and Pretzels'' is the second of five short films starring Ted Healy and The Three Stooges, His Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard) released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on August 26, 1933. A musical-comedy film, the film also feat ...

'' (1933), ''Nertsery Rhymes'' (1933), and '' The Big Idea'' (1934).

References

External links