''Slippery Silks'' is a 1936

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 Preston Black 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 19th 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 furniture makers hired to duplicate a priceless antique Chinese cabinet on loan for a $50,000 bond from a local museum to a Mr. Morgan (

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 ...

). Once the inept Stooges set to work, the valuable cabinet is quickly cut in half by Curly by accident, and accidentally smashed to pieces by Moe, and the trio barely escape from the enraged Mr. Morgan who threatens to kill the trio. While on the run, the boys learn that they have inherited a fancy dress boutique, the Madame de France, from their recently deceased Uncle Pete. They enter the fashion business, designing women's fashions which resemble the furniture they built when they were carpenters. They are hired to put on a fashion show by a woman who turns out to be Morgan's wife, Mrs. Morgan Morgan (

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 ...

). When Mr. Morgan arrives, he recognizes the Stooges as the vandals who destroyed his cabinet, and pummels Curly vigorously. Moe throws a pastry but misses his target and hits one of the fashion show guests; more cream puffs are hurled and soon the entire room is engaged in a free-for-all. The fight ends when three women knock the Stooges unconscious with mannequin legs.

Production notes

''Slippery Silks'' was filmed on June 10–15, 1936. It marks the Stooges first ''

bona fide In human interactions, good faith ( la, bona fides) is a sincere intention to be fair, open, and honest, regardless of the outcome of the interaction. Some Latin phrases have lost their literal meaning over centuries, but that is not the case ...

'' pie/pastry fight. While the fight primarily consists of cream puffs, there is one pie launched during the melee when Curly accidentally steps in front of Moe's line of fire to grab a "lucky penny", and stands back up just in time to get hit in the face with a pie. The first short that featured a pie fight of sorts was in ''

Pop Goes the Easel ''Pop Goes the Easel'' is a 1935 short film, short subject directed by Del Lord starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Jerry Howard). It is the seventh entry in the series released by Columbia Pictu ...

'', in which sculptor's clay is thrown at unsuspecting targets. Moe Howard stated in his autobiography that over 150 pies were thrown. In Moe's June 8, 1973 appearance on ''

The Mike Douglas Show ''The Mike Douglas Show'' was an American daytime television talk show that was hosted by Mike Douglas. It began as a local program in Cleveland before being carried on other stations owned by Westinghouse Broadcasting. The show went into nati ...

,'' he revealed to Douglas that, in making the Stooge pie-fight scenes, he was responsible for most of the pie-throwing. He remarked that "the studio auditors claimed (he) had saved them tens of thousands of dollars with my accuracy in the pie throw." The pie fight scenes were used in the '' Muppet Babies'' episode, "Good, Clean, Fun". "Preston Black" was a pseudonym used for a time by Jack White (brother of producer

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 ...

), who had been in a nasty divorce and was trying to shield income from his ex-wife. The ending theme of "Listen to the Mockingbird" features different instrumentation.

References

External links

* *
''Slippery Silks'' at threestooges.net
{{The Three Stooges 1936 films 1936 comedy films The Three Stooges films American black-and-white films Columbia Pictures short films American slapstick comedy films 1930s English-language films 1930s American films