''Wee Wee Monsieur'' is a 1938

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

Del Lord Delmer "Del" Lord (October 7, 1894March 23, 1970) was a Canadians, Canadian film director and actor best known as a director of Three Stooges films. Career Delmer Lord was born in the small town of Grimsby, Ontario, Canada. Interested in the the ...

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 29th 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 artists (Moe is a sculptor, Larry is a music composer, and Curly is a painter) living in Paris. When the landlord (

Harry Semels Harry Semels (November 20, 1887 – March 2, 1946) was an American film actor. He appeared in over 315 film between 1917 and 1946. Career Semels appeared in his first film in 1917. He began to achieve fame after arriving at Columbia Pictu ...

) comes for their overdue rent and calls the Parisian police on them, the boys skip out and wind up accidentally joining the

French Foreign Legion The French Foreign Legion (french: Légion étrangère) is a corps of the French Army which comprises several specialties: infantry, Armoured Cavalry Arm, cavalry, Military engineering, engineers, Airborne forces, airborne troops. It was created ...

that they confuse with the

American Legion The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is a non-profit organization of U.S. war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militi ...

. Posted to the desert, their assignment is to guard Captain

Gorgonzola Gorgonzola (; ) is a veined blue cheese, originally from Italy, made from unskimmed cow's milk. It can be buttery or firm, crumbly and quite salty, with a "bite" from its blue veining. History Historically, gorgonzola has been produced for ...

( William Irving) from the natives. When the captain is kidnapped, the boys are given a chance to bring him back alive. The Stooges make their way to the stronghold where the captain was taken, all disguised as Santa Claus (complete with a sleigh and a reindeer). Despite the disguise not working, they are able to quickly knock out a guard who confronts them and make their way inside. They find their captain held by an evil sheik named Tsimmis (

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 ...

) who is trying to offer him expensive jewelry and a harem of beautiful women in exchange for the Legion's ammunition. The trio are forced to disguise themselves again as part of the harem and use an opportunity during a dance to render the sheik and his head bodyguard unconscious. The four then escape, but end up coming across a lion's den. Before the lion can eat them, Curly is able to placate it into drawing them on a wagon back to their camp.

Cast

Credited

as Moe *

as Larry *

as Curly

Uncredited

Jean De Briac Jean De Briac (born Jean-Frederic Weitler, 15 August 1891 – 18 October 1970) was a French film actor. He appeared in more than 120 films between 1920 and 1962. He was born in France and died in Los Angeles, California. He immigrated to the ...

as Gendarme *

Eugene Borden Eugene Borden (born Élysée Eugène Prieur-Bardin, March 21, 1897 – July 2, 1971) was an American character actor in silent and sound films. Born in France, he immigrated to the United States as a teenager, and entered the film industry a sh ...

as Enlistment Officer *

as Simitz - Arab Chief * William Irving as Captain Gorgonzola *

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. ...

as Sergeant *

John Lester Johnson John Lester Johnson (born John Leslie Johnson; August 13, 1893 – March 27, 1968) was an American professional boxer and actor. He is perhaps best known for his 1916 boxing match against Jack Dempsey, and his 1933 performance as Bumbo, the titul ...

as Harem Guard *

Ethelreda Leopold Ethelreda Leopold (July 2, 1914January 26, 1998) was an American film actress. She appeared credited in approximately 65 films between 1934 and 1972. She also appeared in commercials. Leopold is familiar to modern viewers for her roles in seve ...

as Harem Girl from Brooklyn * Ida May as Homely Harem Girl *

Alex Novinsky Alex is a given name. It can refer to a shortened version of Alexander, Alexandra, Alexis. People Multiple *Alex Brown (disambiguation), multiple people *Alex Gordon (disambiguation), multiple people *Alex Harris (disambiguation), multiple peo ...

as Street Peddler * John Rand as Man in Street *

as Landlord *

Victor Travers Victor Travers (1884 – 26 May 1948) was an English character actor of theatre and film, known for his work in many of the Three Stooges films. During his career, which began in 1938 and ended with his death in 1948, he appeared in more than 8 ...

as Man walking by Legion HQ * Tanner The Lion as Lion * Bert Young as Palace Sentry

Quotes

:'' urly has just put his painting on the landlord' :Moe: Come on. :'' e, Larry and Curly make their escape as the landlord is left spinning around.' :Landlord: Police. Police. Police. Police. :'' Gendarme in a barrel overhears the call of the landlord and runs over.' :Landlord: Gendarme. Gendarme.

Production notes

''Wee Wee Monsieur'' was filmed on November 12–17, 1937. The film's title is a parody of "Oui, oui, Monsieur" (

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

for "Yes, sir"). The lion at the end of the short is Tanner, the (at the time) mascot for Metro-Goldwyn Mayer. Tanner previously appeared in

Movie Maniacs ''Movie Maniacs'' is a 1936 short subject directed by Del Lord starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard). It is the 13th entry in the series released by Columbia Pictures starring the co ...

(2 years before this film was released).

References

External links

* * 1938 films 1938 comedy films 1938 short films The Three Stooges films American black-and-white films Films directed by Del Lord Films about the French Foreign Legion Columbia Pictures short films American comedy short films Films set in Paris 1930s English-language films 1930s American films {{short-comedy-film-stub