Flat Foot Stooges

Flat Foot Stooges
Directed by	Charley Chase
Produced by	Charley Chase Hugh McCollum
Written by	Charley Chase
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Curly Howard Dick Curtis Lola Jensen Chester Conklin Heinie Conklin Al Thompson
Cinematography	Lucien Ballard
Edited by	Art Seid
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures Coca-Cola Telecommunications (1987)
Release dates	December 5, 1938 (1938-12-05) (U.S.)
Running time	15:37
Country	United States
Language	English

Flat Foot Stooges is the 35th short film released by Columbia Pictures in 1938 starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard). The comedians released 190 short films for the studio between 1934 and 1959.

Plot

The trio are firemen (a la 1936's False Alarms) at an engine company that still employs horse-powered engines. Sleazy salesman Mr. Reardon (Dick Curtis) fails to convince Fire Chief Kelly (Chester Conklin) that horse-powered engines are on the way out. His ideas are rejected, and he is sent on his way. Mr. Reardon, however, tries to sabotage the firehouse by committing arson. He drops a can of gunpowder into the old-fashioned pump boiler and the chief's daughter (Lola Jensen) sees him. Reardon does not know that the can has a leak, and a duck has been eating the spilled gunpowder. The duck alights on a window ledge in the station and lays an egg, which falls to the floor and explodes like a hand grenade, starting a fire. The explosion startles the chief's daughter which causes her to fall backwards and knock her head on the bed, unconscious. Realizing too late that the blaze is coming from their own fire station, the Stooges manage to arrive just in time to save the chief's daughter from the flames.

Production notes

Filmed on October 25–28, 1938,^[1] the title Flat Foot Stooges is a pun on the 1938 jazz song "Flat Foot Floogie".^[2]

A rarity among Stooge shorts, the boys are shown reciting dialogue incorrectly on several occasions, a result of director Charley Chase's rushed directing style. Chase rarely stopped for retakes in an effort to finish a film ahead of schedule.^[2]

When Larry slides down the fire pole and is accidentally punched by Moe, he calls himself a "victim of circumstance". This marks the first time a Stooge other than Curly says the line.

Upon realizing they are heading in the wrong direction, Curly quips "Hey, we're doing the Corrigan!", a reference to aviator Douglas "Wrong Way" Corrigan. Corrigan had recently returned from a transcontinental flight from Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, New York to Long Beach, California. Instead of returning to New York, he bypassed it, and headed to Ireland.^[2]

Flat Foot Stooges has Three Blind Mice as the title theme, however this was not put to permanent use until "We Want Our Mummy".

References

External links

• Flat Foot Stooges at the Internet Movie Database
• Flat Foot Stooges at AllMovie