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Home The Filmography The Curly Years THREE LITTLE PIGSKINS

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Average Rating:     [9.07/10]   43 votes

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Moe, Larry and Curly are three out-of-work tramps who are hired to promote a university football team. They're soon mistaken for the school's famous star athletes, "The Three Horsemen." As the star athletes, the Stooges get hired by a gangster to secretly play on his professional team, but of course the boys know nothing about football and wind up bungling the game.  Costarring Lucille Ball.


The football scenes were shot at Los Angeles' Gilmore Stadium, the current site of CBS Television City, with the Loyola University football team. Gilmore location details with then-and-now photos are reported in The Three Stooges Journal # 108 (Winter 2003). The opening street sequences with the Stooges were filmed on Yucca and Vine Streets in downtown Hollywood. The details with then-and-now photos are published in The Three Stooges Journal # 103 (Fall 2002).

Larry said that there were numerous injuries while this short was made, including him losing a tooth when he was socked by Joseph Young (actor Robert Young's brother), and Curly broke his leg after riding down the dumbwaiter. In the scene with the photographers during the football game, Larry insisted the studio use stunt doubles, one of whom was badly injured.

The original ending had the Stooges retelling the story to their children, but only photo stills remain of that footage (see Moe Howard & the 3 Stooges pp. 6-7, 68-69, 79 and 81). The complete, original scripted version with the Stooges' sons, was published in The Three Stooges Book of Scripts, by Joan Howard Maurer, from Citadel Press in 1987.

Opening title music is "Eastmoor College March," by Louis Silvers; see The Three Stooges Journal # 87 (Fall 1998).
Featuring
Moe, Larry and Curly
Release Date
December 08, 1934
Studio
Columbia
Production Type
Short Subject
Duration
18.5 min.
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Production Notes   (3)
Title Origin:   Three Little Pigs (1933 Disney cartoon)
Prod. No.:   156
Shooting Days:   4 days   From: 1934-10-25   To: 1934-10-30

Stooge Mayhem   (Avg. 7.75)
Face Slaps: 30 Eye Pokes: 1 Head Bonks: 0 Pastry Thrown: 0

Stooge Quotes   (10)
  • "Boy, did I pick me a double order of skunk!""She thinks it's ermine."
    (Moe and Lucille Ball)

  • "Let's play post office." "That's a kid's game." "Not the way I play it."
    (Curly & Phyllis Crane)

  • "Is it honest work?" "Does it make any difference?!!!" "No, no... no difference."
    (Harry Bowen, Larry, Moe & Curly)

  • "If you get there first, put a chalk mark." "What'f you get there first?" "Then I'll rub it out."
    (Moe & Larry)

  • "Atwhay areay ouyay oingday onighttay? But you wouldn't know a thing about that, would you?" "Oh, onay."
    (Larry & Lucille Ball)

  • "Did'jya ever hear of Snow, Snow, Beautiful Snow?" "Why yes, did you write that?" "No, I shoveled it."
    (Curly & Phyllis Crane)

  • "Will the lady with the lucky number come and get me please?"
    (Larry)

  • "Oh, a miner." "No, I'm 36... Larry's a minor, he's 44."
    (Gertie Green & Moe)

  • "Are you sure these are the Three Horsemen?"
    (Walter Long)

  • "Don't you know there are ladies present?" [spritz!!!]
    (Lucille Ball)

Stooge Goofs   (15)
  • Ad-lib line
    When Lucille Ball hands the drink to Phyllis Crane she says "Here's one for you, Phyllis."

  • Boom Mike Visible
    When the Stooges meet up at the hill and are moving the automobile to retrieve Molly's hat, the shadow of the boom mike is visible against the cement wall to their left.

  • Different Receiver
    At the beginning of the football game when the Stooges are passing the ball to each other over and over, at one part, Larry throws the ball towards Curly and just as he's about to catch it, the camera cuts to the next shot and the ball goes to Moe all of a sudden.

  • Dubbed-In Line
    When a passer-by says to Curly, "I haven't got a dime, it's the depression with me!", his lips aren't moving during the beginning of that line.

  • Dubbed-In Line
    After Curly and Larry tackle the referee, Larry asks "How's that, Moe?", but his lips don't move.

  • Dubbed-In Line
    When the Stooges are blindfolded and trying to find the girls, we can hear Curly going "Beep-beep!" throughout the scene, but his mouth isn't moving to that sound.

  • Larry's Helmet
    When the referee turns to Moe and says "Oh, he did eh?!", Larry has his helmet off, but in the next shot, his helmet is suddenly back on.

  • Larry's Helmet (again)
    When Curly and Larry are beginning to run up to the referee, Larry's helmet looks like it's about to accidentally fall off, but it's fully on in the next shot.

  • Line Flub
    When Larry is supposed to repeat "Okay" over and over as Moe keeps barking him orders, he almost says "Yeah" the first time.

  • Missing Part
    Right before Moe gets punched out by Joe Stacks, we see Moe with a dazed look on his face already as if Stacks did something to him prior to the punch, but they didn't show it.

  • Moe's Position
    When the Stooges huddle by themselves, Moe is bent over with his feet standing on the ground, but when the camera shows a closer shot of the boys, Moe's now kneeling on the ground. Then when it goes back to the original shot, Moe's feet are standingon the ground again.

  • On-the-Set Injury
    When one of the gangsters punched Larry in the jaw, Larry actually chipped a tooth in real life as a result.

  • On-the-Set Injury
    Curly broke his leg in real life as a result from crashing inside the dumbwaiter.

  • Visible Wires
    You can see wires in the back of the Stooges'pants when they're being shot in the behind.

  • Wrong Facial Expression
    When the Stooges are spraying the three ladies with seltzer water, Phyllis Crane just stands there with a frozen expression and takes it, but after a few seconds, she realizes she's supposed to be laughing like the other two actresses are.

Stooge Routines   (2)
  • Bottom-less dumbwaiter
    The Stooges take turns going down the dumbwaiter. Curly goes first and accidentally breaks off the bottom by trying to lift the dumbwaiter back up when he's still standing inside. So when Moe and Larry try to go down the dumbwaiter afterwards, they end up falling through and crashing down in the basement on top of Curly.
    Also used in:  NUTTY BUT NICE

  • Post Office
    A Stooge says to a woman "Let's play 'Post Office'". The woman responds "Aw, that's a kid's game", then the Stooge says "Not the way I play it!"
    Also used in:  QUIZ WHIZZ

Stooge Trivia   (4)
  • Before shooting the scene where the players tackle the stooges and the cameramen, Moe insisted that doubles be used or they would not shoot it at all. Director McCarey had doubles on the set within an hour, and after the scene was shot, the cameramen and two of the stooges' doubles had broken arms and legs! The exception was Curly's double, who had heavy padding.
    Source: Moe Howard & The Three Stooges, by Moe Howard
    Added by xraffle on 2009-03-22 02:44:15
    Status: Confirmed
    Team Stooge Comments: Credit goes to- MR77100

  • Curly broke his leg after riding down the dumbwaiter.
    Source: The Three Stooges Scrapbook
    Added by xraffle on 2009-03-22 02:58:58
    Status: Confirmed

  • Larry lost a tooth when actor Joseph Young socked him in the jaw.
    Source: The Three Stooges Scrapbook
    Added by xraffle on 2009-03-22 02:59:37
    Status: Confirmed

  • The second and final Stooges short directed by Raymond McCarey.
    Source: Raymond McCarey (crew)
    Added by MR77100 on 2009-05-09 07:07:11
    Status: Confirmed
    Team Stooge Comments: Ray McCarey directed many of Shemp's solo shorts at Vitaphone in the '30s, and also directed Shemp in the RKO feature film MILLIONAIRES IN PRISION (1940).

Audio Files   (1)

Video File   (Y)


Transcript   (N)

There isn't a transcript available for this episode.


Videography   (1)

Fan Reviews   (14)
Re: THREE LITTLE PIGSKINS
2010-07-15 12:08:51 by Final Shemp

One of the best of the earliest Stooge shorts, in my opinion. Three Little Pigskins offers up a lot of bangs for your buck.
The short starts off promisingly enough, with the Stooges begging for change and playing Don Juan with three dames. Seeing the Stooges romance is always a treat. The short goes from good to great when the trio hits the football field, and display their unique sports abilities.
I howled in laughter at Larry's attempt to "block" a kick. The group's cluelessness of what to do once they get the ball had me in stitches.
A great effort, all around. And knowing there will be much more of these in the future just makes my mouth water.
Final Shemp's Final Word: 4 Pokes


Reviewer's Rating: (10)
Re: THREE LITTLE PIGSKINS
2010-03-30 13:17:13 by Gritto RhumBoogie
In my opinion, the first 4 poke Stooges short. This short has non-stop action, and has a great supporting cast. The Stooges' football jerseys are classic. It's funny because who would ever mistake the Stooges as football stars?

Reviewer's Rating: (10)
RE: THREE LITTLE PIGSKINS (1934)
2003-12-06 10:46:00 by CurlyQuuu
This is a fun short. Not only because I'm a football fan (but not a fanatic, that's reserved for my beloved Stooges), but also because of the chance to see Lucille Ball pre-red head, pre-Desi, pre-pretty much everything. Though she didn't exactly get a chance to shine in this two reeler, (let's face it, it's a Stooges short, not a DesiLu production), it is still nice to see her here.The mayhem is evenly distributed, and it seems that both Larry and Curly get their due abuse from Moe. Often it seemed as if the violence were directed primarily toward Curly (let's face it, he had great reaction shots), and Larry seemed resigned to standing off to the sideline and looking bemused. But here they both get theirs! The game is an absolute stitch, from the press wanting a picture, to the "You go that way, that way..." routine.This wouldn't neccessairly be one of my top ten Stooges shorts, but it's definitely in the top twenty!
RE: THREE LITTLE PIGSKINS (1934)
2003-11-01 11:06:00 by AndrewRB
This is a pretty good short. That dumbwaiter scene is a classic. The football is really good too, but they might have done it a little better in No Census, No Feeling.

Reviewer's Rating: (8)
Re: THREE LITTLE PIGSKINS
2003-04-05 02:21:00 by SwordOfDamacles
Another top 10 episode. What is it about the absolute stupidity of the dialogue in this short that gets me rolling? "I'll take a stein of gin!" "Wait a minute, did you get anything?" One thing I have always felt was overlooked in this short was Curly's 40 yard run before he stopped for the picture. Mayhap the score would have gone differently had he made it all the way to the end zone.

Reviewer's Rating: (10)
Re: THREE LITTLE PIGSKINS
2001-09-25 13:58:00 by Shemp_Diesel
This is a short where I find the stuff unrelated to the title is better than the antics that inspired it. Not to dismiss the stooges football follies, but what gets me rolling is kicked off when the boys are panhandling on the street & the hilarious scenes with the girls & as I said before Curly in that blindfold going peep peep puts me in stitches(not to mention that peck he gives Larry by mistake). 3 1/2 pokes

Reviewer's Rating: (9)
Re: THREE LITTLE PIGSKINS
2001-09-15 00:24:00 by ISLIPP
Walter Long... I think that's the name of the guy I'm thinking of that was in a few Laurel and Hardy films ("Pardon Us" as "the Tiger" and "Live Ghost" as the loading dock captain" There was also another one where he swore vengeance on L&H for testifying against him.) Anyway, very good short. I too liked seeing Lucille Ball here. This is the most attractive she ever looked. Why didn't she keep her hair blond? Even though I'm no fan of football, I'm a HUGE fan of seeing the Strooges ruin sports (especially those that I don't like).
Re: THREE LITTLE PIGSKINS
2001-09-14 09:16:00 by Genius In the Lamp
A tad uneven in spots, but still a very funny short. The seltzer fight is classic Stooges. And the football game is good for plenty of laughs.Besides Lucille Ball, there was another name actor in the short. Walter Long, who was a star in silent movies (his best known movie was "Birth Of a Nation"), played the lead gambler.

Reviewer's Rating: (8)
Re: THREE LITTLE PIGSKINS
2001-04-23 18:49:00 by Nicole
I love this short. I'm definetly NOT a sports fan, but I think this short is still great. Larry is my favorite stooge and I have as many "I Love Lucy" tapes as I have 3 Stooges tapes, so seeing Larry and Lucy together nearly knocked me out of my chair (I have bruises to proove it!). Anyway, great short (I can't stop kicking myself for recording over it) and VIVA STOOGES!!!!!!(If your wondering, all my friends say I'm weird)
Re: THREE LITTLE PIGSKINS
2001-03-03 23:44:00 by sickdrjoe
The first full-strength, 3 Stooges-as-we-know-them comedy (to me, anyway).The football game ranks with the one in HORSE FEATHERS. That 'amateur status' line (and the boys' reaction) really IS great. Can't understand why the Stooges didn't do more sportsthemed 2-reelers (not counting boxing/wrestling). Come to think of it, maybe Larry losing a tooth during filming had something to do with it.
Re: THREE LITTLE PIGSKINS
2001-01-06 14:11:00 by Uncle Mortimer
An all-out Stooge classic!! One of my favorites. It's almost like 3 shorts in one! I agree with G.B about Lucille Ball and all the rest of you below about this definate 4 POKER!!
Re: THREE LITTLE PIGSKINS
2001-01-05 20:45:00 by Shemp-Joe
Hilarious short subject! As a Lucille Ball fan, I love her appearance in this one. Although, she is easy to miss since she has none of her zany characteristics that made her famous on television. But, the Stooges well made up for all the zaniness Lucy lacked. Great film!
Re: THREE LITTLE PIGSKINS
2001-01-04 04:45:00 by Mike Holme
Some of the earlier shorts lacked humor, but this episode is an exception. The stooges are terrible football players. They never passed to anyone else, just each other. Their antics on the field were funny. I liked the seltzer fight the stooges had.
Re: THREE LITTLE PIGSKINS
2000-07-27 18:13:00 by Stooge
A very funny film the football scenes are great. Larry, in particular, has a lot of funny little moments. Like his hilarious yells when Moe pours hot water on his back and when he falls down the dumbwaiter, and his "Will the lady with the lucky number come and get me please?" line.

Reviewer's Rating: (9)


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