Topic: Tassels in the Air (1938)

[metaldams]

http://www.threestooges.net/filmography/episode/30
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030834/?ref_=fn_al_tt_3

The first short directed by Charley Chase.  The Charley Chase era does have some controversy with Stooge fans, but I have to imagine that it's later shorts, because I see nothing that can be considered wrong with this one.  If anything, we have a classic on our hands.

I've always enjoyed the way the boys are introduced with Larry and Curly playing checkers with paint cans on floor tiles.  I always thought this was quite funny.  The pig Latin scene is also pretty iconic, and it's great the way O'May the name is introduced into the plot as confusion for O'May the interior decorator.

I've always been a fan of the mistaking paint for coffee while painting the table gag.  I just saw that gag in a latter Bowery Boys film, which Elwood Ullman wrote a lot for, and I know this gag appeared in an early talkie Charley Chase film (I wanna say Luncheon At Twelve, it's been awhile since I've seen it), so this is another case of the comedy world being incestuous with gags.

The boys are all in great form, with Curly getting to ham it up again, this time at the sight of a tassel as opposed to Weasel or Hyacinth.  The people who think of this stuff are genius.  Such innocuous objects.  A tassel?  I'd have Curly go crazy over bacon.  That's innocuous enough, and perhaps I just have bacon on the brain because I'm going to Denny's soon.  Mmmmmmm, bacon.

I also like Bess Flowers and Bud Jamison in this one.  Bess Flowers makes no bones about the fact she's out to impress the world while Bud doesn't give a shit, he was just a letter carrier who ran into money.  Nice dynamic there, the kind of thing I never appreciated when I was younger, so much younger than today.  I like Bud's spotted paint gag as well.

Classic Larry moment in this one would be him gazing at the camera with sad expression, white paint splattered all over his face.

10/10

[Shemp_Diesel]

Hmmm, the Charley Chase era. Tassels has all the makings of a short that should be a classic, yet there seems to be something missing & I'm not sure what it is exactly, I just feel that I should have been laughing more than I was.

Don't get me wrong, there are some funny bits here; the stencils on the wrong doors, the pig-latin exchange, the table painting gags--although, if I had to be honest, those table painting scenes were pulled off much better in A Snitch in Time.

Curly's going nuts over tassels didn't evoke quite as much gut busting laughter from me as Wild Hyacinth did, and the whole tassels business never seems to go anywhere anyway. Plus the ending is one of those that leaves me with the feeling of "really, that's the end, shouldn't there be more?"

Makes me wonder what Del Lord could have done with this material.

Overall, I would rate Tassels a solid 7, but as I said, it could have been much higher. Maybe it's just me...

 

[metaldams]

Hmmm, the Charley Chase era. Tassels has all the makings of a short that should be a classic, yet there seems to be something missing & I'm not sure what it is exactly, I just feel that I should have been laughing more than I was.

Don't get me wrong, there are some funny bits here; the stencils on the wrong doors, the pig-latin exchange, the table painting gags--although, if I had to be honest, those table painting scenes were pulled off much better in A Snitch in Time.

Curly's going nuts over tassels didn't evoke quite as much gut busting laughter from me as Wild Hyacinth did, and the whole tassels business never seems to go anywhere anyway. Plus the ending is one of those that leaves me with the feeling of "really, that's the end, shouldn't there be more?"

Makes me wonder what Del Lord could have done with this material.

Overall, I would rate Tassels a solid 7, but as I said, it could have been much higher. Maybe it's just me...

 

A SNITCH IN TIME....now that's the era where the budgets were low so the boys would just be stuck in a room and work a slapstick scenario like the coffee/paint gag for all it's worth.  That's a GOOD thing, mind you.  I may have to agree the gag is better in that short for that very reason, but it still comes off well here.

About the tassel gag going nowhere, I agree it's not incorporated into the plot as well as Curly going crazy in earlier shorts, but the pig Latin gag being incorporated well somewhat makes up for that.  I still find the bit humorous, though.  Curly's reactions are spot on as usual, and I get a good laugh when Moe rips Larry's hair out and tickles Curly's chin with it.

As far as the ending, I wouldn't call it one of the great Stooge endings, but overall, Stooge endings aren't usually that good to begin with.  Of course there are exceptions, but this one in particular isn't that bad to me.  At least the plot comes to some final conclusion with the boys being outed as frauds, the real O'May pissed off, Bess Flowers losing her friends, and most importantly, a nice visual of the boys covered in paint.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, the bit where Curly treats the iron thing a ma jig at the bottom of the cookoo clock as corn on the cob was also done by Chase himself in the Columbia short THE WRONG MISS WRIGHT.

[Lefty]

"O'May"?  Sounds like something that should be in a name group like "Goldberg, Goldblatt, Goldstein, and O'May."

Either way, Omay or Oy Vey, this is a good short.  I never knew what Igpay Atinlay was until I saw this short in the 1960s.  And it took me quite a while to figure out that "Urlycay" was the Pig Latin form of Curly.

This was the last Curly short in which he went crazy over something specific (Pop Goes the Weasel for sound, Wild Hyacinth for smell, mice for sight/touch, and tassels for sight).

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go mix up a batch of spotted paint.  I think I left it in the office marked "Building Superintendent."  Watch out for that first step.   

[Kopfy2013]

I may be Umday but this is a classic.

"You are Umday in any language" is one of the most memorable lines to me in Stooge history.  "Niagara Falls"beats it but that is for another day.

Larry and Curly playing checkers. Curly seeing a possible move for Larry and trying to hide it.... The Latin instruction. The conversation with Moe and Larry immediately preceding it.  Curly's look while trying to learn Pig Latin... Making spotted paint .... Vernon Dent going down the shaft ... Painting the cuckoo once an hour ... Painting the "secondhand" table ... To me the highlights go on and on.

Charley Chase is off to a fantastic start

[JazzBill]

This is a good short with a lot of funny gags. The boys are in top form, especially Curly. As mentioned before,  there is something that sets Curly off.  This time it is tassels, which gives him opportunities to act up. I also like the bit when Moe and Larry are trying to explain Pig Latin to him. This is a good solid short and I rate it 8 1/2. 

[falsealarms]

For some reason, I'm not quite as big on this one as some are. It has its moments, but just grades out as an average to slightly above average Curly offering.

1938 gets much better with offerings like HEALTHY, WEALTHY & DUMB, VIOLENT IS  THE WORD FOR CURLY, MUTTS TO YOU, and FLAT FOOT STOOGES. I'm probably higher on the latter two than most are.

[metaldams]

For some reason, I'm not quite as big on this one as some are. It has its moments, but just grades out as an average to slightly above average Curly offering.

1938 gets much better with offerings like HEALTHY, WEALTHY & DUMB, VIOLENT IS  THE WORD FOR CURLY, MUTTS TO YOU, and FLAT FOOT STOOGES. I'm probably higher on the latter two than most are.

FLAT FOOT STOOGES better than TASSELS IN THE AIR?  This should get fun in the coming months.   

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

This is another one like Pain In The Pullman, IMHO.  If you don't like this one, you just don't like the Stooges.  You don't need to know any history, any behind-the-scenes gossip, nothing.  Just turn it on and there you go.  Plenty of action, good jokes, Curly goes nuts, Dent falls down an elevator shaft, Bud fails to mix spotted paint, a snooty bridge club sashays away with folding chairs painted to their asses, let's face it, it doesn't get any more recherche than this.
     It has been noted by someone else on this site who has attended live screenings in actual cinemas that oftentimes during these episodes laughs come in unexpected places, so most of us unfortunates who have only seen these on video are at a permanent disadvantage, since video is not the medium that these things were created for.  This is a roundabout way of saying that I bet in a real movie theater, this one gets roars.                                                                                                       

[Kopfy2013]

Great points Chief!

[Larrys#1]

FLAT FOOT STOOGES better than TASSELS IN THE AIR?  This should get fun in the coming months.   

I agree. Tassels In The Air is a great short and one of my favorites. Curly going wild when he sees Tassels, the stooges putting signs on the wrong doors, the stooges painting all over each other, and the girls sitting on the wet painted chairs. A lot of good stuff in this short.

10/10

[BeatleShemp]

This short is such a riot. Everything mentioned above says it. I love the bit where Larry has Moe carry him down the steps so he doesn't spoil the paint, only to have Moe do it. I also loved where Moe rips out a chunk of Larry's hair to substitute the paintbrush. I think it was also the first time Larry's hair was pulled out, which would be a running gag in later shorts.

[ManiacMan]

One of my all time favorites. A classic story and a good guest cast make this one of the standouts of the Curly era. Charley Chase was a great Stooge director. 10/10

[Paul Pain]

An odd short.  I will always want to mix a batch of spotted paint.

[Dr. Mabuse]

With the exception of "Violent is the Word for Curly," the best Charley Chase-directed short. "Tassels in the Air" has it all — except for a satisfying finish (I always found the jumpcut in the middle of the closing shot rather jarring).  A Stooge classic nonetheless.

9/10

[MrHaroldG2000]

A possible goof: Immunity from tassels.
If tassels made Curly go crazy, why didn't he do so after yanking the one out of Maggie's purse?