Nutty but Nice
Directed byJules White
Written byFelix Adler
Clyde Bruckman
Produced byJules White
StarringMoe Howard
Larry Fine
Curly Howard
Ned Glass
John Tyrrell
Vernon Dent
Cy Schindell
Lynton Brent
Johnny Kascier
Harry Wilson
Bert Young
Lew Davis
Evelyn Young
Ethelreda Leopold
CinematographyJohn Stumar
Edited byMel Thorsen
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release date
  • June 14, 1940 (1940-06-14) (U.S.)
Running time
17:48
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Nutty but Nice is a 1940 short subject directed by Jules White starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard). It is the 47th entry in the series released by Columbia Pictures starring the comedians, who released 190 shorts for the studio between 1934 and 1959.

Plot

The Stooges are working as singing waiters at a restaurant and meet two doctors (Vernon Dent, John Tyrrell) who ask them to cheer up Betty Williams, a little girl who is sick from grief because her father (Ned Glass), a bank cashier, has been kidnapped while delivering $300,000 worth of bonds. The Stooges pay a visit to Betty dressed up as little girls with blonde sausage curls, but they fail to cheer her up. The Stooges then volunteer to go out and find the girl's missing father. The doctors give them a brief description of the father (middle-aged, bald-spot, an anchor tattoo, and 5'10" in his stocking feet). He and Betty like to yodel to each other, something Curly seems rather adept at.

The Stooges waste no time in stopping every suspect in sight and giving them the Stooge third degree. Frustrated, Curly starts yodeling, and after a few maladies that befall him (water, a flower pot, and a chair all crashing on his head), the boys hear a response from a radio of a yodelling Gene Autry parody that one of the kidnappers, Butch (Cy Schindell), has on. Butch is guarding Betty's father (Ned Glass) who is gagged and handcuffed to a bed. Mistaking the yodeling cowboy on the radio for the cashier, the Stooges follow the sounds and intercede, knock out Butch, and free Betty's father.

Just then, three other members of the gang return. The Stooges and the father barricade the room door and use the dumbwaiter to escape to the basement. The four men follow them downstairs where a fight ensues, plunging everything into darkness, leaving only Curly fully conscious afterward to light a candle. The cashier is reunited with Betty, who recovers from her lethargy, and the pair, along with the two doctors, are serenaded at the restaurant by the Stooges.

Production notes

Nutty but Nice was filmed from April 27 to May 2, 1940.[1] The film title is a play on the expression, "naughty but nice".[2]

The Stooges often went in drag, but this is the one case of their doing so in a good (as opposed to cowardly) cause.

References

  1. ↑ Pauley, Jim (2012). The Three Stooges Hollywood Filming Locations. Solana Beach, California: Santa Monica Press, LLC. p. 177. ISBN 9781595800701.
  2. ↑ Solomon, Jon (2002). The Complete Three Stooges: The Official Filmography and Three Stooges Companion. Comedy III Productions, Inc. pp. 172–173. ISBN 0-9711868-0-4.
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