False Alarms

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False Alarms (1936) is the 17th of Columbia Pictures' 190 short subjects starring the comedy team of the Three Stooges.

[edit] Plot

The Stooges are firemen who are constantly getting in trouble, and they've been warned that one more incident will cost them their jobs. Curly sneaks out to visit his girlfriend Mayzie anyway. She has two friends who need dates, so Curly tries to get Moe and Larry to join him. But the only way he knows to get Moe and Larry out of the fire station is to pull a fire alarm.

[edit] Notes

The captain in this short mentions what he would do to the Stooges "if this were the army". The same actor played the Stooges' army sargeant in Half Shot Shooters.

This short features one of the most unique eye pokes in the Stooge shorts. Moe and Curly are talking on the telephone, and Curly calls Moe a coward. So Moe pokes the receiver of his phone with two fingers, and Curly reacts in pain when he "receives" the eye poke on the other end of the line.

At one point in the short, Moe sticks out his fist to Curly and says, "See that?", which is a recurring joke in which Moe swings his fist around and bops Curly on the head. But the Stooges are being chased, so this time Curly says, "You ain't got time...here comes the captain!" and the Stooges scurry away. Curly also tries the trick twice in this short, again unsuccessfully.

[edit] Quotes

• • [The bell at the fire station is ringing.]
  • Moe: "Hey, do you hear a bell?"
  • Larry: "What?"
  • Moe: "I said do you hear a bell?"
  • Larry: "What'd you say?"
  • Moe: "The bell! The bell!"
  • Larry: "I can't hear you on account of the bell!"

• • Curly (to Moe): "I got soap in my eyes! I can't see!"
  • [Moe pokes Curly in the eyes.]
  • Curly: "Oh, there ya are."

• • Captain: "You're fired! And if this were the army, I'd have you shot at sunrise!"
  • Curly: "But you couldn't do that, captain. We don't get up that early."

• • Moe: "Aw, captain, give us another chance, will ya? We'll put a fire out single-handed."
  • Larry: "We'll put two fires out double-handed."
  • Curly: "We'll even start a fire and have you put it out."

• • Larry (to Moe): "She's got a couple new girls for us to meet, too!"
  • Moe: "Oh, a blind date, eh?"
  • Curly: "She ain't blind...she may be a little hard of hearin'."

• • [The telephone is ringing.]
  • Moe (to Larry): "Don't you hear that bell?"
  • Larry: "What?"
  • Moe: "You gonna start that again?"
  • [Moe slaps Larry.]

• • Minnie: "You'll like me after we get acquainted. I grow on people."
  • Curly: "So do warts."

• • [Moe and Larry hop in a car.]
  • Moe: "Is there any gas in the tank?"
  • Larry: "The arrow points halfway...I don't know if it's half empty or half full."