| Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Jules White |
| Produced by | Jules White |
| Written by | Andrew Bennison Mauri Grashin |
| Starring | Moe Howard Larry Fine Curly Howard Dick Curtis Eddie Laughton James Craig Eva McKenzie Dorothy Moore Lorna Gray Dorothy Comingore Richard Fiske |
| Cinematography | Henry Freulich |
| Editing by | Charles Nelson |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) | October 6, 1939 |
| Running time | 18' 13" |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise is the 42nd short subject starring American slapstick comedy team the Three Stooges. The trio made a total of 190 shorts for Columbia Pictures between 1934 and 1959.
Contents |
Once again, the Stooges are three hapless tramps. After nearly destroying a farmer's (Richard Fiske) pile of firewood, the boys come to the assistance of the Widow Jenkins (Eva McKenzie), who has just been cheated out of her land by a trio of swindlers (Dick Curtis, Eddie Laughton, James Craig). Attempting to fix the woman's well, the Stooges instead unleash an oil geyser. They manage to retrieve the deed to the land and are allowed to marry the now wealthy Widow Jenkins' daughters. Moe tells Curly to wish for quintuplets, and Curly replies, "We'll honeymoon in Canada!" (a reference to the Dionne quintuplets).
Moe Howard recalled in his autobiography that he received a glob of goo (representing oil) directly under his eyelids during shooting:
| “ | I remember once when the prop man concocted a smorgasbord of gook: chocolate, whipped cream, asbestos chips, linseed oil, ketchup, and other unknown goodies. Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise...was—what else—an oil well picture. The plot had us in one scene trying to repair a water pump. After many attempts, I took a screwdriver, knelt down, peered into the mouth of the pump, and jiggled the screwdriver inside of it. Gazing up the opening, I jiggled again and then looked up a third time. Suddenly, a blob of assorted gunk got me right in eye...and...it took hours to clean me up for the next scene.[1] | ” |
Moe would have a similar ordeal while filming 1946's The Three Troubledoers, when chunks of black soot became lodged under his eyelids.