Hugs and Mugs
| Hugs and Mugs | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Jules White |
| Produced by | Jules White |
| Written by | Clyde Bruckman |
| Starring |
Moe Howard Larry Fine Shemp Howard Christine McIntyre Nanette Bordeaux Kathleen O'Malley Emil Sitka Joe Palma Pat Moran Wally Rose |
| Cinematography | Vincent J. Farrar |
| Edited by | Edwin H. Bryant |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 15' 57" |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Hugs and Mugs is the 121st 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.
Plot
After a prison stretch for shoplifting fur coats, three beautiful women search for a pearl necklace the police never found. They are watchful of a gang of mobsters that were out to get them before they went to prison. Unfortunately for them, the warehouse where they hid it sold the contents of the storage box that included the pearls, for back storage fees to three furniture repairmen, Moe, Larry and Shemp.
Moe is angry at Larry and Shemp for buying the contents of the storage box, thinking the pearls are a nothing more than a "string of beads." As the boys set about the task of fixing and pricing various pieces of furniture, Shemp's antics lead to Moe punishing both him and Larry. The girls follow the Stooges to their shop called "The Shangri-La", and pretend to flirt with them as a distraction, so they can search the shop for the necklace, resulting in the desecration of a chair by one of the girls played by Christine McIntyre. The Stooges and the girl argue over her destruction of the chair and she uses some of Moe's tactics to get back at them.
Shemp, convinced that the pearls are fake, tries to give the necklace to the girls, but their gangster ex-boyfriends are hot on their trail and track them down to the shop, demanding the necklace. Slapstick mayhem ensues when the Stooges come to the girls' defense, resulting in a six-man hand-to-hand brawl that ends in a large box full of stuffing. In the end, Shemp successfully lands blows on the head with an iron to the three gangsters, knocking them out cold. The girls run to their sides and decide there and then to give the pearls back to the rightful owners and disavow their criminal ways.
Production notes
Hugs and Mugs is one of several Stooge shorts in which a sofa spring manages to become attached to someone's backside. This gag was also used in Hoi Polloi, Three Little Sew and Sews, An Ache in Every Stake and Have Rocket, Will Travel.
