Pest Man Wins
| Pest Man Wins | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Jules White |
| Produced by | Jules White |
| Written by | Felix Adler |
| Starring |
Moe Howard Larry Fine Shemp Howard Margie Liszt Nanette Bordeaux Emil Sitka Vernon Dent |
| Cinematography | Fayte Brown |
| Edited by | Edwin Bryant |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 16' 01" |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Pest Man Wins is the 136th 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. This short was released in 1951 and features Shemp Howard, Moe Howard and Larry Fine.
Plot
The Stooges are pest exterminators who decide to drum up business by planting mice, moths, and ants in an unsuspecting house. Shemp and Larry carry around a large bag full of cats. They select a fancy mansion where a high society dinner party is being held. The hostess (Margie Liszt) has several dozen pies and pastries set out on tables. After successfully infesting the house with pests, the trio are predictably hired to clean up their own mess without interrupting the party.
Shemp, with Larry's help, hides their bag of cats in the hostess' piano. Larry tries out his rat-poison filled cheese on an unsuspecting Moe. When a mouse accidentally gets into party guest/pianist Mr. Philander's (Vernon Dent) suit jacket, he screams as he jumps up and down. The Stooges join in, thinking he's dancing. The Stooges join in until the mouse escapes, and runs along the floor with Larry chasing it with a hammer. He misses twice while trying to smash the mouse, resulting in hitting a man and a maid's feet.
One highlight is the piano recital, whereby Johann Strauss II's "Blue Danube Waltz" is being played by Mr. Philander. A chorus of cats replies, bewildering the audience and Mr. Philander. Chaos ensues inside suddenly when a mouse enters the piano, agitating the cats. When Mr. Philander opens the top to the piano, four cats fly out. Moe forces Larry to retrieve the rest of the cats only to get stuck inside the piano. They end up destroying it with hilarious results.
After the piano incident passes, the Stooges start loitering around the pastry table. The butler (Emil Sitka) scolds Larry for trying to steal the silver salt and pepper shakers, only to have hidden silver utensils fall out of his sleeve. One things leads to another, and a massive pie fight ensues. After Moe attempts to clean off his hair using the filled punchbowl, Shemp shoves him into the drink. As they argue, the hostess hits all three of them in the head with a pole.
Production notes
The title Pest Man Wins is a parody of the expression "the best man wins."[1] It is a remake of 1936's Ants in the Pantry using minimal of stock footage. In addition, pie fight footage was recycled from In the Sweet Pie and Pie and Half-Wits Holiday.[2]
According to Larry Fine, in the updated version of The Three Stooges Scrapbook, the pie fight (which recycled footage from the short In the Sweet Pie and Pie), they had run out of pies during that short, and one of the workers on set had to scoop up remains from the floor to remake the pies.
References
- ↑ http://threestooges.net/episode.php?id=135
- ↑ Solomon, Jon. (2002) The Complete Three Stooges: The Official Filmography and Three Stooges Companion; Comedy III Productions, Inc., ISBN 0-9711868-0-4
