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So Long Mr. Chumps

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So Long Mr. Chumps
Directed byJules White
Written byFelix Adler
Clyde Bruckman
Produced byJules White
StarringMoe Howard
Larry Fine
Curly Howard
Dorothy Appleby
John Tyrrell
Eddie Laughton
Vernon Dent
Lew Davis
CinematographyBarney McGill
Edited byMel Thorsen
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release date
  • February 7, 1941 (1941-02-07) (U.S.)
Running time
17:23
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

So Long Mr. Chumps is a 1941 short subject directed by Jules White starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard). It is the 53rd entry in the series released by Columbia Pictures starring the comedians, who released 190 shorts for the studio between 1934 and 1959.

Plot

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The Stooges are incompetent yet sincere street cleaners. Upon discovering a discarded envelope containing oil bonds, they dutifully return it to its rightful owner, B.O. Davis. Grateful for their integrity, Davis offers them a reward of five thousand dollars on the condition that they locate an honest individual possessing executive capabilities.

Guided by an upright canine, the Stooges encounter a distressed young woman who reveals that her beloved has been unjustly imprisoned. To facilitate communication with the incarcerated man, the Stooges devise a plan to intentionally land themselves in jail. Once incarcerated, they successfully locate the individual in question, Percy Pomeroy.

Employing resourcefulness, the Stooges modify their prison attire to resemble guard uniforms using black paint, enabling their escape. However, their freedom is short-lived as they inadvertently encounter Davis, who is revealed to be "Lone Wolf" Louie, a notorious bond swindler. Consequently, both Davis and the Stooges find themselves incarcerated once more.

Cast

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Credited

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Uncredited

  • Eddie Laughton as Percy Pomeroy, Convict 41144
  • Dorothy Appleby as Pomeroy's girlfriend
  • John Tyrrell as B. O. Davis/Lone Wolf Louie
  • Vernon Dent as desk sergeant
  • Blackie Whiteford as policeman in precinct
  • Bert Young as first policeman
  • Louis Mason as second policeman
  • George Gray as "blind" man
  • Johnny Kascier as second wallet finder
  • Kit Guard as Gyp DePeople
  • Sam Lufkin as policeman who arrests the Stooges
  • Lew Davis as laughing pedestrian
  • Bruce Bennett as truck driver/prison guard at rockpile
  • Lynton Brent as prison guard with painted face
  • Al Morino as convict on rockpile
  • Neal Burns as convict painting in prison yard
  • Stanley Brown as officer in charge of B. O. Davis/Lone Wolf Louie
  • Charlie Phillips as officer handcuffed to B. O. Davis/Lone Wolf Louie[1]

Production notes

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So Long Mr. Chumps was filmed on July 25–30, 1940.[2] The film title is a parody of the film Goodbye, Mr. Chips.[3] The jail sequences were reused in Beer Barrel Polecats.[3]

When the Stooges drop their iron balls that are chained to their legs, the sounds that are heard are again the NBC Chimes, a gag recycled from the team's 1937 short Back to the Woods.[3]

Bud Jamison appeared in a deleted scene where he was a policeman noticing the Stooges and Pomeroy's girlfriend.[3]

In the final scene, where Moe and Larry were breaking rocks over Curly's head, Larry picks up what seems to be a rather heavy rock. Curly notices the rock and replies, "Hey, wait a minute! That's a real one! I'm no fool." Curly then chuckles, while Larry and Moe smile. Often regarded as an unscripted moment, it was later determined that exchange was scripted in advance, as it appeared in director Jules White's final shooting script.[1] The exchange might have started out as improv while the scene was being rehearsed.

Bruce Bennett (aka Herman Brix, a former Olympic athlete and Tarzan actor) appears in dual roles as both a truck driver and as one of the guards giving orders to the Stooges.[1][3]

Laurel and Hardy had painted their prison uniforms white in 1927's The Second Hundred Years. They were also trash collectors in 1939's A Chump at Oxford.[3]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "So Long Mr. Chumps (1941)". threestooges.net. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  2. ^ Pauley, Jim (2012). The Three Stooges Hollywood Filming Locations. Solana Beach, California: Santa Monica Press, LLC. pp. 239–243. ISBN 9781595800701.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Solomon, Jon (2002). The Complete Three Stooges: The Official Filmography and Three Stooges Companion. Comedy III Productions, Inc. p. 187. ISBN 0-9711868-0-4.
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