Fright Night

*POW “There goes Shemp with a left jab!”* *POW “There goes Shemp with a right uppercut!”* *POW “There goes Shemp with a haymaker!”* *POW “There goes Shemp.”* The first post-Curly short, Fright Night is the first Three Stooges-branded short starring Shemp Howard and stars him in a very big role. In this short, the Stooges manage a boxer challenging the champion and are set on properly training him (by having him beat on Shemp) until a member of the mob shows up to threaten the Stooges because the boss has money on the champ. The Stooges do their darndest to pull this off, but inadvertently break the champ’s hand right before the big fight. Chaos ensues as the Stooges dodge and run for their lives! I think this short is a great introduction to the comedy of Shemp Howard, as he does some bits here that really shine. One I particularly like is when he and the other two are cornered by the mob and Shemp begs for his life, talking about progressively smaller and smaller kid brothers and even getting the sympathy of the man holding the gun, and when he gets low enough… BAM! right in the nose. He tries it again a little later, but this time it doesn’t work and he’s turned into a battering ram to knock down a metal door. His goofiness as he prepares for a sparring session with their client is also great as he stumbles and struggles and even manages to lay a few hits. I really think he’s growing into my favorite Stooge, but I’m not quite sure yet. That doesn’t mean Moe and Larry don’t get their moments, though! There’s a brief nod to Spook Louder in which Larry hits Moe without realizing it and when he turns a corner and sees Moe tells him how he proudly knocked one of the mob men down, only for Moe to have Larry describe him and get angry when Larry finally realizes that he actually hit Moe. Moe, meanwhile, gets a great bit where he does all the movements puppet style on a knocked out mobster in front of his boss, and it works for a second there! Really ingenious comedy work from the trio on this one. All in all, a very fun Stooge short!