Production Information
Title: Slippery Silks
Studio: Columbia
Short Number: 19
Release Date: December 27, 1936
Running Time: 17:15
“Is this work in competent hands?” “Coitainly, we’re all incompetent!”
(Vernon Dent and Curly)
Short Take
Mr. Morgan borrows a valuable antique Chinese cabinet worth $50,000 from the museum, wanting an exact duplicate made, only to have three bungling carpenters (the Stooges) destroy it. After the Stooges flee, they find that they’ve inherited their Uncle Pete’s dress shop, the “Madame de France.” Mrs. Morgan has the new owners put on a fashion show for her friends, where Mr. Morgan finds the vandals who ruined the cabinet and exacts his revenge!
Cast & Crew
| Directed by | Preston Black |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Jules White |
| Written by | Ewart Adamson |
| Starring | Moe Howard Larry Fine Curly Howard Symona Boniface Vernon Dent William Irving Eddie Laughton Jack “Tiny” Lipson June Gittelson Lew Davis |
| Cinematography | Benjamin H. Kline |
| Edited by | William A. Lyon |
Trivia
- Moe Howard stated in his autobiography that over 150 pies were thrown. The pie fight scenes were used in the Muppet Babies episode, “Good, Clean, Fun”.
- The ending theme of “Listen to the Mockingbird” features different instrumentation.
- Slippery Silks the Stooges first bona fide pie/pastry fight. While the fight primarily consists of cream puffs, there is one pie launched during the melee when Curly accidentally steps in front of Moe’s line of fire to grab a “lucky penny”, and stands back up just in time to get hit in the face with a pie. The first short that featured a pie fight of sorts was in Pop Goes the Easel, in which sculptor’s clay is thrown at unsuspecting targets.
- During the pastry fight, the supporting cast ran out of cream puffs! They had to scrape every ounce of cream off the floor, along with the dirt and sawdust, to finish the short.
Production Notes
Slippery Silks was filmed on June 10–15, 1936.
