Production Information
Title: So Long, Mr. Chumps
Studio: Columbia
Short Number: 53
Release Date: February 7, 1941
Running Time: 17:32
“You, with that iron head of yours…! Now, I’m liable to pay for another hammer.”
(Moe)
Short Take
The Stooges are inept but honest street cleaners. When they come across an envelope filled with oil bonds in the trash, they return them to their owner, B.O. Davis (John Tyrrell). The grateful Davis offers them a five thousand dollar reward if they can find an honest man with executive abilities. An honest dog ultimately leads them to a weeping girl (Dorothy Appleby), who explains that her sweetheart has been unfairly jailed. The best way to talk to him, The Stooges figure, is to get arrested themselves. They land in the clink and track down their man, Percy Pomeroy (Eddie Laughton). With some black paint, they make their prison outfits look like guard uniforms and make their escape. Just as they are leaving, Davis is coming in — handcuffed to a detective and revealed as “Lone Wolf Louie, the biggest bond swindler in America.” The Stooges wind up back in jail, breaking rocks over Curly’s head.
Cast & Crew
| Directed by | Jules White |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Jules White |
| Written by | Felix Adler Clyde Bruckman |
| Starring | Moe Howard Larry Fine Curly Howard Dorothy Appleby John Tyrrell Eddie Laughton Vernon Dent Lew Davis |
| Cinematography | Barney McGill |
| Edited by | Mel Thorsen |
So Long, Mr. Chumps Trivia
- 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.
- Bud Jamison appeared in a scene where he was a policeman noticing The Stooges and Pomeroy’s girlfriend. But that scene did not make it in the final film.
- 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. This represents the only time The Three Stooges broke character on film.
- Bruce Bennett (a.k.a. Herman Brix, a former Olympic athlete and Tarzan actor) appears as one of the guards giving orders to The Stooges.
Production Notes
- So Long Mr. Chumps was filmed on July 25–30, 1940.
- The film title is a parody of the film Goodbye, Mr. Chips.
- The jail sequences were reused in Beer Barrel Polecats.
- So Long, Mr. Chumps is the second Stooges short to include not only the prison set, but also the famous fountain in the park at the Columbia Ranch. Can you name the short that first used the prison set? The park fountain appears in Flat Foot StoogesIt’s also the first to utilize the Gas and Electric Building also on the Columbia Ranch (now The Warner Bros. Ranch).
The Three Stooges on the set of So Long, Mr. Chumps
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