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NOTE: THESE REPLIES ARE FROM THE LUNKHEAD'S ZONE EZBOARD
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DangerkittyToTheRescue
Applehead
Posts: 55
(2/6/05 2:22 am)
Reply | Edit | Del Re: #7 - POP GOES THE EASEL (1935)
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I liked this short, lots of funny lines.
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"Look at the grouse!"
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Curly,,,,"I'll bet you tell that to all the boys, I mean girls."
Moe,,,,"It might have been sunlight on the brook but it's now midnight on the ocean."
Curly,,,,"I haven't eaten food in three days."
Man,,,,"I wouldn't worry about it; it still tastes the same."
Going on memory here but isn't this the first short directed by Del Lord?
Lunkhead
Grand Imbezzle
Posts: 983
(2/9/05 8:35 pm)
Reply | Edit | Del
ezSupporter
Re: #7 - POP GOES THE EASEL (1935)
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isn't this the first short directed by Del Lord?
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Yes
DangerkittyToTheRescue
Applehead
Posts: 58
(2/9/05 10:50 pm)
Reply | Edit | Del Re: #7 - POP GOES THE EASEL (1935)
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we are treated to a great, messy clay fight finale
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Man alive, that clay fight must have hurt! That really must have stung, some of those blobs had some velosity on impact. Bet the boys were happy to see some soft pies after that short!
Bruckman64
Grapehead
Posts: 47
(2/11/05 11:33 am)
Reply | Edit | Del Re: POP GOES THE EASEL
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One of my all time favorites, a great blend of sight gags and vaudeville dialogue. Basically it's one long chase, with no more plot than evasding a persistent plainclothes cop, but they sure throw in enough variations to obviate any dead spots. Strucxturally it's made up of a lot of brief set pieces (with the exception of the climactic clay fight), which relates to the "blackout" format used in vaudeville sketches: in a way this film's a lot of little sketches linked by the threat of arrest. It also builds nicely on what was to become a very common Stooge theme: that of fitting into (or pretending to fit into) a structured society when they're so clearly outcasts. THREE LITTLE PIGSKINS touches on this theme, but here we get it in more developed form right from the opening scenes. The Stooges would enlarge on this upper/lower class dichotomy as the Thirties progressed, but this is really their first take on the idea.
Too bad there's not much market for social secretaries or bridge experts today. The dialogue may be too overly-gagged for some, though I think it fits the format perfectly:
"What would you do if you held the Queen alone?"
"That depends."
"Depends on what?"
"What time the King is expected back."
"To become a great artist, you must start at the bottom. So you may begin....by painting this floor."
"I am an artiste."
"I am an artist too!"
"Ohhh, a pair 'a drawers!"
For some reason the gagwriters around this time thought it would be funny to dress up Curly in drag, since we get him donning women's clothing in THREE LITTLE PIGSKINS, here, UNCIVIL WARRIORS (coming up), and MOVIE MANIACS, which is 4 appearances in drag in a little over a year.
One of the more oddball moments is Larry's mangled combination of Yiddish and pig latin when he's allegedly impersonating a foreign art student (seemingly Hindu). This is an unusual example of "performer" comedy from the Stooges, a common vaudeville practice, in which any plot or situation halts to permit the comedian to show off a particular skill or trait. The Stooges became masters at this but it's rare for Larry to be spotlighted this way. The use of Yiddish is both an inside joke and a common vaudeville gag: it was often used to create gags of incongruity, displacing context. (Eddie Cantor often used Yiddish expressions in just this same way, "breaking the frame" of his characerization or impersonation - as in many of Cantor's films, the comedian(s) here are layering various levels of characterization - they're actors pretending to be bums pretending to be art students pretending to be foreign art students - a very multilayered method of performance, but common in vaudeville formats).
The clay fight is a masterpiece of construction, building a little, slacking off, then crescendoing. Ends a little abruptly (Adler apparently was undecided how the film should end, since the original script calls for a variant ending).
Edited by: Bruckman64 at: 2/11/05 11:37 am
Lunkhead
Grand Imbezzle
Posts: 986
(2/12/05 11:46 am)
Reply | Edit | Del
ezSupporter
Re: POP GOES THE EASEL
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Curly in drag, since we get him donning women's clothing in THREE LITTLE PIGSKINS
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Ah, thanks Bruck. I forgot the boys were in nightgowns in THREE LITTLE PIGSKINS - dummy me. So Easel is actually the second drag short. (I revised the original post)
Megaloman
Lamebrain
Posts: 443
(2/24/05 7:27 pm)
Reply | Edit | Del
POP GOES THE EASEL
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i wonder if that was actual clay that was flung, since that would carry quite a wallop with it. it seems to have more of a dough like consistency, which would be better, since it's not ground rock getting thrown around!
David
http://megaloman.proboards24.com/index.cgi
Lunkhead
Grand Imbezzle
Posts: 990
(2/26/05 11:22 am)
Reply | Edit | Del
ezSupporter
Re: POP GOES THE EASEL
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Sounds logical. It probably was some lighter material.
stoogefan65
Wiseguy
Posts: 262
(3/2/05 4:28 am)
Reply | Edit | Del Re: POP GOES THE EASEL
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"Ixnay ackincray !! It's the opcay!!!"
Thomas Hedison
Applehead
Posts: 74
(3/14/05 7:04 am)
Reply | Edit | Del Re: #7 - POP GOES THE EASEL (1935)
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This short's one of the absolute best, IMO. What makes it is the clay fight, the Stooges' clay art on the easel scene, the other art jokes and Moe's big multiple slap at the end! It was also a nice touch to hear the "Pop Goes the Weasel" theme.
As interesting as it is that Moe and Larry's daughters have a scene in this short, I think it makes many fans overlook the humor in the scene-- 3 grown men playing hopscotch while running from the cop! I've always cracked up at that.