The Three Stooges
in Beer Barrel Polecats (1946)
The Stooges make a whole batch of homemade beer,Panther Pilsner, but
get tossed in jail when Curly sells some to a cop. Their minor
indiscretion turns into a forty year sentence when a keg of beer
Curly has hidden under his coat explodes while the boys are being
photographed. In prison the stooges get into more trouble with the
warden and wind on the rockpile when they try to escape. Released as
old men with long gray beards, the first thing Curly wants is a
bottle of beer.
Curly's Stokes and Combining old footage.
Curly Howard suffered a series of minor strokes prior to filming
Beer Barrel Polecats. As a result, his performance was marred by
slurred speech, and slower timing. He had also lost a great deal of
weight by the time filming began. Though his performance was more
spirited than most post-stroke films, he was unable to maintain the
vitality for the duration of the normal 4-5 day filming schedule. To
compensate for an unavailable Curly, director Jules White utilized
footage from In the Sweet Pie and Pie and So Long Mr. Chumps, which
featured a healthier and heavier Curly.
 
Curly gets painted in So Long Mr. Chumps. Footage from this film was
recycled in Beer Barrel Polecats. Upon hearing that Curly's absence
temporarily halted production on the profitable Stooge shorts,
Columbia Pictures president Harry Cohn forbade the ailing Stooge
from taking any future time off to regain his strength. It was a
disastrous course of action that would culminate with Curly
suffering a debilitating stroke on the set of Half-Wits Holiday in
May 1946.
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