In the Stooges' final short of 1938, December's "Flat Foot," they revisit the fire house in their 35th short film. Shady salesman Mr. Reardon (character actor Dick Curtis in his film debut) drops a keg of dynamite inside the horse-driven fire truck because he's frustrated he was unable to sell the fire chief (Chester Conklin) a motorized vehicle. Meanwhile, the chief's daughter catches him in the act. She follows him upstairs at the firehouse, only to have both knocked out while a duck who's ingested the dynamite powder leaking from Reardon's keg lays an explosive egg at the window, setting off a fire. The Stooges as resident firemen, respond to the fire, thinking it's blocks away as they did in their earlier 1936's "False Alarm." They scamper away in their horse-drawn fire truck--without the horses but manned by a group of civilian volunteers-only to see their truck blow up.
Charley Chase was an efficient yet hasty director of the Three Stooges when filming their shorts. There's a couple of slipped lines said by Moe and Larry that the perceptive viewer can spot which Chase left in rather than reshoot. Larry also says Curly's trademark line, "I'm a victim of circumstance" for the first time. "Flat Foot Stooges," whose title was gleaned from the 1938 popular jazz song 'Flat Foot Floogee' by Slim and Slam, was filmed after "Three Little Sew and Sews," but released a month before. The tune 'Three Blind Mice' was first used in this Stooges' opening credits.
As the fire chief, actor Chester Conklin was a comedian in silent movies for Mack Sennett beginning in 1914, appearing in Charlie Chaplin's first short, "Making A Living." Chaplin and he became good friends for life, with Conklin acting alongside The Tramp in more than a dozen shorts as well as in 1935's "Modern Times" and 1940's "The Great Dictator." The 1950s were not kind to Conklin, who was unable to find work. He resorted during the holidays to play Santa Claus in a department store. He died in 1971 at 85, six years after his last film appearance, 1966's 'A Big Hand for the Little Lady.'
Charley Chase was an efficient yet hasty director of the Three Stooges when filming their shorts. There's a couple of slipped lines said by Moe and Larry that the perceptive viewer can spot which Chase left in rather than reshoot. Larry also says Curly's trademark line, "I'm a victim of circumstance" for the first time. "Flat Foot Stooges," whose title was gleaned from the 1938 popular jazz song 'Flat Foot Floogee' by Slim and Slam, was filmed after "Three Little Sew and Sews," but released a month before. The tune 'Three Blind Mice' was first used in this Stooges' opening credits.
As the fire chief, actor Chester Conklin was a comedian in silent movies for Mack Sennett beginning in 1914, appearing in Charlie Chaplin's first short, "Making A Living." Chaplin and he became good friends for life, with Conklin acting alongside The Tramp in more than a dozen shorts as well as in 1935's "Modern Times" and 1940's "The Great Dictator." The 1950s were not kind to Conklin, who was unable to find work. He resorted during the holidays to play Santa Claus in a department store. He died in 1971 at 85, six years after his last film appearance, 1966's 'A Big Hand for the Little Lady.'