Although The Three Stooges were one of the more successful comedy entertainers between 1922 and 1970, the trio's three years, from 1940 to 1943, with Moe, Larry and Curly, have been tagged 'The Golden Age of the Stooges.' Cited as one of their best Columbia Pictures short films was April 1940's "A Plumbing We Will Go." The mayhem they created in a mansion by pretending they're plumbers has created an indelible picture in the mind of viewers of the immense talent they had possessed.
By this time in their film careers, the Stooges' shorts were relegated to two directors, Jules White and Del Lord, the later handled "A Plumbing We Will Go." The three comedians found themselves comfortably in a cohesive rhythm, their skits sharpened by each successive short. Curly ranked this film, the Stooges' 46th, as his favorite. Film reviewer Dennis Schwartz writes, "What makes this solid entertainment is that The Three Stooges execute to perfection a well-conceived sight gag." That sight gag is Curly's, one of the three pseudo-plumbers who finds himself encased in a circle of pipes while attempting to staunch a water leak in a bathtub. The Stooges' film was a remake of a 1934 short, 'Plumbing for Gold,' whose focus was a search for a lost ring. There have been several remakes of this Stooges' classic as well as reprises of a Stooge stuck in a maze of pipes, most notably Joe DeRita in the Stooges' late feature film, 1959's "Have Rocket Will Travel."
"A Plumbing We Will Go" contains a scene where the host of a party where the Stooges are busting pipes is introducing a television broadcast of Niagara Falls on her newly-purchased TV set. Although the television seen in the Stooges' film is simply a prop, the electronics company Dumont was selling televisions (not many) in the late 1930s with a price tag adjusted for inflation for over $7,500. NBC and CBS were early broadcasters on their New York City experimental stations, with the first major league baseball game sent over the airwaves in August 1939, followed by the first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade that November. African American actor Dudley Dickerson as the cook displays his dexterity confronting a water spray from his kitchen stove since the Stooges had hooked up a water pipe to the electricity pipes in the house. Dudley looks up and sees the ceiling lightbulb filling up with water before bursting. The scene inspired director Sam Raimi, known for his love of The Stooges, to duplicate a similar situation in his 1981 horror classic 'The Evil Dead,' showing a light bulb filling up with blood.
By this time in their film careers, the Stooges' shorts were relegated to two directors, Jules White and Del Lord, the later handled "A Plumbing We Will Go." The three comedians found themselves comfortably in a cohesive rhythm, their skits sharpened by each successive short. Curly ranked this film, the Stooges' 46th, as his favorite. Film reviewer Dennis Schwartz writes, "What makes this solid entertainment is that The Three Stooges execute to perfection a well-conceived sight gag." That sight gag is Curly's, one of the three pseudo-plumbers who finds himself encased in a circle of pipes while attempting to staunch a water leak in a bathtub. The Stooges' film was a remake of a 1934 short, 'Plumbing for Gold,' whose focus was a search for a lost ring. There have been several remakes of this Stooges' classic as well as reprises of a Stooge stuck in a maze of pipes, most notably Joe DeRita in the Stooges' late feature film, 1959's "Have Rocket Will Travel."
"A Plumbing We Will Go" contains a scene where the host of a party where the Stooges are busting pipes is introducing a television broadcast of Niagara Falls on her newly-purchased TV set. Although the television seen in the Stooges' film is simply a prop, the electronics company Dumont was selling televisions (not many) in the late 1930s with a price tag adjusted for inflation for over $7,500. NBC and CBS were early broadcasters on their New York City experimental stations, with the first major league baseball game sent over the airwaves in August 1939, followed by the first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade that November. African American actor Dudley Dickerson as the cook displays his dexterity confronting a water spray from his kitchen stove since the Stooges had hooked up a water pipe to the electricity pipes in the house. Dudley looks up and sees the ceiling lightbulb filling up with water before bursting. The scene inspired director Sam Raimi, known for his love of The Stooges, to duplicate a similar situation in his 1981 horror classic 'The Evil Dead,' showing a light bulb filling up with blood.