Men in Black (1934 film)

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Men in Black
Directed by	Raymond McCarey
Produced by	Jules White
Written by	Felix Adler
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Curly Howard Dell Henderson Billy Gilbert Bud Jamison Jeannie Roberts 'Little Billy' Rhodes
Cinematography	Benjamin Kline
Editing by	James Sweeney
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	September 28, 1934
Running time	18' 02"
Country	United States
Language	English
Preceded by	Punch Drunks
Followed by	Three Little Pigskins
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Men in Black is the third short subject starring American slapstick comedy team the Three Stooges. The trio made a total of 190 shorts for Columbia Pictures between 1934 and 1959.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Production and significance 3 Notes 4 Quotes

[edit] Plot

The trio play med school graduates whose only credentials are that they had the highest temperatures in their class. They are hired as doctors at the "Los Arms Hospital" only because they have been in their senior class for too many years. The new graduates at the hospital are warned by the superintendent that three of them (the Stooges) are "not overly bright," but that their identities will be concealed as long as they promise to devote their lives to "the glorious cause of duty and humanity." The short consists of a series of skits in which the Stooges go from one patient to the next, making mistakes ranging from drinking a patient's medicine to sewing their tools inside a man on the operating table.

[edit] Production and significance

As one of the Stooges' first shorts, Men in Black contains the first appearance of many gags used in later shorts. For instance, this is the first of several Stooge shorts in which the Stooges charge into or out of an office with a door that has a large plate-glass window, slamming the door behind them and shattering the plate glass in the door. It is also the first of many shorts where the Stooges make a liquid concoction of something (in this case, medicine) by randomly pouring together various liquids with nonsensical names. The Stooges have several off-the-wall dialogues with nurses, particularly the "hiccuping nurse" played by Jeannie Roberts, who affects a girlish "Betty Boop"-like voice.

Finally, this short contains the first use of the recurring dispatcher line "Calling Doctor Howard, Doctor Fine, Doctor Howard" which appears in many future shorts. In this short, the three doctors get so sick and tired of the repeated calls that they tear down the dispatcher's call board and, when a small transmitter appears on the floor, quivering and still repeating "Doctor Howard! Doctor Fine! Doctor Howard!", they all take out handguns and shoot it dead.

Men in Black was a spoof on the Clark Gable and Myrna Loy 1934 movie Men in White, released earlier that year. The Stooges, in fact, wear mostly white outfits for this film. The short is also significant in that it was only time the trio would be nominated for an Academy Award for "Best Short Subject - Comedy".

Men in Black also represents an early use of what has come to be described as hammerspace. The Stooges go to the storage closet to acquire modes of transportation to get them to their patients. They are seen riding a three-man bicycle, a horse, and then individual go-carts out of the closet. These items would not likely fit in the storage closet's space.

[edit] Notes

• A colorized version of this film was released in 2004. It was part of the DVD collection entitled "Goofs on the Loose."
• This short was the basis for the "Hospital" option in the Three Stooges video game.
• The opening title music is a jazzy 'big band' style melody that is unique to both Men in Black and the previous film, Punch Drunks.
• The renowned comedian Billy Gilbert (the mental patient) makes his first appearance with the Stooges. He would appear in several other Stooges shorts.

[edit] Quotes

• Moe: "Spread out!" - recurring line

• Moe, Larry, and Curly: "For duty and humanity!" - repeated line

• Dispatcher: "Calling Doctor Howard, Doctor Fine, Doctor Howard." - repeated line

• • Dispatcher: "Calling Doctor Howard, Doctor Fine, Doctor Howard."
  • Moe: "Shut up!"
  • Dispatcher: "Shut up yourself!"

• • Moe: "Take this carriage out."
  • Larry: "I'll take it when I'm ready!"
  • Moe (menacingly): "Are you ready?"
  • Larry (meekly): "Yeah, I'm ready."

• • Curly: "Pardon me while I laugh. Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk..."

• • Dr. Graves: "How'd you find the patient in room 86?"
  • Moe: "Under the bed."
  • Dr. Graves: "How'd you find the patient in room 72?"
  • Larry: "Up on a chandelier."
  • Dr. Graves: "What did you do for him?"
  • Curly: "Nothin'! What did he ever do for us?"
  • Dr. Graves (angrily): "What are you working here for?"
  • All three Stooges: "For duty and humanity!"

• • Nurse: "Should I give him some more sodium amatol?"
  • Larry: "Nah. Give him a Coca-Cola."
  • (Dr. Graves rises up.)
  • Dr. Graves: "No. Schnapps."
  • (Curly hits Dr. Graves in the head with a hammer.)
  • Dr. Graves (As he falls back): "Oooh."

• • Woman (seeing the Stooges): "Gee, the joint is haunted."
  • Curly: "How old are you?"
  • Woman: "I'm 35."
  • Curly: "Naw, you couldn't get that fresh in thirty-five years!"

• • Curly (to Moe, who's patiently holding a telephone to his ear): "Say, there's nobody on your line."
  • Moe: "I know, but I'm expecting a call."

• • Moe: "Do you know what a pippin is?"
  • Nurse: "That's an apple with its skin on the outside."
  • Moe (just about at the breaking point); "Have you ever seen an apple with its skin on the inside?
  • Nurse: "Oh, sure I did!"
  • Larry (astonished): "Yeah, Where?"
  • Nurse: "In homemade apple pie."

(all three Stooges faint at this answer.)

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