Three Dark Horses
Three Dark Horses is a 1952 short subject directed by Jules White starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Shemp Howard). It is the 142nd entry in the series released by Columbia Pictures starring the comedians, who released 190 shorts for the studio between 1934 and 1959.
| Three Dark Horses | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Jules White |
| Produced by | Jules White |
| Written by | Felix Adler |
| Starring | Moe Howard Larry Fine Shemp Howard Kenneth MacDonald Ben Welden Bud Jamison |
| Cinematography | Henry Freulich |
| Edited by | Edwin Bryant |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 16:31 |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Plot
The Stooges are janitors-turned-delegates after being recruited to support bad news political candidate Hammond Egger. Egger's corrupt campaign manager Bill Wick (Kenneth MacDonald) and his assistant Jim Digger (Ben Welden) are desperate after the original three delegates departed the campaign after realizing Egger was rotten. Upon finding the bumbling Stooges, who nearly destroy Digger's toupee after vacuuming it from his head, Wick is enthralled. He hires the Stooges outright, and lays out their responsibilities as delegates. They gladly accept and start caucusing.
It does not take long for the Stooges to realize that Egger is a crook, and throw their votes to opposing candidate Abel Lamb Stewer. When Wick finds out that his new boys have double-crossed him, he comes looking for revenge, with the trio defeating Wick and Digger in a wild fight with the boys winning by capsizing them in the bathtub.
Production notes
Though he never appears in the film, a photo of candidate Hammond Egger appears several times in Three Dark Horses. The photo is actually of supporting actor Bud Jamison, who died suddenly in 1944. The inclusion of his photo in the film was done as tribute to the late actor, whose talents were missed during the post-Curly Howard era. This is the sixteenth and final Stooge short with the word "three" in the title.[1] Hammond Egger is a pun on "ham and egger," a slang term for someone working a menial job, the inference being that ham and eggs (a relatively cheap dish) would be the only substantial thing he could afford to eat.
Three Dark Horses was filmed on August 26–28, 1952 and released October 16, 19 days before the actual 1952 United States presidential election between Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower and Democrat Adlai Stevenson II.[1]
References
- Solomon, Jon (2002). The Complete Three Stooges: The Official Filmography and Three Stooges Companion. Glendale, California: Comedy III Productions, Inc. pp. 408–409. ISBN 0-9711868-0-4.
External links
