In The Stooges' short film, March 1940 "Rockin' thru the Rockies," Jules White directed his fifth straight Stooges' short, finding the three as guides leading 'Nell's Belles,' three female entertainers with matron Nell (Katheryn Sheldon) as their chaperone supervisor, through the Indian-infested Rockies to their destination San Francisco. Strangely, the Stooges' 1945 feature film, 'Rockin' Thru the Rockies,' shares the same name as this 1940 short. Curly pays homage to Columbia Pictures' 1934 Academy Awards Best Picture winner "It Happened One Night." He mutters Clark Gables' famous line, "The walls of Jericho are falling," when he stumbles through a blanket-hung wall separating the ladies from the men inside a prefab stage cabin scampering from an intruding bear in their sleeping quarters. Gable labeled the wall 'Jericho' he set up made of bedsheets shielding him from Claudette Colbert in their shared motel room.
"Rockin' Thru the Rockies" was Lorna Gray's final Stooges' film before she left Columbia for Republic Pictures, where she excelled mostly in Westerns. Appearing as one of Nell's Belles was actress Dorothy Appleby, a former winner of the Miss Maine contest who was chosen by Rudolph Valentino as the prettiest of her competitors. The short is also known for Curly's enthusiastic chant, "Give 'em the axe, giving 'em the axe, right in the neck, right in the neck," a variation of Stanford University's well-known student body shout during football games popular during that era.
"Rockin' Thru the Rockies" was Lorna Gray's final Stooges' film before she left Columbia for Republic Pictures, where she excelled mostly in Westerns. Appearing as one of Nell's Belles was actress Dorothy Appleby, a former winner of the Miss Maine contest who was chosen by Rudolph Valentino as the prettiest of her competitors. The short is also known for Curly's enthusiastic chant, "Give 'em the axe, giving 'em the axe, right in the neck, right in the neck," a variation of Stanford University's well-known student body shout during football games popular during that era.