User Reviews

Moe Howard, Curly Howard, Larry Fine (themselves), John Tyrrell (B.O. Davis), Eddie Laughton (Pomeroy), Dorothy Appleby (Pomeroy's girlfriend), Vernon Dent (desk sergeant), Bruce Bennett, Lynton Brent (guards), Bert Young, Louis Mason (policemen), Johnny Kascier (second man to find wallet), Kit Guard (Gyp dePeople), Lew Davis (innocent pedestrian), Stanley Brown (arresting officer), Bud Jamison, Robert Williams.

Director: JULES WHITE. Screenplay: Felix Adler, Clyde Bruckman. Photography: Barney McGill. Film editor: Mel Thorsen. RCA Sound System. Producer: Jules White.

Copyright 13 February 1941 by Columbia Pictures Corporation. U.S. release: 7 February 1941. 2 reels. 1,579 feet. 17 minutes.

SYNOPSIS: The Stooges attempt to break an honest man out of jail.

NOTES: Number 53 of the 190 short subjects the Stooges made for Columbia.

Second last of 92 movies photographed by the great Barney McGill before his death at the early age of 51 on 11 January 1942.

COMMENT: The Stooges are not schoolteachers, as the title implies, but street cleaners. After fighting a losing battle with wonderfully litter-strewn streets, the boys are inveigled into setting a convict free. To do this, they have to get themselves thrown into jail first.

Plenty of fun in this one, with Curly in top form, assisted by a great support cast including Bruce Bennett in a very small but key part as a prison guard.

Directed by Jules White, with a supporting cast that includes John Tyrrell, Eddie Laughton, and Vernon Dent, "So Long Mr. Chumps" is something of an oddity in the Three Stooges catalogue of films. Moe, Larry, and Curly begin this short as bumbling street cleaners who find an envelope filled with bonds and return it to its "rightful owner" (Tyrrell). The Stooges are then hired by this "gentleman" to find him an honest man with executive ability. When the boys hear about a gentleman named Percy Pomeroy (Laughton), who resides in jail on false charges, they decide to try to break into jail in order to flee him.

Highlights from "So Long Mr. Chumps" include the following. As the boys diligently clean the street, Larry accidentally stabs Moe in the posterior while chasing after some trash blown in the air. While in jail, Curly accidentally bonks Moe on the head when he flings his shackle ball over his shoulder. And who could forget the Stooges' act of painting their prison clothes into guard uniforms (somehow neglecting their backs)? Equally unforgettable is Curly's closing ad-lib when Moe prepares to crush a rock over his head: "Hey, wait a minute! That's a real one. I'm no fool." This line receives an amusing reaction from Moe and especially Larry, thus proving that no harm could be done when an actor in a Stooge short briefly breaks out of character.