Topic: Heavenly Daze (1948)

[metaldams]

http://www.threestooges.net/filmography/episode/109
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040429/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QJefs3HMwI4

Watch HEAVENLY DAZE in the link above



      Fun and morbid fact - for the second short in a row, a supporting player is dead upon release of the short.  This time it's Mr. DePeyster, played by Victor Travers.  Film shot in June 1947, he passes May of 1948, short released in September of 1948.  Mrs. DePeyster, played by the great Symona Boniface, is looking noticeably older here than in previous appearances as well.  She still sells those whip cream face shots like a pro, just like the old days.  She has a short and TV pilot appearance ahead of her, but she'd pass on a few years after filming this too.

      Onto the fun stuff, this one ranks as another classic.  A really wonderful and creative story.  The idea of Shemp being sent to Earth to reform Moe and Larry is a nice touch, reminds me of Clearance earning his wings in IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE to an extent.  The Heaven setting is bare bones, but in an endearing way to my tastes.  Love the cheap little cloud that rolls by and the phony lightning bolt, the low budget adding to the humor. Jules White's train announcer (yes, that's the voice of Jules), Moe's Uncle Mortimer, and Shemp's infatuation with Miss Jones rank as other highlights of the scene.  Like the way Shemp's wings go up for Miss Jones, I guess Shemp doesn't need Cialis. 

      The business back on Earth where Moe tries to rob Larry of the money but asking new questions to bring the money count up is straight out of the Bud Abbott playbook!  Oh, and yes, the idea of anybody desiring a fountain pen writing under whipped cream is ludicrous.  However, the ludicrousness of this is the point of the humor as it makes the DePeyster's look stupid.  How could such morons obtain such wealth and status?  In their dreams?  No, but in Shemp's dream, because this is his dream after all.  Strange things happen in dreams.  Reminds me of Buster Keaton in SHERLOCK, JR.  Buster in real life interviews states he liked to avoid cartoonish gags once he got to feature films as he felt the need to tell a believable story.  He got around that in SHERLOCK, JR. because half that film is in a dream sequence.  Same concept applies here.

      Oh, and to you folks praising Sam McDaniel, I agree 100%.  He underplays much more than a Dudley Dickerson would with his scare reactions, but he's no less effective, or funny.

10/10

[Shemp_Diesel]

Well, I've thrown a bunch of bouquets at this particular short before & I see no reason to stop now. Daze definitely falls into my Shemp top 10 and in particular, one-time supporting player Sam McDaniel--playing the frightened butler--nearly steals the short with his performance.

I think Sam would be on the top of my list, as far as supporting players I would have liked to see more of--the only other movies I've seen Sam in was Son of Dracula and The Naughty Nineties.

As far as the stooges themselves, Shemp once again shows that he could dominate a short, like he did in Brideless and like his brother Jerome did so many times during his tenure. Not one bad aspect of this short I can think of.

10 out of 10....

 

[Dr. Hugo Gansamacher]

Moe and Larry rent a swank furnished apartment, hire a manservant, and buy or rent two suits of formal dress, all with the $140 left to them by their late cousin Shemp:

Moe: (in fruity English accent) I say, Lord Larryington!

Larry: (starting with the same accent but gradually turning to his normal accent) Oh, there you are, Sir Moeington. Cheerioh, pip-pip, and all that sort of rot, old thing, old stuff, old fishmonger, old skunkbait!

Moe: (speaking normally) You don't have to overdo it! (Slaps Larry)

Larry: We're trying to be elegant, ain't we?

And then, of course, there's "Thank yaw! . . . Thank yaw! . . . Thank yaw! . . . That's enough!" (Slap!)

Moe indicates a chair to Mrs. De Peyster: "Seat? Platz! We shall return momentarily, eh, what?"

What on earth is the solid matter in that whipped cream? Rags?

The high point of the short for me is the moment when Larry gets the so-called fountain pen (it actually seems to be a dipping pen) point-first in his forehead—doioioing! (The sound effects are an essential part of the Stooges' comedy.)

When Shemp awakens from his dream to find that his bed is alight, he starts howling. Larry, seated a few feet away, merely raises his voice slightly to be heard over the noise as he says to Moe, "Want a slice of pie?" Of course, if there is a pie in the room with the Stooges, we know it has to go into someone's face. And so it does—into Shemp's, after the fire has been put out.

[Shemp_Diesel]

Moe and Larry rent a swank furnished apartment, hire a manservant, and buy or rent two suits of formal dress, all with the $140 left to them by their late cousin Shemp:

You know Dr. Hugo--I had the same thoughts about how far Moe & Larry were able to stretch that $140 left to them by Shemp. Even in the late 40s, that 140 dollars was able to cover all those expenses--amazing... 

[Paul Pain]

I give my high compliments to Larry and Moe on this one for being able to never once look at Shemp during this film.

Shemp really steals this one as the majority of the humor comes from Moe and Larry getting beaten up by Shemp.  In fact, the entire opening scene is all about Shemp... oh, wait, Uncle Mortimer gets some good bits in that scene.

Poor Larry and the fountain pen.  If you pay close attention, you can see that he is actually bleeding (I have read this in multiple places as well).

[Dr. Hugo Gansamacher]

Poor Larry and the fountain pen.  If you pay close attention, you can see that he is actually bleeding (I have read this in multiple places as well).

I don't believe that. You can see some spots in the whipped cream to the right of the pen; but they need not be blood. More to the point (heh heh!), it makes no sense that the studio would do this stunt by shooting a pen at an actor's bare forehead rather than at some sort of material that is covered by the whipped cream. For one thing, a pen launched that way would not stick.

If only they had hired Emil Sitka to be their butler, we would have his diary as a record of what went on.

[Paul Pain]

I don't believe that. You can see some spots in the whipped cream to the right of the pen; but they need not be blood. More to the point (heh heh!), it makes no sense that the studio would do this stunt by shooting a pen at an actor's bare forehead rather than at some sort of material that is covered by the whipped cream. For one thing, a pen launched that way would not stick.

If only they had hired Emil Sitka to be their butler, we would have his diary as a record of what went on.

I have bad news for you: Larry did have a protective tin plate under the whipped cream, and in spite of that he DID get injured from that scene.  This is from "The Three Stooges Scrapbook" (the book, that is).  It ended in Moe chasing Jules White around the set.

[Shemp_Diesel]

Larry Fine himself says on the Three Stooges Story DVD that the tip of the fountain pen indeed punctured him and he let Jules White have a few choice words afterwards.

[Dr. Hugo Gansamacher]

I have bad news for you: Larry did have a protective tin plate under the whipped cream, and in spite of that he DID get injured from that scene.  This is from "The Three Stooges Scrapbook" (the book, that is).  It ended in Moe chasing Jules White around the set.

Well, I thought you were suggesting that the pen was shot at Larry's bare forehead. So it was protected, but inadequately.

[Paul Pain]

In all this mess I failed to assign my 10/10 to this short.

Addition notes: 5 x 6 = 30
Additional notes: Vernon Dent is his typically evil self in this short as a ruthless lawyer.  Also note that Symona Boniface, as always, make great faces. 

This short is preposterous!  What's next?!

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

I have two comments, and they're so disparate that I think I'm going to split them up.
     Number one:  Why indeed would anyone want a pen that writes under whipped cream?  This is in fact a take-off on a legit commercial back then for an upscale pen that they pushed as being able to write under water, a claim which struck many as being as useless as being able to write under whipped cream.  I forget the brand name of the pen, but it was well-known, not Waterman or Mont Blanc, but something along those lines, and the announcer was John Cameron Swayze who became even better-known years later for Timex commercials when he intoned "it takes a licking and keeps on ticking!"  Might it have been Scripto?  Anyway, the contemporaneous audience would have got the joke immediately.

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

Secondly, is Sam McDaniel any relation to Hattie?

[GreenCanaries]

Larry Fine himself says on the Three Stooges Story DVD that the tip of the fountain pen indeed punctured him and he let Jules White have a few choice words afterwards.

Then Larry felt bad because some schoolchildren were touring the studio and witnessed it, right?

Secondly, is Sam McDaniel any relation to Hattie?

Older brother of Hattie and Etta (TERMITES OF 1938).

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

Thanks, G C.

[metaldams]

I'll be watching and reviewing this in a few hours, but it's fascinating reading all these comments before my viewing and review for once!

[GreenCanaries]

Thanks, G C.

No problem, Chief! As a bonus (from Etta's Find a Grave page):

[metaldams]

I have two comments, and they're so disparate that I think I'm going to split them up.
     Number one:  Why indeed would anyone want a pen that writes under whipped cream?  This is in fact a take-off on a legit commercial back then for an upscale pen that they pushed as being able to write under water, a claim which struck many as being as useless as being able to write under whipped cream.  I forget the brand name of the pen, but it was well-known, not Waterman or Mont Blanc, but something along those lines, and the announcer was John Cameron Swayze who became even better-known years later for Timex commercials when he intoned "it takes a licking and keeps on ticking!"  Might it have been Scripto?  Anyway, the contemporaneous audience would have got the joke immediately.

      You da man.  Again, would have known that in a million years.

[metaldams]

Review is now edited in for those who want to read it.

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

Thanks, Metal, the reason you wouldn't have known that in a million years is that you have to be a million years old, like me, to have been in on it.  The underwater pen line was still a joke fifteen years later when I was a kid. Plus, you might notice that when Cedric the blacksmith joins hands with the boys and crushes the life out of them, Larry is heard to groan " I'll never be able to write underwater".  That's the same joke.
     Thinking harder on the subject, I seem to remember that John Cameron Swayze started his career as a legit news reporter, then drifted somehow into commercials, and the idea of a reporter with some legitimate gravitas becoming a pitchman for an underwater pen added to the humor.
     It could also be that whatever pen this was may have been the first ballpoint, since I can't imagine any kind of fountain pen being able to write under water.  I'll stop now, since by this point I'm even boring myself.

[ThumpTheShoes]

Jules White's train announcer (yes, that's the voice of Jules)

Moe Howard. I don't care what's written down, that is Moe's voice.

[metaldams]

Moe Howard. I don't care what's written down, that is Moe's voice.

I can hear a similarity to Moe, but on this site, it's listed as the voice of Jules, as are a few other similar voices in other shorts.  To whomever discovered this (Brent?  Gary?), was there something in the Columbia/Jules White vault stating that as the voice of Jules?

[Lefty]

Miss Jones:  "Woo, woo, woo!"  Definitely one of the prettiest Stooge girls of all time.

Sam McDaniel:  Excellent performance!  Of course, "Says which?" eventually gave way to "Say what?" -- popularized by Sherman Hemsley as George Jefferson.

Vernon Dent:  I'm sure a lot of lawyers have watched his performance in this short over the years to figure ways to bilk clients.  "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers."  -- Henry VI, Act II, Scene IV.

The DePeysters:  They must have been members of CONgress to want to buy something useless for lots of money.

Moe counting the inheritance money -- 1, 2, 3, 4, ... 18, 19, 20, 21, ... 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70.  That reminds of me how many times I have asked for two 10s for a 5 -- and a few people didn't catch on right away.

I never knew that Cucamonga was a real place until I looked it up, as this short was the first I had ever heard of the town.

And is there anyone out there who would have liked to be like Shemp, able to cause havoc with no one able to see or hear him?

[Kopfy2013]

 One of the best Shemp shorts to date.   I agree with a lot of what already has been posted.

I would have rather had Dudley  as the butler.   I thought it weird that Shemp would have a burning bed.

 I give this an eight.

[Dr. Hugo Gansamacher]

The lawyer played by Vernon Dent is named I. Fleecem. On the wall of his office he has a framed picture of a cowboy, who is brought to life by Shemp. The actor playing the cowboy, Brian O'Hara, appears in Three Pests in a Mess as a character named I. Cheatham. Wooooo!

[MrsMorganMorgan]

Shemp's butt is on fire for a really long time; it's almost painful to watch, like how long Dorothy Appleby has to go without taking a breath in Cuckoo Cavaliers. I have a few random thoughts on this one.....the angel that Shemp thinks is sexy.....uh, no? They could have done better than that. I LOVE Shemp running across the soundstage right into the cloud and getting zapped in the rear by the lightning bolt. Also, how on earth did they do that dollar bill trick? And yeah, I would definitely buy a fountain pen that wrote under whipping cream from those two. Wouldn't you?