At this point, it is a treat to see any original short at all as one plods through the succession of recycled oldies. But
Gypped in the Penthouse, in my estimate, stands high among the shorts of the Shemp era in any case. I would put its merits under three headings.
First, it has a coherent and, as plots go in the Stooge universe, compelling plot. The setting of the Woman Haters' Club is an effective frame for the respective narratives of Larry and Shemp, and then for the double confrontation that ends the short. Also, there is a progression of violence and complexity from Larry's narrative to Shemp's.
Second, the Stooge violence is top-quality stuff. No face slaps here at all (I have always found them inane and perfunctory, except when a third party gives the boys an iterated smack across their three faces in one movement). Instead, a lot of great head conks, punches in the face, belly blows, shattering projectiles, and so forth. Larry's confrontation with Moe in Jane's apartment is not only funny from the outset but builds toward one of the great forms of Stooge violence, the assault by transfer of motion (in this case, Larry's back-kicking Moe into the belly of Jane). Shemp's tangle with the unlucky piano is even funnier than his earlier one in
Brideless Groom (Emil Sitka: "My poor piano!" Larry: "Shut up!")—and that's saying something. Shemp impersonating Liberace—okay; Shemp tearing out the strings of a piano—funnier; Shemp climbing into the piano and having the lid fall on him—funnier still; Shemp trying to push the lid away, causing it to bounce back and slam him straight through the bottom of the piano—priceless. My only disappointment, setting aside for the moment the confrontation with Jane at the very end of the short (on which something in a moment), occurs when Moe gets a fishbowl on his head and shouts unintelligibly, "Gubba gubba blubba!" (or syllables to that effect), but we don't get the characteristic exchange between the remaining two: "What did he say?" "'Gubba gubba blubba!'" Also recollecting
Brideless Groom here is Emil Sitka's presence as a hapless comic victim of violence directed toward others.
Third, the short has her hotness Jean Willes in what seems to me her best role in all the shorts, as a sexy but cold-hearted and duplicitous gold digger. ("How dare you call my tomater a gold digger!")
I have to admit that the final confrontation with this character causes me at least as much uneasiness as it does amusement. Of course, Jane has certainly earned some sort of comeuppance. But I can't help feeling that Stooge violence is for inflicting only on other men—or perhaps on women when the latter are able to return it with interest, as in
Hugs and Mugs; but not when the female victim is helpless, as here. Oh, well. Perfection eludes us. At least the ending rounds off the plot.
My only beef is the actual Stoogian slapstick. The boys are older and slower at this point, and the comic situation doesn't call for much of this type of humor. Stooge slapstick works better when the boys are a team, and even better when done in an inappropriate situation like a high society party.
Well, okay, but I still think Larry's subduing of Moe is pretty impressive, and the absence of face slaps is a big plus for me.
