Flat Foot Stooges


Flat Foot Stooges is a 1938 short subject directed by Charley Chase starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges. It is the 35th entry in the series released by Columbia Pictures starring the comedians, who released 190 shorts for the studio between 1934 and 1959.

Plot

The trio are firemen at an engine company that still employs horse-powered engines. Sleazy salesman Mr. Reardon fails to convince Fire Chief Kelly that horse-powered engines are on the way out. His ideas are rejected, and he is sent on his way. Mr. Reardon, however, tries to sabotage the firehouse by committing arson. He drops a can of gunpowder into the old-fashioned pump boiler and the chief's daughter sees him. Reardon does not know that the can has a leak, and a duck has been eating the spilled gunpowder. The duck alights on a window ledge in the station and lays an egg, which falls to the floor and explodes like a hand grenade, starting a fire. The explosion startles the chief's daughter which causes her to fall backwards and knock her head on the bed, unconscious. Realizing too late that the blaze is coming from their own fire station, the Stooges manage to arrive just in time to save the chief's daughter from the flames.

Production notes

Filmed on October 25–28, 1938, the title Flat Foot Stooges is a pun on the 1938 jazz song "Flat Foot Floogie ".
A rarity among Stooge shorts, the boys are shown reciting dialogue incorrectly on several occasions, a result of director Charley Chase's rushed directing style. Chase rarely stopped for retakes in an effort to finish a film ahead of schedule.
When Larry slides down the fire pole and is accidentally punched by Moe, he calls himself a "victim of circumstance". This marks the first time a Stooge other than Curly says the line.
Upon realizing they are heading in the wrong direction, Curly quips "Hey, we're doing the Corrigan!", a reference to aviator Douglas "Wrong Way" Corrigan. Corrigan had recently returned from a transcontinental flight from Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, New York to Long Beach, California. Instead of returning to New York, he bypassed it, and headed to Ireland.
Flat Foot Stooges marks the first usage of "Three Blind Mice" as the Stooges' title theme. However, this was not put to permanent use until We Want Our Mummy.