Brideless Groom

1947 Comedy 17 minutes Directed by Edward Bernds

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About Brideless Groom

Shemp Howard gives voice lessons, with Larry Fine at the piano and pupil Miss Dinkelmeyer convinced she will marry the teacher. Moe arrives with news that Uncle Caleb has died and left Shemp $500,000 if he is married within 48 hours, of which 41 have already gone. Shemp works through his address book. Christine McIntyre's Miss Hopkins mistakes him for her cousin Basil, then turns on him. At the justice of the peace the rejected women pile in, and Shemp marries Miss Dinkelmeyer so the money will not slip away.

Cast & crew

More about Brideless Groom

Edward Bernds directed the 101st Three Stooges short for Columbia. Clyde Bruckman wrote it. Hugh McCollum produced. Vincent J. Farrar photographed it. Released in the United States on 11 September 1947.

Themes

Making

Bernds later recalled Shemp telling McIntyre, "A lot of half-hearted slaps hurt more than one good one." After the take Shemp was groggy, his nose broken, and he told her she had done what he asked. The series of slaps and the punch through the doorway stay in the short.

Look

Vincent J. Farrar photographed the short, including the take in which McIntyre's punch lands for real.

Preservation

The copyright lapsed in 1964. A remastered print was issued on Blu-ray by Sony in 2024.

Notes

  • One of four Columbia Stooge shorts whose copyrights lapsed in 1964, with Disorder in the Court (1936), Sing a Song of Six Pants (1947), and Malice in the Palace (1949).
  • During the Miss Hopkins scene Christine McIntyre was supposed to slap Shemp. He told her to stop dabbing and hit him. She broke his nose. Bernds left the take in.
  • Emil Sitka plays Justice of the Peace J. M. Benton.
  • Dee Green plays Miss Dinkelmeyer. Doris Houck and Nancy Saunders are among the other women.
  • Sony Pictures Home Entertainment put a remastered print in The Three Stooges Collection on Blu-ray on 13 August 2024.

Scenes

  • Miss Dinkelmeyer wrecks a lesson while Larry accompanies her.
  • Miss Hopkins kisses Shemp, learns he is not cousin Basil, and slaps him across the room.
  • The justice of the peace tries to finish a ceremony while the other women fight.

Also available

  • Internet Archive (brideless_groom)
  • The Three Stooges Collection (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Blu-ray, 2024)

Quotes

Hold hands, you lovebirds!