Main Cast: Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard, Dell Henderson, Jeanie Roberts
Release Year: 1934
Country: US
Run Time: 19 minutes
Plot
Although it was nominated for an Academy Award, the third Three Stooges comedy two-reeler for Columbia has not dated well. A spoof of MGM's Clark Gable vehicle Men in White, Men in Black was a rather shapeless romp in which Moe, Larry, and Curly played dumbbell interns at the Lost Arms Hospital. The team was supported by such veteran comedians as Bud Jamison, Dell Henderson, Hank Mann, and Neal Burns, while Ruth Hiatt, Kay Hughes, and a host of starlets appeared as nurses, but the two-reeler remains one of the team's lesser early efforts. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
Ruth Hiatt - Whispering Nurse; Joe Fine - Attendant; Irene Coleman - Nurse; Billy Gilbert - D. T. Patient; "Little Billy" Rhodes - Himself; Neal Burns - Attendant; Pat West; Bud Jamison - Doctor; Hank Mann - Labourer; Joe Mills; Bob Callahan - Messenger; Phyllis Crane - Anna Conda; Carmen Andre - Nurse; Betty Andre - Nurse; Helen Splane - Nurse; Kay Hughes - Nurse; Eve Reynolds - Nurse; Charles King, Jr. - Anesthesiologist; Eve Kimberly - Nurse; Lucile Watson - Nurse; Billie Stockton - Nurse; Arthur Rankin - Attendant; Charles Dorety - Attendant
The trio play medical school graduates whose only credentials are that they had the highest temperatures in their class. They are hired as doctors at the "Los Arms Hospital" only because they have been in their senior class for too many years. The new graduates at the hospital are warned by the superintendent that three of them (the Stooges) are "not overly bright," but that their identities will be concealed as long as they promise to devote their lives to "the glorious cause of duty and humanity", which prompts the three to step forward and thank him profusely for not letting their identities be known.
The short consists of a series of skits in which the Stooges go from one patient to the next, making mistakes ranging from drinking a patient's medicine to sewing their tools inside a man on the operating table.
Production and significance
As one of the Stooges' first shorts, Men in Black contains the first appearance of many gags used in later shorts. For instance, this is the first of several Stooge shorts in which the Stooges charge into or out of an office with a door that has a large plate-glass window, slamming the door behind them and shattering the plate glass in the door. It is also the first of many shorts where the Stooges make a liquid concoction of something (in this case, medicine) by randomly pouring together various liquids with nonsensical names (a similar gag is sometimes used where the Stooges pass each other various tools with nonsensical names while operating). The Stooges have several off-the-wall dialogues with nurses, particularly the "hiccuping nurse" played by Jeanie Roberts, who affects a girlish Betty Boop-like voice.
Finally, this short contains the famous recurring dispatcher line "Calling Doctor Howard, Doctor Fine, Doctor Howard." In this short, the three doctors get so sick and tired of the repeated calls that they tear down the dispatcher's call board and, when a small transmitter appears on the floor, quivering and still repeating "Doctor Howard! Doctor Fine! Doctor Howard!", they all take out handguns and shoot it dead.
Larry is about to "pluck" Dr. Graves and see if he's ripe!" in a colorized screen shot from Men in Black.
Men in Black was a spoof on the Clark Gable and Myrna Loy 1934 movie Men in White, released earlier that year. The Stooges, in fact, wear mostly white outfits for this film. The short is also significant in that it was the only time that the trio would be nominated for an Academy Award for "Best Short Subject - Comedy".
Men in Black also represents an early use of what has come to be described as hammerspace. The Stooges go to the storage closet to acquire modes of transportation to get them to their patients. They are seen riding a three-man bicycle, a horse, and then individual go-carts out of the closet. These items would not likely fit in the storage closet's space.
Notes
A colorized version of this film was released in 2004. It was part of the DVD collection. Goofs on the Loose.
The opening title music is a jazzy big band style melody that is unique to both Men in Black and the previous film, Punch Drunks.
The renowned comedian Billy Gilbert (the mental patient) makes his first appearance with the Stooges. He would appear in several other Stooges shorts.
Columbia would use the title for two feature-length films starring Will Smith in 1997 and 2002.
References in popular culture
In the Goof Troop episode "Axed by Addition", Max uses the "Doctor Howard, Doctor Fine, Doctor Howard" line on an intercom to distract the two doctors from performing surgery on PJ.
The "Doctor Howard, Doctor Fine, Doctor Howard" line also resurfaces over the intercom at the beginning of "Weird Al" Yankovic's music video, "Like a Surgeon".
NRBQ recorded the song Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine, Dr. Howard for their 1993 album Stay With Me.
Joker (comics) repeats the refrain "Paging Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine, Dr. Howard" over the loudspeakers during a portion of the video game Batman: Arkham Asylum.
