An Ache in Every Stake

In the Three Stooges next short film, August 1941's "An Ache in Every Stake," their 57th in the series, they take a cue from Laurel and Hardy's Oscar winning movie 1932's "The Music Box" by climbing a set of lengthy outdoor steps up a hillside to deliver blocks of ice to a household at the top. The Del Lord-directed Stooges' film also has parallels to Lord's earlier 1926 Bill Bevan's silent comedy, 'Ice Cold Cocos,' which used the same staircase used by Stan and Ollie located in the Silver Lake district of Los Angeles. The Three Stooges, who operate an ice delivery wagon, struggle (especially Curly) to deliver their blocks of ice up the 147-step incline. The flight of stairs at the end of a cul-de-sac seen in the Stooges film currently exists two miles away from the more famous Laurel and Hardy one in a nearby Silver Lake neighborhood, only difference is the number of trees shading the steps.

"An Ache in Every Stake" also contains the rare dual appearance of the Stooges' most popular supporting actors, Vernon Dent, as Mr. Poindexter Lawrence, and Bud Jamison as the baker who cooks the elaborate birthday cakes for Mr. Lawrence. Twice the frustrated birthday boy Dent is foiled by the Stooges in his attempts to bring home his cake to the house the three icemen are coincidentally delivering. While the Stooges are in the kitchen with their ice blocks, they upset the cook preparing for the Lawrence's birthday party, so much so he leaves in a huff. The Stooges convince Mrs. Lawrence they can cook, setting up the classic scene showing Curly stuffing the turkey with the ingredients listed in the cookbook, but without shucking the oyster shells, not taking the peas out of its can, along with other items inside the cavity. Similar to Shemp Howard's 1934 'A Peach of a Pair,' the results are hilarious as the party guests chomp away at the solid materials in the turkey dressing. This short has everything in a Stooges' classic, including Curly again hampered by a backside coiled spring while dancing, reprised in a couple of their earlier shorts. I'm.