My last post was "Outer Space Jitters," so it seemed like the perfect Saturday Night Special companion would be "Jitter Bughouse," so here we are, and away we go!
I actually never saw "Jitter Bughouse" or even knew about it until last Wednesday while looking up Emil Sitka's credits, but I know about it now, and I like it! "Jitter Bughouse" was made in 1948 and was a two reel film that was eighteen minutes long! The star of the show was Joe DeRita, the man who has the distinction of being the last stooge to ever join the trio, and also the last one to die!
But for me, the real star of the show are these three bozos known as The Nov-Elites who were a trio of musical knuckleheads, and really good at it to boot! The guy on the right leaned back in his chair too far, and almost fell out the window!
These three have some Stooges moments themselves, like waking up and stretching and slapping the guy next them in the face at the same time!
The Nov-Elites were left to right, Frankie Carr playing the accordion, Joe Mayer on the standup bass, and Art Terry playing the guitar!
The Nov-Elites are my new comedy heroes and rank right up there with
Spike Jones in the hilarious music department, and should be a group
everybody, instead of nobody, knows about!
They all have the same four credits, and one of those was the 1960 Jerry Lewis romp called "The Bellboy."
Here's just a sample of how insane these guys really were, doing their version of "Alabama Jubilee," and while you're there, go ahead and watch Roy Clark's version too!
Here's Joe practicing with the boys for an ad for FUZ detergent!
Joe joins in with his musical skills on the brass!
Nobody noticed until it was too late that a kitten had spilled a half a quart of milk inside the horn!
Christine Cecilia McIntyre is Myrtle, Joe's girlfriend. Christine was a trained operatic soprano, but she will always be remembered most for her amazing twenty-seven appearances in Three Stooges shorts.
Joe and Myrtle have been engaged for six years, and every morning he comes over for breakfast, and she's tired of it, and wants to get married, but first Joe needs to get a job. He tells her that he's studying Psychology, and working on a theory that music can cure mental disorders!
While Myrtle is powdering her face, she accidentally drops her powder puff right onto Joe's plate!
Being an idiot, Joe doesn't notice, and cuts into it and eats it like it's a pancake.
Joe is pretty nimble and can cut a mean rug!
Myrtle has a job nursing a crazy but wealthy old galoot called Mr. Lark, and they decide they will see if Joe and the boy's music can make him tighten up a few of the loose screws he has in his head!
Emil Sitka who was in almost 40 Stooges shorts, and is considered by some to be the fourth stooge, has the role of Mr. Lark.
Coming up with stuff like this piano stool extender is how Mr. Lark spends his free time!
First there were mice in the piano that made it seem haunted, then the piano stool keeps going up and now, and finally it goes so high, it ends up tossing Joe out the window!
Of course he lands in an open 55 gallon drum of white paint!
The Nov-Elites put on a great performance for Mr. Lark, and for each song from around the world, they change hats!
From the land of the Volga.......
............To the land of the Shamrock, this frantic trio were rocking way before their time!
The fantastic music snapped Mr. Lark right out of it, and Myrtle is convinced that Joe will now become rich and famous for his cure for mental illness, and they can finally get married, and if one happy ending is not enough for you, then here's another one!
You too can watch this fun little flick for absolutely nothing, nada, nichts,
And why doncha throw the dog a bone while you're there!
1 comment:
There's another Joe De Rita solo comedy short titled THE GOOD BAD EGG (1947) that was pretty danged funny as I recall, and it made a great impression when I stumbled upon it several years ago. I'll have to look for it again.
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