Scheming Schemers

This film has possibly, the worst title for a stooge short ever dreamed up. Somewhat fitting, given the actual fifteen minute content.

When Shemp Howard died of a sudden heart attack in November 1955, Moe and Larry were forced to include longtime supporting actor Joe Palma as a double for Shemp for the last four shorts before their contract renewal. However, one of those shorts, Scheming Schemers, flows along nicely thanks to its use of archive footage from previous shorts.

This is the first "Shempless Shemp Short" that I've had the chance to see. I must say that, if I didn't know beforehand -- and hadn't previously seen "A Plumbing We Will Go", "Half Wit's Holiday" and "Vagabond Loafers" -- I wouldn't have guessed that this was comprised of scenes shot at 4 different dates over a 16-year period.

"Scheming Schemers" is one of the many remakes of old Stooges shorts from the 1950s. Producer Jules White, in an effort to cut expenses, took old Stooge films and inserted new scenes in them.

The Three Stooges has always been some of the many actors that I have loved. I love just about every one of the shorts that they have made.

This was actually the first Shemp short I saw and I thought it was pretty decent, but when I heard that they didn't have the actual "Shemp" in it, I got disappointed. Joe Palma does good standing in for Shemp, but I don't think they had to remake about 7 good Shemp shorts after Shemp's unfortunate death.

"Scheming Schemers" is the third and most recent version of one of the Three Stooges most successful short films and just like the previous 2, it is a black-and-white sound film. This one was released back in 1956, so it's already over 60 years old and the White Brothers were in charge of this one again like they were on so many other 3S shorts.

"Scheming Schemers" is one of the four Three Stooges shorts that Moe and Larry made after Shemp died but before Joe Besser joined them. Shemp, then, is only seen through stock footage (in this case, from "Vagabond Loafers" [1949]) while a fellow supporting actor named Joe Palma doubles for him in a couple of shots in the new footage.