The roots of the Three Stooges filmography can be traced to this creaky 1930 feature for the Fox Film Corporation, which has received more attention lately than it deserves thanks to the expiration of its copyright and its new status as a public domain work.
The knockabout trio weren’t called the Three Stooges at that time – in fact, Moe Howard wasn’t even Moe but was billed as “Harry Howard.” Moe, along with brother Shemp Howard and Larry Fine, were supporting vaudeville headliner Ted Healy. Fred Sanborn, a fey comic with exaggerated eyebrows and a shtick for speaking in a whisper and running in an exasperated manner, was a peripheral part of this act.
In “Soup to Nuts,” Healy is a salesman with the Schmidt Costume Shop. However, he spends most of his time hanging out at the local firehouse where Moe, Larry, Shemp, and Sanborn are firemen. Healy’s boss, Otto Schmidt (Charles Winninger), spends more time inventing Rube Goldberg-style elaborate devices for handling simple tasks – which is no surprise, since Goldberg wrote the screenplay. Schmidt’s fixation with inventing has caused his costume shop to fall into bankruptcy, and his creditors assigned a young man named Carlson (Stanley Smith) to oversee operations. Carlson quickly falls for Schmidt’s niece, Louise (Lucile Browne), who works as the shop’s receptionist. Louise takes an immediate dislike to Carlson because of his job, but Healy realizes Carlson is a decent guy and he plays Cupid to get them together and save Schmidt’s business.
“Soup to Nuts” has the stiff, stagy feel of too many of the early talkies, and it only comes to life when director Benjamin Stoloff has the cast riding a fire engine through city streets and in a climactic fire where Louise is trapped by flames.
As for the Stooges, anyone watching “Soup to Nuts” for the first time expecting the modus operandi of their Columbia shorts will be baffled at what is on screen. The trademark haircuts are absent, Shemp comes across as the leader of the trio, and most of their humor is dialogue driven – although they have one face slapping routine that they would retain when the act evolved into its roughhouse dimensions. The film includes a segment where the trio and Healy stage part of their vaudeville act, but what may have been hilarious on the stage feels contrived when recreated for the camera.
The executives at Fox weren’t impressed with Healy but wanted the Stooges for a seven-year contract. Healy sabotaged that, which briefly broke up their act. Shemp would grow tired of Healy’s unpredictable and often obnoxious off-stage behavior and quit to pursue a solo career in 1932. He was replaced by a younger brother named Jerry, who shaved his head and took on the nickname Curly. But we’ll save him for another time! N’yuk! N’yuk! N’yuk!