Gents in a Jam is the 141th short subject starring the Three Stooges.
Plot
The Stooges are separate characters in this short. Larry is a womanizer who is having an affair with Moe's wife. At the same time, he is also making eyes at Shemp's fiancee, Millie (Angela Stevens), as well. Moe, however, tracks down the conniving Larry at his pet shop, and gives him the works. Larry is able to think fast and convinces Moe he's innocent, which calms him down. Realizing he needs to cover his tracks, Larry looks for a "fall guy" in the form of Shemp. Larry then gets Shemp a job as an underwear salesman and the first place he goes is Moe's home.
While Shemp is modeling his ware for Moe's wife, Larry calls both Millie and Moe and lies to them about Shemp's advances on Moe's wife. Both of them go storming over to Moe's, with Moe carrying a loaded gun. Looking to avoid being killed, Shemp flees up the chimney. After he fools Moe with a Santa Claus disguise, Shemp makes a quick getaway. Shemp then spies Larry coming. Now aware that Larry set him up, Shemp knocks Larry out and dresses him in the Santa outfit and sends him to Moe, Millie and Moe's wife. Moe unmasks Larry to the surprise of them all and chases him out of the apartment. Moe shoots Larry in the rear a few times before accidentally shooting himself in the foot while celebrating.
The declining
Gents in a Jam was the last short directed by Edward Bernds, long considered the Stooges' finest director. Producer Hugh McCollum was discharged and, as a result, Bernds resigned out of loyalty to McCollum, leaving only director/short subject head Jules White to both produce and direct the Stooges' remaining Columbia comedies.
Almost overnight, the quality of the Stooge shorts declined. Production was significantly faster, with the former four-day filming schedules now tightened to two or three days. In another cost-cutting measure, White would create a "new" Stooge short by borrowing footage from old ones, setting it in a slightly different storyline, and filming a few new scenes often with the same actors in the same costumes. White was initially very subtle when recycling older footage: he would reuse only a single sequence of old film, re-edited so cleverly that it was not easy to detect. The later shorts were cheaper and the recycling more obvious, with as much as 75% of the running time consisting of old footage. White came to rely so much on older material that he could film the "new" shorts in a single day.[1] [edit]