Hoofs and Goofs

Title Card

Hoofs and Goofs is the one-hundred-seventy-fifth Columbia Pictures short subject starring the Three Stooges. It is the first to feature Joe Besser.

Plot

Joe cannot stop thinking of his late sister, Bertie. Moe and Larry humor him by making him think that Bertie will meet them the following day downtown, in some form. When the boys trek downtown, they meet up with a horse that turns out to be Bertie reincarnated, much to Moe and Larry's surprise.

The boys are ecstatic, and try to persuade their horsie sister to return home with them. At first, she resists, but eventually gives in. No sooner do the boys get Bertie home that they discover she is pregnant. Joe goes berserk and demands Moe and Larry prepare for the arrival of the newborn. In the interim, Bertie's heavy hoofs can be clearly heard by the landlord Mr. Dinklespiel (Benny Rubin) and his daughter (Harriette Tarler) living downstairs. Dinklespiel marches upstairs and demands that the Stooges come clean, but Moe tries to convince him that the sounds are nothing more than the trio.

Once Dinklespiel leaves, Bertie gives birth to a baby colt. Joe is so taken by the moment, he happily declares "I'm an uncle, I'm an uncle!" Within seconds, Joe is awoken by Moe and Larry, who hear his cries of being an uncle. It turns out that the whole thing was a dream, and sister Bertie (Moe in drag) is alive and well and living with the Stooges. When Joe tells Bertie he had a dream that she was a horse, she takes offense, and promptly dumps a casserole on Joe's bald dome.

Characters

• Moe Howard as Moe / Bertie
• Larry Fine as Larry
• Joe Besser as Joe the dream stooges
• Tony the Wonder Horse as Bertie
• Benny Rubin as Mr. Dinklespiel
• Harriette Tarler as Sally Dinklespiel
• Joe Palma as Peter the drunk

• Rosie Palma as Bertie (voice)

Further Notes

• Hoofs and Goofs was the first Three Stooges short with Joe Besser as the third Stooge. According to Besser's autobiography Once a Stooge, Always a Stooge, Besser spoke to Moe shortly before filming to convey his condolences over the death of Shemp Howard the year before. Joe and Shemp had been good friends.
• When Moe trips over the chair after getting the water, his stunt double can clearly be seen getting up and walking back to sink.

• Tony the Wonder Horse portrays Bertie in this film. Tony would go on to appear in other films and television shows including the Stooges' sequel to this film, Horsing Around, and the Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour episode, "Lucy Wins a Race Horse," with guest stars Harry James and Betty Grable.

• Stooge supporting actress Harriette Tarler pulls double duty as both the voice of Bertie, and as Mr. Dinklespiel's daughter.

• Hoofs and Goofs was followed by a sequel a few months later: Horsing Around.

• Originally, the end of the film was supposed to have the Stooges' sister, Bertie, hit Joe with a rolling pin. However, due to his not wanting to be hit in the head with a solid prop, it was changed to a casserole.[2]

• In the end of the short when Moe is playing Bertie, you can clearly see the face of Moe's double.
• Most shots with Tony the Wonder Horse (Bertie) had to be dubbed over after filming as certain shots had a trainer giving commands. This is particularly noticeable during the scene where Larry and Joe are trying to hide Bertie as there mouths are not matching what they are saying on occasion.