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Nutty But Nice is the forty-seventh Columbia Pictures short subject starring The Three Stooges.

Plot[]

The short begins with the Stooges working as restaurant entertainers. The trio wait on two doctors (Vernon Dent, John Tyrrell) who ask the trio to cheer up a little girl who is sick because her father (Ned Glass), who works in the bank, has been kidnapped by the mob along with bonds worth $300,000.

The Stooges, dressed as overgrown little girls replete with blonde sausage curls, try unsuccessfully to cheer her up. Undaunted, they volunteer to find the girl's father and the doctor gives the trio a brief description of him, one being a specific yodel the man and her daughter said to each other. After Curly correctly executes the yodel, the trio grab supplies, shake hands goodbye with the doctors, and set out to find the little girl's father.

The Stooges waste no time hitting the pavement in search for the father. They stop nearly every middle-aged male on the street under six feet tall, barraging each and everyone with questions. The Stooges question Butch (who happens to be one of the mobsters) who runs when questioned. The trio believe him to be suspicious but lose sight of him. Larry is ready to give up, but Moe orders Curly to yodel. Curly yodels, and a splash of water lands on his head. He switches places with Moe and yodels again. Another splash of water lands on his head. He then swaps places with Larry and yodels once more. After a few seconds, Curly snickers to himself, thinking that he avoided any falling objects, but a flower pot then lands on his head.

Meanwhile, Butch (Cy Schindell) enters a room and speaks with Spike, (another mobster) saying that once the heat cools down, they can kill the little girl's father (who is handcuffed to the bed next to him) and spend the 300 grand. Impatient, Spike says he will talk to the boss, which Butch has no qualms with. Butch turns the radio on, which plays "I'm a Cowboy from the Western Plains". As the music plays, a yodel is emitted during the song, which the Stooges hear.

Curly answers the yodel, and a table falls on his head and breaks. They hear the yodel again. Moe demands Curly answer it, but Curly refuses. Before Moe can beat on Curly, they hear the yodel once again and correctly deduce which house it is coming from. The Stooges break in and hear the yodel once again. This time, Butch and the girl's father hear the yodel. Butch opens the door telling the Stooges to scram, but the trio knocks him unconscious. They find the little girl's father gagged and cuffed to the bed. They remove his gag and he thanks him for rescuing him. Moe comes up with an idea to free the man's cuff and tells him to get up. The trio then take the bed frame apart to slide it through the handcuff, inadvertently knocking Butch unconscious again (just as he regained consciousness and was about to attack). They prepare to leave, and the man recovers the bonds.

Just as they are ready to escape, three more mobsters return so the Stooges and the father blocks the door, making their own escape harder. Then the little girl's father uses the dumbwaiter to escape to the basement. He goes first, followed by Curly who forgets to release the lever of the dumbwaiter when he gets out, such that the bottom breaks off when raised. When Moe and Larry get on, they fall all the way to the basement and land on Curly and the father. Moe, angered at Curly for breaking the dumbwaiter, uses a plank to hit him with, and instead smashes the overhead light. They use matches to see through the dark, but they always go out. Then suddenly, the mobsters come to the basement and grab them just as the light on a match goes out. Curly then goes on a rampage and knocks everyone out. When Curly lights a candle he discovers that he knocked everyone unconscious, including Moe, Larry, and the little girl's father. Curly fills a pan with water, and as he prepares to wake Moe and Larry up, they fall out of the way and the water hits the unconscious mobsters, waking them up. When they wake up, Curly uses a pot to knock them out again and accidentally hits Moe on the head. Moe then hits Curly with the pot in retaliation. He then hits Larry which wakes him up. The little girl's father wakes up on his own. The four then leave with the little girl's father telling them to call the police.

The Stooges are last seen back at the restaurant singing to the two doctors, the fully recovered little girl, and her father. The girl hugs her father as her father looks at the three men with gratitude. After Moe and Larry hit Curly with custard pies, they finish their song as Curly wipes the custard off and throws it back at Moe and Larry as the episode ends.

Cast[]

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