Apparently, when Shemp Howard ventured to Columbia Pictures to star in his own series of shorts for the comedy department, Jules White and the crew were not sure what do do with the once and future stooge.
Also, there was a dark period in American comedy history when "Dialect Comedians" were considered all the rage--explaining why Shemp was teamed with the comically challenged Swede, El Brendel. Just thinking about "Dialect Comedians" gets my mind going to dark places, like the woefully unfunny "Gobs of Fun" from Shemp's early Vitaphone days.
Aside from Benny Rubin--who I'm not sure was just classified as a dialect comic--the whole shtick does very little for me; much like this short. Fortunately, for Shemp he was given much better material not long after this--such as "Where the Pest Begins."
4 stars