Beer Barrel Polecats

Plot

During Prohibition, the Stooges brew their own beer using a recipe called "Panther Pilsner Beer." Confusion over who added yeast causes a comical explosion. Curly sells a bottle to an undercover detective at an inflated price, leading to their incarceration. In prison, they attempt escape, incapacitating the warden. While on the rock pile, they meet acquaintance Percy Pomeroy and collaborate on a prison break that fails, resulting in solitary confinement. Decades later, the elderly trio is released; Curly's desire for beer prompts Moe and Larry to attack him and convince the warden to return him to jail.

Production notes

The title is a pun on the song "Beer Barrel Polka." The plot idea of producing and selling beer during Prohibition was borrowed from Laurel and Hardy's 1931 film Pardon Us. When the Stooges drop their iron balls, the NBC Chimes are heard, a gag recycled from the 1937 short Back to the Woods. A colorized version was released in 2007 as part of the DVD collection "Hapless Half-Wits."

This short marks the final appearance of Eddie Laughton, who died in 1952, the same year Curly, Duke York, and Dick Curtis died. Filmed over two days on April 25–26, 1945, several months after Curly Howard suffered a minor stroke, his performances showed slurred speech and slower timing. DVD Talk critic Stuart Galbraith IV noted Curly looked "notably thinner" and "inexpressive throughout." To compensate for Curly's illness, director Jules White used footage from In the Sweet Pie and Pie and So Long Mr. Chumps, featuring a healthier Curly.

According to threestooges.net, a possible lawsuit by Harold Lloyd caused a hastily reworked script, prompting the use of older footage unrelated to Curly's illness.