Soup to Nuts

A rarely-seen slice of movie history, this comedy classic from 1930 stars Ted Healy, the now-forgotten comedian for whom the Three Stooges were originally stooges. The stooges themselves are made up of Moe, Larry, and Shemp; Shemp was Moe's brother, and completed the trio before later being replaced by Curly. Healy plays an employee of the Schmidt Costume Shop who is friends with firemen Moe, Larry, and Shemp; when Schmidt goes bankrupt, young Carlson arrives to run the business. He is immediately smitten with Schmidt's niece, Louise (Lucile Browne), but his affections are not returned. The Fireman's Ball is coming up and Carlson wants to take Louise, so Healy devises a plan for both of them to wear identical costumes. Louise will arrive at the ball on Healy's arm, but the two will eventually switch places, and Carlson will have his date. When she recognizes the ruse, however, Louise runs home and locks herself in her room, and Carlson accidentally starts a fire in his ardent attempts to coax her out. With a screenplay purportedly penned by legendary cartoonist Rube Goldberg, who appears in a cameo role, much of it was ghost-scripted by Lou Breslow, author of many of the Laurel and Hardy movies.