Wee Wee Monsieur (1938) starring The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard)
In Wee Wee Monsieur, the Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard) are three would-be artists, living in France, and working on their respective arts, and the short film begins with them singing The Lollipop Song (“the lollipop, the lollipop, the la-la-la-lollipop – woo woo!”).
After some short slapstick,the Three Stooges try to “catch” some food by “fishing” out of their second story window, and catching bread from a vendor’s cart on the street … And accidentally “catching” a French police officer’s pants as well!
Being thrown out of their apartment for being 8 months behind on their rent, the Stooges espy the offices of the French Foreign Legion … And while thinking that this must be the French
Curly for President T-shirt
branch of the American Legion (and that they can send them home to America), the Three Stooges inadvertently sign up for the French Foreign Legion …. Which leads to the second part of the film.
The Three Stooges in the French Foreign Legion
In the French Foreign Legion, Bud Jamison, their sergeant, makes the mistake of assigning the Three Stooges to guard the captain. Who is promptly kidnapped while the Stooges fight over how to march.
What to do? The only sensible thing … Disguise themselves as Santa Claus and rescue the captain from Simitz, the villainous kidnapper (Vernon Dent)!
Well, sensible for the Stooges, at least. Despite the silliness, or more likely because of it, the Stooges infiltrate the castle, and meet some lovely harem girls. Including some from their home town back in the United States.
The evil Simitz tries to bribe the captured captain for information by tempting him with lovely harem girls — not realizes that the Stooges have disguised themselves as some very homely harem girls!
Despite the sheer ineptitude of their disguises, Simitz is fooled, and the Stooges rescue the captain from his captors. On
ly to find themselves in a lion’s den! In a funny twist ending, the Three Stooges and the captain make their escape on a wheeled cart … Pulled by a lion, no less.
Wee Wee Monsieur is available as part of The Three Stooges Collection volume 2 DVD.
Funny movie quotes from Wee Wee Monsieur starring The Three Stooges – Moe, Larry, Curly
[Curly puts the finishing touches on his painting.]
Curly Howard: At last, it’s finished!
Moe and Larry: What?
Curly Howard: My masterpiece! Now all we gotta do is sell it!
Moe Howard: We’d better. The landlord’s threatened to throw us out.
Curly Howard: What’s he squawking about, we only owe for eight months.
[after Moe conks Curly in the head with a chisel, and then apologizes]
Curly Howard: Oh, oui, oui, oui, oui.
Moe Howard: Oui what?
Curly Howard: “Oui” (“We”) should be more careful about what we do around here … Chisler!
[Moe conks him again]
Larry Fine: At home, we could join the WPA.
Curly Howard: Or at least the YWCA!
Vernon Dent: This will get you the firing squad!
Curly Howard: Don’t do that, captain! Don’t forget that your mother and my mother are both mothers!
Moe Howard: On his father’s side!
Curly Howard: [Moe has taken off Curly’s hat after his beard fell off and then slaps him] Oh you hit Santa Claus just for that no toys.
Curly Howard: [Moe bops Curly’s head] Ow ooohhhh!
Moe Howard: Oh boy! I’ll take the blonde!
Larry Fine: I’ll take the brunette!
Curly Howard: I’ll take the black and tan!
Curly Howard: Ah my fair beauty, open up thy curtains so that I might see your fair kisser.
[To the harem girl] Curly Howard: Hiya, toots! Where ya been all my life?
Harem girl: [with Brooklyn accent] Down at thirty-third and third; I just got over.
Trivia for Wee Wee Monsieur
- The gag with the Stooges dressed up in Santa Claus outfits in order to get into the palace would be used again, eleven years later (with Shemp replacing Curly), in their short Malice in the Palace (1949).
- This is the first short in which the Stooges sing the “Lollipop Song,” which they would sing again in Self-Made Maids.
- The title Wee Wee Monsieur is a parody of Oui, oui, Monsieur (French for “Yes, sir”).
Cast of characters
- Curly Howard … Curly
- Larry Fine … Larry
- Moe Howard … Moe
- Vernon Dent (Squareheads of the Round Table) … Simitz – Arab Chief
- Bud Jamison (A Ducking They Did Go) … Legionnaire Sergeant
Additional Cast
- Eugene Borden … Enlistment Officer
- Jean De Briac … Gendarme
- William Irving (Hoi Polloi) … Captain Gorgonzola
- John Lester Johnson … Harem Guard
- Ethelreda Leopold (Half Shot Shooters) … Harem Girl
- Ida May … Large Harem Girl
- Alex Novinsky (Violent is the Word for Curly) … Peddler
- John Rand (A Ducking They Did Go, The Pawnshop) … Man in Street
- Harry Semels (Movie Maniacs) … Landlord
- Bert Young (Loco Boy Makes Good) … Sentry
Updated June 13, 2022