Scheming Schemers is a heavily recycled Three Stooges short, with body doubles for Shemp Howard & Christine McIntyre.
Scheming Schemes (1956) starring the Three Stooges (Moe, Larry, Curly) with Emil Sitka, Kenneth MacDonald, Christine McIntyre, Symona Boniface
In short, Scheming Schemers has only about six minutes of new footage. The rest comes from “Vagabond Loafers“, “A Plumbing We Will Go“, and “Half-Wits Holiday“. In short, the trio of inept plumbers is sent to the Norfleet mansion, where the wife’s ring is lost in a sink, and the husband wants it recovered. Quietly, since his wife is throwing a fancy party downstairs. Quiet isn’t what they’re known for. This leads to the bit where Moe thinks Larry’s become trapped in the pipe, and tries to pull him out. When they spy Kenneth MacDonald hiding a stolen painting in one of their pipes, a pie fight breaks out. That’s it – everything else is recycled.
Cast of characters
- Shemp Howard (Three Arabian Nuts) … Shemp (archive footage)
- Larry Fine (Punch Drunks) … Larry
- Moe Howard (If a Body Meets a Body) … Moe
- Christine McIntyre (Hot Ice) … Mrs. Allen (archive footage)
- Emil Sitka (Three Hams on Rye) … Mr. Walter Norfleet
- Kenneth MacDonald (Three Dark Horses) … Mr. Allen
- Dudley Dickerson (Vagabond Loafers) … Cook (archive footage)
Additional cast
- Symona Boniface (Heavenly Daze) … Mrs. Norfleet (uncredited)
- Herbert Evans (The Hot Scots) … Butler (archive footage)
- Judy Malcolm (Three Hams on Rye) … Party Guest (archive footage) (uncredited)
- Joe Palma (Stone Age Romeos) … Shemp (uncredited)
- Al Thompson (Fifi Blows Her Top) … Party Guest (uncredited)
- Victor Travis (Pest Man Wins) … Party Guest (archive footage) (uncredited)
Trivia
- Joe Palma doubles for Shemp Howard in the few new scenes filmed after Shemp’s death.
- This short is made up mostly of stock footage from “Vagabond Loafers” (1949), “A Plumbing We Will Go” (1940), and pie-fight scenes from “Half-Wits Holiday” (1947).
- This film is also the last to contain new footage with long-time Stooges supporting actor Kenneth MacDonald. In the scene where Mr. Allen (Kenneth MacDonald) puts the picture that he and his wife (Christine McIntyre) stole in the pipe and tells his wife to wait out in the car, that was not Christine McIntyre, since the last film to contain new footage of her was “Of Cash and Hash” (1955), instead a body double.
- Final film of actress Symona Boniface.
- There’s only about six minutes of new footage.