We Want Our Mummy

Infobox Film
name = We Want Our Mummy


caption =
director = Del Lord
writer = Searle Kramer
Elwood Ullman
starring = Moe Howard
Larry Fine
Curly Howard
Dick Curtis
Bud Jamison
James C. Morton
Eddie Laughton
Ted Lorch
Robert Williams
producer = Jules White
distributor = Columbia Pictures
released = February 24, 1939
runtime = 16' 27"
country = USA
language = English
amg_id = 1:142402
imdb_id = 0032116
preceded_by = "Three Little Sew and Sews"
followed_by = "A Ducking They Did Go"

"We Want Our Mummy" is the 37th short subject starring American slapstick team the Three Stooges. The trio made a total of 190 shorts for Columbia Pictures between 1934 and 1959.

Plot

The episode's plot involves a museum's attempts to locate Professor Tuttle, who went missing while attempting to find the mummy of Egyptian King Rutentuten (pronounced like the slangy expression "rootin' tootin'", and a parody of King Tutankhamun). The Stooges are private detectives who are hired to go and find Tuttle and the mummy near Cairo, Egypt. They hail a taxicab in New York City. The driver (Eddie Laughton) asks, "Where to?" Curly replies, "Egypt!" The driver does a double take, but shrugs and sets the meter, initially to .15 (15 cents) which in the next shot shows a fare which is exactly $2,198.55.

Meanwhile, a group of thieves are holding the kidnapped Professor Tuttle of Egyptology. The thieves have already found the tomb where the mummy is located, and the Stooges accidentally stumble upon it themselves when they attempt to jump into a mirage of the ocean to cool off. While the Stooges wander around in the underground tunnels, the thieves have the professor bound and gagged. Curly finds what the Stooges believe to be the mummy of Rutentuten in a secret room, activated by a trap door. When Curly tries to pick it up he clumsily drops it, crumbling it to dust.

Then they hear the boss of the gang (Dick Curtis) threatening the professor to get him to tell where the mummy is. The frightened professor tells them. Moe, realizing they will get killed if the crooks discover the crushed mummy, gets the idea to make a mummy out of Curly. Curly's reply to this is "I can't be a mummy, I'm a daddy!", but he relents. He lies on the stone slab when the crooks arrive. The Boss rifles through Curly with the bandages on his chest open. The boss pulls a newspaper out and reads " 'Yanks win World Series'—can you beat that!" Curly blows his cover by replying, "Yeah, and I won five bucks!" The thief says, "No kidding? I had the Cubs and..." realizing he has been tricked, he charges Curly, but in the process of chasing the Stooges he and his cronies fall into a well Curly had found earlier and hid it using a carpet. The Stooges admit to the professor that Curly had destroyed the mummy, but the Prof says, "That was his wife, Queen Hotsy-Totsy!" He holds up a small mummy case, containing the real mummy of Rutentuten, who was a midget. Just then, an alligator wanders into the chamber. Curly sees it and, thinking its another mummy, attempts to take it home as a trophy for his wall. When he attempts this, it bites Curly in the butt. Terrified, Curly goes to the group and points to the creature, who then snaps his jaw. Scared, the group—with their mummy—escape to their waiting taxicab.

Theme change

"We Want Our Mummy" is the first Stooge film to employ "Three Blind Mice" as the Stooges' official theme song (the song also appeared somewhat prematurely in 1938's "Flat Foot Stooges", due to some confusion in that film's release date). This version of "Three Blind Mice," often affectionately known as the 'sliding strings' version, would be used regularly until 1942's "What's the Matador?". An alternate version of the 'sliding strings' version would be used for a brief period starting with 1945's "If a Body Meets a Body".cite book
last = Solomon
first = Jon
authorlink = Jon Solomon
coauthors =
title = "The Complete Three Stooges: The Official Filmography and Three Stooges Companion"
publisher = Comedy III Productions, Inc
date = 2002
location =
pages = 129, 146
id =
isbn = 0971186804]

Notes

The title "We Want Our Mummy" is a play on a child's cry, "I want my Mommy!"

Quotes

**Museum curator: "Gentlemen, you're hired. We're sending you to bring back the mummy of King Rutentuten. You leave immediately for Cairo."
**Curly: "Say, I got an uncle in Cairo! He's a chiropractor! N'yuk, n'yuk, n'yuk!" *SLAP!*

**Moe: "I got an idea, we'll make a mummy out of you!"
**Curly: "I can't be a mummy, I'm a daddy!"
**Larry: "So you'll be a "daddy" mummy!"
**Curly: "Oh, that's different."

References

Further reading

*"Moe Howard and the Three Stooges"; by Moe Howard, (Citadel Press, 1977).
*"The Three Stooges Scrapbook"; by Jeff Lenburg, Joan Howard Maurer, Greg Lenburg (Citadel Press, 1994).
*"The Three Stooges: An Illustrated History, From Amalgamated Morons to American Icons"; by Michael Fleming (Broadway Publishing, 2002).
*"One Fine Stooge: A Frizzy Life in Pictures"; by Steve Cox and Jim Terry, (Cumberland House Publishing, 2006).