Flying Saucer Daffy

Infobox Film
name = Flying Saucer Daffy


caption =
director = Jules White
writer = Jack White
Warren Wilson
starring = Moe Howard
Larry Fine
Joe Besser
Gail Bonney
Emil Sitka
Harriette Tarler
Diana Darrin
Bek Nelson
Joe Palma
cinematography = Fred Jackman Jr. |
editing = Saul A. Goodkind
producer = Jules White
distributor = Columbia Pictures
released = flagicon|US October 9, 1958
runtime = 16' 07"
country = USA
language = English
preceded_by = "Sweet and Hot"
followed_by = "Oil's Well That Ends Well"
amg_id = 1:150529
imdb_id = 0051623

"Flying Saucer Daffy" is the 187th short subject starring American slapstick comedy team the Three Stooges. The trio made a total of 190 shorts for Columbia Pictures between 1934 and 1959.

Plot

Joe's accidental snapshot of a paper plate blown by a breeze, is mistaken for a picture of a UFO. Moe and Larry, however, take the credit for the photo, and are paid a huge sum. Angered, Joe leaves the boys for a camping trip, only to meet two genuine and beautiful aliens from Planet Zircon. Moe and Larry end up in jail for fraud and Joe becomes a hero!

End of an era

Though "Flying Saucer Daffy" was not the last short subject released by the Stooges (that honor goes to "Sappy Bull Fighters"), it was the last one produced. Filming took place on December 19-20, 1957.cite book
last = Maurer
first = Joan Howard
authorlink = Joan Howard Maurer
coauthors = Jeff Lenburg, Greg Lenburg
title = "The Three Stooges Scrapbook"
publisher = Citadel Press
date = 1982
location =
pages = 87, 266
url = http://www.amazon.com/Three-Stooges-Scrapbook-Joan-Howard-Maurer/dp/0806509465/ref=pd_sim_b_title_1
doi =
id =
isbn = 0806509465] Several days later, the Stooges were unceremoniously fired from Columbia Pictures after 24 years making low-budget shorts. Joan Howard Maurer, daughter of Moe Howard, wrote the following in 1982: cquote|The boys' careers had suddenly come to an end. They were at Columbia one day and gone the next—no 'Thank yous,' no farewell party for their 24 years of dedication and service and the dollars their comedies had reaped for the studio.

Moe Howard recalled that a few weeks after their exit from Columbia, he drove to the studio to say goodbye to several studio executives when he was stopped by a guard at the gate (obviously, not a Stooges fan) and, since he did not have the current year's studio pass, was refused entry. For the moment, it was a crushing blow.

Notes

*"Flying Saucer Daffy " features Moe and Larry's more "gentlemanly" haircuts, first suggested by Joe Besser. These had to be used sparingly, however, as most of the shorts with Besser were remakes of earlier films, and new footage had to be matched with old.
*Joe Besser reported that "Flying Saucer Daffy" was his favorite Stooge comedy.
*Over the course of their 24 years at Columbia Pictures, the Stooges would occasionally be cast as separate characters. This course of action always worked against the team; author Jon Solomon concluded "when the writing divides them, they lose their comic dynamic."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 = 316, 376
url = http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Three-Stooges-Filmography-Companion/dp/0971186804/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201570359&sr=1-1
doi =
id =
isbn = 0971186804] In addition to this split occurring in "Flying Saucer Daffy", the trio also played separate characters in "Rockin' in the Rockies", "He Cooked His Goose" (and its remake "Triple Crossed"), "Gypped in the Penthouse", "Cuckoo on a Choo Choo" and "Sweet and Hot".

References

Further reading

*"Moe Howard and the Three Stooges"; by Moe Howard [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0806507233] , (Citadel Press, 1977).
*"The Three Stooges: An Illustrated History, From Amalgamated Morons to American Icons"; by Michael Fleming [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0767905563] (Broadway Publishing, 2002).
*"One Fine Stooge: A Frizzy Life in Pictures"; by Steve Cox and Jim Terry [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1581823630] , (Cumberland House Publishing, 2006).