A Bird in the Head

Infobox Film
name = A Bird in the Head


caption =
director = Edward Bernds
writer = Edward Bernds
starring = Moe Howard
Larry Fine
Curly Howard
Vernon Dent
Robert Williams
Frank Lackteen
Art Miles
producer = Hugh McCollum
cinematography = Burnett Guffey
editing = Henry Batista
distributor = Columbia Pictures
released = flagicon|US February 28, 1946
runtime = 16' 54"
country = USA
language = English
preceded_by = "Beer Barrel Polecats"
followed_by = "Uncivil War Birds"
amg_id = 1:143198
imdb_id = 0038359

"A Bird in the Head" is the 89th 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

The Stooges are mediocre paperhangers. Their client Mr. Beedle (Robert Williams) advises the boys to do a good job, but the end result looks like it was quickly cluttered with paper towels. Beedle is fuming, and threatens the boys, who make a quick escape across the hallway into the laboratory of the insane Professor Panzer (Vernon Dent) and his assistant Nikko (Frank Lackteen). Panzer is searching for a human brain puny enough to place in the head of his gorilla Igor (Art Miles). Curly becomes the prime candidate, and Panzer locks the boys in his lab in order to secure Curly's "contribution." Then Igor gets loose, but takes an instant liking to Curly, which the feeble-minded Stooge reciprocates. Eventually, the boys destroy Panzer's lab, and quickly depart—taking Igor with them.

Curly's illness

41-year-old Curly Howard had suffered a series of minor strokes prior to filming "A Bird in the Head". As a result, his performance was marred by slurred speech, and slower timing. This film was the first directing effort for former Columbia sound man Edward Bernds. Bernds was thrilled that he was being given a shot at directing, but was horrified when he realized that Curly was in such bad shape (something Columbia short subject head/director Jules White failed to alert Bernds of).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 = 76
url = http://www.amazon.com/Three-Stooges-Scrapbook-Joan-Howard-Maurer/dp/0806509465/ref=pd_sim_b_title_1
doi =
id =
isbn = 0806509465]

Years later, Bernds discussed his trying experience during the filming of "A Bird in the Head":

cquote|It was an awful tough deal for a novice rookie director to have a Curly who wasn't himself.cite book
last = Fleming
first = Michael
authorlink = Michael Fleming
coauthors =
title = "The Three Stooges: An Illustrated History, From Amalgamated Morons to American Icons"
publisher = Broadway Publishing
date = 1999
location =
pages = 79, 80
url = http://www.amazon.com/Three-Stooges-Illustrated-Amalgamated-American/dp/0767905563/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201628331&sr=1-1
doi =
id =
isbn = 0767905567] I had seen Curly at his greatest and his work in this film was far from great. The wallpaper scene was agony to direct because of the physical movements required to roll up the wallpaper and to react when it curled up in him. It just didn't work. As a fledgling director, my plans were based on doing everything in one nice neat shot. But when I saw the scenes were not playing, I had to improvise and use other angles to make it play. It was the wallpaper scene that we shot first, and during the first two hours of filming, I became aware that we had a problem with Curly.

Realizing that Curly was no longer able to perform in the same capacity as before, Bernds devised ways to cover his illness. Curly could still be the star, but the action was shifted away from the ailing Stooge. In "A Bird in the Head", the action focuses more on crazy Professor Panzer and Igor. This allowed Curly to maintain a healthy amount of screen time without being required to contribute a great deal.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 = 272, 273
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]

Bernds often commented that he and Jules White never really got along. As a result, Bernds feared that his directing days would be over as soon as they began if he released "A Bird in the Head" with a weak Curly as his first entry. Producer Hugh McCollum reshuffled the release order, and the superior "Micro-Phonies" was released first, securing Bernds directing position.

Notes

*The title "A Bird in the Head" is a pun on the phrase "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush."
*An uncredited Tex Avery provided the animation of the cuckoo in Curly's cranium X-ray.Fact|date=March 2008
*"A Bird in the Head" was filmed over a period of five days (April 9-13, 1945), which was longer than usual. Due to the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt on April 12, filming ended early out of respect for the deceased Commander-in-chief. Edward Bernds commented that the extra day of shooting allowed him to gather his thoughts, and devise ways to film around Curly's illness.

References