If a Body Meets a Body

Infobox Film
name = If a Body Meets a Body


caption =
director = Jules White
writer = Elwood Ullman
starring = Moe Howard
Larry Fine
Curly Howard
Ted Lorch
Fred Kelsey
Joe Palma
Al Thompson
Victor Travers
Dorothy Vernon
cinematography = Benjamin H. Kline |
editing = Charles Hochberg
producer = Jules White
distributor = Columbia Pictures
released = flagicon|US August 30, 1945
runtime = 18' 07"
country = USA
language = English
preceded_by = "Idiots Deluxe"
followed_by = "Micro-Phonies"
amg_id = 1:140211
imdb_id = 0037813

"If a Body Meets a Body" is the 86th 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 unemployed again, and looking through the want-ads for work. Moe stumbles on an article stating that Curly's uncle Bob O. Link had died and left his nephew Curly Q. Link a nice inheritance. Upon arriving at the uncle's mansion for the reading of the will, the lawyer disappears along with will, and is then found murdered. All potential heirs, including the Stooges, are held as suspects and forced to spend the night.

While getting a tour of their sleeping quarters, Curly gets spooked when it is revealed his is standing on the exact spot his uncle was murdered. The rest of night consists of a live parrot walking around inside a human skull, howling wind, and uncle Bob O. Link's corpse leaning on Moe.

The Stooges flee down the stairwell and knock over the maid (Joe Palma), who is the killer in disguise, with the stolen will falling out of the killer's wig. After excitedly reading the will, Curly learns that he has been bequeathed a grand total of $0.67 net.

Curly's illness

"If a Body Meets a Body" was the first film made after Curly Howard suffered a mild stroke. As a result, his performance was marred by slurred speech, and slower timing. Though the trio did not know it at the time, Curly's health would gradually deteriorate, resulting in languid, almost sickly performances right up to his last film with the team, "Half-Wits Holiday". [Fleming, Michael (1999). "The Three Stooges: An Illustrated History, From Amalgamated Morons to American Icons", p. 211, Broadway Publishing. ISBN 0767905567 ]

Theme change

"If a Body Meets a Body" is the first Stooge film to employ a revamped performance of the 'sliding strings' version of "Three Blind Mice" as the Stooges' official theme song. The original 'sliding strings' version was regularly used from 1939's "We Want Our Mummy" until 1942's "What's the Matador?". Sadly, due to the timing of this theme's usage, it is often associated with post-stroke Curly Howard era, as the new theme coincidentally made its debut in the same film that Curly's illness became apparent.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] Interestingly, this version of "Three Blind Mice" would only be utilized in four films during the Shemp Howard era: "Fright Night", "Out West", "Squareheads of the Round Table" and "The Hot Scots".

Notes

* The title "If a Body Meets a Body" is a pun on the comically macabre theme of the film, and taken from a line from the old Scottish song by Robert Burns, "Coming Through the Rye"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 = 262
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] (as in "Should a body meet a body/Coming through the rye/Should a body kiss a body/Need a body cry?") [ [http://www.worldburnsclub.com/poems/translations/coming_through_the_rye.htm/ "Coming Through the Rye" lyrics] ]
* This Stooges short has a plot very similar to "The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case", which also features actor Fred Kelsey.

Quotes

** Moe: "Didn't you say your full name was Curly Q. Link?"
** Curly: "You know my name is Curly Q. Link."
** Larry: "What does the 'Q' stand for, 'Quincy'?"
** Curly: "No..."
** Moe " 'Quillup' ?"
** Curly: "No..."
** Moe "What then?"
** Curly: "Cuff."

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 Scrapbook"; by Jeff Lenburg, Joan Howard Maurer, Greg Lenburg [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0806509465] (Citadel Press, 1994).
*"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).