Flat Foot Stooges is the 35th short subject

Short subject

A short film is any film not long enough to be considered a feature film. No consensus exists as to where that boundary is drawn: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all...

 starring American slapstick

Slapstick

Slapstick is a type of comedy involving exaggerated violence and activities which may exceed the boundaries of common sense.- Origins :The phrase comes from the batacchio or bataccio — called the 'slap stick' in English — a club-like object composed of two wooden slats used in Commedia dell'arte...

 comedy team the Three Stooges

Three Stooges

The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy act of the early to mid–20th century best known for their numerous short subject films. Their hallmark was physical farce and extreme slapstick. In films, the Stooges were commonly known by their first names: "Moe, Larry, and Curly" and "Moe,...

. The trio made a total of 190 shorts for Columbia Pictures

Columbia Pictures

Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...

 between 1934 and 1959.

Plot

The trio once again play firemen (see False Alarms

False Alarms (1936 film)

False Alarms is the 17th 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:...

) at an engine company that still employs horse-powered engines. After sleazy salesman Mr. Reardon (Dick Curtis

Dick Curtis

Dick Curtis was an American actor who made over 230 film and television appearances during his career.-Career:Curtis was born Richard Dye in Newport, Kentucky. A tall, hulking actor, standing at 6' 3", Curtis appeared in films stretching from Charles Starrett to The Three Stooges. In most of his...

) fails to convince Fire Chief Kelly (Chester Conklin

Chester Conklin

Chester Cooper Conklin was an American comedian and actor. He appeared in over 280 films, about half of them in the silent era.-Early life:...

) that horse-powered engines are on the way out, he tries to sabotage the firehouse by committing arson

Arson

Arson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...

. He drops a can of gunpowder

Gunpowder

Gunpowder, also known since in the late 19th century as black powder, was the first chemical explosive and the only one known until the mid 1800s. It is a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate - with the sulfur and charcoal acting as fuels, while the saltpeter works as an oxidizer...

 into the old-fashioned pump boiler

Boiler

A boiler is a closed vessel in which water or other fluid is heated. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications.-Materials:...

 and the chief's daughter sees him. Reardon does not know that the can has a leak, and a duck

Duck

Duck is the common name for a large number of species in the Anatidae family of birds, which also includes swans and geese. The ducks are divided among several subfamilies in the Anatidae family; they do not represent a monophyletic group but a form taxon, since swans and geese are not considered...

 has been eating the spilled gunpowder. The duck alights on a window ledge in the station and lays an egg

Egg (biology)

An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo first begins to develop. In most birds, reptiles, insects, molluscs, fish, and monotremes, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum, which is expelled from the body and permitted to develop outside the body until the developing...

, which falls to the floor and explodes like a hand grenade

Hand grenade

A hand grenade is any small bomb that can be thrown by hand. Hand grenades are classified into three categories, explosive grenades, chemical and gas grenades. Explosive grenades are the most commonly used in modern warfare, and are designed to detonate after impact or after a set amount of time...

, starting a fire. Realizing too late that the blaze is coming from their own fire station, the Stooges manage to arrive just in time to save the chief's daughter (Lola Jensen) from the flames.

"Wrong Way" Corrigan

Upon realizing they are heading in the wrong direction, Curly quips "Hey, we're doing the Corrigan!", a reference to aviator Douglas "Wrong Way" Corrigan

Douglas Corrigan

Douglas Corrigan was an American aviator born in Galveston, Texas. He was nicknamed "Wrong Way" in 1938. After a transcontinental flight from Long Beach, California, to New York, he flew from Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, New York, to Ireland, though his flight plan was filed to return to Long...

.

Corrigan had recently returned from a transcontinental

Transcontinental

The fourth largest print media group in Canada, with more than 3,000 employees and annual revenues of $608 million in 2010, TC. Transcontinental reaches, through its multiplatform offering, over 18 million consumers across Canada...

 flight from Floyd Bennett Field

Floyd Bennett Field

Floyd Bennett Field is New York City's first municipal airport. While no longer used as an operational commercial, military or general aviation airfield, the New York Police Department still flies its helicopters from its heliport base there...

 in Brooklyn, New York to Long Beach, California

Long Beach, California

Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...

. Instead of returning to New York, he bypassed it, and headed to Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

.

Flubs

A rarity among Stooge shorts, the boys are shown flubbing their lines a few times here:

• While explaining his invention, Curly
  Curly Howard
  Jerome Lester "Jerry" Horwitz , better known by his stage name Curly Howard, was an American comedian and vaudevillian. He is best known as a member of the American slapstick comedy team the Three Stooges, along with his older brothers Moe Howard and Shemp Howard, and actor Larry Fine...
  
   says, "The horses fall on the harness", looks confused, then says "Ah - the harness falls on the horses."
• In a more obvious error, Moe
  Moe Howard
  Moses Harry Horwitz , known professionally as Moe Howard, was an American actor and comedian best known as the leader of The Three Stooges, the farce comedy team who starred in motion pictures and television for four decades...
  
   asks Curly, "Whaddya expect a fire mouse - I mean, uh - firehouse mouse to smell like? A petunia
  Petunia
  Petunia is a widely cultivated genus of flowering plants of South American origin, closely related with tobacco, cape gooseberries, tomatoes, deadly nightshades, potatoes and chili peppers; in the family Solanaceae. The popular flower derived its name from French, which took the word petun, meaning...
  
  ?" Curly tries to respond, only to be silenced by Moe and merely mutters, "It's, you know...", as though he is confused from Moe's line, possibly even waiting for the director to cut
  Cut (filmmaking)
  In the post-production process of film editing and video editing, a cut is an abrupt, but usually trivial film transition from one sequence to another. It is synonymous with the term edit, though "edit" can imply any number of transitions or effects. The cut, dissolve and wipe serve as the three...
  
  .
• Moe also has an odd exchange with Larry where he appears to forget the name of the firehouse dog, though the exchange may have been intentional:
  • Moe: "Go get 'what's his name'.
  • Larry: "Who?"
  • Moe: "What IS his name??"
  • Larry: "Butch?"
  • Moe: "Yeah, Butch..."