In the Sweet Pie and Pie
Encyclopedia
In the Sweet Pie and Pie is the 58th 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.
), Taska (Mary Ainslee
) and Baska (Ethelreda Leopold
) Jones, three snippy
society girls, are willed an inheritance so long as they are married, but their fiances postpone their engagements. Their shrewd lawyer Diggin (Richard Fiske
) suggests they marry three death row inmates (the Stooges) to retain the dough; once they are married, they get their inheritance, the convicts are hung, and can marry their fiances free and clear. They do so, but the boys are pardoned by the governor, and as the girls celebrate their new bout of widowhood, the Stooges make their way into their house and make themselves at home.
Mortified, the devious debutantes try to think up an excuse to divorce their new beaus and decide to force them to become society gentlemen, something they feel the Stooges will be unable to accomplish. After enrolling the Stooges in an ill-fated dance lesson, and after finding them to be more accommodating to entering society after Moe realizes what they are up to. Diggin suggests that the girls throw a formal party, hoping the Stooges will make a shambles of the evening. They do, of course, and the evening ends with the Stooges first genuine pie fight. Diggin chastises the boys for their social ineptness and threatens to annul their marriages at once. However, the girls had enough of Diggins and decides to remain married to the Stooges. They along with the other guests in attendance strike back at Diggins by covering him in pie from head to toe.
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
Tiska (Dorothy ApplebyDorothy Appleby
Dorothy Appleby was an American film actress. She appeared in over 50 films between 1931 and 1943.-Career:...
), Taska (Mary Ainslee
Mary Ainslee
Mary Ainslee was an American film actress. She appeared in approximately 15 films between 1939 and 1952.Ainslee appeared in several Three Stooges films such as I'll Never Heil Again, In the Sweet Pie and Pie, Hokus Pokus, and He Cooked His Goose.In the mid-1980s, she suffered a stroke and never...
) and Baska (Ethelreda Leopold
Ethelreda Leopold
Ethelreda Leopold was an American film actress. She appeared in approximately 65 films between 1934 and 1972.Leopold is familiar to modern viewers for her roles in several Three Stooges, Andy Hardy, and Abbott and Costello films...
) Jones, three snippy
Snippy
Snippy, pronounced , is an adjective meaning "sharp or curt" and "Sharp-tongued; impertinent".- 2000 U.S. presidential election :The word grew to prominence in the United States after its well-publicized use in a phone call between Al Gore and George W. Bush during the 2000 U.S...
society girls, are willed an inheritance so long as they are married, but their fiances postpone their engagements. Their shrewd lawyer Diggin (Richard Fiske
Richard Fiske
Richard Fiske was an American film actor. He appeared in over 80 films between 1938 and 1942.-Career:Born Thomas Richard Potts, Fiske was born to Frank and Bernice Potts...
) suggests they marry three death row inmates (the Stooges) to retain the dough; once they are married, they get their inheritance, the convicts are hung, and can marry their fiances free and clear. They do so, but the boys are pardoned by the governor, and as the girls celebrate their new bout of widowhood, the Stooges make their way into their house and make themselves at home.
Mortified, the devious debutantes try to think up an excuse to divorce their new beaus and decide to force them to become society gentlemen, something they feel the Stooges will be unable to accomplish. After enrolling the Stooges in an ill-fated dance lesson, and after finding them to be more accommodating to entering society after Moe realizes what they are up to. Diggin suggests that the girls throw a formal party, hoping the Stooges will make a shambles of the evening. They do, of course, and the evening ends with the Stooges first genuine pie fight. Diggin chastises the boys for their social ineptness and threatens to annul their marriages at once. However, the girls had enough of Diggins and decides to remain married to the Stooges. They along with the other guests in attendance strike back at Diggins by covering him in pie from head to toe.
Pie fights
Larry Fine recalled that the most grueling scenes in this film involved pies: