Booby Dupes is the 84th 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 fish peddlers (similar to their roles in Cookoo Cavaliers) who decide to cut out the middleman by catching the fish themselves. They then go about purchasing fishermen uniforms and a boat. While searching for their wardrobe, Curly manages to swipe a navy captain's uniform from the same guy (Vernon Dent) whose girl (Rebel Randall) Curly decides to overly flirt with.

After the girl debacle, the boys reconvene, and go about trading in their car and raising an additional $300 for a row boat that ends up being a "lemon." No sooner are the Stooges on the ocean when their boat starts to sink. They climb aboard their spare dinghy, and signal some passing planes for help. Unfortunately, they signal using a white rag with a large red paint-splatter in the center, making it resemble the flag of Japan. The planes overhead turn out to be bombers who believe the Stooges are Japanese marines, and promptly bomb the trio.

Curly fades

Curly Howard's mannerisms and reactions are starting to slow down. He was only a few short weeks away from suffering a minor stroke, one that would hamper his remaining time with the Stooges. Curly's falsetto voice sounds hoarse at times, and at age 40, he seems more like 50.

Wartime

During World War II, the Stooges made a few comedies that engaged in propaganda against on the then-enemy Japanese, including Spook Louder, Booby Dupes and The Yoke's on Me, which no longer reflect America's official relationship with Japan.

Notes

The title Booby Dupes is a play on the line "boop-oop-a-doop" from the song "I Wanna Be Loved by You," made famous by singer Helen Kane and by the Fleischer Studios cartoon character Betty Boop.

References

Further reading

• Moe Howard and the Three Stooges; by Moe Howard , (Citadel Press, 1977).
• The Three Stooges Scrapbook; by Jeff Lenburg, Joan Howard Maurer, Greg Lenburg (Citadel Press, 1994).
• The Three Stooges: An Illustrated History, From Amalgamated Morons to American Icons; by Michael Fleming (Broadway Publishing, 2002).
• One Fine Stooge: A Frizzy Life in Pictures; by Steve Cox and Jim Terry , (Cumberland House Publishing, 2006).