Flat Foot Stooges

Flat Foot Stooges
Directed by	Charley Chase
Written by	Charley Chase
Produced by	Charley Chase Hugh McCollum
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Curly Howard Dick Curtis Lola Jensen Chester Conklin Heinie Conklin Al Thompson
Cinematography	Lucien Ballard
Edited by	Art Seid
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	December 5, 1938 (1938-12-05) (U.S.)
Running time	15:25
Country	United States
Language	English

Flat Foot Stooges is a 1938 short subject directed by Charley Chase starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard). It is the 35th entry in the series released by Columbia Pictures starring the comedians, who released 190 shorts for the studio between 1934 and 1959.

The trio are firemen at Engine Company No. 1, a venerable institution reliant on horse-drawn fire engines. A conflict emerges when a dubious salesman, Mr. Reardon, attempts to persuade Fire Chief Kelly of the obsolescence of horse-powered engines, only to face rejection. Undeterred, Reardon resorts to nefarious means, sabotaging the firehouse through arson.

During his clandestine act, Reardon inadvertently triggers a chain of events culminating in an accidental explosion. The presence of a leaking can of gunpowder, coupled with the unwitting intervention of a duck, catalyzes the conflagration that engulfs the station. As chaos unfolds, the chief's daughter becomes embroiled in the turmoil, sustaining unconsciousness in the ensuing melee.

Amidst this chaos, the Stooges, having unwittingly diverted the firehorses to a Turkish bath, are ill-prepared to respond to the fire alarm. Their belated realization of the blaze's origin within their own station prompts a frantic race against time. Despite their initial missteps, the trio manages to mobilize, arriving in the nick of time to rescue the chief's daughter from the inferno, thus averting a catastrophic outcome.

Filmed on October 25–28, 1938,^[1] the title Flat Foot Stooges is a pun on the 1938 jazz song "Flat Foot Floogie (with a Floy Floy)".^[2]

A rarity among Stooge shorts, the boys are shown reciting dialogue incorrectly on several occasions, a result of director Charley Chase's rushed directing style. Chase rarely stopped for retakes in an effort to finish a film ahead of schedule.^[2]

When Larry slides down the fire pole and is accidentally punched by Moe, he calls himself a "victim of circumstance". This marks the first time a Stooge other than Curly says the line.

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. Corrigan had recently returned from a transcontinental flight from Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, New York to Long Beach, California. Instead of returning to New York, he bypassed it, and headed to Ireland.^[2]

Flat Foot Stooges marks the first usage of "Three Blind Mice" as the Stooges' title theme. However, this was not put to permanent use until We Want Our Mummy.

• Flat Foot Stooges at IMDb
• Flat Foot Stooges at AllMovie