A Plumbing We Will Go

Infobox Film
name = A Plumbing We Will Go


caption =
director = Del Lord
writer = Elwood Ullman
starring = Moe Howard
Larry Fine
Curly Howard
Bess Flowers
Dudley Dickerson
John Tyrrell
Bud Jamison
Monte Collins
cinematography = Benjamin H. Kline |
editing = Art Seid
producer = Del Lord
Hugh McCollum
distributor = Columbia Pictures
released = flagicon|US April 19, 1940
runtime = 17' 31"
country = USA
language = English
amg_id = 1:228942
imdb_id = 0032917
preceded_by = "Rockin' thru the Rockies"
followed_by = "Nutty but Nice"

"A Plumbing We Will Go" is the 46th 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 trio are on trial for stealing chickens, but are found not guilty. However, Curly pulls out his hat and chicken feathers fly out, which he claims is merely dandruff. As they exit, they antagonize a police officer (Bud Jamison).

Next, they try to catch some food at a pet store. The same police officer sees them. They hide, and Curly punches a mannequin of a police officer. While repeating this for Moe and Larry, the real officer shows up and punches Curly. They run away and steal a plumber's van. The police officer runs after the van and gets on its trailer. Curly and Larry disconnect it, and the officer falls off.

After several minutes of driving, Moe stops the car and Larry and Curly fall out. A butler approaches them and says, "Finally! I called you plumbers over an hour ago!" Moe begins to explain but notices that the police officer is coming closer. They run inside with the plumber's equipment. They are told that the leak is in the basement.

It takes a few moments for them to find the basement. When they do, they run around aimlessly at first. They find the leaky pipe, and Curly goes upstairs to shut off the water. He enters the bathroom and chases someone out. He unscrews the faucet and a water comes gushing out. He unsuccessfully tries to stop it.

In the basement, Moe and Larry wonder why Curly has not shut off the water. Larry goes to the front yard to turn the water off there by digging a hole to the source. Back upstairs, Curly decides to put some pipes into the wall. He is shocked when the water continues to flow. He continues connecting pipes, and eventually traps himself. He picks up a drill and starts drilling a hole in the ground. In the basement, Moe manages to fix the pipe and laughs, "Who says you need brains to be a plumber?". Shortly after, water starts falling on his head. He yells at Curly to stop and then a crash is heard.

Curly and quite a bit of water fall into the basement. Frustrated, Moe wrings Curly's nose with the pipe wrench. Moe tells Curly to get another pipe so they can fix it. Curly finds that a pipe is plugged up with electric wires — an electricity conduit, it turns out. So he pulls the wires out and they connect the pipe.

In the process, strange things happen on the kitchen, bewildering the chef. First, while Curly struggles with the wires, the light bulb fixture moves, then the clock which spins out of control and falls to the batter, splashing the chef in the process. When Curly connects the water pipe with the conduit, the chef switches at the moment the light on, filling the bulb with water, which breaks on its pressure. When he switches the stove, a spray of water emits, flooding the kitchen up. He had to go back to the kitchen dressed in a raincoat and cap.

Meanwhile, in the living room, the host is showing the crowd her new television set. They tune into a broadcast coming from Niagara Falls, and water splashes out of the television. She attempts to call the plumber, but water sprays from the receiver. Frustrated, she leads the guests to the garden. Larry comes back in, and Moe tells them to collect their pay. However, a man goes into the bathroom and falls into the hole Curly left there. They help him up, and they discover it is the judge who tried them earlier. They run out into the yard, and try to escape by jumping into the hole Larry dug out earlier. At a magic presentation in the garden, the magician fires a shot, predicting to present a little lady in the box. Instead, the lady screams, flees out of the box, and out come the Stooges and the pursuing police force in foot patrol and motorcycles.

Quotes

**Curly "(seeing the police chasing them)": "Nygahhh! We're plumbers!!!"
**Moe: "Three of the best plumbers that ever plumbed a plum!"

**Moe: "(says to the Butler)": "Pretty nice joint you got boy; where's the leak?"
**Butler: "In the basement."
**Larry: "Where's the basement?"
**Curly: "Upstairs!"
**Moe: "Up to the basement!!!"

A favourite

"A Plumbing We Will Go" is considered a quintessential Three Stooges film. Ranking as a consistent fan favourite, the film was also a favorite of star Curly Howard. [Lenburg, Jeff; Howard Maurer, Joan; Lenburg, Greg; (1982). "The Three Stooges Scrapbook", p. 240, Citadel Press. ISBN 0806509465] ]

Notes

*Several routines from "A Plumbing We Will Go" would be recycled several times throughout the Stooges long career. A stroke-addled Curly sluggishly recreated his maze of pipes routine for the feature film "Swing Parade of 1946". Curly-Joe DeRita made his own maze of pipes in his first feature with the trio, "Have Rocket, Will Travel".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 = 171
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]
*The overall plot was also modified for usage during the Shemp era, appearing twice, in "Vagabond Loafers" and "Scheming Schemers". The chicken-stealing segment that opens the film was also reworked in "Listen, Judge".
*The title is another play on the old children's song, "A-Hunting We Will Go"; their first was "A Ducking They Did Go".

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: 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).