Heavenly Daze

Infobox Film
name = Heavenly Daze


image_size =
caption =
director = Jules White
writer = Zion Myers
starring = Moe Howard
Larry Fine
Shemp Howard
Vernon Dent
Sam McDaniel
Victor Travers
Symona Boniface
Marti Sheldon
Judy Malcolm
producer = Jules White
distributor = Columbia Pictures
cinematography = Allen Siegler
editing = Edwin Bryant
released = September 2, 1948
runtime = 16' 47"
language = English
preceded_by = "The Hot Scots"
followed_by = "I'm a Monkey's Uncle"
amg_id = 1:139447
imdb_id = 0040429

"Heavenly Daze" is the 109th 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

Shemp has died and is in heaven, talking with his Uncle Mortimer (Moe, dressed to resemble Moses). Mortimer is on the phone checking to see if Shemp will remain in Heaven or Hell, and it does not look good. Furthermore, it comes to light that cousins Moe and Larry have also not been on their best behavior. Seeing this as an opportunity for his deceased nephew, Uncle Mortimer givess Shemp the chance to reform Moe and Larry from their evil ways so he can gain entry to Heaven. The catch is that Shemp cannot be seen nor heard by anyone on Earth, much to his delight.

Back on Earth, Moe and Larry are crying their eyes out while attending the reading of Shemp's will with their attorney, I. Fleecem (Vernon Dent). Seems that Shemp has left behind a grand total of $140, which is $10 less than Fleecem's fee of $150. The boys grumble about not having much dough, but invisible Shemp swipes the money back from Fleecem, putting it in Moe and Larry's pockets. When they realize money has magically reappeared, they get spooked, and then remember Shemp saying he would come back to haunt them. They brush this off, but do not completely clear their heads of Shemp's ghostly presence.

Afterwards, Moe and Larry rent a luxury apartment, complete with butler Spiffington (Sam McDaniel), and rent tuxedos. The boys have a grand scheme that involves the conning of wealthy couple the DePuysters (Victor Travers and Symona Boniface) into buying a fountain pen that will write under whipped cream.

Shemp enters the luxurious apartment and terrorises Spiffington the Butler into leaving. He then smacks Moe and Larry to let them know he is there. Though their butler has ran off, Moe and Larry remain, but frightened. The DePuysters show up, and promptly receive dollops of cream in their face when Shemp turns the mixer to "high." After the mixer catches fire, Shemp begins yelling, thinking he has gone to hell. A few moments later, he awakes, realizing this was all a dream, but then, to his horror, he discovers that the bed is on fire from a cigarette he was smoking. Moe & Larry discover the fire and they put it out. When Shemp tells them of the dream and foutain pen invention, Moe whacks him with a cream pie and Larry hands him a pen and paper and tells him to write himself a letter.

Production

In the 1940's the supernatural was a popular fantasy film genre of the departed coming back to assist the living such as "Here Comes Mr Jordan", "A Matter of Life and Death", "Wonder Man", and Columbia's "Mr. Jordan" sequel "Down to Earth". The "Tom and Jerry" series also reworked parts of "Heavenly Daze" the following year in "Heavenly Puss".

The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "Carousel", based on the 1909 play "Liliom", opened on Broadway in 1945 and ran for 890 performances. Like "Carousel", Shemp is given a chance to return to Earth to do a good deed, and like "Down to Earth" the other world is filled with beautiful women, Shemp saying "this proves I must be dead if I wanted to leave here."

Notes

*"Heavenly Daze" was reworked in 1955 as "Bedlam In Paradise", using ample stock footage.
*Larry asks why anyone would want a fountain pen that would write under whipped cream. Moe responds that people might be in a desert where they would not be able to write under water. This refers to the first ball point pen being introduced by Milton Reynolds in 1945 that was a best seller. It was sold for $10 with the slogan "It writes under water." [ [http://woodpensonline.com/history.htm/ Pen History] ]
*A gag in the film's script called for a fountain pen to be thrown into the middle of Larry Fine's forehead. The pen was to be strung on a wire that would land in a small tin plate fastened to Larry's head. Due to a miscalculation on the part of the special effects department, the point of the pen punctured Larry's skin, leaving a bloody gash in his forehead. Larry yelling in pain as the sharp pen pierced his forehead was for real. After the cameras stopped rolling, a furious Moe Howard chased director Jules White around the set in anger, as White had promised the gag was harmless.cite book
last = Maurer
first = Joan Howard
authorlink = Joan Howard Maurer
coauthors = Jeff Lenburg, Greg Lenburg
title = "The Three Stooges Scrapbook"
publisher = Citadel Press
date = 1982
location =
pages = 253
url = http://www.amazon.com/Three-Stooges-Scrapbook-Joan-Howard-Maurer/dp/0806509465/ref=pd_sim_b_title_1
doi =
id =
isbn = 0806509465]

References

Further reading

*"Moe Howard and the Three Stooges"; by Moe Howard [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0806507233] , (Citadel Press, 1977).
*"The Complete Three Stooges: The Official Filmography and Three Stooges Companion"; by Jon Solomon [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0971186804] , (Comedy III Productions, Inc., 2002).
*"The Three Stooges Scrapbook"; by Jeff Lenburg, Joan Howard Maurer, Greg Lenburg [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0806509465] (Citadel Press, 1994).
*"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).