Pardon My Scotch 1935

In this short, Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Curly Howard star as inept professional carpenters who unexpectedly take charge of a small-town drugstore when its proprietor departs to seal a big alcohol purchase now that Prohibition has ended. Left alone, the trio tries to keep the shop running while a curious customer asks for an alcoholic “pick-me-up”—a request that sets off a chain of comic miscalculations. Hoping to satisfy the patron, they improvise a potent brew from a curious mix of medicines and chemicals, poured into a Wellington boot. The resulting concoction, astonishingly strong, is capable of dissolving a wicker chair used as a sieve, yet the customer drinks it and mistakes it for Scotch.

The customer, revealed to be a liquor salesman, believes he’s found a potential gold mine and pleads with the Stooges to produce the beverage in quantity. He asks them to masquerade as Scotsmen and attend a social function at his employer’s residence. What follows is a riotous sequence featuring a spirited Highland Fling dance and a chaotic dinner, culminating in the moment when the barrel of the brew is opened. The trio’s bungled attempt to tap the barrel triggers an enormous explosion, and the guests are swept up in a foam-laden deluge that underscores the film’s frantic slapstick rhythm.

The cast includes Senor Luis Balero Cantino, Billy Gilbert in an uncredited part, a nod to the era’s broad comedic style, while the core trio’s mismatched schemes drive the plot from start to finish.