Pest Man Wins 1951

The Stooges—Larry, Moe, and Shemp—work as marginally employed pest exterminators who hatch a risky plan to grow their business by secretly introducing mice, moths, and ants into a wealthy dinner party. Their goal is to then offer their cleanup services, profiting from a mess they themselves helped create.

The party’s hostess asks her butler to dress the exterminators in formal attire so they can operate discreetly. The trio makes a grand entrance into the elegant gathering, carrying a sack filled with cats, which the scandalized hostess begs them to hide immediately. Their foolish decision to stash the sack inside an upright piano triggers chaos moments later when the party’s esteemed guest pianist, Mr. Philander, sits at the piano to perform Johann Strauss II’s Blue Danube Waltz. The recital is instantly overwhelmed by a chorus of meows and scratching as a mouse ventures into the piano, and the Stooges’ efforts to fix the situation only make things worse.

A dispute erupts at the pastry table, sparking a full-blown pie fight that drags all the guests into a chaotic mess of whipped fillings and laughter. In the end, the hostess ends the mayhem by knocking the trio unconscious with a club, bringing the evening to a abrupt, comic close.