MGM, ever thrifty, did something slightly unusual with this short. Mixed in between Ted Healy (as a top-hatted "daddy") and his Stooges (guess who?), not to mention a shapely fairy princess, we see two color segments recylced from earlier MGM films. One is the "Woman in the Shoe" number from "Lord Byron of Broadway," and another is a number entitled "A Girl, a Fan and a Fella," which is a number that was cut from either "The Hollywood Revue of 1929" or "March of Time." The first number fits in much better with the "bedtime story" theme, and features slick dancing, but the second number (which is actually shown first) has a quirky, Erte-like elegance about it that demands attention. MGM would do something similar later with "Roast Beef and Movies," with Curly Howard, but not to the same whacked charm-effect. Try it, and get an interesting idea of early Technicolor music.
11 Reviews
Nertsery Rhymes is the first M-G-M film with Ted Healy and His Stooges (and "Bonny")
tavm30 December 2010
What I'm reviewing is historical for this is the first M-G-M short film that featured Ted Healy and his Stooges (Moe, Larry, and Curly). It's also the first of many appearances with them of a now-forgotten female player named Bonnie Bonnell-credited as Bonny here-who at the time was dating Healy. Ted plays the "father" of the boys as Howard, Fine, and Howard keep asking for a bedtime story while Healy keeps trying to sneak out at night for a drink. Quite fascinating seeing this early version of this now-iconic act what with all the shenanigans and in two-strip Technicolor, to boot! Doesn't make a whole lot of sense especially when a couple of musical numbers from other pictures are shoehorned in. And this Bonnie lady seems to be from another planet when she performs. Still, I laughed plenty when I watched this-having seen the Stooges segments previously on Leonard Maltin's "The Lost Stooges" VHS tape-again on YouTube. So on that note, I recommend Nertsery Rhymes for any Stooges completists out there.
Enjoyable musical short
jotaemesg17 February 2011
I disagree with plankton rules on several points. I would never give Nertsery Rhymes a 10, but I don't think it's despicable. I watched this short on TCM in the mid nineties and was very pleased for the surprises it held. It's a kind of patchwork, where it was obvious, being a 1933 film, that the two musical numbers had been taken from the earliest 1929/1930 MGM talkies. I was, at first, struck at seeing the three stooges perform a smoothly timed and really funny story. In fact, this is the only film where I have found the Three Stooges'act getting across. I agree with M. Planktonrules that Healy was nasty, and that the more talented Stooges did the right thing when they dumped him one year later. But, overall, the farce turns out quite well, with many unexpected comedy twists as well in the action as in the lines spoken. As to the "Lady in the fan" and "Lady in the shoe" clips, the worse it can be said is that they hardly fit in the screenplay. However, their music, in one case to Nacio Herb Brown's credit, is nice and pleasant and the staging charmingly out of date. The colour quality is also strikingly good. In short, I think this is the kind of film that makes people getting interested in old movies.
The Stooges in color
bkoganbing16 June 2018
From their earliest career period when they were still part of Ted Healy's act, this
short subject Nertsery Rhymes is a chance to see the Three Stooges in color on
the screen. Although Nertsery Rhymes is in bad need of restoration and the
color is pretty washed out, still seeing Moe, Larry, and Curly in all shades of the
rainbow is something.
The guys play three precocious lads who father Ted Healy is trying to put to sleep so he and Bonny Bonell can go out to a beer joint. Note they don't say speakeasy as it looks like happy days have arrived and Prohibition is gone.
The fantasy musical numbers are nothing to write home about. But nice to see Moe, Larry, and Curly in their salad days even in washed out color.
The guys play three precocious lads who father Ted Healy is trying to put to sleep so he and Bonny Bonell can go out to a beer joint. Note they don't say speakeasy as it looks like happy days have arrived and Prohibition is gone.
The fantasy musical numbers are nothing to write home about. But nice to see Moe, Larry, and Curly in their salad days even in washed out color.
Nice Debut!
PCC09211 August 2023
This is the film debut of Curly Howard. A very important moment in film history. At this time, they were known as "Howard, Fine and Howard". It's interesting seeing these old Ted Healy-Stooges shorts, because you can see what Moe did, after they split from Healy. When the boys went on their own, Moe took his character from these films and merged it with Healy's character, in essence becoming the leader of the trio. The two-color film process they used for Nertsery Rhymes (1933), does enhance it. It was part of a five film series, called the Colortone Musical Revues for MGM. This film is very vaudeville, with the singing, dancing, comedy and a lot of girls, in this pre-code era short subject. This includes, series regular, Bonnie Bonnell. She ended up being in all of their MGM shorts with Healy. These films were mostly geared towards adults in 1933.
I was impressed with the sets they had built on the stages, used in the film. They had impressive set designs for the dancing acts. The singing, jokes and over-all choreography, are pretty good for 1933. It was clear the boys didn't need Healy, because he seems almost pointless to the story, even though his character is the one, that guides the direction of the events, happening in Nertsery Rhymes (1933). He is Papa to the three kids, who resemble full grown men, who won't go to sleep without a bedtime story. Enter the singing, dancing, comedy and the girls, in dreamlike sequences, that go by on the screen. This is not a bad film for the debut of Curly Howard in the cinemas. I found the two-tone version on YouTube. It is an interesting piece of cinema art, that was the first of five at MGM studios. Its place in film history, makes it a strong film. It's hard to believe Nertsery Rhymes (1933) and the legend, known as the Three Stooges, is over 90 years old now.
7.1 (C MyGrade) = 7 IMDB.
I was impressed with the sets they had built on the stages, used in the film. They had impressive set designs for the dancing acts. The singing, jokes and over-all choreography, are pretty good for 1933. It was clear the boys didn't need Healy, because he seems almost pointless to the story, even though his character is the one, that guides the direction of the events, happening in Nertsery Rhymes (1933). He is Papa to the three kids, who resemble full grown men, who won't go to sleep without a bedtime story. Enter the singing, dancing, comedy and the girls, in dreamlike sequences, that go by on the screen. This is not a bad film for the debut of Curly Howard in the cinemas. I found the two-tone version on YouTube. It is an interesting piece of cinema art, that was the first of five at MGM studios. Its place in film history, makes it a strong film. It's hard to believe Nertsery Rhymes (1933) and the legend, known as the Three Stooges, is over 90 years old now.
7.1 (C MyGrade) = 7 IMDB.
Giving this first Three Stooges short a 10 is like putting an Chanel dress on a pig!
planktonrules3 May 2008
After seeing this film and looking at the reviews, it's obvious that this film is yet another case where rabid fans see EVERYTHING their favorite stars is in is pure cinema gold! Heck, giving ANY Three Stooge film a 10 is hard to imagine, but in the case of this abysmal film, it's a crime against common sense and IMDb fans! The reality is that this is a truly awful film in every possible way, though it is very important historically since it's the first Three Stooges film. Even most of the die-hard Stooges fans will hate this film as it's nothing like later films and just isn't funny.
Like all the early Stooge's films, their front man was Ted Healy--a rather obnoxious and abrasive vaudevillian who spent all his time smacking the crap out of the hapless Stooges. While in later Stooge films without Healy this violence was funny and comical, with Healy it tended to just be cruel and it was a great move by the boys to dump their rather vicious front man.
So why was it so bad? Well, it's very obvious that MGM didn't know what to do with the team and put very little effort into producing the film despite the fact that it was in the expensive Two-Color Technicolor process. This decision was less based on their commitment to the team and more because they had some existing two-color clips and wanted to combine them with the Stooge clips to save a few bucks. This was certainly NOT done in a seamless manner and the existing song and dance clips were simply dreadful--totally dull and unappealing. Plus, some of the clips and dialog have absolutely nothing to do with Nursery Rhymes! The end result was uninteresting and showed little to indicate that the team would one day make it big. Unfortunately for the studio, this trend continued until the team made the jump to Columbia and the rest is history.
See it only for historical purposes--don't say I didn't warn you!
Like all the early Stooge's films, their front man was Ted Healy--a rather obnoxious and abrasive vaudevillian who spent all his time smacking the crap out of the hapless Stooges. While in later Stooge films without Healy this violence was funny and comical, with Healy it tended to just be cruel and it was a great move by the boys to dump their rather vicious front man.
So why was it so bad? Well, it's very obvious that MGM didn't know what to do with the team and put very little effort into producing the film despite the fact that it was in the expensive Two-Color Technicolor process. This decision was less based on their commitment to the team and more because they had some existing two-color clips and wanted to combine them with the Stooge clips to save a few bucks. This was certainly NOT done in a seamless manner and the existing song and dance clips were simply dreadful--totally dull and unappealing. Plus, some of the clips and dialog have absolutely nothing to do with Nursery Rhymes! The end result was uninteresting and showed little to indicate that the team would one day make it big. Unfortunately for the studio, this trend continued until the team made the jump to Columbia and the rest is history.
See it only for historical purposes--don't say I didn't warn you!
Some clubs have secret handshakes, but the . . .
oscaralbert13 March 2019
Warning: Spoilers
. . . Pachyderm Party bonds together over "The Three Stooges." NERTSERY RHYMES always has been a key test in separating normal people from those who have (or likely will) succumb to the wiles of the USA's Fat Cat One Per Center "Bread and Circuses" policy. ANYONE who would rate NERTSERY RHYMES "six" or above (on a ten-point scale) clearly is of the Elephantine Persuasion, and a top candidate for the "Soma" Aldous Huxley promised in BRAVE NEW WORLD. It's bad enough spending more than a few seconds viewing the saddest "comic" trio in World History. (Anyone who'd spend MINUTES watching these stooges "for fun" most likely is the sort of "Rubbernecker" who causes secondary highway crashes by ogling accident scenes involving decapitations.) NERTSERY RHYMES was spewed out by the House of the Groaning Fat Cat (aka, The Billionaire Boys' Club). These Monied Miscreants try to use this short as a "gateway drug," by diluting it with two endless segments of boring and insipid "girlie" archival footage. The insidious schemers behind NERTSERY RHYMES had a nefarious inkling that raunchy and sadistic film fare such as this could weaken America enough to hijack an election in favor of a self-confessed kitty-grabber Hell-bent upon permanently enslaving the USA's Working Class.
Ted Healy was one of the most influential comics of the 20th century
aldiboronti12 February 2015
It always amuses me that some people are so dismissive of Healy. Usually the reason is profound ignorance of his career and the early career of his Stooges. He's the guy who created them, who came up with the routines. And the Stooges didn't dump him, as stated by the clueless reviewer above. MGM offered Healy a solo contract and he took it. At the same time he helped the Stooges start an independent career. The only dispute was who should retain the copyright for the name. Healy, as the guy who came up with it, thought it should be him and he was in the right. The Stooges never lost their love and respect for Ted, even though the law suit became acrimonious at times. Moe was utterly distraught on hearing of Healy's death (he wasn't murdered by Beery BTW, that's another exploded myth).
This short is one of my favorites, it shows just how well Healy and his Stooges worked together and the color is an added bonus. The musical clips are great too. Some people today are just incapable of appreciating the early talkies.
This short is one of my favorites, it shows just how well Healy and his Stooges worked together and the color is an added bonus. The musical clips are great too. Some people today are just incapable of appreciating the early talkies.
Very early Stooges really only worth seeing for them here
Horst_In_Translation19 March 2019
Warning: Spoilers
"Nertsery Rhymes" is an American live action short film from 1933, the early days of the sound era and this is a Three Stooges work, even if they are not entirely at the center of it all. Like most of their other short films, it runs for 20 minutes approximately, so well actually longer than most of their others, a bit longer. But the big difference is that this one here is in color, which is not only unusual for the yeah 1933 (older than 85 years now), but also for the Stooges as they kept shooting b&w films long after the establishment of films in color. So kinda ironic one of their oldest works is in color indeed. The trio consists of Moe, Larry and Curly here, the former being in his late 30s, the other two in their early 30s still. Funnily enough, Ted Healy plays the trio's dad here and he is not even a year older than Moe, but what a difference outfits make. Back then in comedy films, especially those with a musical component, you constantly see actors in suits with ties or bow ties also in comedy films, today not really anymore at all for this genre. This also applies to the Stooges sometimes later on, even if they probably don't make it work as well as Healy, perhaps also due to their (lack of) size. This also explains a bit why they are playing toddlers in rompers here I suppose. By the way, I think I remember Shemp was a member originally as well, but got replaced by Curly before this movie (or was it Larry?), which would be a bit ironic in the sense that the circle then closes again later when Shemp got in again replacing Curly after his stroke. Anyway, back to this one here. It is of course an MGM production. The director is Jack Cummings long before his Oscar nomination. There are three writers. Two of them are Healy and Moe, who is credited here, but really never wrote one of the many short films later on. And the third is Matt Brooks, not the most prolific writer, but this is also not the only Stooges work he was involved with. Okay, finally a few words on the film here. Maybe today it would be called Nerdsery Rhymes, but with the t the play on words feels a bit outdated today. It is also more of a musical revue than a film really. The baykground story of the father telling his 3 boys bedtime stories is just the frame for the singing action and occasionally the singing even takes over in this background story. I mean the singing isn't bad and music sure was popular in films during that time, but it was not entertaining enough. The comedic moments were better sometimes, like Curly telling Pa to not fool around please in his presence with the lady. Or the ending that also showed that the Stooges will have a career that Healy can only dream of. His door knocking joke felt bland and stale, but when the Stooges made the same (even more impressive as they basically recycled it), it was fairly funny and I am saying this as somebody who has never been a huge Stooges films fan and I have seen a lot. Apart from that, there is also the usual Stooges approach to comedy that involves slapstick violence. The hammer tale at the end is the best example. He could have made it look at least as if he was hitting them with the sound. And it is a really light movie. There is talk about them being dead after being hit with the hammer, but they get up right away, so that this is/was really suitable as a family friendly movie. But quality-wise, it simply isn't good enough. One of the more forgettable Stooges short films honestly, I give it a thumbs-down. If there is any reason to see this one, then it is for how good they look next to their limited co-lead and for the color of course. Color was added afterward on many other Stooges films, but these are b&w films in the original, this one here is not. Still, skip it and go for something of better quality instead.
Good Three Stooges short!
Movie Nuttball31 March 2005
The Three Stooges has always been some of the many actors that I have loved. I love just about every one of the shorts that they have made. I love all six of the Stooges (Curly, Shemp, Moe, Larry, Joe, and Curly Joe)! All of the shorts are hilarious and also star many other great actors and actresses which a lot of them was in many of the shorts! In My opinion The Three Stooges is some of the greatest actors ever and is the all time funniest comedy team!
One of the most hilarious and unique Three Stooges shorts is Nertsery Rhymes. In this short are Ted Healy and Bonnie Bonnell. There are many funny scenes here that I think most Three Stooges fans will love! In My opinion this one of the most different Three Stooges shorts. I recommend this one to all!
One of the most hilarious and unique Three Stooges shorts is Nertsery Rhymes. In this short are Ted Healy and Bonnie Bonnell. There are many funny scenes here that I think most Three Stooges fans will love! In My opinion this one of the most different Three Stooges shorts. I recommend this one to all!
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