Stooges Sunday returns with Three Sappy People, which was released December 1, 1939. This one was written by Clyde Bruckman, an important behind-the-scene figure in early film comedy. Bruckman managed to work with many of the major comedians included Buster Keaton, Laurel & Hardy and W.C. Fields, occasionally directing but more often supplying storylines and gags for their films. Alcohol reportedly was the reason his career went into decline in the thirties. He became so undependable that no one would hire him to direct but Columbia, which was building its short subject department even as other studios were dismantling theirs, was glad to have him.
Around the time this Stooges short was made, Buster Keaton — who'd all but destroyed his own career via drinking — needed work and Bruckman arranged for his old collaborator and friend to make shorts for Columbia. Bruckman worked on some of those, too. But in the forties, Bruckman's gag-writing skills began to fail him and he took to stealing gags from old films — some he'd written and some he hadn't. He had an unfortunate tendency to steal from Harold Lloyd, who liked to sue when that happened…and did. Lloyd won one suit and for a time, no studio in town would hire Bruckman. After a while, some producers gave him another chance and again, he stole from Harold Lloyd and Lloyd sued. Soon after, Bruckman borrowed a pistol from Keaton and took his own life…a sad end for a man who'd made so many people laugh.
There's some funny stuff in this Stooges endeavor so try and forget the depressing story I just told you and enjoy it…
