''Slappily Married'' is an American short subject by

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...

, released on November 7, 1946. The short was directed by Edward Bernds and stars Joe DeRita, who later joined the Three Stooges and became "Curly Joe" DeRita, and features Christine McIntyre,

Dorothy Granger Dorothy Karolyn Granger (November 21, 1911 – January 4, 1995) was an American actress best known for her roles in short subject comedy, comedies in Cinema of the United States, Hollywood. Career Granger, with her parents, two brothers, ...

and Dick Wessel. It is the first of four shorts in the Joe DeRita series produced by Columbia from 1946-1948; all entries were

remake A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same s ...

s of other Columbia shorts.

Plot

Dress shop owner Joe Bates is a happily married man who dreads Friday the 13th. Fearing the worst, Joe decides to stay home to avoid any catastrophes, but his wife tells him that he is being superstitious. Joe agrees with her and decides to start preparing breakfast, but things quickly go wrong. Food starts flying everywhere, dishes fall and break all over the place and a mixing bowl of

waffle A waffle is a dish made from leavened Batter (cooking), batter or dough that is cooked between two plates that are patterned to give a characteristic size, shape, and surface impression. There are many variations based on the type of waffle iron ...

batter drapes all over Joe. When his wife returns to the kitchen, she tells him that yesterday was Friday the 13th and to start getting ready for work. Later at the dress shop, Joe mistakes a female customer for a mannequin. When her jealous fiancee goes over to see what is going on, a nervous Joe tells him that it was a misunderstanding. Another problem occurs shortly after when the same customer and another one get into a scuffle involving a hat they both want to purchase. Joe tries to break up the fight, but gets knocked to the floor along with the first customer. The fiancee, as well as Joe's wife, shows up again, with Joe's wife thinking that he is cheating on him and runs off, leaving Joe to get punched out by the fiancee. Joe eventually tracks down his wife at the Amazon hotel, for women only. The

concierge A concierge () is an employee of a multi-tenant building, such as a hotel or apartment building, who receives and helps guests. The concept has been applied more generally to other hospitality settings and to personal concierges who manage the e ...

tells Joe that she was given orders that his wife does not want to be disturbed, but Joe manages to disguise himself as a woman to find his wife's room, but winds up in that of the female customer he met earlier and also has to dodge her fiancee and a female house detective, before finally reuniting with his wife at the end.

Cast

* Joe DeRita - Joe Bates * Christine McIntyre - Mrs. Bates *

- Honey * Dick Wessel - Honey's husband *

Jean Willes Jean Donahue (born Jean Willes; April 15, 1923 – January 3, 1989) was an American film and television actress. She appeared in approximately 65 films in her 38-year career. Early years Born Jean Willesin Los Angeles to William Simmons Willes ...

- Dress store customer * Symona Boniface - Hotel desk clerk * Florence Auer - Violet, hotel matron

Production notes

''Slappily Married'' is a remake of the 1943

Andy Clyde Andrew Allan Clyde (March 25, 1892 – May 18, 1967), was a Scottish-born American film and television actor whose career spanned some 45 years. In 1921 he broke into silent films as a Mack Sennett comic, debuting in ''On a Summer Day''. H ...

short ''A Maid Made Mad''. DeRita did not think highly of his output at Columbia Pictures, once commenting, "My comedy in those scripts was limited to getting hit on the head with something, then going over to my screen wife to say, 'Honey, don't leave me!' For this kind of comedy material, you could have gotten a busboy to do it and it would have been just as funny."

References

External links

*
''Slappily Married'' at threestooges.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Slappily Married 1946 films Columbia Pictures short films Short film remakes Short films directed by Edward Bernds American black-and-white films American comedy short films 1946 comedy films 1940s American films 1940s English-language films