Mutts to You is the 34th short subject starring American slapstick comedy team the Three Stooges. The trio made a total of 190 shorts for Columbia Pictures between 1934 and 1959.
Plot
The trio run a dog grooming business who use a conveyor belt contrivance à la an Our Gang invention (no doubt influenced by director Charley Chase's exposure to that series). On their way home, the Stooges pick up what they believe to be an abandoned baby on a front doorstep. When the trio realize that the mother (Bess Flowers) had simply locked herself out and was simply in the back of house looking for an extra house key, they become frantic.
In an effort to quietly work their way to the police station with the infant, Moe and Larry disguise Curly as the baby's mother, crowning him "Mrs. O'Toole." Unfortunately, kindly Policeman O'Halloran (Bud Jamison, sporting an authentic Irish accent) strikes up a conversation with the Irish mother, leading the boys to eventually get cold feet and run. After they are caught, the father of the child (Lane Chandler) recognizes the Stooges as the local dog groomers and all is forgiven.
Notes
- The Stooges would also become babysitters of sorts in Sock-a-Bye Baby, Three Loan Wolves, and Baby Sitters Jitters.
- The title Mutts to You is a pun on the insult "Nuts to you!"
Yiddish
When Officer O'Halloran noticed Moe and Larry disguised as Chinese laundrymen he stops them and begins asking questions. Moe responds with some mock Chinese while Larry responds with a mixture of Yiddish and English: "Ikh bin ah China boychik fun Slobodka un Ikh bet dir 'hak mir nit ah chaynik' and I don't mean efsher". The phrase is Yiddish for "I am a Chinese kid from Slobodka and I beg you don't bother me and I don't mean maybe." Moe follows this with "He from China, East Side" (a sly reference to the Lower East Side of Manhattan, which is predominantly Jewish). Noticeably, the policeman does not buy into the Stooges' charade.