I was talking about it with a friend and he said it was pretty lame and maybe good for its time but today that kind of humor does not work. I said I disagreed and I thought it was and is pretty good. I had not heard it in a while and now that I hear it again I think it is even better than I remembered it! I think part of it is the tempo they give it (speed up, pause…)
On a similar note, Animaniacs did a parody of it in an episode of Slappy Squirrel where they were talking about the bands on stage at Woodstock. It went something like:
“Who’s onstage?”
“No they’re on after the band.”
Or something like that. I was roflmao when I saw it. I believe the episode was entitled, “Woodstock Slappy”. I would love to get a wav or MP3 copy of it if anybody has it.
That’s OK Eve, you answered my question. I was wondering if it had more history besides being featured on an “I Love Lucy” episode, and obviously it has. The things that get lost in the mists of time! (shedding a tear)
Funniest scene I’ve ever seen in any movie, all time:
In The General, Buster Keaton has stolen his own locomotive, which was commandeered by Yankee soldiers. At one point his locomotive is closely pursued by a mortar on a flatcar. He is trying desperately to get away before the mortar fires, but there’s not much he can do because he’s on rails, right? At one point he bends down to do something and, while his attention is diverted, the flatcar is somehow switched to another track. When he looks back, the flatcar is gone. Keaton is mystified, astonished, disbelieving, but he shrugs it off and gets back to the business at hand. He again bends down to make some adjustment and, yes, the flatcar is switched back onto his track. He looks back.
Right there. That’s it. The look on his face at that moment.
The 3 Stooges did a routine in which whenever somebody says, “Niagra Falls”, the guys remember back to a time when they were wronged…(I’m trying hard to remember)
They repeat, “Niagra Falls”. Then they say, “Slowly I turned, step by step. Inch by inch.” Then they beat up whoever said “Niagra Falls”.
I’m 21 and I find some of Abbott and Costello’s stuff extremely funny. Some of their skits don’t seem that funny, especially their movies, but they have moments of sheer brilliance.
Who’s on first?
$28 for 7 weeks at $13/week
Lemon stand
I don’t know what of theirs is original and what is stolen. I remember a skit about an old guy and Niagra Falls going “Slowly I turned…step by step…” Is this the same as the I Love Lucy? I’m not a big Lucy fan but my mom loves it and collects the videos.
Who’s On First? is one of the greatest comedy routines of all time. Yes, every bit as funny now as it was then…not that I actually heard it “then.” I’m old, but not that old.
My Google! never freezes, but maybe that’s because I keep it constantly exercised. I found several mentions of the 3 Stooges and I Love Lucy, but no description of the original vaudeville routine. I did find this nice little site, however. American Vaudeville Museum
It looks like their back issues could have good information for a researcher on vaudeville teams.
(Episode 81): The stooges are three small time actors looking for a job. They meet three girl dancers in the situation and get a small part in a big producers show at the shipyard. When the rest of the cast doesn’t show up, the stooges and the girls must put on the whole show themselves. The show is a hit and the stooges marry the girls and head to Niagara Falls for their honeymoon. [ Their act at the shipyard contains the classic “Niagara Falls” bit; “Slowly I turned, step by step, inch by inch…” ]
I gather from this description that the 3 Stooges originated the “Niagra Falls” bit in this episode in 1940.
One more, from the Abbott & Costello Quarterly Fan Forum… (sorry for the length of the post)
Dear ACQtrly:
I was wondering, did the classic bit “Niagra Falls” originate with Bud and Lou? I saw the “stooges” perform this (on film) in the early forties. I guess this is an old burlesque skit.
Also, has Jerry Seinfeld ever written here?
Chris (janus666@webtv.net)
Dear Chris,
No, Bud and Lou didn’t originate the “Niagra Falls” (a.k.a. “Slowly I Turned”) routine; and yes, it is an old burlesque bit.
As A&C screenwriter Harry Crane explained in the book, Abbott and Costello in Hollywood, “That [routine] is a burlesque classic; all the comics knew it, and there were even several different versions of it.”
That’s why the Stooges were able to do the “Niagra Falls” version of the routine in their short, “Gents Without Cents,” while Bud and Lou did the “Pokomoko” version in their film, “Lost in a Harem.” Both films were playing in movie theaters late in 1944!
Years later, Bud and Lou did the “Niagra Falls” version with Sid Fields in the “Jail” episode of the team’s TV series.
No, Chris, Jerry Seinfeld has not contacted us. Yet.
I guess nobody knows for sure where it originated!!
I found what looks to be at least a partial transcript of “Slowly I Turned.” Would you believe someone incorporated it into a piece of fan fiction - about the Monkees???
I love the Who’s On First routine - I think it’s great even today. Though it’s not as commonly known as I’d like even in the US. I must have run the gag or a variation a dozen times in my wanderings and only four times did someone get it and/or run with it. sigh
One of the all time great comedy bits I’d never heard (I’ve read the text of it before)…until now. Thanks, Sailor.