Scheming Schemers

Scheming Schemers is the 173rd 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.

Cast

 * Moe Howard
 * Larry Fine
 * Shemp Howard
 * Christine McIntyre
 * Emil Sitka
 * Kenneth MacDonald
 * Dudley Dickerson
 * Symona Boniface
 * Herbert Evans
 * Judy Malcolm
 * Joe Palma
 * Al Thompson
 * Victor Travis

Plot
The Stooges are inept plumbers at Day and Nite Plumbers. Moe is busy reading "How to Be a Plumber" when the phone rings with a request to find a ring that trickles down the sinkpipe at the home of the wealthy Norfleets (Emil Sitka and Symona Boniface). The timing could not be any worse, as the Norfleets are throwing a dinner party to celebrate the acquisition of a $50,000 Van Brocklin painting.

Just as the Stooges happily retrieve the ring, Larry knocks it out of Moe's hand, right back down the drain. The Stooges then work their way to basement to find the water shutoff. Larry is assigned to finding the water cutoff and proceeds to dig up most of the lawn in an attempt to turn off the water. Shemp later surmises that the pipes fail to work properly because they are "clogged up with wires." Shemp and Moe proceed to remove the electrical system from the pipes and connect a water pipe to the freshly available pipe. The cook (Dudley Dickerson), who is in the kitchen trying to prepare an extravagant meal for the Norfleets, watches in bewilderment as the stove and chandelier gush water.

As the Norfleet's house transforms into Niagara Falls, two party guests named Mr. and Mrs. Allen (Kenneth MacDonald and Christine McIntyre) manage to swipe the prized Van Brocklin painting. The Stooges manage, however, to catch onto the Allen's scheme and retrieve the painting, but not before engaging in a pie fight with Mr. Allen. As this is going on, Moe wonders where Shemp is throughout the pie melee. It then is discovered that Shemp is in the upstairs bathroom, trapping himself inside a maze of pipes.