| How High Is Up? | |
| Director: | Del Lord |
| Starring: | Moe Howard Larry Fine Curly Howard Vernon Dent Cy Schindell Duke York Bert Young Bruce Bennett Edmund Cobb |
| Producer: | Del Lord Hugh McCollum |
| Cinematography: | Allen G. Siegler |
| Editing: | Art Seid |
| Distributor: | Columbia Pictures |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
How High is Up? is a 1940 short subject directed by Del Lord starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard). It is the 48th entry in the series released by Columbia Pictures starring the comedians, who released 190 shorts for the studio between 1934 and 1959.
The Stooges engage in mendicant activities at a construction site, initially attracting business by puncturing holes in the lunch boxes of workers and offering to repair the damage. However, their deceit is soon uncovered, leading to a pursuit onto the site where they blend into a crowd of job seekers. Despite their lack of experience, they are assigned to work on the precarious 97th floor, with Curly's acrophobia presenting a significant challenge.
During their riveting duties, Larry multitasks by heating sausages for his companions, leading to inadvertent confusion between rivets and food items. Despite their best efforts, the trio's incompetence leads to a structural collapse when the head foreman, Mr. Blake, inadvertently leans against a beam. Angered by the mishap, Mr. Blake and his team pursue and subsequently dismiss the Stooges from the construction site.
The Stooges quickly deploy parachutes from the building, landing safely in their wagon below, which is fortuitously covered by the chute tarp.
Filming for How High is Up? was completed May 7–11, 1940.[1] The aerial shots of the scene, straight down from the building the Stooges are working on, are from the then newly built Empire State Building in New York City.[2]
The sweater removal scene is considered one of the finest examples of the Stooges' tendencies to use unorthodox methods to get the simplest job done. Since Moe and Larry cannot pull the sweater off of Curly, they figure the only way to do so is through the use of tools, such as mallets, chisels, and eventually a pair of scissors.[2] Larry can be seen breaking character and laughing, particularly when Curly yells, "Don't mind me, don't mind me!!"[2]