From the 1942 short "Three Smart Saps" from the Three Stooges.
(Topic ID: 196392)
Quoted from MisterClutch:Might be a logo in the lower left corner of the back glass?
I *think* that says "Multiplier"
Well, I trawled through all the flipperless EM games between 1935 and the end of 1942 and didn't spot it. The way the backglass is lit seems to be unique, and even if it was re-themed, I didn't find anything that seemed to fit the layout.
On the playfield arch in the upper right, I can almost see what looks like the old Bally logo, but I'm not not completely sure.
Example:
Dunkirk, NY
I stumbled upon a thread 4 years ago about this game, but it was not identified:
It also looks like there are actually two games in the film, made to look like one.
If you pay attention to the close-up of the playfield and backbox, there are plants near it. If you look at the game from the side with the stooges gathered around it, there are no plants anywhere near the game and it is flush against the wall.
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Quoted from ForceFlow:It also looks like there are actually two games in the film, made to look like one.
If you pay attention to the close-up of the playfield and backbox, there are plants near it. If you look at the game from the side with the stooges gathered around it, there are no plants anywhere near the game and it is flush against the wall.
Good eye, the gameplay footage was obviously filmed as b roll without the actors even around and spliced in.
Leduc, AB
Quoted from ForceFlow:It also looks like there are actually two games in the film, made to look like one.
That's what I stated over 4 years ago, and was shot down on. The rails are different sizes, 1 has thicker rails. Although the back glass does look similar, or the same.
On another note, the guys are not that tall, about 5 foot nothing. "Movies always make the stars look larger than life".
If the ball could do what it does in that film, that would discourage any pinball player.
Quoted from Darcy:That's what I stated over 2 years ago, and was shot down on. The rails are different sizes, 1 has thicker rails. Although the back glass does look similar, or the same.
On another note, the guys are not that tall, about 5 foot nothing. "Movies always make the stars look larger than life". If the ball could do what it does in that film, that would discourage any pinball player.
I had not noticed their height.
I had to Google it: Moe was 5"4"; Curly at 5'5", Larry at 5'4"
I found another Stooges short with a pinball gag! Three Little Pirates (1946). It first appears at the 12:20 mark https://vimeo.com/187496613
Digging now to see if I can figure out what machine it is. You can see on this one where they covered the name of the machine at the top of the backglass.
Found it- it's Keeny's Red Hot from 1940: http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=4025
I had some time to kill this morning, so I literally went through every machine made from 1937-1942, and I came up empty.
I think we can come to one of a few conclusions...
1) It was a gimmicked "machine" for filming purposes.
2) It's an actual machine, of which there are no surviving photos or examples.
3) It's a game that had a conversion kit installed-- this was apparently done quite a bit during the war, as there were fairly few new machines being made and it was a way for operators to make old inventory look new. A company called "Glickman" seems to have been out at the forefront in this regard, but in looking at ipdb, there are very, very few photos of their conversions.
I lightened the backglass and saw the word MULTIPLE in the lower left corner which suggests a payout game. I saw the Bally logo on the upper right corner of the playfield and saw that the symbols on the backglass also appear on the playfield, a 4-leaf clover, trophy, star, target (or bullseye), ribbon (or medal), and... a patriotic top hat with a hoop? The same symbols on both, so it made me think the backglass was legit as I assumed a movie company would not bother with exacting detail on their fake movie backglass but would choose to make anything quick and easy and hokey-looking. No name on the backglass and that could be why they chose the game for the movie.
One Bally listing on the IPDB had no pictures and was listed as payout. Bally's 1939 Gold Medal. Maybe that is the medallion thing on the backglass and playfield. A gold medal. I emailed Rob Hawkins to see if he has old Billboard ads for that game. He does and it is indeed that game. As soon as he sends some better pictures I'll update our listing.
Maybe his ads will show the cabinet art to see if the cabinet in the film clip is indeed the same game.
Jay
Quoted from I_P_D_B:I lightened the backglass and saw the word MULTIPLE in the lower left corner which suggests a payout game. I saw the Bally logo on the upper right corner of the playfield and saw that the symbols on the backglass also appear on the playfield, a 4-leaf clover, trophy, star, target (or bullseye), ribbon (or medal), and... a patriotic top hat with a hoop? No name on the backglass and that could be why they chose the game for the movie.
One Bally listing on the IPDB had no pictures and was listed as payout. Bally's 1939 Gold Medal. Maybe that is the medallion thing on the backglass and playfield. A gold medal. I emailed Rob Hawkins to see if he has old Billboard ads for that game. He does and it is indeed that game. As soon as he sends some better pictures I'll update our listing.
Maybe his ads will show the cabinet art to see if the cabinet in the film clip is indeed the same game.
Jay
Excellent sleuthing Jay! I was looking for games that had three leg bolts. Nothing like that anywhere that I could find.
Interesting. Looks like they filmed the lower part of the backglass cropping out the name and the cabinet matches the one in the flyer. That's why we thought they used a machine with no name.
Btw, IPDB.org is down. I did see a notice on their front page last week that it may be down due to Harvey.
Bruce
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