Shemp is a music teacher and the object of affection to his unattractive and tone-deaf student Miss Dinkelmeyer, with Larry as his musical accompanist. After a particularly excruciating session, Moe enters his classroom to tell Shemp that his uncle Caleb has died, which prompts Shemp to trash his late uncle as "a louse and a weasel". Moe then says Caleb left Shemp an inheritance of $500,000 (over $6.8 million today), causing Shemp to react with shock and then praise his uncle. However, Shemp cannot collect the money unless he is married within 48 hours after the reading of the will, leaving him with only a few hours to find a bride. Shemp uses his address book to call and propose to any and all women he has ever known, but he is unsuccessful. With time running out, Moe and Larry lead Shemp through a series of disastrous situations including the destruction of a phone booth and Shemp being beaten by a woman named Miss Hopkins, who has just moved into the building and mistaken Shemp for her cousin Basil. While still stunned from the beating, Shemp unintentionally proposes to Miss Dinkelmeyer. She happily accepts and the two of them, with Moe and Larry in tow, head over to the justice of the peace to get married. Shemp pulls out the wedding ring but accidentally loses it in the piano. Moe forces him to look, and Shemp wrecks the piano before finding the ring.
As the ceremony starts, Moe tells Shemp that news of Shemp's inheritance was printed in the newspaper and all of the ex-girlfriends he called earlier found out about it and are out looking for him. They all arrive at the justice's office looking to marry Shemp for the money. The women start fighting, taking out their aggressions not only on each other but also upon Moe and Larry, the latter getting repeatedly kicked in the shins while trapped in the crowd, and even the justice himself when one woman slams the birdcage on his head, causing another false start. Moe and Larry try striking a woman knocked into a chair with the butt of a rifle, but they hit each other in the face with their backswing and the intended target cracks them over the head with the gun before storming off. Moe also sets a bear trap in a chair awaiting any of the women who are continually pushing one another around, but the plan backfires when a combatant shoves him backwards into the chair, causing the trap to painfully snap shut on him. Moe screams in pain and exclaims, "Larry, an octopus has got me!" Shemp is detained by one particular woman and forced headfirst into a letter press. The woman begins cranking the press, torturing Shemp into agreeing to marry her. After Shemp is freed from the letter press, a vase meant for another woman strikes an already docile Shemp, prompting his torturer to retaliate. With Miss Dinkelmeyer's help grabbing Shemp and rousing the still dazed justice to complete the ceremony, Shemp finally ends up married to Miss Dinkelmeyer, just in time to collect the money. As Shemp fully comes to, he is told what has occurred, and yells "Help! Help!" and tries to flee from Moe, Larry, and his new bride.
Brideless Groom was filmed on March 11–14, 1947. The plot theme of Brideless Groom is not unique, having been used in (among others) Buster Keaton's 1925 comedy Seven Chances (remade in 1999 as The Bachelor). Writer Clyde Bruckman was also partially responsible for Seven Chances. Brideless Groom would be recycled in the second half of the 1956 Stooge short Husbands Beware.
The film features longtime Stooges supporting player Emil Sitka's best-remembered line "Hold hands, you lovebirds!" (the line is actually engraved on Sitka's headstone). The shot where Sitka has a birdcage smashed on his head was worked into the 1994 movie Pulp Fiction when Eric Stoltz is watching television.
The version of "Voices of Spring" during Shemp and Miss Dinkelmeyer's singing lesson was sung by frequent Stooge co-star Christine McIntyre, who appears in this short as Miss Hopkins. This version of "Voices of Spring", along with McIntyre herself, were previously used in the Stooges' Micro-Phonies (1945).
Shemp's injury
Shemp Howard
Brideless Groom features a sequence with Christine McIntyre who portrays Miss Hopkins, a woman whom Shemp actively pursues for his wife. Unfortunately, she mistakes him for her cousin Basil. After learning her mistake, she takes it out on poor Shemp by slapping him silly, then finally punching him through her door. During the filming of the scene, when McIntyre threw her punch, she leaned too far into it and hit Shemp for real, ultimately breaking his nose. This mistake was left in the film, and when watched in slow motion, Shemp can be seen falling down and opening his mouth like he was yelling in pain after the punch. Director Edward Bernds remembered getting McIntyre to give Shemp the blows:
In the story, Shemp had a few hours in which to get married if he wanted to inherit his uncle's fortune. He called on Christine McIntyre, who mistook him for her cousin (Basil), took him to her apartment and greeted him with hugs and kisses. Then the real cousin phoned and she accused Shemp of kissing her, as it were, under false pretenses. At this point, she was supposed to slap Shemp around. Lady that she was, McIntyre couldn't do it right; she dabbed at him daintily, afraid of hurting him. After a couple of bad takes Shemp pleaded with her. "Honey," he said, "if you want to do me a favor, cut loose and do it right. A lot of half-hearted slaps hurt more than one good one. Give it to me, Chris, and let's get it over with". She got up her courage and, on the next take, let Shemp have it. It wound up as a whole series of slaps — the timing was beautiful; they rang out like pistol shots. Shemp was knocked into a chair, bounced up, met another ringing slap, fell down again, scrambled up, trying to explain, only to get another stinging slap. Then Chris delivered a haymaker — a right that knocked Shemp through the door. When the take was over, Shemp was groggy, really groggy. His nose was broken. Chris put her arms around him and apologized tearfully. "It's alright, honey," Shemp said painfully. "I said you should cut loose and you did. You sure as hell did!"[1]
