The popularity of the Three Stooges was soaring so high in the 1940s they were asked to appear in several feature films. In one of their more lengthy roles in a full-length picture was June 1941's "Time Out for Rhythm," a musical with Rudy Vallee, Ann Miller and Rosemary Lane. The three comedians pop in and out of the movie several times, posing as maharajahs auditioning for a show, Western Union messengers, gangsters, and even Carmen Miranda (Curly) and her (his) Brazilian sidekicks.
"Time Out for Rhythm," wrote film reviewer Stuart Galbraith, has as its "main draw for audiences today is that it features the Three Stooges, then consisting of Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Curly Howard. The Stooges were in the middle of their long and highly profitable run of two-reel comedies." Critic JP Roscoe adds, the picture is "simple entertainment, made all the more enjoyable by the Stooges' interludes, yielding a healthy, breezy movie that holds up rather well all these years later."
The musical fun fest features several songs from melody makers Saul Chaplin and Sammy Cahn, with the standout tap-dancing of Ann Miller, who even though only 18, appears in her 12th credited movie. She reportedly could tap 500 times a minute while performing her dance routines, and she proves it in "Time Out for Rhythm." Born Johnnie Lucille Collier in Houston, Texas, she was the daughter of a criminal lawyer famous for defending the Barrow Gang, Machine Gun Kelly and Baby Face Nelson. Suffering from rickets, Lucille took dance lessons as a child to strengthen her legs. Her mother, who was deaf, moved to Los Angeles after her divorce, and Lucille, looking much older than 13, lied about her age to secure work in nightclubs dancing, giving herself the stage name of Ann Miller. Lucille Ball along with a talent scout saw her dancing in a San Francisco club and had RKO hire her for small uncredited roles such as 1934's "Anne of Green Gables." She rose to more lengthy parts, including playing an eccentric relative in Frank Capra's Oscar Best Picture 1938 "You Can't Take It With You." Her starring role in "Time Out for Rhythm" as a young protege of talent agent Danny Collins (Rudy Vallee) was the first of eleven B musicals Miller did for Columbia Pictures.
