Evil femme fatale Wanda
Wanda (Lynne Lyons) is a villainess from Pardon My Terror, a Schilling and Lane comedy short released on September 12, 1946.
The film has Gus and Dick as detectives sent to the home of Alice Morton, who phoned the pair regarding the disappearance of her wealthy grandfather, Jonas Morton. Jonas was abducted and held hostage by Wanda and her lover, Mr. Grooch, who served as the family's lawyer. The villainous pair, along with their henchman, Luke, planned to eliminate the detectives and run off with Jonas' wealth.
Wanda's plan was to kill the detectives with sleeping pills, and the villainess was shown attempting to seduce Gus as part of her plan to kill him, only for Gus to resist and escape. After Jonas and Alice are saved by Gus and Dick, the evil Wanda appeared and held the heroes at gunpoint, while demanding that they open Jonas' safe. At that moment, Jarvis (the Mortons' butler) appeared and thwarted Wanda's plan by disarming her, leading to Wanda and her cohorts being arrested (off-screen).
Trivia
- Pardon My Terror was originally planned as a Three Stooges short featuring Moe, Larry, and Curly, and was set to be filmed after Half-Wits Holiday. However, Curly suffered a stroke during filming of the latter short, forcing director Edward Bernds to rewrite the short for Gus Schilling and Richard Lane.
- The short was later redone in 1949 as a Stooges short, retitled Who Done It?, with Shemp Howard as the third Stooge. Christine McIntyre, who played protagonist Alice Morton in Pardon My Terror, appeared in the Stooges short as the evil Delores.
