Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) signed Healy and his Stooges to a movie contract in 1933. They appeared in feature films and short subjects, either together, individually, or with various combinations of actors. The trio was featured in a series of musical comedy shorts, beginning with "Nertsery Rhymes". The short was one of a few shorts to be made with an early two-color Technicolor process, including one featuring Curly without Healy or the other Stooges, "Roast Beef and Movies" (1934). The shorts themselves were built around recycled Technicolor film footage of production numbers cut from MGM musicals, such as "Children of Pleasure", "Lord Byron of Broadway" and the unfinished "March of Time" (all 1930). Soon, additional shorts followed (sans the experimental Technicolor), including "Beer and Pretzels" (1933), "Plane Nuts" (1933), "Hello Pop!" (1933), "Jail Birds of Paradise" (1934) and "The Big Idea" (1934).