The Three Stooges-A Retrospective

The Three Stooges

This is a compellation of many authors and a salute to the best of the “slapstick� & politically incorrect comedians of film.

Chapter One Perhaps the most underrated and critically overlooked comedy team in the history of filming is the Three Stooges. The Three Stooges developed a brand of comedy uniquely their own. They specialized in a wildly violent style of slapstick, and produced a number of comedies, which are now becoming recognized as classics of the genre. During their prime movie making years, the 1930s and ‘40s, the Three Stooges churned out a topnotch series of comedies, characterized by clever writing, inspired direction, and a fine cast of supporting players. Film students have often pondered the reason for the Stooges’ enduring popularity. Perhaps one reason is that, by physical features alone, the Stooges appeared to be living cartoons. This theory has long been held by Jules White, who produced and directed more than half of the Stooges comedies. Indeed, the cartoon-like action of their films (wild sight gags, exaggerated sound effects, and so forth) perfectly complemented their cartoon- character appearances.

Another fascinating aspect of the Stooges’ comic personalities is that they represented the very bottom of the social ladder. Edward Bernds, who wrote and directed many of their comedies, believes their crude behavior was actually the basis for much of their appeal. “The kids can look at them and feel superior,” says Bernds. “That’s true of almost all comics. They all have some failing that makes you feel a little bit superior to them.” But even though the Stooges were indeed a “unique” comedy team, and have a significant number of quality movie comedies to their credit, film critics throughout the years have decidedly neglected them. The fact that they indulged in physical comedy and blatant verbal humor has damned them from most, as critic Leonard Maltin has put it, “respectable” film surveys. While the Stooges rarely received critical acclaim-let alone acceptance-the movie going public loved them. This theory is supported by the fact that the Three Stooges comedy series lasted longer than any other in movie history. Jules White recently offered his personal evaluation of the Three Stooges as comedians: “I think that in their line they were great. When you talk about Charlie Chaplain, for example, you’re talking about the diamond of diamonds. Nevertheless, I’ve seen some of the Stooges films get bigger laughs than the same amount of footage of Chaplain’s. Although Chaplain’s were probably done with more finesse, that didn’t necessarily make them any better. Because when you’re after laughs, you’re after laughs no matter how you get them. When you hear an audience shriek so loud you can’t hear dialogue for a hundred and two hundred feet at a time, you can’t ask for more than that.

Character comedian Mil Stick, who appeared with the Stooges in many of their movies, points to their unique brand of comedy as the reason for their success. “For farce, for split-second timing, they were great,” says Stick. “You take three other comedians and let them try to do the same things the Stooges did, and you’d see how hard it would be for them to do it.” Indeed, the Stooges’ greatest comic asset was they’re timing, polished from performing almost exclusively before live audiences in vaudeville for more than a decade. The Three Stooges received much of their training as part of an act called “Ted Heady and His Stooges.” Ted Heady was a stand-up comic who formed the act in the early 1920s, and he used the Stooges as “second bananas” in both stage and screen appearances. The act was freewheeling and spontaneous, and improvisation accounted for much of the comedy. The Three Stooges left Heady in 1934, and were signed by Columbia Pictures that same year to star in a series of movie comedies. The Columbia “Three Stooges” series lasted twenty-five years. These films were “short subject,” or “two-reel,” comedies, all of which were less than twenty minutes in length. During their tenure at Columbia, the Stooges starred in nearly two hundred “shorts,” the last of which was released in 1959. The Stooges currently hold the record for appearing in more movies than any other comedy team in history.

The boss of the Three Stooges throughout its existence was Moe Howard. Born Harry Horwitz in 1897, Moe grew up in Brooklyn, and found work as a youngster playing child parts in silent films. Moe eventually graduated to traveling theatrical troupes, which exposed him to everything from vaudeville to the classics. Moe married Helen Schonberger in 1925, shortly before becoming a permanent member of the Stooges. The “middleman” of the team was Larry Fine. Born Louis Feinberg in 1902, Larry grew up in Philadelphia, and, like Moe, pursued a show business career at an early age. He played child parts in vaudeville comedy sketches and eventually formed his own musical act. He started out with an act called “Fine and Dandy,” and later teamed with the singing Haney Sisters. It was during his association with the Haneys that Larry met his wife, Mabel Haney. Larry became one of the Stooges in 1925. The most popular member of the team was Curly Howard, Moe’s younger brother and the patsy figure of the trio. Born Jerry Horwitz in 1903, Curly also had his share of vaudeville experience prior to joining the Stooges. Curly had appeared as a comedy conductor with a traveling band before joining brother Moe and Larry Fine as “Third Stooge.” Curly was married, and divorced, several times through the 1930s and ‘40s. Curly was eventually replaced in the act by another brother, Shemp Howard, then Joe Besser, and finally Joe DeRita. All three of these comics also had considerable vaudeville experience prior to becoming members of the Stooges. As essentially “visual” comedians, perhaps the most significant physical aspect of

the Stooges was their use of comic haircuts to accent their stage personalities. Moe, the bullying, mug-faced “brains of the outfit,” was known for his sugar bowl haircut, giving him the appearance of a walking spittoon. In a New York Post article on the Stooges in the late 1930s, reporter Michel Mok described Moe as the “dark, beetle-browed customer, the one with the bang on stage and screen.” Mok noted that Moe was the Stooge who handed out all the “bangs” to his partners as well. Larry permitted his naturally frizzy hair to form a bushy ridge around his head, complementing his character of the “Middle Stooge,” whose sole purpose, basically, was to get in the way of his partners. Mok said that Larry’s Aztec profile and frizzly hair made him look like “a malicious cartoon” of Leopold Stokowski. Curly, whom Mok described as resembling “a lovesick stevedore,” shaved his head; this, combined with his youthful facial features, gave him the appearance of a chubby little kid. Curly had a full head of hair and a mustache before joining the Stooges, but he shaved everything off upon his induction into the trio.

Curly suffered a series of strokes throughout the 1940s, and was replaced in the act by his older brother, Shemp Howard. Shemp, the oldest of the Horwitzes (he was born in 1895), had been with the Stooges in vaudeville, but had left the act to go out on his own in the 1930s. He returned to the trio after Curly became ill and remained with the Stooges for almost a decade. Shemp wore his hair parted in the middle, and, like Curly, played the patsy of the group. But Shemp’s style of comedy was on the opposite end of the pole from Curly’s; he created a character that was diffident, yet decidedly flippant.

Shemp’s facial features were also an important part of his comedy. His squinty eyes, bulbous nose and elephantine ears qualified him as the “perfect” visual comic. Shemp died in 1955, and was in turn replaced by Joe Besser, a chubby character comic. Besser was bald except for a horseshoe fringe of hair ringing his head, and, like Curly Howard, was rotund and cherubic. Several films that had featured Curly and Shemp Howard were remade with Besser. Often old footage of Curly, filmed in long shot, was passed off as new footage of Besser. Besser left the act in the late 1950s, after appearing in only a handful of comedies with the Stooges. The final member of the Stooges was Joe DeRita, called “Curly Joe” because of his physical resemblance to Curly Howard. DeRita was also portly and wore a crewcut, playing up his physical similarity to the “original” Curly to the hilt. He remained with the Stooges until the act disbanded in the late 1960s. These six performers constituted all of the various members of the Three Stooges. Other “Three Stooges” ensembles, however, popped up throughout the years, including a trio consisting of three other Healy Stooges, and another group that simply called itself the “Three

Stooges.” Strangely enough, both of these other teams also made movie appearances of their own at different studios. But of all the various groups, only the Columbia “Three Stooges” ensemble has received worldwide recognition as the “legitimate” trio.

Through their physical appearances, the Stooges carried the tradition of silent comedy into the television age, even though they never made a silent film. Like the farcical clowns of the silent era, the Stooges maintained their oddball haircuts and appearances almost consistently throughout the team’s existence. This, of course, helped establish their “removed from reality” look a factor inherent to the farce of silent comedy.

Although they developed most of their comic skills in vaudeville, more than one film historian has noticed the similarity between the Stooges’ slapstick nonsense and the antics of several silent film comics. The Three Stooges produced more variations on the single theme-sheer physical abuse-than any other comedians in movie history. They made famous such staples of low comedy as the “triple slap” (in which each Stooge receives a slap across the face in one swift blow), and the “poke in the eyes” (in which one receives two extended fingers in what appears to be the eyes). Through a fast-paced barrage of violent slapstick and rapid-fire dialogue, the Stooges perfected a successful pattern of popular comedy, often equaled by imitators in accumulative violence but seldom surpassed in style and underlying technique. Violence was, however, the foundation for a great deal of Stooges comedy. Moe’s constant physical abuse of his partners became a fixture in every stage and screen appearance the Stooges ever made. Ed Bernds describes how Moe was able physically to “punish” his partners without really inflicting pain. “Moe had a knack of really slapping, but not hurting,” says Bernds. “It was a trick of not having your fingers stiff. But it would still be a crisp slap.” The “poke in the eyes” was accomplished by quickly jabbing the fingers somewhere near the “victim’s” eyebrows. If done quickly enough and sound effects were added, the results were remarkably convincing. Sound effects accounted for much of the Stooges’ screen comedy. Moe’s “painless” facial slaps were amplified through the magic of the sound effects department. Ed Bernds, himself a former sound technician, recalls that a violin or ukulele plunk was used to simulate the “poke in the eyes,” while various percussion instruments were utilized for punches in the stomach and similar physical attacks. Some of the Stooges’ comic abuse turned out to be more than mere sound effects. Their stock-in-trade violence and the elaborate gags involved often resulted in near-disaster. “The boys were always in danger of getting hurt,”

says Bernds. One of the worst on-the-set mishaps Bernds ever saw happened during the shooting of a Columbia Stooges comedy he was directing. The script called for a gag in which a bazooka gun was to backfire and shoot soot into Moe Howard’s face. “The special effects man used too much air pressure,” says Bernds. “It blew off so hard that, even though Moe had his eyes closed, the soot shot up under his eyelids. Jesus, we thought he was blinded for life! The first aid man had to pry open Moe’s eyes and actually took chunks of that black powder out of his eyes.”

Larry Fine received his share of physical abuse as well. In one comedy, a gag called for a fountain pen to be thrown into the middle of Larry’s forehead. The pen was to be thrown on a wire and into a small hole in a tin plate fastened to Larry’s head. But because of a miscalculation on the part of the special effects department, the point of the pen punctured Larry’s skin, leaving a bloody gash in his forehead. And Curly Howard had his troubles, too. Bernds was working as a soundman on a Stooges comedy in the late 1930s when he witnessed a bizarre gag that almost spelled disaster for Curly. Tied to a spit over an open fire, Curly was roasted “by his partners in an effort to thaw him out after he had fallen asleep in the back of a refrigerated truck. “Curly was so heavy Moe and Larry couldn’t turn the crank,” says Bernds. “The straps holding him slipped and he was hanging directly over the fire. Before they could get him off, he was pretty well seared.”

Apparently Curly, who weighed more than two hundred pounds, was too heavy for stagehands to lift off the spit. As they struggled to get the straps loose so Curly could get off, they in turn were getting singed by the flames.

“Curly was hollering his head off, and I don’t blame him,” says Bernds. “Being roasted alive belongs to the Inquisition-not to making two-reelers!” By the time Curly Howard retired from the act, many of the more elaborate sight gags had been eliminated from the Stooges comedies due to increasing production costs and decreasing production budgets.

As a result, there was considerably less chance for injury to the Stooges themselves. In life as well as in the act, the Stooges were distinctly different personalities. Moe Howard has been characterized as a tough businessman, not one to clown once out of costume and character. Ed Bernds points out an interesting relationship between Moe’s comic character and his offscreen personality: “Believe it or not,” says Bernds, “in real life it was very much like it was in the pictures. Moe was the boss, the brains of the outfit. Larry used to take a beating; Moe kind of domineered him. Moe was really a sensitive, touchy guy, compared to the others. And his feelings were easily hurt, too.” Moe has also been

described as a distant man, almost an introvert. Comedian Mousie Garner, who knew all of the original Stooges and was himself a former Healy Stooge, remembers Moe as quiet and serious. “I was close with the other guys,” says Garner, “but I never could get close to Moe. Emil Sitka recalls that on the set Moe insisted on having the last word on how a scene was to be played. “Moe would listen to my suggestions, and a lot of times he wouldn’t agree, but that was the way we did the scene sometimes,” says Sitka. Larry Fine, on the other hand, paid little attention to the filming at hand. “He was more interested in the ball game and placing bets on horses than doing the scene,” says Sitka. “He couldn’t wait to get the scene over with. As soon as we would finish, Larry would run over to somebody on the set and ask how the Dodgers were doing. Moe would be discussing the scene with the director, but Larry was usually off somewhere else.” “Larry was happy-golucky,” says Babe Howard, Shemp’s widow. “He couldn’t have cared less about the act.”

For this reason, Moe often domineered Larry offscreen as well as in the act. When Larry made occasional suggestions on the set or during story conferences, they usually had little to do with the story at hand, and he received verbal abuse from Moe as a result.

“Larry’s ideas were generally wild and offbeat,” says Ed Bernds. “Moe would speak roughly to him, and complain about his suggestions. But once in a while, Larry would come up with an idea that was wild, but a good one, and we would be able to use it.”

According to Emil Sitka, Larry seldom “walked through” a scene to acquaint himself with the peculiarities of the set. His partners, on the other hand, usually thoroughly examined every prop they would use during shooting, thus decreasing the possibility of error. Larry, however, would occasionally make mistakes due to his lack of preparation. “He might try to open a door the wrong way,” says Sitka, “and that would ruin the scene.” Sitka adds that Moe usually responded to Larry’s mistakes by assaulting him with some sort of acidtongued remark. “Larry,” says Sitka, “was probably the least conscientious of the Stooges.”

But Larry has been described as a warm, likeable human being. “Larry was a quiet guy-he didn’t talk much,” says Mousie Garner, who met Larry during their Healy days.

“But he was a very nice guy, and we became good friends.” Curly Howard, in turn, was a warm and friendly person and a genuine extrovert. By all accounts, Curly’s personality was the antithesis of Moe’s. Babe Howard said Curly was a generous man. “He’d give you the shirt off his back,” she says. “Curly was a pretty fun-loving guy,” says Mousie Garner. “He drank a lot, and he threw his money away; he loved to have a good time.

And he was quite a talker. He was really a fun guy to be around-just the opposite of the other two. “ Curly did quite well for himself in real estate, investing much of his stage and studio salaries in land purchases. Unfortunately, Curly’s life took a tragic turn in the mid1940s. After his initial stroke, Curly reportedly underwent what might be described as a personality change. “When I first met Curly he was no longer a well man,” says Emil Sitka, “and he was a really serious guy. When I was introduced to him, he actually called

me ‘sir,’ as if I was somebody with dignity!” It became evident from his movie appearances that Curly had lost much of his characteristic mirth and comic spirit; after his illness, he became a quiet, serious man, much like his two partners. “Too much sex, too much drinking-that’s what ruined Curly,” says Babe Howard. Curly had a series of unsuccessful marriages; he married his last wife, Valerie, after he became ill. She stayed by his side as he spent the last years of his life in a rest home. After enduring a series of strokes, Curly died in 1952.

Curly, as well as his partners, lived in North Hollywood, minutes from Columbia’s studio in downtown Hollywood. Although Curly is generally regarded as the “funniest” member of the team, most of the people who knew and worked with the Three Stooges contend that his brother, Shemp Howard, was actually the most “naturally funny” member of the group. He has also been characterized as the gentlest and most sensitive of the Stooges. Ed Bernds says that beneath his gruff exterior, Shemp was basically a shy person. “He looked and sounded tough,” says Bernds, “but he was really a pretty gentle, easygoing guy.” “Shemp loved to laugh, and he loved to make other people laugh, too,” says Babe Howard. According to Emil Sitka, while Moe would discuss a forthcoming scene, Shemp would keep his ideas to himself. “He’d be listening, and he seldom had anything to say in discussing a scene, but, by God, when the cameras started rolling and the action started, he did his thing, and more so!” says Sitka. “Because his ad libs were good. Shemp knew his business, but he didn’t add anything. Shemp was a real pro within his own role.” “ Shemp was the funniest of the Stooges,” says Mousie Garner, “and the nicest, too.” Shemp and his wife Babe also lived in North Hollywood until Shemp’s death in 1955. Shemp’s replacement, Joe Besser, was a relative latecomer to the act. Jules White, who produced and directed all of the Stooges comedies featuring Besser, has said that Besser was a cooperative performer, and he enjoyed working with him as one of the Stooges. Besser himself found the experiences rewarding. “I enjoyed every minute of it,” says Besser. “It was a lot of fun working with the Stooges.” Besser has often cited his “one inspiration” in show business as being children. “I’ve always had fun with the kids,” he says. “They’ve been good to me, and I’ve always enjoyed them. It’s kind of a mutual thing.” Besser still receives correspondence from fans, complimenting him on his work with and without the Stooges. “My fans know more about me than I know about myself,” he says. “They remind me of things I did that I don’t even remember doing.” Besser lived in the North Hollywood area with his wife Ernie. He was semi-retired, although he occasionally supplied character voices for television cartoon programs.

Joe DeRita, in turn, has been described as an experienced performer who garnered a lot of respect from his partners. “Joe was never the trouper that Shemp was, or even that Curly was,” says Ed Bernds. “Joe was kind of touchy, and Moe was very considerate of his feelings. Moe could be very rough on Larry, calling him a ‘stupid jerk’ and telling him what to do with his ‘stupid ideas.’ But he was very considerate of Joe. That is, he didn’t antagonize him. “ Even though he was billed as “Curly Joe,” DeRita never attempted to imitate his popular predecessor, Curly Howard. “My size and stature were similar to his,” says DeRita, “but I did what I knew was right.” DeRita, who currently resides in North Hollywood with his wife Jean, has also retired from active performing.

All of the various Stooges enjoyed ad libbing, and they were often allowed to improvise at will. Emil Sitka, who began working with the Stooges after Curly’s stroke, says Curly, between takes, was very subdued and quiet on the set. “But when the director yelled ‘action,’ he just turned on.” Jules White says he often had trouble directing the Stooges comedies because of Curly Howard’s ad libbing. Curly was so funny that crewmembers would often break up with laughter, ruining the scene. “Curly was an artist,” declares White. “He invariably could get you a laugh with a nonsensical gesture or something of that sort. “White admits that Curly was his favorite of all the various Stooges. “Curly was outstanding,” says White. “Shemp, his brother, who replaced him when the poor boy had a stroke, was also very, very good-but not quite Curly. And Joe Besser was a very cute man in his own way. But I would say that Curly was my favorite Stooge of the Stooges.” Like Curly, Shemp Howard seldom ad libbed during rehearsals, saving his improvisations for the actual take. “Shemp was allowed to ad lib,” says Emil Sitka, “especially on a scene that ends. And he came up with some good ones. He’d be the one that we’d laugh at, mostly, on the set.” Joe Besser also ad libbed frequently in his appearances with the Stooges. Indeed, Besser’s improvisations often “saved” a particular scene that would otherwise have fallen flat. Although Besser’s character often did not mesh with the personalities of his partners, it frequently was his enthusiasm that “carried” the comedy. Joe DeRita, as well, brought his own style of comedy to the act. Even though he represented the “Curly” figure of the trio, he played the role in much the same way as he had before teaming with the Stooges. His ad libs were in keeping with his own comic personality. “Joe DeRita was a comedian in his own right before he became a Stooge,” says Emil Sitka, “so he still had his notions as to the way he wanted to do his part. You’ll notice he played it differently; he didn’t try to be like the original Curly. If I was a director I’d have a hard time telling him what to do. I’d just have to let him do it!”

The Stooges’ on-the-set behavior was characterized by their almost constant arguing among themselves. “The arguments between them were fun,” says Sitka, “but you’d have to know the Stooges to appreciate them. They’d argue about the goofiest little thing. That’s what was funny about them. They’d argue about things that most people would overlook, like a missing button or a tear in a sleeve. “Sitka recalls an incident on the set that proved to be rather embarrassing for the Stooges. “If a scene didn’t go exactly right,” says Sitka, “they’d have an argument. And I mean the language was pretty blue! They’d say things like, ‘What’s the matter with you, you dumb sonofabitch,’ and so forth. One time they were going at it, and the lights came on, which meant the end of a scene. And guess what! A group of little kids were being led on the set by their teacher. If you think the Stooges’ language didn’t change but quick! “ Ed Bernds says the Stooges had a distinct fondness for blue humor, “Some of the anecdotes they told were pretty salty.” They also enjoyed occasional practical jokes. Many of their supporting players at Columbia Pictures were the hapless victims of their prankery.

Actress Lorna Gray, for example, found herself at their mercy during the filming of a comedy in 1940. According to Ed Bernds, a live bear was brought on the set for a scene with the Stooges. Even though it was drugged into harmlessness, Miss Gray was terrified of the animal. Larry Fine took advantage of her fear for a prank. When Lorna wasn’t looking, Larry got on his hands and knees, grabbed her by the leg, and let loose a bear growl. Lorna was so frightened she fainted, and production had to be halted temporarily.

Despite the fact that the Stooges often delighted in scaring their co-workers with such antics, they themselves were often uneasy around animals. Emil Sitka recalls that during the filming of a comedy featuring Shemp Howard, the boys were quite wary of a live lion used in several scenes with them. But while all of the Stooges were uncomfortable around the animal, Shemp was deathly afraid of the beast. “Shemp wouldn’t work if the lion was in the same scene,” says Sitka. “And the lion was sickly-looking. It had flies buzzing around its head. But the propmen put a big plate of glass between the Stooges and the lion when they were filming. And when they finished shooting, Shemp wanted to be a mile away from it.”

While relaxing between scenes, however, Shemp discovered that he wasn’t quite as far away from the lion as he had thought. When the animal’s trainer came looking for the lion to shoot another scene, he found it curled up asleep on the floor directly behind where Shemp was sitting. The Stooges, according to Ed Bernds, were often not the rough-and-tumble comedians they appeared to be. He de-scribes them as cooperative, but adds there were times when they were afraid of performing certain physical stunts. Emil Sitka has similar memories of working with the Stooges. “I was amazed at the things they were afraid of doing,” says Sitka. Despite this, all of the Stooges have been described as basically hard-working performers. They were anything-for-a-laugh comedians who kept America entertained through a nationwide depression and a world war. And today, while our collective economic problems seem worse than ever, and our national security is constantly being challenged, the Three Stooges have reached a new peak of popularity. In the year of their Golden Anniversary, the Stooges have quite possibly become the most popular comedy team in America. Perhaps audiences need their simplistic slapstick antics now more than ever before. While the theory that the Three Stooges were “masters of

comedy” may be a little overblown, they were, in fact, seasoned professionals who knew their craft and knew it well. And after half a century, the Three Stooges have become, in every sense of the phrase, “a legend of comedy.”

Chapter Two It is safe to assume that the “Three Stooges” would never have come into being if it had not been for Ted Healy. Healy was a brilliant comedian, and through his guidance the Stooges rose to success in show business. Although some of the Stooges have indicated that Healy used them to further his own career, Healy’s influence on the Stooges and their style of comedy extended to every aspect of their act. Years after they went out on their own-years after Healy’s death-the Stooges still used vaudeville material they had performed with Healy during their early years as a team. This chapter, therefore, should not be considered part of the history of the “Three Stooges,” per se, but rather a study of how the Stooges came together, how their characters and comic routines evolved, and how one man formed what was to become one of the most popular comedy acts of all time.

Today, Ted Healy has been all but forgotten. Most references to Healy say little more than the fact that he brought the Three Stooges to Hollywood. This is a shame, because during his day Healy was one of the top comedians in the business. By the late 1920s, Healy was one of the most popular performers in vaudeville. He established himself as a great improvisational comic, and his style and mannerisms were quickly imitated by dozens of vaudeville gagsters. Milton Berle, for example, is among the many comedians who patterned himself after Healy. Even today, Berle cites Healy as his show business “idol. “Healy’s physical appearance was a significant part of his comedy. While he wasn’t a buffoon character in the sense that his Stooges were, he nevertheless strived for a comic appearance. Always attired in a cheap suit and hat, he often carried a cigar or cigarette as well. Healy’s facial expression was one of sour cynicism, a reflection of his acerbic comic personality. But perhaps the most memorable aspect of Healy’s stage character was his walk. With arms swinging confidently at his sides, Healy walked briskly, chest out, giving him an air of assertiveness. Throughout his career, Healy had a dozen or more different Stooges. Some of them branched out to form independent acts of their own; the “Three Stooges” are among them.

The Three Stooges developed into recognizable comic characters once they left Healy to pursue a career on their own. During their Healy days, however, they played little more than mute observers of Healy’s antics. A newspaper interview with Eddie Moran, himself a Healy Stooge in the 1930s, reveals the secret of becoming an effective Healy second. “A stooge must never act,” said Moran. “He must be himself even to the point of recognizing friends and waving to them.” Moran also pointed out that “blank naturalness” was the “most essential part of the art of stooging. “The Three Stooges established characters for themselves, however, shortly after leaving Healy: Moe was the antagonist figure; Larry, the hapless middleman; and Curly, the patsy of the group. But during their tenure with Healy they were basically interchangeable, although Healy allowed each of them to exploit occasionally their individual talents. Healy’s first threesome was assembled in the early 1920s. Healy’s original Stooges consisted of three comics, Lou Warren, Dick Hakins, and Shemp Howard. All three of these men eventually

left Healy to pursue independent careers on their own. Lou Warren left Healy’s entourage in 1925, never to return to the act. Dick Hakins left shortly afterward due to illness, but returned several years later with two other “Stooges.” And Shemp Howard eventually brought in his brother Moe Howard, and later Larry Fine, thus completing Healy’s second Stooges ensemble. Healy had grown up with the Howard brothers, and had met Larry Fine in vaudeville. It is this trio that is generally regarded as the “original” Healy Stooges, although research has shown this to be false. Despite frequent personnel changes in Healy’s act, all of his “Stooges” were “stooges” both on-stage and off. In addition to playing second bananas to Healy in his vaudeville act, they were often required to socialize with him as well. Healy brought his Stooges with him practically everywhere; he seemed to have an obsession about having his men around him constantly. One story cited by Mousie Garner, who became a Stooge in the 1930s, exemplifies the extent of Healy’s obsession. While Healy and the Stooges were appearing on Broadway during the Depression, Healy had become quite popular with Manhattan’s elite society. A wealthy socialite fell in love with Healy, and he soon found himself living with her in her Madison Avenue home. One day, Healy invited his Stooges over to her home for a visit. When they arrived, Healy was in bed with the woman. Without so much as a blink, Healy told his Stooges to hop into bed with him! Healy has also been described as incredibly generous. “He was the most generous man I ever came in contact with,” says Mousie Garner. “He always made money, but he never had any because he gave it all away! He was so wrapped up in helping people; his only love in life was helping people out.

“Garner remembers one instance in which Healy was unable to pay his Stooges their weekly salary. Healy took them aside, and asked them, “Wouldn’t you rather have two hundred dollars next week, instead of only a hundred dollars this week?” The Stooges agreed, and Healy paid them in full the following week, throwing in a box of expensive cigars as interest. Aside from his personal eccentricities, Healy was one of the most innovative performers vaudeville ever produced. “He was even crazier offstage than he was on, “ professes Mousie Garner. Healy’s personality has been described as magnetic, and perhaps this is one of the reasons why his Stooges put up with his often-erratic behavior. An original “nut” comic, Healy created and developed the concept of using “stooges,” and was literally the first comedian in vaudeville to actually slap his partners in the face. “Healy started the business of slapping in comedy, “ says Mousie Garner. “Other comedians had pretended to hit each other before, but Healy was the first guy who actually did it.” But despite the “realism” of Healy’s comedy, little pain was ever suffered by his Stooges. Dick Hakins remembers barely feeling Healy’s facial slaps. “He was a big man, and he had big hands,” says Hakins, “but his palms were so soft you never even felt it.”

The group that later evolved into the “Three Stooges” was assembled in 1925.

Healy had hired Shemp Howard, and Shemp’s brother Moe, as his comic foils. Shortly afterward, musician Larry Fine became a member of the trio. While Healy and the Stooges were playing Chicago, they caught the stage show at a local nightclub. Among the performers was a tuxedoed entertainer who did a Russian dance while playing the violin. Healy and the Stooges were impressed with the young man’s comic appearance, and he was offered the position of a Stooge at a hundred dollars a week. Thus, Larry Fine threw away his fiddle and became the middleman of the act in 1925. As the 1920s

progressed, so did the popularity of Healy and the Stooges. By the end of the decade, they were appearing in lavish comedy revues on Broadway, performing basically the same kind of material they had used in vaudeville. One routine had Healy hanging from a chinup bar high above the stage while the Stooges supported him with a ladder from below.

They would keep taking the ladder away, causing Healy to scream for help. The boys would stumble back and forth, knocking down scenery and backdrops. This routine was reworked by the Stooges when they went out on their own, with Moe taking Healy’s place on the ladder and his partners dragging it out from under him. In fact, most of the routines and sketches the Stooges performed with Healy were eventually reworked for their own act. After a year of top vaudeville bookings throughout the country in 1928, Healy and the Stooges opened on Broadway in “A Night in Venice” (1929), featuring musical numbers staged by Busby Berkely. The Three Stooges throughout their career reused a number of routines from the show.

When “A Night in Venice” was closed by the Depression in 1930, Healy and his partners returned to vaudeville, using many of their routines from the revue. That same year Healy and the Stooges acquired a booking at New York’s famed Palace Theater, then the most prestigious vaudeville house in the country. A talent scout from Hollywood’s Fox Studios, the forerunner of 20th Century-Fox, caught their act and signed Healy and the Stooges for a feature film appearance. SOUP TO NUTS (1930), written by Rube Goldberg, marked the screen debut of the Stooges. The plotline of SOUP TO NUTS simply served as a backdrop for the standard vaudeville routines of Healy and the Stooges.

Leonard Maltin has noted that the Stooges appeared in the film as firemen who assist Healy in breaking up a party.

While the Stooges’ screen time was minimal (they didn’t even receive billing), SOUP TO NUTS is significant in that the Stooges were offered a separate film contract as a result of their appearance. Thus, the Stooges made arrangements to leave their mentor and sign with Fox as a trio. Healy interfered, however, and Fox called the deal off. Angry with Healy, the Stooges decided to go out on their own anyway. Jack Walsh, a straight man, was hired to replace Healy, and the Stooges began developing material of their own.

The trio continued working without their mentor for a couple of years, building a reputation of their own as a starring act rather than as a group of second bananas. During this period both Healy and his former Stooges were using much of the same material.

Shemp Howard, however, created a new addition to the Stooges’ act, although in a rather unorthodox manner. According to Babe Howard, the addition came about one afternoon as the Stooges and their wives were relaxing between stage shows. “We were all sitting around playing cards, and passing time,” says Babe. “Shemp had a terrible temper, and he thought Larry was cheating. So he jumped up and yelled, ‘I’m gonna stab your eyes out!’

He actually poked Larry right in the eyes with his fingers! Moe, who was the brains of the outfit, always had a sharp eye for something new for the act. So he decided to include that bit in their routines.”

By now Moe Howard had established himself as the boss and businessman of the trio. He became the driving force of the Stooges, securing performing dates and contracts for the act as well as devising many of their routines and sketches. As the Stooges were establishing themselves, Healy, in turn, hired three other “second bananas” to replace them

in his act. These Stooges had already had extensive vaudeville experience prior to teaming with Healy; each of them was a musician and a comedian, and each had been a professional performer for years before becoming members of the second Stooges trio.

Jack Wolf was the antagonist figure of the new group; he played the character that dished out all the slapping and eye poking to his partners. Wolf was an astute businessman, and he later arranged performing contracts and vaudeville engagements for the team. He was also a talented musician, and his musical abilities were often showcased in appearances with the Stooges. Dick Hakins returned to play the “middleman” of the threesome. He had started out in show business as a musician, and had scored several Broadway shows prior to working for Healy. Hakins was brought back into the act primarily because of his dry sense of humor and ability to look sappy when necessary. Mousie Garner, the new “Third Stooge,” played the patsy figure of the act. Garner was Jack Wolf’s cousin, and they had broken into show business together as a comedy act prior to teaming with Dick Hakins as Healy’s Stooges. Like his partners, Garner was also a musician, and his comic piano playing routine became a staple of the act. All three of Healy’s new Stooges had met prior to joining Healy, having previously appeared in vaudeville together. But it was Healy who first hired them as a team, and it wasn’t until they appeared with Healy that they were called “Stooges.” In fact, they were the first comics actually billed as Healy’s Stooges; prior to that, Healy’s Stooges had been called everything from “Mr. Healy’s Men” to “Southern Gentlemen.”

All three “new” men were serious musicians, even though they played primarily for laughs when appearing as Stooges. One routine had all three Stooges playing one piano at the same time. In addition to playing instruments, Healy’s new trio sang and danced.

They introduced the popular Depression-era hit “Million Dollar Baby,” which they performed in one of their musical revues. “Our act was like the Three Stooges with music,” says Mousie Garner. “We did the same kind of physical comedy as the Stooges, but we could also play instruments and sing. “Dick Hakins points out that their act wasn’t as violent as that of the Three Stooges, even though they indulged in a lot of physical mayhem themselves. Newspaper reviews of both Stooges acts from the 1930s indicate that the content of both trios was somewhat similar. In addition, Healy’s “new” threesome also sported gag haircuts and wore similar stage costumes. And, of course, they were also fairly short in stature, as were the original members. None of the various Stooges stood more than five-and-a-half feet tall. After a couple of years of performing with his new threesome, Healy was forced to take a substantial salary cut due to the Depression. As a result, he had to drop his second set of Stooges. They, in turn, went out on their own (not as “Stooges,” but as “Gentlemaniacs”), and departed for performing engagements in Great Britain. Healy’s second ensemble spent several months overseas, headlining the London Palladium as well as theaters throughout the continent. Healy’s new Stooges had developed an act that was similar in many ways to the “Three Stooges,” but distinctly different in style. There was less emphasis on violence, even though they employed such traditional bits as the “poke in the eyes.” One bit they used quite frequently was nicknamed the “mob scene.” This consisted of the boys milling around in circles around each other, creating the effect of crowding and confusion! Healy was replaced in their act, more or less, by a straight man, who introduced the trio and reacted to their antics. His name was Jack Walsh -the same straight man Healy’s other trio had used

several years earlier. After Healy’s death years later, his second set of Stooges decided to capitalize on the association with him. They also began billing themselves as the “Three Stooges,” and made a number of appearances under that name. They even had their own series of movie comedies in the 1930s, several years before the “original” Three Stooges signed with Columbia. Healy’s second “Three Stooges” headlined the vaudeville circuit both here and abroad, and they frequently crossed paths with the “other” Three Stooges.

Variety reported that the “original” Stooges had planned to take the other trio to court, in an attempt to stop them from using their name in their billing. Mousie Garner, however, has denied that the case ever got that far. “If anything,” says Garner, “the publicity would have helped us.” Healy’s second group eventually gave in, however, and stopped using the “Three Stooges” name.

While both sets of Stooges were establishing themselves in the early 1930s, Healy received a raise in salary, and was again in a position to rehire his Stooges. He had contacted his former Stooges working in Europe, but they had a number of contractual obligations to fulfill and were unable to rejoin him. Then, Healy attempted to rehire his other ensemble. He was successful, and, after months of deliberation, they returned to his act. Strange as it may seem, all of Healy’s various Stooges were friends. They often socialized together. They had become acquainted with each other during their vaudeville days through their mutual association with Healy. If Shemp Howard was temporarily unavailable to play the “Third Stooge,” for example, Healy might ask Mousie Garner to leave his own act and take his place. As members of Healy’s entourage they were virtually interchangeable, because they had not yet identified themselves with audiences as definite characters. “But Healy really preferred working with Moe and Shemp,” says Babe Howard. “They had grown up with him, and he knew Larry very well, too. He knew the way they ad libbed.” Despite their friendship with him, Healy delighted in tormenting his Stooges, usually while under the influence of alcohol. “Healy was a conniver,” points out Babe Howard, “and he had a mean sense of humor. He’d do terrible things to the boys, especially Shemp, just to see the terrified look on his face.” Reportedly Healy had a habit of inviting his Stooges over to his house as overnight guests. But when he started drinking, the Stooges quickly packed their suitcases and headed out of the building.

Experience had taught them that that was the best thing to do. Because Healy, while drunk, would become angry and belligerent. He would take all of their clothes and personal belongings, and simply toss them out the windows, for no apparent reason other than to irritate the Stooges.

Healy also enjoyed pulling elaborate practical jokes on the Stooges, and, often, innocent bystanders. While living in a Hollywood hotel in the 1930s, Healy once instructed his Stooges to gather up about a hundred telephone directories. When they did so, they brought them up to Healy’s penthouse suite. Healy got quite a kick out of dropping them out the window, trying to hit people on the street below. Dick Hakins remembers a story told to him by Healy about his original Stooges ensemble. “Healy brought all three of them to a Catholic church,” says Hakins. “Healy was Catholic, but the Stooges were Jewish. They asked Healy to show them what to do. He just told them to do whatever he did. So they all went up to the front pew, and sat down. Every time the priest turned around, Healy would stand up, or sit down, or kneel, just to watch the poor

guys jumping up and down in confusion! Afterwards, Shemp told him he’d never go to a church again-too much jumping up and down! “ When it came to returning to work with Healy as Stooges, Shemp Howard, however, was no longer interested. “I was really the one that made Shemp go out on his own,” says Babe Howard. “I was sick and tired of Healy, and of all of his tricks, so I told Shemp to take a movie offer he had gotten.

“Shemp did, and began work as a solo comedian at Vitagraph Studios. He appeared in a number of two-reel comedies over a period of several years. Healy, however, was less than pleased when his star “Stooge” left the act. Shemp had suggested that they use his younger brother, Jerry Howard, as a replacement, but Healy wasn’t interested. Not only was Healy unimpressed with the idea, but the other Stooges were, too. “Moe wrote Shemp a letter,” says Babe Howard, “telling him that Jerry had absolutely no talent. Moe did not want him in the act. Jerry didn’t have a lot of experience in show business, but he wanted to get in, even if Moe didn’t want him.

So Shemp devised a scheme to get Jerry into the act. He told him to shave his head and run on stage barefoot! Jerry did so, and, because of his haircut, acquired the name “Curly” as well. As a result of his rather grotesque appearance, Curly got a tremendous laugh from the audience. That was enough to convince all concerned that Curly was a suitable replacement for Shemp. Curly eventually developed his own unique comic style, creating a character whose actions and personality suggested a blend of insanity and childlike ignorance. With his shaven head, rotund appearance and use of comic high-pitched voice, Curly resembled, as Moe put it, “a fat fairy.” “Curly was never really an actor,” says Babe Howard. “He was really imitating Hugh Herbert.” But it was Curly who clicked with the Stooges, and he quickly became the star of the trio, outshining his partners as well as his predecessor. “After Shemp quit,” says Babe Howard, “Curly became the funniest Stooge.”

Healy and the Stooges went back into vaudeville in 1932, and Curly quickly adapted to the style of the act. While making an appearance at a Hollywood night club that same year, Healy and his partners were enlisted by an agent from MGM Studios to perform at a charity benefit. Following their performance, MGM signed Healy and the Stooges to a one-year contract at that prestigious studio. While at MGM, Healy and the Stooges appeared in several feature films and a number of two-reel comedies, some filmed in color. The bulk of these were musical efforts, and Healy generally received more attention than his three Stooges.

But even though the Stooges were working steadily in both vaudeville and movies, it was becoming clear that their development as a team was being hampered by their second banana status. It was not until the Stooges decided to go out on their own on a permanent basis that they were able to fully develop their madcap style of comedy. During their year at MGM, Healy and the Stooges were used both separately and together as a team in features and shorts. Healy was especially prolific as a single, appearing in a number of features with some of MGM’s biggest stars. The Stooges, meanwhile, did occasional work without their mentor as well. Before long, both Healy and the Stooges realized they would be better off as separate acts. Thus, in early 1934, an amicable legal agreement was drawn up, stating that Healy and the Stooges would no longer be considered a team. Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard decided to try to make it on their own as a trio, leaving Healy for good to pursue an independent career. Healy, in

turn, granted them permission to use the name “Three Stooges.” Shortly after the Stooges left MGM, they were picked up by Columbia Pictures to star in two-reel comedies. Jules White, formerly a producer and director at MGM, had just been put in charge of developing Columbia’s two-reel comedy department. He had known the Stooges when they were part of Healy’s act, and hired them immediately for Columbia. Healy, however, continued to make appearances with other Stooges. To replace his departing trio, Healy rehired his other set of Stooges from several years earlier. They had returned from their European tour and were working at home at the time. Healy wired them and asked them to return to his act as his “Super Stooges.” But Jack Wolf had already retired from performing and a replacement was needed. Wolf was replaced in the act by Sammy Glaser, another friend of Healy’s, who was renamed “Sammy Wolf.” A contract for the “Super Stooges” was drawn up at MGM, even though they never actually appeared in a film as Healy’s “Stooges.” Most of the work they did during this period was in stage and radio appearances with Healy in the Hollywood area. “I told Healy it was too late to start another Stooges act,” says Mousie Garner. “I said the Three Stooges had made it big on their own, and we’d missed the boat! But he insisted we get back together with him.”

Garner contends that Healy was well on his way to bigger and better things when he rehired his replacement Stooges ensemble. “Warner Brothers had Healy on loan-out from MGM,” says Garner, “ and they wanted to make a big star out of him. He had done a picture called VARSITY SHOW, and then HOLLYWOOD HOTEL, for them. And he stole both pictures, even without Stooges. As Stooges, we were in on the filming of HOLLYWOOD HOTEL, but we never turned up in the final print. Actually, we had nothing to do with the plot. Absolutely nothing! Healy had signed us to a contract for the film while he was drinking! “ Oddly enough, VARSITY SHOW (1937), in which Healy appears as a solo performer, has a character referring to Healy as “stooge!” It turned out to be one of his last movie appearances; he died shortly after the film’s release.

In 1937, while celebrating the birth of Ted Junior, his first child at a nightclub on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, Healy got into an argument with two other patrons. He threatened to take them outside and beat both of them up, one at a time. Healy’s drinking had always made him belligerent, and this was ultimately his downfall. Had his Stooges been with him, Healy probably would never have gotten into the argument in the first place. “But nobody would drink with him,” says Mousie Garner, “because he became a different person when he was drunk.” “He always got pugilistic when he was drinking,” adds Dick Hakins. “But he couldn’t fight, and that’s why he got killed.” Reportedly, when Healy stepped outside the club for the fight, both men jumped him and beat him severely, leaving him bleeding on the sidewalk. Healy suffered a brain concussion, and died shortly afterward. At the time of his death, Healy was one of the biggest comedians in vaudeville, earning one of the largest salaries in the business.

Healy’s untimely death left all of his Stooges in a state of shock. Healy’s “Super Stooges” served as pallbearers at his funeral in Culver City. All of Healy’s Stooges were in attendance, even though Shemp Howard hated funerals. “Shemp was so nervous he brought along a tiny flask of whiskey to calm his nerves,” says Mousie Garner. “He would take a nip at it every once in a while. And Shemp didn’t even drink, to speak of.

He was really uncomfortable.” With the death of Ted Healy, show business lost one of its

greatest performers. It seems a shame that one of vaudeville’s finest comedians is today virtually forgotten, remembered only in references to the comedy team that he created.

Chapter Three

The Columbia “shorts department” was a hectic place in the 1930s. A separate entity from the company’s feature film division, the department occupied a building on Beechwood Drive in Hollywood, across the street from Columbia’s main studio. The close-knit shorts department had its own sound stages, its own producers and directors, and its own stars. Of the three critically acknowledged “geniuses” of silent comedy, Charlie Chaplain, Buster Keaton and Harry Langdon, only Chaplain man-aged to avoid the Columbia two-reelers. The Columbia shorts were generally considered the bottom of the barrel in terms of artistic quality, as well as financial reward for the performers who appeared in them. Chaplain had amassed enormous wealth and was able to turn out his own silent films long after talkies had established themselves. But within a few years after the advent of movie sound, both Keaton and Langdon found themselves broke. Both of them were forced to turn out shorts at Columbia, for considerably less money than they had earned during their silent-era heyday. Columbia became a haven for has-been comedians. In addition to former stars from the silent era, future stars began their movie careers at Columbia as well. Lucille Ball, Lloyd Bridges and others popped up in early Three Stooges shorts. Stars were constantly coming and going at Columbia, finding short-term work in two-reelers between feature film assignments at Columbia and other studios. These shorts, each less than twenty minutes in length, were produced by the studio as “curtain raisers” to be shown before the feature film presentation. Studio management considered the shorts to be “throwaways,” and they paid little attention to their production-as long as they were completed on schedule. Because each short had to be shot in less than a week, time was of the essence. At Columbia most of them had to be filmed in three days. The Stooges, however, were usually allowed an extra day of shooting time, primarily because of the often elaborate sight gags involved. Emil Sitka, who began work at Columbia in the 1940s, reports that sometimes half a day would be spent preparing and filming one single gag. “I was surprised they shot the entire film in only a few days,” he says. “It was a tight schedule, believe me! We really had to squeeze it in. We’d work a full day, and get a good many scenes in the can, but on the last day there was always a rush to get it in before five o’clock.” Indeed, Columbia’s comedy factory was among the busiest lots in Hollywood. By the 1940s, Columbia had the largest two-reel comedy unit in operation. The shorts, in turn, were among Columbia’s most consistently popular attractions. But in 1934, not many people would have guessed that the shorts department’s newest acquisition, the “Three Stooges,” would soon become its most valuable property. “I had dozens of great comedians,” says Jules White, head of Columbia’s two-reeler unit. “Some of ‘em were world renowned. Buster Keaton was, I daresay, one of the three biggest in the history of comedy. Harry Langdon came much later; he was also a giant. So the Stooges were not the only ones he had done them. He was really very valuable to me. Most of the Stooges’ best work was, in fact, accomplished under Lord’ s direction, whose sense of timing and flair for comedy was

unparalleled. Lord remained at Columbia throughout the 1930s and ‘40s, working with people like Buster Keaton and Harry Langdon as well as the Stooges. Lord even wrote several Three Stooges scripts, all of which were loaded with familiar gags from his silent comedy days. Another comedy great who eventually found himself on the Columbia roster and working with the Stooges was Charley Chase. Chase was one of the most versatile people in the business, just as much at home serving as comedian, writer and director.

Chase was the star of his own series during the silent era, and he continued to have success when talkies became popular, working in two-reelers at the Hal Roach Studios.

Roach and Sennett were the two major movie comedy factories of the 1920s and early ‘30s. By the late 1930s, however, Roach decided to abandon its shorts department. As a result, Chase was fired from the studio. Jules White grasped this opportunity and Chase, too, was signed with Columbia. Chase directed a number of films with the Stooges, and, like Lord, he lifted many of his favorite gags and routines from his earlier comedies for them.

Another comedy veteran whom White hired was his brother Jack. Jack White, as a teenager, had been a comedy director for Mack Sennett and was head of his own movie company at the age of twenty. White also produced two-reel comedies, all of which were released through Educational Pictures. Following his tenure of work for Educational, Jack White was hired as a writer and director by brother Jules. Jack directed several of the Stooges’ earliest comedies under the pseudonym “Preston Black,” and later contributed to their film scripts in the 1940s and ‘50s as Jack White. As a writer, White often missed his mark when working with the Stooges, although several of his direc-torial efforts are better than average. White continued to work with the Stooges as a writer or director throughout their years of service at Columbia, remaining there until their final year of production. Columbia quickly established an impressive roster of comedy experts.

“I have a theory,” Jules White said recently, “that old talent never dies. It may hide for a while, but it never dies. And all of these men verified that.” Curiously enough, with all that experience and talent available, the first film the Stooges appeared in at Columbia was WOMAN HATERS (1934), an odd musical comedy with the dialogue spoken completely in rhyme. Even stranger is the fact that the Stooges appear separately, not as a team.

Moe and Curly are pushed into the background, while Larry receives a lot of screen time as a member of the Woman Haters Club who secretly gets married. Although the film is supplied with a fine cast of supporting actors, many of them talented comedians in their own right, the short itself is a rather weak effort. WOMAN HATERS suffers from gratuitous physical violence, apparently in an attempt to capitalize on what the Stooges were becoming famous for. Their second Columbia comedy, PUNCH DRUNKS (1934), is a vast improvement over their initial effort. Again the Stooges appear as separate characters, but in a situation related to their comic personalities. The story, written by the Stooges themselves, has Curly as a waiter who goes berserk whenever he hears “Pop Goes the Weasel.” Moe plays a fight manager who wants to make Curly the new champ, and Larry portrays a wandering musician hired to provide the music that drives Curly crazy. The plot is decidedly absurd, but the Stooges’ personalities keep the film moving at a fast pace.

Their third Columbia short, MEN IN BLACK (1934), was nominated for an Academy Award. It is difficult today to imagine why that particular film was chosen as a contender for an Oscar; the short is virtually plotless and the wild sight gags are silly, rather than funny. The somewhat incongruous script was written by Felix Adler, who served as a writer for the Stooges until the end of their Columbia career more than twenty years later. Adler was a vastly experienced gagman, and by the end of his career, he had written for nearly every major slapstick comedian in show business. Columbia forced the Stooges to experiment with various directors in the early 1930s; writers like Lou Breslow and Clyde Bruckman even tried their hand at directing, with pleasing results. Bruckman in particular was rated an excellent director, although he was considered primarily a writer.

He had served as Buster Keaton’s head gag writer and later wrote for Harold Lloyd.

Bruckman wrote some of the Stooges’ best scripts, with ingenious sight gags and clever gag situations. Like Felix Adler, Bruckman had hundreds of movie credits under his belt, and he worked with nearly every great slapstick comic in Hollywood until his tragic suicide in the 1950s. Jules White recently reflected upon the aggregate talent of the Columbia two-reeler writing staff. “These men were infallible,” he said. “You could say, ‘I want this and this and this, see what you can do with it, see what you can concoct,’ and you could bet your red apples out of a barrel of rotten ones they’d come up with something good. “White adds there was much discussion of the rough script between the writer and director before the finished product was completed. “We’d work and interchange ideas, and come up with a two-reel comedy,” he explains.

Despite the highly-qualified writers and directors available to them, the Stooges, during their early years at Columbia, faced a major problem defining their screen characters. In vaudeville, it was not necessary for the Stooges to portray reasonably believable personalities; in films, however, it was. When they started work at Columbia, they had not yet established definite comic characters for themselves, and many misfire gags resulted from this. For instance, in MEN IN BLACK, Larry slaps Moe, but Moe doesn’t do anything to Larry in return. This bit would be almost unheard of in any of the later Stooges comedies, yet this kind of gag occasionally popped up in their early shorts.

This situation was quickly remedied when Del Lord began work with them. He helped them develop their screen characters into somewhat believable personalities, raising their status from absurd ruffians without characterization to believable, yet farcical, comic performers. Lord’s first Stooges comedy, POP GOES THE EASEL (1935) is highlighted by a hilarious clay throwing melee in an art school. EASEL deftly blends the vaudevillestyle antics of the Stooges with the broad visual humor and sight gags of silent comedy.

In these early efforts with Lord, the Stooges performed with energy and enthusiasm that was often missing from their later films. While the actual scripts of shorts like POP GOES THE EASEL were often rather flimsy, the masterful direction of Lord and the performances of the Stooges brought the shorts to a respectable level of comic quality.

PARDON MY SCOTCH (1935), another early comedy directed by Lord, is highlighted by a sequence in which the Stooges are seen as carpenters. One of the most breathtaking stunts ever performed in a Stooges comedy has Moe standing on a table while Curly cuts down the middle of it with a power saw. When Moe turns to his partners, the table collapses and Moe crashes to the floor. The effect is hilarious, but Moe

actually broke several ribs in the fall. After speaking several words, Moe fainted and was hospitalized for several days. The scene was considered so good that it was later spliced into another Stooges comedy, DIZZY DETECTIVES (1943), directed by Jules white.

The best of Lord’s early shorts with the Stooges is HOI POLLOI (1935). The story, devised by Felix Adler, is a slapstick adaptation of “Pygmalion,” with a couple of clever twists added. A wealthy professor bets a colleague that he can transform the Stooges into gentlemen within a matter of weeks. During this time, he gives the boys reading and dancing lessons, with hilarious results. The highlight of the film comes when the professor throws a huge society party in honor of his pupils. After behaving politely for a few minutes, the Stooges allow their instincts to overpower them and they turn the party into a melee of slapstick mayhem. Soon all of the party guests find themselves slapping, punching and poking each other in an orgy of comic violence. Repulsed by the behavior of the “hoi polloi,” the Stooges leave the party in disgust.

This theme, pitting the Stooges against high society, turned out to be one of the most popular Three Stooges story formats. The script was rewritten more than a decade later as HALF-WITS HOLIDAY, with several new sequences added, including a massive pie fight. HALF-WITS HOLIDAY was itself remade, almost line-for-line, as PIES AND GUYS (1958), with Joe Besser in the Curly Howard role. Columbia comedy writer Elwood Ullman says the Stooges developed quite a rapport with Lord, who was, at that time, their most frequent col-laborator. Ullman recalls that story sessions between Lord and the Stooges were, to say the least, rather informal meetings. “Del would be in his office, going over a script with the Stooges,” says Ullman. “He’d describe the plot to them, saying ‘ . . . and then she makes the telephone call to the help wanted people, and you bastards come in,’ meaning the Stooges. And they wouldn’t bat an eye! In addition to their work with Lord, the Stooges turned out several shorts under Jack White’s direction in the early 1930s. White’s initial effort with the Stooges, ANTS IN THE PANTRY (1936), is one of his best. This one has the Stooges as exterminators who drum up business by bringing their own pests with them. The short was remade fifteen years later as PEST MAN WINS, with White’s brother Jules directing and Shemp Howard playing Curly’s role. Jack White directed a number of Stooges films after ANTS IN THE PANTRY, several of which managed to capture the fast-paced lunacy of his first outing.

His A PAIN IN THE PULLMAN (1936), which has the boys as pesty vaudevillians disturbing a trainful of their fellow performers, was a personal favorite of the Stooges themselves. Jack White received screen credit for writing as well as directing this short.

White’s next short after the release of ANTS IN THE PANTRY, HALF SHOT SHOOTERS (1936), has the boys accidentally enlisting in the Army. This short is significant primarily because it marks the initial screen confrontation between the Stooges and comedy veteran Vernon Dent. Dent had appeared in literally hundreds of silent comedies, working with such greats as Charlie Chaplain. He spent several years playing Harry Langdon’s partner in silent comedies, and even appeared with Langdon when he was doing shorts at Columbia. In fact, Dent appeared with practically every comedian in Columbia’s shorts department during the 1930s, ‘40s, and ‘50s. Dent was an excellent foil for the Stooges, and his talent as a character actor enabled him to play everything from cranky landlords to mad scientists. Dent’s stuffy characterizations often served as the foundation for a good deal of Stooges comedy. “Vernon was like the mounting for the

ten-carat diamond,” says Jules White. Emil Sitka, who worked quite frequently with Dent as a fellow supporting player, recalls that Dent was a very congenial man, very friendly and easy to talk to. Dent was indeed well-respected by his co-workers, and he remained among the Stooges’ supporting players until the mid- I 950s. “Vernon was a great guy,” says Ed Bernds. “And he was no youngster. He goes way, way back to the Mack Sennett days. Every once in a while I’ll see a film clip from a silent comedy, and I’ll see a young Vernon Dent! Vernon was a real trouper, a very hardworking guy. “ Another character actor who worked quite frequently with the Stooges was Bud Jamison. Another veteran of silent comedy, Jamison enhanced many a Columbia short with his wide variety of character roles. Jamison had years of experience behind him, having worked with some of the biggest comics in screen history. Like Vernon Dent, he could play dozens of different characters, from tough street cops to prissy butlers. And, like Dent, he played each role with ability. “Bud had died by the time I started directing,” says Ed Bernds, “but he was the same as Vernon - very willing, and very hardworking.

“Ironically, both Dent and Jamison were Christian Scientists. According to Jules White, Jamison died in the mid-1940s when he contracted gangrene and refused to have it treated. Dent, in turn, became a diabetic, but did not take insulin; he eventually went blind, and died in 1960. Regardless of the characters they played, both Dent and Jamison always appeared as authority figures at odds with the Stooges. Both men con-tinued working with the Stooges until the end of their acting careers; their combined contribution to the Stooges comedies cannot easily be ignored. By the mid 1930s, the Three Stooges’ supporting cast was pretty well established. A cast of regulars was formed, with Dent and Jamison the two mainstays. Other comedy veterans, like raspy voiced James C. Morton and burly Stanley Blystone, appeared in the shorts as well. Character actors Cy Schindell and Eddie Laughton also appeared in dozens of Stooges comedies, usually in small roles.

In the late 1930s, the Stooges even hired Laughton to serve as their straight man for vaudeville appearances, stepping into the old Healy role.

One of the finest performers in the Stooges’ stock company was silent comedy veteran Symona Boniface. Miss Boniface was a truly versatile actress, and she often found herself cast in the Stooges comedies as a matronly society-type. Described by Emil Sitka as “a wonderful person and a real pro,” Symona was the ideal straight woman for the Three Stooges. In addition to the newly-formed cast of identifiable “regulars,” the Stooges themselves began to develop their screen characters into easily identifiable personalities. As the 1930s progressed, their characterizations became more and more consistent with each film appearance. Less emphasis was put on the individual antics of each Stooge, and more time was spent developing ideas and gags for the team as a whole.

Elwood Ullman describes how gags would be fashioned for the Stooges: “Moe was more or less the straight man to Curly, and between them they got most of the laughs.

Sometimes we had Larry getting laughs on his own, too. Sometimes we had a melange of all three. “There was by now no disputing the fact that Moe was the definite “boss” of the Stooges. Moe had honed his grouchiness into a downright mean disposition, and his comic personality became that of a somewhat sadistic bully, almost a comic villain. He could fly into manic fits of anger at the slightest provocation from his partners. This, of course, made it all the funnier when his bullying backfired on him. And it usually did.

Larry, on the other hand, came closest to the actual vaudeville definition of stooge. He did little more than take orders and physical abuse from Moe, and react with either delight or disgust to verbal nonsense from Curly, depending on the situation. Occasionally Larry would make a smart crack, or would actually make an intelligent suggestion. But for the most part, Larry’s contribution to the act was limited to getting pushed around by his partners and looking happy, unhappy, or confused about the situation at hand. Larry played the bland sap of the Stooges, the necessary go-between for Moe and Curly.

Curly, however, had developed a character completely distinctive, one that would be imitated by dozens of other comedians. The most popular of all the different members of the trio, Curly’s childlike character made the Three Stooges. While his partners were allowed their share of funny business, the best gags were written for Curly. Another interesting aspect of the Stooges’ gradual character development was the association between their personalities and their physical appearances. Moe’s appearance, squat and stocky with the simple, sugarbowl haircut, reflected his character, that of the tough, stubborn simpleton. Larry’s physical features, the slight build, frizzy hair and tube-shaped nose, complemented his diffident, cowering character. And Curly’s shaven head, cheerful facial expressions and bulging belly were merely physical extensions of his innocent, cherubic character. Their voices were equally suited to their personalities. Moe’s gravely voice was perfect for barking orders and spewing forth various sarcastic remarks, usually directed at his partners. Larry’s nasally, pessimistic mumble was well-suited to his dialogue, which usually consisted of, as Elwood Ullman put it, “incidental stuff.” And Curly’s high-pitched voice, embellished with occasional squeals and grunts, was the logical verbal representation of his comic personality.

As the Stooges developed their screen characterizations, the style of their comedies began to develop as well. Many of their early efforts suffer from a sluggish, ponderous pace. The Three Stooges based their comedy on fast-paced, cartoon-like action, and, basically, the faster it was, the funnier it was. Once the Stooges and their directors started snapping up the gags and speeding up the action, the Stooges shorts found their niche in film comedy history as some of the fastest, liveliest shorts ever made.

The Stooges quickly became known for their quick-paced, incongruous antics. “When I came upon the Stooges,” said Emil Sitka, “they were unique, believe me. They were different. When they started acting, it was like electricity turned on all of a sudden. Fast tempo and farcical, the timing was split-second. With guys like Hugh Herbert it was what they said and how they said it, but with these guys it was what they did.” More than any of their other Columbia colleagues, it was Del Lord who helped nurture and develop the screen characters of the Stooges. Ed Bernds, who served as a sound man under Lord, has commented that the Stooges probably would never have survived if they had not had the benefit of Lord’s comic know-how and experience. Ted Healy had given the Stooges little opportunity to develop characterizations for themselves, since he was practically the whole show. Now, of course, the Stooges were carrying the ball themselves.

By the late 1930s, Del Lord and the Stooges were turning out some excellent work; nearly every short they did together was a gem. Lord’s DIZZY DOCTORS (1937), for example, is highlighted by a climactic chase scene in a hospital, which serves as an appropriately staid backdrop for the unbridled mayhem of the Stooges. The boys all but

destroy the decorum of the hospital, manhandling patients, colliding with people in wheelchairs, and wreaking havoc with the hospital’s elevators. Featured is some of the funniest chase footage the Stooges ever used. With the aid of some speeded-up photography, the short contains some wild sight gags as the boys ride up and down the hospital corridors and eventually out into street traffic on a runaway transporting cart.

CASH AND CARRY (1937), another Lord effort, is unusual Three Stooges comedy.

The story has the boys digging for buried treasure in an ef-fort to raise money for a crippled child’s operation. Surprisingly enough, the scenes with the pathetic child are appealing; the Stooges appear to be almost human. The boys refrain from their usual quota of physical violence in their scenes with the child, and the result is, to say the least, interesting. CASH AND CARRY has plenty of violent gags, but none of them involve anyone but the Stooges themselves. While violence was an integral part of the Three Stooges comedy, it was not a necessary element for them to be funny. The Stooges could get laughs from verbal humor alone, but, unfortunately, a violent slap or a poke in the eyes was often used as a convenient way of ending a particular bit of business. Close examination reveals that the best Three Stooges comedies are those that rely on farce, rather than sheer violence, to get laughs.

The pest exterminator premise first used in ANTS IN THE PANTRY was reworked for TERMITES OF 1938, also directed by Lord. In this one, the boys are exterminators mistaken for professional escorts. One of the writers of this short, Elwood Ullman, would later write some of the best comedies the Stooges ever made. During the 1930s, ‘40s and early ‘50s, Ullman turned out what are probably the best of the Three Stooges scripts, each brimming with hilarious sight gags and dialogue. Like Felix Adler and Clyde Bruckman, Ullman was experienced and well-respected in his field. In addition to writing for the Stooges, Ullman’s from a script by himself and Elwood Ullman. The premise of the short concerns Curly’s obsession with tassels-it seems his mother tickled him with one when he was a baby, so now he goes crazy whenever he sees one. MUTTS TO YOU (1938) is another gem, with the boys as proprietors of a dog laundry complete with a conveyor belt full of screwball cleaning devices. The fun starts when the boys, on their way home from work, find what they think is an abandoned baby. They bring it home to fatten it up, and soon find themselves accused of kidnapping. A riotous chase scene between the Stooges and the police serves as the climax of the short. One of the most memorable shorts the Stooges ever did was VIOLENT IS THE WORD FOR CURLY (1938), directed by Chase. The script was written by Chase and Elwood Ullman, and has the boys as service station attendants mistaken for three European professors.

The highlight of the film is a clever word song, “Swingin’ the Alphabet,” which the boys and a classful of attractive young ladies perform at a private girls’ college. Charley Chase was a music lover, and he tried to work a song into his films whenever possible. His own shorts often showcased his singing voice, and a couple of his Stooges comedies feature music as well. The Three Stooges developed a rapport with Chase that is evident in the quality of their films with him. Chase emphasized the farcical nature of their comedy, rather than violence and physical abuse; one can only surmise that Chase and the Stooges would have continued working together indefinitely had Chase not died in 1940. It is indeed unfortunate that the Stooges could not have worked longer with him; his vast knowledge and great comic talent were sorely missed in the twor-eeler field after his

death. After Chase’s death, his place as a director was more or less taken over by Jules White. In the late 1930s, White began directing as well as producing the Three Stooges shorts. Altogether, White would direct more than half of their Columbia comedies, with varying degrees of success. Often considered a stern director, White maintained control over virtually every aspect of the shooting of a Columbia comedy. White offers his philosophy of making two-reel comedies: “Economics entered into everything. The artistry of these things was one thing, but they were only as tall or as broad as their financial aspect. My artistic sense often said ‘go for broke,’ but my economic sense told me I couldn’t afford to, actually. So, in other words, ‘go as near as you can, but don’t go for broke.”’ As a director, White often relied on mere violence to get laughs. In one White Stooges short, Larry tells Moe that he has had an operation and shows him the zipper in his stomach to prove it. The farcical gag is then ruined by having Moe sadistically, and without provocation, zip the cord up and down. The camera cuts to a close-up of Larry wincing in pain, making the gag all the more sadistic. The fine line between slapstick farce and outright sadism was often in question in many of the White Stooges comedies. But White defends his use of violence for comic effect. “It wasn’t so much violence as it was a burlesque of violence,” says White. “The violence had a comedic undertone. “For the most part, White’s early Stooges comedies were no more sadistic than any of the other two-reelers being produced at that time. Sadistic gags like the one previously mentioned were basically a departure from the norm in his early Stooges shorts. While violence was a mainstay of Stooges comedy, it was usually restricted to the Stooges themselves with the idea that the Stooges were not themselves real characters. Thus, any subsequent physical violence could not be considered real.

White’s association with the Stooges would be a long one; today he has nothing but praise for them, personally and professionally. “I liked all of the Stooges, and I had a lot of respect for their ability and cooperation,” he says. “And they with me. If I said, ‘Boys, this is how we’re gonna do it. We don’t have any more time to think about it, no more time to rehearse. Let’s go out and shoot it,’ there were never any arguments. They knew our problem. They also knew that if we spent too much money, we’d be out of business.”

White would contribute to the Stooges films as a director, as well as producer, from 1938 until their final year of production twenty years later. White’s early Stooges shorts are all quality efforts, ranking alongside the work of Del Lord and Charley Chase.

As the 1930s drew to a close, the Stooges approached a new zenith of popularity. Their Columbia shorts had become increasingly popular with each passing year, and the Stooges found themselves in demand for live stage appearances throughout the country. The popularity of the Stooges was such that numerous imitators and “other” Stooges groups began to surface. In addition to the Columbia trio, Healy’s second Stooges ensemble had been appearing in shorts at Vitaphone, the forerunner of Warner Brothers, since the early 1930s. And there was yet another “Stooges” act, which actually called itself the “Three Stooges,” also working in movies. This ensemble had made some movie appearances at Universal Pictures. A couple of Universal comedies from the 1930s traditionally had been credited to the Columbia “Three Stooges”; recently, however, Leonard Maltin pointed out that the Universal trio was actually a different act. The original Three Stooges’ popularity was growing overseas as well as at home, so they embarked on a personal-appearance tour of Great Britain in the late 1930s. The Stooges claimed in a 1938 newspaper

interview that they got the idea of “touring their constituencies” from President Roosevelt.

In 1939 the Stooges played the London Palladium, followed by appearances throughout Great Britain. Later that same year, the Stooges were contracted to star in a Broadway comedy revue, “Scandals of 1939,” produced by George White. Many of the routines originated in that show, in addition to old material they had performed with Healy, and popped up in the Stooges’ repertoire throughout the years.

The Three Stooges were so well-received on Broadway that George White reportedly contacted Harry Cohn at Columbia and asked permission to use the Stooges in his show for a few more months. Cohn refused, however, and demanded that the Stooges return to Hollywood to begin filming a new series of shorts. The new series included some of the best work the Stooges ever did, including adaptations of many of their vaudeville gags and routines. For example, the Stooges had performed a sketch on stage in which they played famous dictators of the time. Moe’s Hitler impersonation was put to good use in YOU NAZTY SPY, their first Columbia release of 1940. Even today the film stands out as a definite departure from the usual Three Stooges story pattern. And, oddly enough, it’s one of the best comedies the Stooges ever made. Director Jules White calls YOU NAZTY SPY his personal favorite of all his Stooges shorts. The film is full of outrageous puns and satirical verbal gags, but relatively little physical violence in comparison with most Stooges comedies. The emphasis is on verbal humor, rather than comic violence, resulting in what turned out to be one of the most different, and amusing, shorts the Stooges ever did.

White directed a number of Stooges shorts in which the boys are seen either as actual Nazi types themselves, or simply as American service-men at odds with the enemy.

When asked about these “Nazi” shorts, White says, “I think they were very clever and they were very timely. And extremely funny. YOU NAZTY SPY was released more than a year before America’s involvement in the war. Still, the short is full of biting sarcasm, aimed primarily at ridiculing Hitler’s twisted logic and ever-increasing tyranny. As the film opens, three ministers (played by Don Beddoe, Richard Fiske and Dick Curtis) of the mythical monarchy of Moronica are trying to find a solution to their country’s economic depression. They decide that the only alternative is to create a wartime economy. “But the Kingdom of Moronica is at peace,” protests Beddoe. Fiske insists there’s no money in peace and suggests starting a war. The ministers decide that they must oust the peaceful king and appoint a figurehead dictator. “We must find someone who is stupid enough to do what we tell him,” declares Curtis. Fiske nominates Moe, who is wallpapering Fiske’s home with his two Stooge partners. Fiske introduces the Stooges to his two partners, and offers Moe the position of dictator. “What does a dictator do?” asks Moe. Fiske explains that a dictator makes love to beautiful women, drinks champagne, and never works. Moe decides that he must think it over. As the camera cuts to a close-up of Moe, he brushes his bangs into a side part and accidentally rubs some dark paint under his nose, creating a Hitlerian mustache. Moe accepts the job, but only under the condition that his two partners are taken care of as well. The three ministers decide to make Larry the Minister of Propaganda, and Curly the Field Marshall. “Can I have a uniform?” inquires Curly.

“You can have a hundred uniforms,” replies Beddoe. “Just go out and shoot a hundred

generals, and help yourself!” Curly squeals with delight over the idea. “I’ll shoot two hundred generals! “ he shrieks.

Before long Moe is delivering a speech to a huge crowd of Moronicans. “We must throw off the yoke of monarchy and make our country safe for hypocrisy!” announces Moe. “Moronica must expand. We must extend our neighbors a helping hand; we will extend them two helping hands, and help ourselves to our neighbors! “Moe quickly becomes obsessed with his newly acquired power, and he turns into a ruthless tyrant. Disgusted with his tyranny, the Moronican peasants storm his palace. While trying to escape the angry mob, the Stooges make a run for it but wind up in a den of lions kept on hand to get rid of “undesirables.” The closing shot of the film is a close-up of a lion licking his chops and belching contentedly. YOU NAZTY SPY was the first in a series of shorts in which the Stooges parodied the Third Reich. Moe performed his Hitleresque character several more times, while Larry, slight and scrawny, burlesqued Goebbels, and Curly, rotund and round-faced, represented the Goering figure. YOU NAZTY SPY also initiated a series of Stooges comedies more consistent in quality than any of their previous efforts. The shorts the Stooges turned out in the early 1940s served as an excellent proving ground for Curly Howard’s talents as well. With few exceptions, Curly is showcased in every short the Stooges turned out during the early part of the decade. By the 1940s, Curly had developed into one of the finest broad comics in the business. His personality brought to the Stooges shorts a kind of comic “magic” that transformed many a mediocre film script into quality movie comedy.

Curly Howard has seldom received his due as a comedian, primarily because of the still-existing snobbery by many critics toward the Stooges’ brand of humor. Lou Costello, for example, has been referred to as a “comic genius” by more than one writer. Jerry Lewis, in turn, has received similar accolades; many foreign critics have even compared him to Chaplain. But during his lifetime, Curly never received the credit he deserved. As the old adage goes, “Nobody liked him but the public. “Curly Howard never approached Charlie Chaplain in terms of artistry, perhaps, but he was nevertheless a highly original performer. As Moe put it, “He was truly a spontaneous comedian. In person, he was just as jolly and vivacious as he was in pictures-even more so. He was cute, lovable and kind.”

Recently, however, several influential critics have pointed to Curly Howard as one of the most innovative and engaging comedians in movie history. Leonard Maltin has called Curly “a wonderful comic, deserving of far more praise than he ever received.” Gary Deeb, in turn, believes Curly may have been “the greatest sight-and-sound comic performer of his day,” calling attention to his ability to create “a genuine man-child character.” Film criticism follows trends, and perhaps the breakthrough comments of writers like these will eventually launch a wave of acceptance toward the comic abilities of Curly Howard, and, subsequently, the Three Stooges. It’s safe to assume that the Three Stooges would never have become as popular as they did had it not been for Curly Howard’s contribution to the act. He was a genuinely brilliant ad lib comedian, and his improvisation frequently greatly enhanced a trite movie script. Even in films that deliberately played up the talents of his partners, like YOU NAZTY SPY, Curly almost always managed to steal the show. “One day Curly kept forgetting his lines while we were shooting a picture,” said Moe Howard in an interview. “So he threw himself on the floor

and kept spinning around like a top and making that ‘woo-woo’ sound of his. That became a regular part of the act.”

In A PLUMBING WE WILL GO (1940), directed by Del Lord, Curly receives a good deal of screen attention. Many of the gags in this short were repeated in other tworeelers over the next ten years. As plumbers, the Stooges all but ruin an elaborate mansion with their working methods. Searching for a leak, Curly heads upstairs for the bathroom. He finds a leaky pipe and simply attaches another pipe to it, temporarily stopping the flow of water. Then the water comes out of the newly-added pipe. Curly keeps attaching pipes, hoping the water will stop somewhere. Before long Curly has completely surrounded himself within an intricate maze of pipes! Curly finds an easy way of letting the accumulating water out; he drills holes in the floor, and soon the water comes pouring down into the basement. Eventually Curly drills so many holes the floor collapses, and he comes crashing down into the basement himself. This short was remade by the Stooges in 1949, with some of the original supporting cast remaining as well as some original footage. Shemp Howard played Curly’s role in the remake.

In FROM NURSE TO WORSE (1940), directed by Jules White, Moe and Larry persuade Curly to pretend he’s insane by acting like a dog. The boys want to collect a fortune on Curly by swindling an insurance company. The premise is sure-fire, as Curly’s character is pretty far from sane to begin with. Clyde Bruckman devised some excellent gags for Curly, such as the scene in the insurance doctor’s office in which Curly chews the leg off of an examining table, and Curly’s play for a pretty young woman in which he holds his “ paws” limp, pants, and asks, “How about a date, toots?” Lord’s DUTIFUL BUT DUMB (1941) features a brilliant enactment by Curly of the classic “oyster” bit.

The oyster bit is a wonderful piece of sight gag comedy, in which Curly attempts to eat a bowl of soup that contains a live oyster. The ornery oyster bites, spits water at, and generally abuses Curly for his trouble. This gag was originated in a silent comedy, and it was used by the Stooges several times in their Columbia shorts. Abbott and Costello even used this bit in one of their feature films. But Curly’s rendition is the funniest; the bit seems tailor-made for him. Curly’s grunts and squeals hilariously complement the naturally funny sketch as he does battle with the oyster, eventually shooting it with a pistol in his frustration.

LOCO BOY MAKES GOOD (1942), directed by White, features a sequence in which the boys are seen repairing a dilapidated old room. In a hilarious bit of business, Moe pounds a nail into a wall with the back of Curly’s head! Curly squeals in protest, but his anger turns to delight when he sees how well his head has served as a hammer. Like a small child, Curly changes moods at the slightest whim. This short also features an excellent sequence in which Curly, wearing a magician’s coat full of rabbits, pigeons, and so forth, creates a disturbance on a crowded dance floor. Jules White reports that Columbia actually suffered a lawsuit as a result of using the routine. Apparently Clyde Bruckman, who wrote the short, had a penchant for lifting old material, and he simply “borrowed” the sketch from another movie. Bruckman had originally written the sketch for a feature film starring Harold Lloyd. Lloyd took Columbia to court over the matter, and won the case. This lawsuit more or less initiated Bruckman’s downfall as a writer; he found it more and more difficult to find work as the years progressed. He eventually

committed suicide in the 1950s, shooting himself to death inside of a phone booth in Hollywood. Some of Curly Howard’s best work can be seen in what is another reworking of an old comedy script, AN ACHE IN EVERY STAKE (1941). Written by Lloyd French and directed by Del Lord, the film is a reworking of a Laurel and Hardy short.

French had directed the Laurel and Hardy version, and he simply rewrote much of the old material for the Stooges. In this one, the Stooges, as icemen, are faced with the ominous task of delivering a huge block of ice to a hilltop house before it melts. First Moe orders Curly to deliver a chunk of ice to the house. After Curly runs the huge block up to the top of the hill, he realizes that it has melted into a tiny ice cube. “We forgot to allow for shrinkage,” explains Moe. This time he sends Curly up with two blocks, both of which melt into cubes. Then Moe has a brilliant idea: each Stooge will be stationed on the steps, and they’ll relay the ice to the top of the hill! This works out fine, and Curly, proud of their accomplishment, holds the ice up to show his partners. The ice slips out of the tongs and breaks into tiny pieces. Undaunted, Moe has yet another idea. They’ll bring the icebox down to the street, load it up with ice, and carry it to the top of the stairs. As the boys lug the unwieldy crate up the steps, they rest on a landing for a moment. The icebox, equipped with wheels, rolls backward and goes crashing down the steep staircase. Just then the owner of the house (Vernon Dent) comes walking up the stairs with a mammoth layer cake. Seeing the approaching icebox, Dent screams and heads back down the stairs.

The icebox catches up with him, though, and after a loud off screen crash the camera cuts to a shot of Dent, prostrate at the bottom of the hill, covered with cake. The Three Stooges reached their performing zenith during the early 1940s. This period served as a time of unprecedented popularity for them, as well as a time of great Three Stooges movie comedy. Elwood Ullman recalls that theater audiences would go wild with excitement when a Stooges short was flashed on the screen. Nearly every film the Stooges turned out during the early years of the decade was a gem; there were few exceptions.

Most film critics considered the Stooges comedies to be the very dregs of artistic achievement, but they were by now the hottest property Columbia’s shorts department had. The Columbia Stooges comedies were often voted by theater owners as their most popular short subject attractions, in competition with cartoons and newsreels as well.

Although the short comedy provided the perfect medium for the exhausting speed of Stooges comedy, the Stooges themselves yearned to star in feature films. Despite their desire to appear in the more expensive, more prestigious features, Columbia restricted the Stooges to work in two-reelers. Occasionally the Stooges made gag appearances in Columbia features, but for the most part, arch rivals Abbott and Costello dominated the feature comedy scene in the 1940s. Ed Bernds has said that Moe Howard was certain Abbott and Costello were actually stealing material from the Stooges. “I don’t know how he knew,” says Bernds, “but Moe told me that they regularly got prints of the two-reelers, looked at them, and in due course of time the routines, or the gestures, or the mannerisms showed up in the Abbott and Costello pictures.” As the 1940s progressed, the individual directing styles of White and Lord began to come into sharper focus. While silent comedy veteran Harry Edwards directed a couple of good Stooges shorts, the bulk of the directing work was split between White and Lord. During the mid-1940s, the two production units of White and Hugh McCollum also developed into significant rivalries. White continued producing and directing his own shorts, retaining Felix Adler and Clyde Bruckman as

writers. Occasionally Jack White was brought in to collaborate on a script as well.

White’s CRASH GOES THE HASH (1944) has the boys as newspaper reporters masquerading as servants at a society party. This film is significant in that practically every routine or bit of business the Stooges ever used is worked into the film’s plotline.

Surprisingly enough, most of the exclusively “Three Stooges” gags fit comfortably into the story. GENTS WITHOUT CENTS (1944) is worth watching if only for the Stooges’ rendition of the burlesque classic “Niagara Falls.” The bit, which derives its laughs from slapstick and a good share of violence, seems tailored for the Stooges. And NO DOUGH, BOYS (1944), a wartime spoof, features some hilarious acrobatics by the Stooges.

While White was now directing as often as he was producing, McCollum, on the other hand, worked solely as a producer. Del Lord served as McCollum’s top director, with Elwood Ullman and Monty Collins, himself a comic performer, comprising the writing staff. And Harry Edwards wrote and directed exclusively for McCollum, although his work with the Stooges was limited. Del Lord continued to turn out first-rate work with the Stooges. While most of the Lord shorts of the mid-1940s offer nothing particularly outstanding in the way of inventiveness, each is a clever entry in the series.

PHONY EXPRESS (1943) is a fast-moving Western spoof with the boys mistaken for tough lawmen. BUSY BUDDIES (1944) features some good sight gags, with the Stooges operating a fast-food restaurant. And IDLE ROOMERS (1944) casts the boys as hapless bell-hops who come to grips with an escaped monster. This short is especially noteworthy in that it is the first time the Stooges were seen with Christine McIntyre, a lovely blond who would appear in films with the Stooges for another ten years.A protégé of producer Hugh McCollum, Miss McIntyre quickly became the first lady of the Three Stooges comedies. A talented actress, Christine was blessed with a marvelous soprano voice as well. Often her singing talents were showcased in the Stooges comedies.

Christine’s physical beauty and graceful manner served as an excellent contrast to the crude antics of the Stooges. “Christine was great to work with,” says Ed Bernds. “She was a real trouper, and very ladylike, but she learned to slug it out with the Stooges.”

After the mid-1940s, Del Lord began working with the Stooges less and less. He was replaced, in effect, by Ed Bernds. Bernds remained at Columbia as a director for several years, maintaining Lord’s tradition of churning out fast and funny Stooges comedies.

Bernds had wanted to direct films for quite some time before his opportunity came in 1945. He had served as a sound man for Columbia’s top director, Frank Capra, and he soon became the studio’s head sound technician. Working behind the scenes on the Columbia two-reelers gave Bernds a chance to study the directing techniques of men like Jules White, Del Lord and even Charley Chase. Bernds obviously absorbed quite a bit of knowledge from working with these men; the shorts he turned out with the Stooges were always of above-average quality. Bernds recalls how he broke into directing the Columbia shorts. “Elwood Ullman was busy working at Universal, and Hugh McCollum was strapped for writers,” he says. “He gave me writing assignments with the kind of assurance that when Harry Edwards quit, I would get to direct. In 1944, 1 quit as a sound man. I think it was when Roosevelt died in April of ‘45 that I directed my first picture with the Stooges. Boy, it was a great relief for me when Elwood came back from Universal and began to write scripts. He was very good at it and there was far more than

I could handle. “Bernds enjoyed working with the Stooges, though. “When I came to direct them, they had already known me as a sound man,” he says. “I had worked with them on their very first picture at Columbia. This might have worked against me, since they knew me up from the ranks. But they cooperated very fully, right from the start. It was a lot of fun working with them.” Emil Sitka, who appeared in a number of Bernds’ Stooges comedies, says Bernds encouraged creativity and fostered a relaxed atmosphere on the set: “He allowed me to create the character. And I could develop it to such an extent that it would be altogether my own.” Sitka adds that Bernds was a “very nice, genial” director. “Many directors are impatient, arrogant and stern. They won’t repeat themselves,” he says. “But with Ed Bernds you could work it out, reason it out. That’s why I liked working with him the best.”

This more or less easygoing directing style is reflected in the Bernds Stooges shorts. Good ad libs are plentiful, and the performances flow smoothly and naturally.

Unfortunately, most of the shorts Bernds did with Curly as a member of the Stooges are marred by a lack of energy on Curly’s part. At about the time Bernds began work with the Stooges, Curly began losing much of his vitality and his timing seemed to grow slower with each performance. Although he was not well, Curly continued to make appearances with the Stooges, both on film and in public. Curly’s dedication, however, eventually caught up with him. In early 1945, on the same day President Roosevelt died, Curly Howard suffered a stroke. He was just 42. Surprisingly enough, Curly resumed work with the Stooges shortly after his stroke. The Stooges continued filming their Columbia shorts, even though much of the comic load was now focused on Moe and Larry. Although he struggled to continue in the act, Curly simply couldn’t recapture the vitality and elfish quality that had distinguished him as the star member of the Stooges.

Emil Sitka, who appeared in HALF-WITS HOLIDAY, Curly’s last comedy as one of the Stooges, recalls that Curly was quite subdued after his stroke: “Curly was really quiet, believe it or not. He surprised me, because he would hardly talk at all. He said, ‘yes, sir’ to everybody on the set and wouldn’t discuss what he planned to do in the film.”

Bernds says working with Curly after his stroke was a struggle. “By the time I started directing them in 1945,” says Bernds, “Curly was a sick man. He was a very, very funny guy in his prime, but by 1945 he was not well. He couldn’t remember his lines, and he was a little slower in his reactions. “The first short Bernds wrote and directed for the Stooges was A BIRD IN THE HEAD (1946), a pretty good offering considering Curly was very ill at the time of filming. This one has a mad scientist (Vernon Dent) after Curly’s puny brain he wants to transplant it into the skull of his pet gorilla. Because of his illness, Curly’s actual screen time is limited. Bernds simply shifted much of the action to Moe and Larry, with better-than expected results. Bernds recalls that directing MONKEY BUSINESSMEN (1946), however, was a rather miserable experience. Bernds says Curly was so sick that he couldn’t remember one line after another. Moe, however, helped out by coaching Curly on his material.

“Moe was great,” says Bernds. “He worked with Curly like he would with a child, and somehow we got through it.” Bernds’ best Stooges short was MICRO-PHONIES (1945).

The film serves as a testimonial to the fact that, next to Del Lord, Ed Bernds more fully understood the comic abilities and limitations of the Stooges than any of their other

directors. The script is a neat, flowing work loaded with memorable gags and routines from start to finish. The supporting cast is also top-drawer, with familiar faces like Christine McIntyre, Symona Boniface, and, in a hilarious character role, Gino Corrado.

The short exploits Miss Mclntyre’s fine singing voice and features a number of musical sequences. But perhaps the film’s most significant aspect, and another example that says a great deal of Bernds’ directorial talent, is Curly’s performance. Despite his illness and increasing lack of energy, he manages to turn in a funny, worthwhile performance, maintaining a good share of the comic burden. Bernds began work on MICRO-PHONIES after A BIRD IN THE HEAD was completed, but MICRO-PHONIES was rushed into release first because producer Hugh McCollum wanted to impress Columbia executives with Bernds’ talent as a writer and director.

The plot of MICRO-PHONIES has Curly masquerading as a female vocalist, “Senorita Cucaracha,” in order to entertain at a society party. Moe and Larry appear as the Senorita’s accompanists, dressed in tuxedoes and tails. All of this comes about because the Stooges, custodians at a radio station, “borrow” a record of Christine’s aria, the “Voice of Spring,” and mime the words themselves. A sequence in which the boys clumsily mouth the words to “Sextet from Lucia” is the hilarious highlight of the film.

MICRO-PHONIES was the short that won Ed Bernds his position as a full-time director.

Bernds recalls that he wrote the script for MICROPHONIES at the request of Hugh McCollum. “I wasn’t even aware that Christine McIntyre was a singer,” says Bernds, “but after I’d done A BIRD IN THE HEAD, McCollum asked me to write something that would take advantage of her singing voice. She actually auditioned for me.” While the Stooges shorts were now blessed with an excellent new director, a talented leading lady and an abundance of good material, the films themselves were often severely marred by Curly’s devastating lack of vitality. It was becoming obvious that Curly was a sick man; physically, he looked ten years older than his age. Curly no longer had the cherubic facial features and mannerisms that had made him so popular. Many of these Stooges comedies are almost painful to watch because of Curly’s struggling, lifeless performances. In the hands of a sympathetic director, like Ed Bernds, Curly managed to turn in good work.

Jules White continued to work with the Stooges as well, although his work usually didn’t match the quality of the Bernds comedies.

As Curly’s energy sapped away, more and more of the comic burden was relieved from his shoulders. A good illustration of this is BEER BARREL POLECATS (1946), which has the Stooges as beer barons who wind up in prison. Curly is given relatively little to do, and a good deal of screen time consists of old footage of him from earlier Stooges comedies. Occasionally, however, Curly was capable of carrying a good share of the comedy and was able to turn in first-rate work. In THREE LITTLE PIRATES (1946), for example, Curly is the focus of attention, and he turns in one of his best performances. Curly performed his classic “Maha” routine for the first time on film in PIRATES, directed by Ed Bernds. Clyde Bruckman wrote the routine into the plot line, in which the Stooges disguise themselves as foreign merchants to escape the clutches of a sinister monarch (Vernon Dent). Curly’s performance is top-notch, and, despite the fact that the film was made after his stroke, it’s one of the best efforts in the entire series. The highlight of the short, the “Maha” routine, is a clever melange of double-talk and nonsense

patter. A running gag has Curly wearing a pair of bottle-bottomed spectacles that render him nearly blind, causing him to fall out of chairs and bump into walls. Curly’s rendition of the myopic “nobleman” is flawlessly funny, and his timing and vocal inflections are letter-perfect.

This routine was adapted from a vaudeville sketch the Stooges had used since the late 1930s. The vaudeville version featured a knife-throwing sequence in which Moe assisted Curly in tossing rubber knives at human-target Larry at the opposite end of the stage. Elwood Ullman remembers seeing the routine in vaudeville. He says Curly would throw the rubber knives out into the audience while Moe would attempt to straighten him out, much to the delight of the juvenile patrons. Directing the Stooges comedies prior to THREE LITTLE PIRATES had been a struggle for Ed Bernds. “But by the time we did PIRATES,” he says, “Curly was much better.” There was hope that Curly would eventually recover much of his old comic prowess and return to the star position of the Stooges.Little did the Stooges know, however, that their next short would be Curly’s last as one of the trio. Curly’s final appearance as one of the Stooges was in HALF-WITS HOLIDAY (1947). The short, directed by Jules White, is a remake of their early comedy, HOI POLLOI, with much of the original script remaining intact. This version, however, casts the Stooges as plumbers working in the home of a wealthy professor (Vernon Dent).

Dent hires them for the “gentlemen” experiment, with the expected disastrous results. The only significant difference between the script of this short and that of the earlier version is that the climactic society party ends in a wild pie-throwing melee. Throughout the pie fight, Curly is conspicuously absent; he had had a second stroke during the early stages of filming the party sequence. Director White says the ending of the script had to be changed in order to accommodate Curly’s absence. Moe recalled that Curly was relaxing near the set while he and Larry completed a scene by themselves. When the assistant director called for Curly, he didn’t answer. Moe went for him and found him with his head dropped to his chest. Curly was so stricken he was unable to speak. He had to be taken home, and Moe and Larry were forced to finish filming without him. HALF-WITS HOLIDAY is a sad affair. Curly’s performance is so sluggish one can sense he was a very sick man.

Curly had tried desperately hard to continue working after his stroke, and this eventually ruined his health completely.

Although described by Moe as a man “carefree and humorous, “ Curly’s life was marred by a series of unfortunate incidents. There was a hunting accident that occurred when he was a teenager, in which he shot himself in the foot. It left him with a slight limp and occasional intense pain. This becomes evident when watching his movie appearances; whenever Curly runs, his limp becomes quite noticeable. For this reason, among others, Curly drank a lot of liquor. And heavy drinking was a contributing factor to his initial stroke. He also had three unsuccessful marriages. According to a report published by the Los Angeles Times, one of his former wives, Marion Howard, sued him for divorce in 1946. The Times report read as follows: “She said he had used filthy, vulgar and vile language; kept two vicious dogs which she was afraid would bite her; shouted at waiters in cafes; pushed, struck and pinched her; put cigars in the sink. “Curly had reportedly married Marion two weeks after meeting her. That marriage lasted less than a year. Curly

was a talented comedian and, as critic Gary Deeb has put it, “one of the most graceful comics of his day,” as well as a man whose life was filled with tragic circumstances.

He was truly the star of the Three Stooges, and he has deservedly gone down in movie history as the most popular of the various members of the act. After Curly’s second stroke, his partners were faced with the ominous task of finding a replacement for the popular Stooge. Moe and Larry had considered breaking up the Three Stooges for good, but Columbia was insistent that they continue producing shorts under the “Three Stooges” banner. After all, the Stooges comedies were among the most consistently popular commodities Columbia had. More than ten years later, a newspaper report stated that Curly’s two daughters attempted to sue the Three Stooges for a share of the team’s earnings. Their complaint was that Curly had “organized the group with his brother, Moe Howard and Larry Fine and that his heirs had the right to participate in the profits.” The article pointed out that Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Joe DeRita, who played “Curly Joe” with the Stooges, were among the defendants. Eventually the suit was settled.

Moe recalled that after Curly’s retirement, he and Larry were presented with many comedians as potential replacements, but none of them fit their requirements. Eventually Shemp Howard was chosen to replace Curly. Shemp was already under contract to Columbia, and was starring in his own series of two-reelers at the time. Jules White, a close personal friend of Shemp’s, had arranged for the series. Many of these shorts were remakes of early Three Stooges comedies from the 1930s and ‘40s. Shemp, however, was less than eager to get back into the act. He didn’t relish the idea of being looked upon as Curly’s “replacement,” and was well aware of the fact that Curly would be a tough act to follow. But Shemp had little choice in the matter; Columbia made the decision for him.

Press releases were issued stating how happy brother Moe and former partner Larry were about Shemp’s return to the act. At the time of his reteaming, things were going very well for Shemp. He had dozens of feature films and two-reelers under his belt, working at several different studios simultaneously. Shemp had even owned and operated his own night club, which provided an additional source of income. Upon arriving in Hollywood in the 1930s, he had borrowed money from brother Curly to open a club on Wilshire Boulevard.

“Shemp didn’t want to be in the limelight,” says Babe Howard. “So he named the club after Wally Vernon.” But Shemp himself made occasional appearances at the club, often headlining the show with a comedy act of his own. By the time he rejoined the Stooges, however, Shemp had sold the club. As one of the Stooges, Shemp fit in well, even though his comic style was remarkably different from Curly’s. Unfortunately, Shemp could never quite overcome the public stigma of being his brother’s replacement. Also, he did not fit in with his partners as well as Curly had. Physically, he appeared to be much older than them, and his voice was often indistinguishable from Moe’s. Curly’s natural vocal pattern was actually similar to Moe’s and Shemp’s, but he, of course, disguised it with his trademark falsetto. On the other hand, Shemp had a few points in his favor. Even without a gag haircut, Shemp could get laughs through facial expressions alone. “Shemp could be funny even off screen,” says Emil Sitka. “He was funny just to look at. He had a big nose like a potato, and slits for eyes. Anyplace he’d go, people would just stare at his face.

They were fascinated by it.” Shemp could also act. He was able to carry his own weight

as a solo performer, where neither of his partners could. Curly had made a few films of his own without the Stooges, but this work has generally been ignored. Most of Curly’s appearances without the Stooges were with two other partners, basically substituting for Moe and Larry. Shemp, however, had little difficulty playing character roles, with or without support. Shemp was a bona fide comic actor, rather than simply a slapstick comic. However, many people believed-and still believe-that the quality of the act slipped considerably after Curly left the team. Comic Benny Rubin, a veteran of vaudeville himself, appeared in a number of shorts with the Stooges. He is among those who believes Curly was vastly su-perior to Shemp, and he offers his opinion: “Curly was the funniest, but Moe was a businessman. Larry was a musician. And Shemp wasn’t a very good actor. None of them were very clever. They were journeyman comics, in the sense that they were told how to act something out, in much the same way that one teaches a little boy how to dance.”

On the other hand, many of Shemp’s colleagues believed him to be a very funny man. Bud Abbott, of Abbott and Costello, once called Shemp “the funniest guy in the business.” Often, however, Shemp’s natural comic abilities worked against him. Babe Howard recalls that his talent actually hindered his career development. “Lou Costello wanted to put Shemp under personal contract. Just to get him out of the studio! Shemp was doing the Abbott and Costello features at Universal, and he got too many laughs.

Costello told Shemp he’d make him a big star if he worked for him. So Shemp asked him for $3,500 a week, which was unheard of at that time. Costello didn’t hire him, of course, but he still made sure that Shemp didn’t get any more laughs. Practically every funny thing Shemp did in the Abbott and Costello pictures ended up on the cutting room floor.

And that broke Shemp’s heart, because he couldn’t help being funny. He was a natural.”

Shemp appeared, although briefly, in several Abbott and Costello comedies, as well as some Olsen and Johnson features, at Universal. He also starred in some features at Columbia in the 1940s, teamed with character comic Billy Gilbert. Gilbert, a close personal friend of Shemp’s, had established himself at the Roach Studios in the 1930s.

Gilbert even turned up in some early Three Stooges comedies during their first year of production. All in all, Shemp Howard has been a decidedly underrated comedian, perhaps even more so than his brother Curly. Even the staunchest of the Three Stooges fans often dismiss Shemp as a second-rate replacement. But the fact of the matter is that Shemp was not doing Curly’s act, nor had he ever made an attempt to do so. He was simply adapting his already-established character to fit within the framework of an already-established act.

To be sure, most of the shorts with Shemp lack that special magic of the shorts with Curly. However, replacing Curly Howard would have been a difficult task for any performer. Shemp Howard wisely chose to play the role in a manner that was comfortable to him, rather than try to be a “new” Curly.

Once Shemp was reinstated as a member of the trio, Larry Fine suggested that the Stooges give a percentage of their weekly paychecks to Curly. Moe and Shemp agreed, and all three contributed money to Curly during his illness. Curly’s retirement from the act was a turning point in the Stooges’ career as a team. They would never again capture the lunatic quality of their films with Curly, but nevertheless would continue to produce quality, often hilariously funny, comedies for years to come. Curly returned to work with

his old partners only once, in a cameo appearance in HOLD THAT LION (1947), Shemp’s third short as one of the Stooges. With a full head of hair and visibly thinner, Curly could easily have gone unnoticed as just another bit player if not for his trademark snoring routine, performed with a clothespin over his nose.Curly’s gag appearance was intended as a morale booster on behalf of his former partners. It was his final screen appearance, and the first and only time that Curly and Shemp Howard appeared together in the same movie.

Despite encouragement from his former partners, however, Curly was despondent over his condition. Larry Fine once said that after his second stroke Curly became very depressed over the fact that he would never again be able to perform and, as he put it, “hear the children laugh.” Moe and Larry did everything they could to cheer him up, without results. Curly became a resident at the Motion Picture Country Home, a hospital for former employees of the movie industry, and stayed there for six years.

After several more strokes, Curly Howard died in 1952 at the age of 49. He was survived by his widow, Valerie Howard, and their three-year-old daughter, Janie Howard, as well as another daughter from a previous marriage. Curly was also outlived by three former wives, as well as his brothers. Although the Stooges would continue performing as a team for twenty more years, Curly’s shadow would never quite be erased from the public image of the Three Stooges. He left behind a marvelous film record of some of the most unique comedy ever produced, and has gone down in movie history as one of Hollywood’s genuine masters of the art of low comedy.

Chapter Four Shemp Howard rejoined the Stooges in 1946, shortly after Curly Howard’s second stroke.

He remained with the team until his death less than ten years later. Shemp’s replacement of his brother resulted in some minor changes in the Stooges’ performing style. Often routines and entire plots that would have worked well with Curly as the comic focus failed to come off with Shemp. But when in the hands of a talented director, like Ed Bernds, the new set of Stooges was allowed to develop a style that was in harmony with Shemp’s Stooge charac-terization. Jules White, however, persisted in employing the “living cartoon” style of comedy that was better suited to Curly Howard’s talents. In the White Stooges shorts, Shemp is often forced to perform the same gags and gestures originated on film by Curly. This, of course, only resulted in the appearance of sloppy imitation.

Despite the fact that the Stooges lost much of their charm and inherent appeal to children when Curly left the trio, some of the best Stooges shorts are those that feature Shemp. A great improvisational comic, Shemp was often at his best when left alone to do his own thing. Emil Sitka recalls that Shemp’s frequent ad libs would have Ed Bernds on the floor with laughter. “Ed Bernds would fracture himself watching him. Shemp would go on forever until he heard the word ‘cut.’ And I mean he’d be funny every second of the time!

Sometimes Ed Bernds would just let him go on, and he’d die laughing, even though he knew they couldn’t use that much material in the film.”

Jules White reflects upon his relationship with Shemp Howard: “A finer, more entertaining, more comedic man I never met. He’d keep you convulsed with laughter all the time with the stories he’d tell. And I don’t mean jokes, but things that happened to him.” Ed Bernds considers Shemp to be his favorite of all the Stooges. “Shemp was a honey,” says Bernds. “He was a very, very nice guy, a real trouper. He’d try anything; he’d work his head off. He liked working with me, and he really put out.” The difference between the individual directing styles of White and Bernds becomes apparent in viewing the Stooges shorts with Shemp. By the 1950s, the incongruous, noisy nonsense of the White comedies, contrasted against the structured plotlines and contextual gags of the Bernds efforts, serves as a significant evaluation of each director’s style and ability.

Virtually all of the shorts the Stooges made during this phase of their career were directed by either White or Bernds. Del Lord made one short with Shemp as a member of the trio, and producer Hugh McCollum even tried his hand at directing, but White and Bernds shared the bulk of directorial duties.

There were a few minor changes in the Stooges’ supporting cast during this period. Bud Jamison had died in the mid-1940s, but Vernon Dent remained with the Stooges until his retirement in the mid-1950s. Christine McIntyre and Symona Boniface continued to work with the Stooges as well. And tough guy Cy Schindell turned up in a few shorts, after an absence from filmmaking of several years, before his untimely death in the late 1940s. Ed Bernds explains that Schindell left Columbia in the early 1940s to enlist in the Marines. Schindell told him that during the war he contracted terminal cancer. “A very pathetic thing about Cy,” says Bernds, “was that he was doing films even though he was dying of cancer.” Schindell would appear in a number of Stooges comedies with Shemp, usually cast as a gangster or thug. Make-up was used to disguise the gaunt

appearance that resulted from his illness. Emil Sitka began working with the Stooges more and more as the years passed, usually in the role of an elderly scientist or crusty old codger. Sitka was quite adept at playing eightyish old men, even though he was only in his early thirties. A remarkably talented character actor, Sitka often added the finishing touch to a Stooges comedy with a clever characterization or bit of business. “Emil was very good,” says Jules White. “He could play anything. It’s not easy to be able to play a gangster in one shot, and a governor in the next. But he could do it. And he did it very well.” Elwood Ullman points out that Sitka was one of the few supporting players for whom the writing staff would specifically devise character parts. “I never saw him refuse to do a thing,” adds Ullman. Sitka remembers how he came to play the “old man” character in the Stooges shorts. “This is the story I got from Moe,” says Sitka. “The Stooges were doing their vaudeville act in a theater one night, and after they finished, a two-reel comedy was shown. I was playing an old man in that particular short. By the time the short came on, the Stooges had already taken off their makeup and costumes.

They were headed out of the theater toward a coffee shop to grab a bite after the show.

On their way out of the theater, they heard the audience howling with laughter. They had to go back and see what was so funny! So they went inside, and saw that it was my character that was getting all the laughs. They later decided they would like me to play that kind of character in one of their pictures, too.”

Sitka worked marvelously with the Stooges, quickly becoming one of their favorite supporting players. Moe enjoyed his work so much he even asked him to become an actual member of the Stooges many years later. Sitka continued to appear in the Columbia Stooges shorts until their final year of production in 1958. The first Three Stooges comedy featuring Shemp Howard as one of the trio, FRIGHT NIGHT (1947), was directed by Ed Bernds from a Clyde Bruckman screenplay. Bernds really got the series off to a good start; the film moves along briskly and is full of material well-suited to the “new” Stooges team. The short is highlighted by a climactic chase sequence. In this one, the boys are fight managers who run afoul of a murderous gang. The gangsters take the Stooges “for a ride,” kidnapping them to a deserted warehouse where they plan to rub them out. Tough guy Harold Brauer backs the Stooges up against a wall, and his men make ready to plug the boys. Shemp, however, pleads for his life. “Please don’t shoot me,” he begs. “I’m too young and good-lookin’ to die;” then, “Well, too young!” Shemp manages to drive most of the gang to tears with a sob story, as he names off all the members of his family: “I’ve got a father. I’ve got a mother. I’ve got a grandmother!”

Then he starts in on his brothers and sisters, starting from the shortest brother and working his way up. By the time he gets to his “great, big brother,” he slaps the gun out of Brauer’s hand, and the Stooges make a run for it. A wild slapstick chase follows, featuring a hilarious scene in which Cy Schindell, playing one of the gangsters, is knocked unconscious and propped up by Moe. Using Schindell as a puppet, Moe carries on a “conversation” with gangleader Harold Brauer. In addition to Brauer and Schindell, the film features another “tough guy” who would appear with the Stooges throughout the late 1940s and early ‘50s. His name was Dick Wessel, making his first appearance with the team as “Chopper,” the fighter the Stooges are training. Ed Bernds brought Wessel to Columbia for work in features and shorts; Wessel’s huge size and tough personality made him a perfect foil for the Stooges. FRIGHT NIGHT was remade several years later as

FLING IN THE RING (1955), directed by Jules White. The “new” version was actually a patchwork of old footage from the original with a few new sequences added. The White version includes a subplot that has the Stooges working for a mob leader, who decides to bump them off when they double-cross him. FRIGHT NIGHT is significant in that it shows how quickly and easily Shemp made himself at home as one of the Stooges. One of the reasons for this is, undoubtedly, the fact that Shemp had spent so much time in vaudeville as one of Healy’s Stooges. In addition to this, Bernds allowed Shemp to play his Stooge character as he saw fit. “He never used Curly’s mannerisms,” says Bernds.

“He brought his own style to the act, but he did fit in well. Shemp had his own style of comedy. He was a very funny guy, if you let him alone. A lot of times I’d just let the camera run, just to see what he’d do. Sometimes we couldn’t use it, but he’d never quit until I yelled ‘cut.’ It was a lot of fun just to let him go.”

Bernds and the Stooges worked in collaboration on all of their scripts, with Bernds suggesting the basic idea and the Stooges embellishing it with ideas and routines of their own. After Bernds and the Stooges developed a story, it was then turned over to one of the Columbia writers, who wrote the screenplay. As a director, Bernds then completed the final draft, and made all necessary preparations for any gags that required special effects or stunt work. “The hardest part,” says Bernds, “was devising the original concept, the starting framework. The rest was hard work, digging for laughs, but getting started was the tough thing.” Ed Bernds credits Moe Howard as being “a reservoir of routines.”

Moe devised a good many of their story formats, recalling old sketches and routines the Stooges had used over the years. Ac-cording to Bernds, however, Larry Fine’s story suggestions were usually of little value. Although some of Larry’s offbeat concepts were occasionally developed into workable ideas, Bernds says that Moe frequently and openly showed his disgust with Larry’s lesser ideas. Moe would insult Larry, calling his suggestions “stupid.” Shemp, on the other hand, saved most of his ideas for the actual filming. These ideas emerged, basically, as improvisational routines. Shemp was allowed a good deal of improvisation in BRIDELESS GROOM (1947), Bernds’ third effort with the “Shemp” ensemble. BRIDELESS GROOM is a tight, coherent comedy with good gags and dialogue. Supporting performances by character actress Dee Green, Christine McIntyre and Emil Sitka enhance the sparkling quality of the short, and Shemp turns in one of his funniest performances with the Stooges. The premise of the film has Shemp as a bachelor music professor who has to get married within a matter of hours to inherit a huge sum of money. The plot consists of attempts by Moe and Larry to find him a prospective bride, and prepare him for the marriage proposal and eventual wedding ceremony. As the film opens, Shemp is giving vocal lessons to Dee Green, whose horrible voice beautifully complements her homely features and obnoxious, but well-meaning, enthusiasm. To make matters worse, Miss Green is infatuated with Shemp, and throughout the lesson she continually makes amorous advances toward him. Shemp still manages to conduct the raucous student, occasionally twitching and going into spasms of shock as she shrieks out an ear-splitting rendition of the “Voice of Spring.” The ridiculous elements of the situation - Shemp a professor, the horrible student singing classical music-make this sequence one of the Stooges’ best. But the funniest scene in the film comes when Shemp learns of his inheritance and prepares to propose to lovely bachelorette Christine McIntyre. Christine welcomes Shemp the moment he knocks on her door, thinking he’s her Cousin Basil. She

hugs and kisses him, not allowing him to get a word in edgewise. Before he can explain he’s not Christine’s relative, the phone rings and the real Cousin Basil is on the other end.

Christine reacts in horror and accuses Shemp of impersonating her cousin. She lets loose with a series of brutal slaps across Shemp’s face, culminating with a stiff punch to Shemp’s jaw that sends him crashing through the door. Director Ed Bernds calls this sequence one of his personal favorites: “Christine was quite a lady-she really was - and it was not in her nature to slap people around. We made several takes in which she just kind of held back, and they were no good. And finally Shemp said, ‘Honey, do me a favor.

Let’s do it once, and do it right-go ahead and let me have it.’ On the take that’s in the picture, she really nerved herself up and she really belted him! I can look at old film a lot of times and see ways that it could have been done better. But that was one sequence that, in my mind, was perfect. The way we nerved her up to perform! The timing was utterly perfect. Damn! It was timed to perfection! “BRIDELESS GROOM was a reworking of an old Buster Keaton feature, SEVEN CHANCES (1925). Clyde Bruckman, who scripted BRIDELESS GROOM, had been a gag writer on SEVEN CHANCES as well. BRIDELESS GROOM was itself remade by Jules White as HUSBANDS BEWARE (1956), one of Shemp’s last shorts with the team. The White reworking includes most of the old footage from BRIDELESS GROOM, with minor deletions, as well as some new footage with Moe and Larry as the henpecked husbands of Shemp’s sisters.

Remakes became more and more frequent as the years progressed. Both the White and McCollum units began reworking old material, especially old scripts that had featured Curly Howard. Ed Bernds remade A PLUMBING WE WILL GO as VAGABOND LOAFERS (1949), with Shemp in the Curly role. It turned out to be one of the best in the series. VAGABOND LOAFERS was written by Elwood Ullman, who had scripted the original Curly Howard version. Some of the better gags were retained, such as the maze of pipes routine. In addition to this, a subplot involving art thieves was worked into the story. Kenneth MacDonald, a slippery villain type, and Christine McIntyre, also adept at playing villainous roles, were cast as the crooks. Emil Sitka and Symona Boniface turned up in this one as a wealthy couple who hire the Stooges to repair a simple leak. Before long, though, the boys have all but destroyed their elaborate mansion. By the time the Stooges have finished, water is spraying through nearly every orifice in the house, including the electric stove and the television set. VAGABOND LOAFERS was itself remade several years later. SCHEMING SCHEMERS (1956), directed by Jules White, includes much film from the original, as well as some pie throwing footage from HALF-WITS HOLIDAY. This stock footage proved to be quite useful, as most of the action takes place between the Stooges (minus Curly) and a few unidentified party guests. As a result, this film could be used again and again, with Shemp Howard, and eventually Joe Besser, stepping in as “Third Stooge.” Some of Ed Bernds’ most frequent outings with the Stooges consisted of a series of “scare pictures” he did in collaboration with writer Elwood Ullman. One of the most familiar themes of the Stooges shorts with Shemp has the boys encountering murderous criminals or madmen in a spooky atmosphere. Often cast as detectives, these “tense situations” gave the Stooges the opportunity to spew forth an endless succession of lines concern-ing their courage, or lack of it. Sometimes the Stooges were not cast as detectives at all, but merely bystanders

drawn into dangerous situations by the lure of easy money or a beautiful girl. Without fail, however, the Stooges found themselves in more trouble than they could handle, and spent the remainder of the film trying to devise a means of escape. Both Bernds and Ullman consider the “scare routine” to be sure-fire for getting laughs. Bernds points out the appeal of scare comedies: “We’d go to previews and we’d think, ‘My God, we’ve done this before, there’s nothing new in it! What can you do new with scare pictures? The audience must be getting tired of it.’ But we’d put one of those scare pictures in and, Jesus, the whole theater would come to life! The audience would scream and holler; they never seemed to get tired of scares.” Bernds’ first scare short with the Stooges, HOT SCOTS (1948), has the boys masquerading as Scotland Yard detectives. Passing themselves off as true Scotsmen, the boys are assigned to guard a cavernous Scottish castle. A hilarious chase scene highlights the film, as a trio of crooks chase the boys in and out of the castle corridors. HOT SCOTS is especially memorable because of the beautiful castle set used throughout most of the film. Acquiring such a set for a two-reel comedy often depended upon the ingenuity of a particular producer or director. Ed Bernds was walking across Columbia’s complex of sound stages one day when he discovered the massive castle interior, constructed for a feature film. Bernds simply thought it was too good to waste: “I went in and got Hugh McCollum, brought him out and showed him the set. I said, ‘Let’s get a couple of scripts ready; when they’re finished with ‘em, we’ll use ‘em.’ So we had the scripts ready. A lot of times you’d see a set and say, ‘Let’s do a story there.’ But sometimes by the time you had the script written, the set might have been torn down. You had to be ready to move right in, because at Columbia sound stage space was generally at a premium.” To make good use of the set, scripts were prepared specifically to take advantage of the huge structure. In addition to Ullman’s script for HOT SCOTS, Felix Adler wrote a script titled FIDDLERS THREE (1948).

This one, directed by Jules White, has the Stooges as royal entertainers for Old King Cole (Vernon Dent). The script allows for some offbeat slapstick, with the Stooges acting out several nursery rhymes. One particularly funny routine, “Simple Simon Met a Pieman,” features some friendly pie-tossing between Stooges.

Yet another Stooges comedy was filmed on the mammoth castle set. Ed Bernds wrote his own script for a short titled SQUAREHEADS OF THE ROUND TABLE (I 948). This turned out to be one of the most charming of all the Stooges shorts with Shemp, as well as one of the funniest. SQUAREHEADS is an excellent farce, superbly blending the antics of the Stooges with a coherent romantic subplot and elements of royal intrigue. This one even permits the Stooges, playing troubadours in medieval England, to play instruments and sing. The highlight of the film comes when the Stooges, serenading the royal princess on behalf of her commoner boyfriend, perform a comic reworking of “Sextet from Lucia.” Christine McIntyre, as the princess, joins in the song herself. The sequence is clever and entertaining, and is even amusing to those who generally dislike the antics of the Stooges. After viewing this short, one wishes that the Stooges were given the opportunity to exploit their musical abilities more often. All three of the “castle” comedies were remade by Jules White in the 1950s. None of them, however, matched the originals in terms of timing, cleverness or overall quality. In 1950, the production team of Hugh McCollum, Edward Bernds and Elwood Ullman began work on a series of Stooges comedies that, ac-cording to Ullman, constituted a banner year for Columbia’s shorts

department. “We had a string there,” says Bernds, “where we just kept topping ourselves.” Bernds directed several two-reelers for McCollum, all written by Ullman, that turned out to be the last really good shorts the Stooges ever did, even though the Stooges remained at Columbia for almost another decade. Ullman recalls previewing these shorts in theaters surrounding the Hollywood area. “We’d preview at an outlying theater on a Friday night, and pack the place with kids. And it would be both pleasing and disappointing. Sometimes a routine would come on, and it would die. And you just couldn’t understand why! But after having previewed it, you could do something about it.

You could cut out the dead spots, speed the thing up, and improve it.”

The first film in the series, DOPEY DICKS (1950), is a detective spoof, with plenty of verbal gags aimed at deflating the glamorous “private eye” mystique created by Hollywood. In addition to this, the film has some genuinely scary moments, much more so than in any of their other detective opuses. STUDIO STOOPS (1950) is another good entry in the series, with the boys as pest exterminators at a movie studio mistaken for publicity experts. The boys go along with the ruse, and devise to have a lovely starlet (Christine McIntyre) disappear as part of a publicity stunt. Their plan backfires, however, when a pair of gangsters overhears their scheme. The gangsters actually kidnap the starlet, demanding ten thousand dollars in ransom. The Stooges attempt to rescue her, and before long Moe and Larry find themselves tied up while Shemp manages to escape by stepping out onto a hotel window ledge stories above the ground. Bernds points out that this kind of comedy, known as “high and dizzy,” was almost as certain to get laughs as the “scare routine.” This particular situation, in which Shemp is seen wandering around a window ledge inside of a suitbag, was even reworked for a Bowery Boys feature Bernds and Ullman did several years later. Bernds’ personal favorite of all the shorts he did with the Stooges is PUNCHY COWPUNCHERS (1950), an excellent Western spoof complete with continuous melodramatic background music. The boys play cavalrymen assigned to disguise themselves as desperadoes and sign up with a dreaded gang of cattle rustlers.

Assisting the Stooges in their attempt to clean things up is helpless Elmer, played by former stunt man Jock Mahoney. The character is a hilarious satirical version of the Hollywood Western hero figure. Elmer is quick with his guns, but he always seems to miss out on the fight, either by forgetting to load his pistols or falling off his horse.

Mahoney performs a variety of breathtaking flips and falls, and steals every scene he’s in.

The short is full of physical mayhem, from the standard slapstick antics of the Stooges to the constant stumbling of “good guy” Elmer. Christine McIntyre is featured as Nell, Elmer’s girlfriend. One beautifully-timed running gag, in which Nell single-handedly punches out a number of lustful badmen, is the highlight of the short. As she wallops each desperado with her fist, she proves herself to be a true lady by finding a comfortable place to faint after each beating.

Throughout the late 1940s and early ‘50s, the Hugh McCollum two-reeler unit continued to turn out one good Stooges comedy after another. The White-produced Stooges shorts, however, began to slip noticeably in quality during this period. A typical short is White’s LOVE AT FIRST BITE (1950). The film suffers from too many protracted gags and not enough genuinely funny material. The plotline, such as it is, has the Stooges preparing to meet their wartime sweethearts, who are arriving from Europe

via steamship. A series of flashbacks, in which each Stooge appears separately, takes up a good share of the footage. An interesting White Stooges comedy from the early ‘50s is SELF MADE MAIDS (1950), with the Stooges playing all parts in the film. The boys play themselves, their girlfriends, and all other sup-porting parts as well. Through use of trick photography and doubles for the Stooges, the film even features a chase sequence, the highlight of the short. But for all the film’s technical gimmickry and innovative ideas, the short simply isn’t as funny as might be expected. Another unusual, but successful, White effort is SCRAMBLED BRAINS (1951). This one, written by Felix Adler, has Shemp returning home from a private sanitarium. Shemp has been suffering from hallucinations, and he apparently hasn’t been completely cured. He’s fallen in love with his nurse, a homely, toothless wench much taller and wider than Shemp. Shemp, however, envisions her as a beautiful blonde. Plenty of good gags arising from Shemp’s “seeing things” make this the best short White did with the Stooges in the 1950s. By the early 1950s, however, Columbia was one of the few Hollywood studios that still maintained a shorts department. The two-reeler field had begun to wane in the 1940s and was well on its way out by the 1950s. With the future of their movie career relatively uncertain, the Stooges decided to take a stab at a television career with a weekly series. The Three Stooges program was to be similar in format to their Columbia comedies; regulars were to include Emil Sitka and Symona Boniface.

A pilot episode was filmed at ABC Studios in Hollywood before a live audience.

Emil Sitka says the script for the initial show had himself and Symona Boniface as a wealthy couple who hire the Stooges to work in their home. However, shortly after completion of the pilot, Shemp Howard decided he did not want to pursue a television career. At this point Mousie Garner was asked to replace him for television appearances with the Stooges. “Moe and Larry were all for the series idea,” says Garner, “but Shemp didn’t want any part of it. So they were going to use me instead.” Garner had already been appearing on television’s “Colgate Comedy Hour” as one of the “Gentlemaniacs” Colgate was a revue-style program that had featured people like Abbott and Costello and Martin and Lewis. The Gentlemaniacs had been seen on the show several times as well. Sammy Wolf was still with the act, while Bobby Pinkus, another former Healy comic, filled in for Dick Hakins, who had retired from comedy. Despite the fact that arrangements were made to replace Shemp, the series idea was dropped by ABC. For one reason or another, the pilot episode never even made it to broadcast. However, the Stooges continued to make appearances on television throughout the 1950s. They reportedly appeared on Eddie Cantor’s syndicated “Comedy Theater” in 1955, broadcast in color. Since prints of that episode are not available, the content of their appearance cannot be determined. A description of the show, however, indicates the format consisted basically of comedy and musical sketches. For the most part, though, the Stooges continued to receive their greatest amount of exposure from their Columbia shorts. Throughout the 1950s, remakes of earlier comedies became more and more frequent. ANTS IN THE PANTRY, for example, was remade as PEST MAN WINS (1951). The original plot is followed quite closely, but for the finale, director Jules White added the pie-throwing footage from HALF-WITS HOLIDAY. Their next film after the release of PEST MAN WINS, A MISSED FORTUNE (1952), is a remake of another Curly short, HEALTHY, WEALTHY AND DUMB (1938). In this one, Shemp wins a television quiz contest, with

disastrous results. The results are mediocre, despite the presence of such Stooges stalwarts as Vernon Dent and Stanley Blystone. Jules White, however, continued to remake and rework earlier comedies with the Stooges until their very last shorts in the late 1950s.

In addition to reworking earlier scripts that had featured Curly, White and the Stooges embarked on a strange series of experimental shorts in the early 1950s, most of which missed the mark in the laughs department. Many of these experiments deviated considerably from the established “Three Stooges” brand of comedy. Apparently it was felt that audiences were tiring of the standard Stooges nonsense. While the attempt to freshen things up was certainly a noble effort, the films themselves were generally weak in terms of structure and comic quality. The worst entry in this series is CUCKOO ON A CHOO CHOO (1952), a rather depressing effort. The boys work separately, which accounts for much of the problem. The short was intended as a spoof of A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, which explains some otherwise bizarre characterization. But as a whole, the film is a weak entry, with more unnecessary slapstick and general silliness than genuinely funny material. It was becoming obvious by now that the Stooges were getting on in years, and were not as physically flexible as they had once been. By now all of them were in their fifties, and had begun dyeing their hair. Until the end of their career, the Stooges maintained their gag haircuts. “They clung to the haircut idea,” says Emil Sitka.

“Moe had to have his hair down in the front, and Larry had to have his hair bushed. Of course, Shemp had to be different in his own way, with his ‘split’ hairdo.” Sitka points out that Shemp had a difficult time controlling his hair. “There was no way he could make his hair stay in place,” says Sitka. “Before takes, he would comb it back behind his ears. He tried very hard to make his hair stay back.” Shemp, especially, looked older; he was well past middle age when he reteamed with the Stooges, and by the mid-1950s, he was almost sixty years old. In addition to this, Shemp’s comic prowess had begun to slip. Like his brother Curly, Shemp suffered a minor stroke, and, although it didn’t force him into retirement, it did hamper his performing style. “Shemp had a stroke in 1952,” says Babe Howard. “He was sitting at home playing cards with a friend, and all of a sudden, he just wasn’t acting right. He was in a daze. We later found out he had had a cerebral hemorrhage. Afterward, Shemp never even remembered having the stroke.” Shemp and Babe Howard moved out of their North Hollywood home, and bought an apartment building nearby. “We filled it with show people,” says Babe, “and we’d have parties until three, four o’clock in the morning. I was doing it to keep Shemp going, to keep him up.

After a while, he was back working with the boys again, going on tour, doing the shorts, and everything. But he was never quite the same afterward. He was never a hundred percent perfect.”

Not unlike Curly Howard, Shemp’s lack of energy became obvious in some of the Stooges’ later shorts with him. Fortunately, stock footage was used to take up a good deal of the Stooges’ screen time, so it was not necessary to relieve much of the comic burden from Shemp’s shoulders. Around this time, there were some significant changes in Columbia’s two-reeler department. Most of these resulted from the culmination of the White-McCollum rivalry, which had reached its peak in the mid-1950s. Confidantes say White and McCollum had always shared a “mutual antipathy,” and it eventually came to

the point where one of the two had to go. Since McCollum had served as Harry Cohn’s secretary, he had been rewarded the position of producer. White, however, had been the official head of the Columbia shorts unit since its inception in the early 1930s. When it came to a final showdown, White apparently had more power, and McCollum was fired.

White regained complete control of the department in 1952, and from that point on, the production of the Stooges shorts became his sole responsibility. As a result, McCollum’s longtime collaborator, Edward Bernds, resigned from Columbia. Bernds continued his successful association with Elwood Ullman, and they were hired by Allied Artists for writing and directing work on the Bowery Boys feature comedies. All of these films included material similar to Stooges-style comedy. Some, in fact, had entire routines and sequences repeated almost verbatim, with Leo Gorcey filling in for Moe, and Huntz Hall playing the “Shemp” role. “We even used some Stooges-like material in an Elvis Presley picture!” says Bernds. “Comedy is comedy; if it’s funny in one situation, you can generally modify it so that it’s funny for somebody else. Some of the sarcastic things that Presley said were roughly things that, say, Moe might have said. But with Bernds and Ullman gone from Columbia, the quality of the Three Stooges shorts took a definite nose dive.

Remakes of earlier comedies became the dominant output, and there seemed to be less time for earnest experimentation with fresh ideas. In addition to this, the demand for shorts began to dwindle as double features grew in popularity. By the late 1950s, the Three Stooges had outlasted every other comedian in the Columbia shorts department.

The popularity of their films, however, remained relatively constant. Columbia and the Stooges were given numerous awards from movie distributors for the continued success of the Stooges comedies. For several years in the 1950s, the Columbia Stooges shorts were among the nation’s most popular box office attractions. For short comedies, they were selected top money-makers for five consecutive years, from 1950 through 1954.

Shortly after Jules White was put in charge of the shorts department, he made an attempt to capitalize on both the Stooges’ continued popularity and the 3-D craze of the 1950s. White had planned to produce a series of Three Stooges shorts filmed in the 3-D process. He envisioned a whole new series of 3-D Stooges comedies, all of which would capitalize on the nonstop violence and visual action inherent in the Stooges shorts. For example, conventional bits like the “poke in the eyes” were amplified by 3-D, with Moe aiming two fingers straight into the camera lens, representing, for example, Larry’s eyes.

What resulted, unfortunately, was weak, forced comedy that visually fell flat when not seen in the 3-D process. At first glimpse, the behavior of the Stooges appears to be exaggerated to the point of silliness. In one of these shorts, for example, Shemp stares straight into the camera and quivers his lips for no apparent reason, other than to exaggerate what audiences might identify with the Three Stooges. By the time the Stooges began making 3-D shorts, however, the craze was already on its way out. Only a couple of Stooges comedies were filmed in that process. As a result of the experiment, however, the Three Stooges have the dubious distinction of being the only comedy team that made movies in 3-D. Despite the lack of enthusiasm over 3-D comedies, a series of 3-D Three Stooges comic books emerged in the 1950s, featuring the “Shemp” character as “Third Stooge.” The series started in 1953 and lasted five years, long after Shemp Howard’s

death. The comic books could be viewed by wearing a special pair of glasses enclosed with each book. Much of the artwork on the books was done by Norman Maurer, Moe Howard’s son-inlaw. Maurer would later become an important influence on the Stooges’ career, writing, directing and producing their films in the 1960s. Aside from the 3-D experiment, reworkings of earlier films utilizing much old footage became quite abundant as the ‘50s progressed. This may have been a blessing in disguise, considering Shemp’s health and reduced level of stamina. The first of these shorts, BOOTY AND THE BEAST (1953), was a remake of HOLD THAT LION, with several of the original sequences deleted in favor of new footage. Curiously enough, Curly Howard’s gag appearance was retained in this version, even though it was not integral to the plot and Curly himself had been dead a year before the film went into release. Footage from HOLD THAT LION also popped up in two more Stooges shorts. LOOSE LOOT (1953), directed by Jules White, has the boys in search of a criminal who stole their inheritance.

The remake version features almost half of the original footage from the initial comedy.

TRICKY DICKS (1953), also directed by White, has the Stooges as police detectives looking for a mad murderer. Footage from the original turns up in this one, as the boys are seen having trouble closing some uncooperative file cabinet drawers.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the frequent use of old footage was that the Stooges were forced to wear the same costumes as they had in the original movie to “match” the old film. The Stooges wear practically the same costumes in all three ‘50s comedies, all of which were released to theaters consecutively! By the 1950s, it had become practice for Columbia to take an old short, splice in a couple of new sequences, and release the film under an alternate title as a brand new two-reeler. Jules White explains that this practice was simply an economy measure resulting from Columbia’s continuing budget cuts. “They weren’t entirely old film,” contends White. “There was at least fifty percent new footage, if not more, with a different approach to it. “ The most obvious reason for this rather confusing method of film production was to sell the old shorts as new ones. In that way, Columbia could charge theater owners its standard fee for new releases, rather than a lesser amount for reissued films. Such chicanery would never have been permitted in feature film production; however, few theater owners paid much attention to two-reel “throwaways.” As a result, Columbia was able to continue this practice for several years, churning out “new” Three Stooges comedies that were actually little more than old shorts with a minimum of new footage. Nearly every short the Stooges made with Shemp before 1950 turned up as a brand new short with a different title and some new sequences. Leonard Maltin reports that through the use of old films, Jules White was able to complete an entire Stooges comedy in one day by the late 1950s.

Elwood Ullman says producer White made an arrangement with him to obtain his writing credits for Columbia. Ullman had been asked to write a Martin and Lewis feature-comedy at Paramount in the early ‘50s; this meant, of course, that he would require a temporary leave of absence from Columbia. White made a deal with him: he would receive the requested time off, under the condition that Columbia would receive rights to his screenplays for future use. Thus, Columbia was free to do whatever they pleased with Ullman’s material, and he was free to go to work for Paramount. As a result, Ullman would receive no payment for any shorts that happened to use any of his old script material. Ed Bernds was less than happy, though, when several of his original writing and

directing efforts turned up as “new” films with directorial credit going to Jules White.

“Columbia used my old film, without my knowledge or consent, and I complained to the Directors’ Guild,” says Bernds. “Columbia was entitled to release them forever, with no residuals. But in using my film without giving me credit, they were violating the Directors’ Guild contract.” Bernds eventually reached a settlement with Columbia for $2,500. In addition to this, Columbia was forced to give Bernds writing credit on films which were remakes of his original scripts. As a result, Bernds was credited with writing the “story,” while the writer who concocted the remake version was credited with writing the screenplay.” “I really didn’t care about the credits,” explains Bernds. “I just hated to see Columbia getting away with a bare-faced theft. It wasn’t right for Columbia to get away with reusing the film the way they did. They butchered a lot of the stories.”

But despite Bernds’ complaints, Columbia continued to release the old shorts as new entries, later creating much confusion among viewers trying to discern one short from another. Although most of the shorts the Stooges turned out in the mid-1950s Were little more than new adaptations of old releases, occasionally a complete original was slipped into the output. GOOF ON THE ROOF (1953) was one of these. The script, concocted

by Clyde Bruckman, consists of one slapstick mishap after another, as the boys attempt to clean up their newlywed friend’s house. The title is derived from Shemp’s attempt to install a television antenna on the roof, which results in his falling through the ceiling and into the house. GYPPED IN THE PENTHOUSE (1955) has each of the boys as woman haters, resulting from their individually disastrous encounters with the same gold digging girl. The boys work separately, with Moe as her insanely jealous husband, Larry her former boyfriend, and Shemp the hapless patsy who innocently becomes involved. All three Stooges meet at the end of the short, resulting in a slapstick melee. One of Shemp’s last shorts with the team turned out to be one of their more innovative entries.

BLUNDER BOYS (1955) is structured around a “Dragnet” theme, complete with monotone voice-over narration. The idea is a novel one, and a welcome departure from the often-stale Stooges story format. It’s also an indication of the influence television was beginning to have on the motion picture industry: here was a theatrical film that poked fun at a popular television series. The basic plotline is pretty standard material, with the Stooges as police detectives assigned to catch a criminal (Benny Rubin) who disguises himself as a woman. The boys fail in their attempt, however, and are yanked from the force. The closing scene has the boys working as manual laborers, and Moe ends the short by imprinting the words “the end” on Larry’s forehead with a mallet. The closing credits of “Dragnet” never looked so good.

In 1955, the career of the Stooges was running smoothly, if not hurriedly, and that same year each of the Stooges took some time off for personal pursuits. In November of that year, however, Shemp Howard suffered a heart attack. He died almost immediately, with friends. “Shemp had gone out to the fights with some friends,” says Babe Howard.

“He was on his way home in the back of a cab, and was telling a joke. He was in the middle of lighting a cigar when he had a heart attack and died.” At age 60, the second “star” member of the Three Stooges was dead. As Curly Howard’s retirement from the act had initiated a turning point in the Stooges’ career, so did Shemp Howard’s death.

After Shemp’s passing, the Three Stooges would never achieve the quality of comedy they

had before. It was downhill from that point on, even though the Stooges were together as a team for more than another decade. According to Babe Howard, she attempted to sue the Three Stooges for a percentage of their earnings several years after Shemp’s death.

She argued that during Curly’s illness and forced retirement all of the Stooges, including Shemp, had given a percentage of their weekly salaries to Curly for his contribution to the act. She claims that after Shemp’s death, however, the Stooges did not pay a percentage to Shemp’s family. Babe says that eventually the suit was settled. Babe points out that Shemp traditionally received twice as much salary as his two partners. This was a precedent that had been set by Ted Healy, who considered Shemp the funniest member of the Stooges. Shemp was a talented comedian who never really received the credit he deserved. His originality, cleverness and comic abilities have, unfortunately, been relatively ignored. He was a talented comic who helped establish the Stooges, but left the act shortly before they achieved worldwide fame. In addition, he had the misfortune of having to return to the act in place of an ir-replaceable performer-even though it was actually Shemp who trained Curly in the role of “Third Stooge.” Shemp is, however, revered by those who worked with him. Babe Howard has fond memories of a recent Three Stooges “convention” held in Hollywood: “They had a lot of people who had worked with the Stooges in movies up on a stage, answering questions from the audience.

And they all talked about Shemp. They spoke of him with such love and affection, after all these years. I was very touched.” Shemp’s death had a devastating effect on his brother Moe. Grieved by his passing, Moe wanted to retire the Stooges as an act.

Encouragement from his wife and Larry, however, led him once again into conference with Columbia executives to find another replacement. Moe and Larry first considered finding an actor who could effectively handle the role of “Curly.” Curly Howard had been the most popular member of the Stooges, and it seemed a natural idea to cash in on this success. Their first choice was former Healy Stooge Mousie Garner. “Jules White told me Moe and Larry wanted me to replace Shemp,” says Garner. “They wanted me to come in and play ‘Curly,’ and they asked Columbia to put me under contract as one of the Stooges.” Garner was a top-notch physical comedian with extensive performing experience. He had appeared in every form of live entertainment, from vaudeville to night clubs, and had a number of movie and television credits as well. One of his most popular routines was his “professor” act. This routine had Garner, wearing tiny pince-nez glasses perched on the end of his nose, playing gag songs on the piano. “I will now play ‘Tea for Two,”’ Garner would say, “from the motion picture, ‘Ben Hur.”’ Garner would then proceed to pound the keys with everything from his fingers to his elbows, eventually throwing himself into convulsions of comic frenzy and falling off the piano bench in exhaustion. Garner’s versatile repertoire even included letter-perfect impersonations of all the various Healy Stooges, including Curly Howard. This was undoubtedly one of the reasons why Moe Howard and Larry Fine considered him for the “Curly” role. But Columbia refused to hire Garner; they insisted on utilizing whatever talent they already had under contract. Columbia suggested that the Stooges use one of their own contractees for the role of “Third Stooge.” While Moe and Larry searched for a suitable replacement, preferably a “new” Curly, they continued to churn out “Three Stooges” shorts-with Shemp Howard as a member of the trio! For several shorts a double was used for Shemp, seen briefly and only from behind. Although Shemp Howard was dead,

Columbia continued to use the “Shemp” character as one of the Three Stooges through use of a double and a good deal of old footage. When it was necessary for the surrogate Shemp to contribute a line or two, the editing department simply referred to old film and dubbed in Shemp Howard’s voice. Occasionally, the double was required to grunt a response in a deep, gravely voice, apparently in an attempt to pass himself off as the real thing. Fortunately, this demeaning practice was discontinued after only a few shorts.

Shortly after Shemp’s death, Moe and Larry considered the possibility of continuing as a duo act, with no third member to round the action. In their last few shorts with the “Shemp” double, Moe and Larry had carried most of the comedy anyway, and they seriously considered doing a series of shorts as two, rather than three, Stooges.

Meanwhile, however, Columbia had found what it considered a suitable replacement for Shemp Howard. His name was Joe Besser, and he was already under contract at Columbia. Like Shemp, Besser had been starring in his own series of two-reelers when he was inducted as a member of the trio. Besser became a member of the Three Stooges in 1956, ten years after Shemp had stepped in for Curly.

Chapter Five Joe Besser was a talented comedian who, like the original Stooges, had received his training on the vaudeville stage. He had become famous appearing as a foil for Abbott and Costello, as well as Olsen and Johnson, and had a number of motion picture appearances under his belt. Besser was very close with Lou Costello; Costello managed to find movie and television work for Besser as a comic foil whenever possible. He may not have been Curly Howard, but Joe Besser came highly recommended. Physically, though, Besser was similar to Curly Howard in many ways; he was short, fat and bald, with a cherubic expression and persnickety mannerisms. And like Curly, his comic character was childlike and patsyish. “Joe Besser was a very cute man in his own way,” says Jules White. “He had a lot of good gestures and expressions. And he was a cute little fat man to look at.” Besser says he was friendly with Moe Howard and Larry Fine, even though he was never close with them. He had, however, known them as cquaintances before becoming a member of their act. “It was a lot of fun,” says Besser, “because we were making people laugh. “ Besser was with the Stooges until 1958, when Columbia dropped them from their roster. During this period there were some personnel changes in the Stooges’ cast of supporting players. Vernon Dent had already retired from acting; shortly afterward, he began losing his eyesight due to diabetes. At Shemp Howard’s funeral, says Emil Sitka, Dent had already lost so much vision that he had to be led to Shemp’s casket by his wife. Dent’s place was taken in a couple of Stooges shorts by character actor Milton Frome.

Symona Boniface had died in the early 1950s, and Christine McIntyre had left Columbia shortly before Besser’s induction as a Stooge. Greta Thyssen, a pretty blonde, more or less took Miss Mclntyre’s place as the “first lady” of the Stooges shorts. Emil Sitka continued to appear with the Stooges, however, usually in character roles. By now Sitka was the only performer who had played speaking parts with all three sets of Three Stooges. The size of his roles was beginning to increase in proportion with the frequency of his appearances. Jules White continued as producer and director of the films. White’s brother, Jack White, was still writing scripts for the shorts as well. Both men would continue to work on the Stooges comedies until their very last short in 1958. Clyde Bruckman had died in the early 1950s, but Felix Adler was still employed as a gag writer.

Adler scripted some of the better efforts in the “Besser” Stooges series. But it was during this period, unfortunately, that the Stooges turned out what are generally regarded as their worst films. Apparently a definite “style” for the new Stooges comedies could not be decided upon. In the sixteen shorts the Stooges did with Besser as “Third Stooge,” the amount of experimentation with new ideas is mind-boggling. During this period, the Stooges ran the gamut from situation comedy to musical farce. None of these ideas ever worked, although occasionally the results were interesting.

Probably the biggest problem with the new act was internal: Besser really didn’t fit in as one of the Stooges. He wasn’t Curly Howard, and he certainly wasn’t Shemp

Howard. He was Joe Besser, a highly individual and innovative comic. Unfortunately, Besser’s character, that of a middle-aged sissy, simply didn’t blend with the deliberately crude, brash behavior of his partners. In addition to these difficulties, the Stooges were forced to experiment with different styles of comedy, ranging from comic fantasy to science fiction spoofery. Besser’s first outing with the Stooges, HOOFS AND GOOFS (1957), is something less than top-notch. Oddly enough, character comic Benny Rubin is the funniest thing in the whole short. As the Stooges’ pesty landlord, Rubin gets more laughs than the Stooges themselves and that’s something that never would have been permitted during their prime years of filming. The short is structured around a prolonged dream sequence in which Joe dreams his sister has died and is reincarnated as a horse.

The gags are contrived and predictable, and the Stooges don’t look too comfortable playing second fiddle to a horse. Despite the film’s weak premise, a sequel of sorts, HORSING AROUND (1957), was released several months later. SPACE SHIP SAPPY (1957) has the boys launched into outer space with scientist Benny Rubin and his daughter. There are a few moments of fun in this one, but, as a whole, the short fails to provide any real laughs. Strangely enough, two more science-fiction-themed comedies followed, neither of which show the Stooges to particular advantage. One of the most interesting of the Besser Stooges shorts is SWEET AND HOT (1958). The script was written in part by Jerome Gottler who wrote WOMAN HATERS, their original Columbia comedy. Like WOMAN HATERS, SWEET AND HOT casts the boys as separate characters. Muriel Landers guest stars as an overweight vocalist who is afraid of singing in public. The short is not without fascination, but it’s about as far off from “Three Stooges” comedy as one might expect. SWEET AND HOT is a situation comedy, with the Stooges simply splitting up and playing character roles. One might even suspect that the script was not written specifically for the Three Stooges. Casting the Stooges as separate characters never worked, yet they continued to appear in films “split up” throughout their Columbia career. One would think that after nearly a quarter of a century it would have become obvious that the Stooges simply didn’t make it as single performers.

In addition to these various experiments, several scripts from earlier shorts with Curly and Shemp Howard were reworked for Besser. Footage of Curly Howard proved to be quite useful, since Besser resembled him somewhat from a distance. Curly’s last short as one of the Stooges, HALF-WITS HOLIDAY, for example, was remade as PIES AND GUYS (1958). This one turned out to be one of Besser’s last Stooges shorts as well. Since stock footage was being used so frequently at Columbia, producer Jules White could often turn out a “new” film in a matter of hours. Emil Sitka, who repeated his HALF-WITS HOLIDAY role in PIES AND GUYS, remembers how he was approached to do the part in the remake: “I got a call from Jules White. He told me he was remaking HALF-WITS HOLIDAY with Joe Besser, and he wanted me to repeat my role. They even had my old costume ready. All they wanted me to do was take off some weight and read through the old script again. “ Almost half of the Besser Stooges shorts utilized old footage to some extent. One of these shorts didn’t even have a supporting cast; the Stooges carried the entire film alone. It was becoming painfully obvious that Columbia was no longer interested in what was once its top comedy attraction. In 1958 Harry Cohn died, and, as a result, the Stooges were fired from Columbia. They had been the only

remaining act in the shorts department, which was disbanded upon their departure. Jules White, their producer and frequent director for nearly a quarter of a century, retired shortly thereafter. The firing of the Stooges marked the virtual end of the two-reel comedy era, a sign that lengthier feature films and double features had firmly established themselves as part of the moviemaking industry. Shortly after they left Columbia, the Stooges made plans for a “Three Stooges” personal appearance tour. Joe Besser, however, declined. He claims he was unable to tour with the Stooges because of a movie obligation in Hollywood. Besser says his appearance in the 20th Century Fox musical SAY ONE FOR ME (1959) precluded him from continuing in the role of the “Third Stooge.”

At this point, Moe and Larry began looking for another replacement. Once again, they considered Mousie Garner for the “Curly” role. Garner was close with Larry Fine, who contacted him about teaming with the Stooges. “They knew they could use me,” says Garner, “because I had worked with Ted Healy, and I knew the way they worked and the kind of material they did.” Garner was interested in joining the act, but at the time was under contract as a musical comedian to Spike Jones. “I asked Spike Jones to give me a couple of weeks off to rehearse with the boys,” says Garner. “He said that was okay so I started rehearsing the ‘Curly’ part with Moe and Larry. “Moe had an office in Hollywood.

We’d get together every day, the three of us, with me doing Curly’s part. You know, with the squealing, and the barking, and everything. Moe loved it. He said I was a lot like Curly. So he told me to shave my head and start putting on weight.” But Garner was never to become an actual member of the trio. “I pleaded with Spike Jones to let me out of my contract, but he refused,” says Garner. “Moe and Larry even went to his house, and asked for me. But he just wouldn’t let me out.” In early 1958, the future of the Three Stooges looked bleak. Moe Howard was considering a career in the production end of moviemaking. One Columbia feature film from the late 1950s even credits Moe as an associate producer. Larry Fine, in turn, was considering moving from Hollywood, retiring from show business, and setting up his headquarters in his home town of Philadelphia.

And Joe Besser, of course, had already begun accepting other movie and television offers.

By the late 1950s, there was a definite discussion of officially disbanding the Three Stooges.

But while the Stooges themselves considered retiring their custard pie comedy for good, the “Three Stooges” was quietly on its way to becoming one of the hottest acts in show business.

Chapter Six “Thanks to TV and thousands of young viewers, the Three Stooges are back on top.” That’s how Robert Anderson, in his 1959 Chicago Tribune article on the Stooges, described the resurgence of popularity the Three Stooges experienced in the late 1950s.

By 1959, the Stooges were suddenly back on top, and were well on their way to reaching unprecedented heights of popularity. In a matter of months the Stooges were to become television stars and national celebrities. They would amass a huge audience of young children who had never before seen them in theaters but would soon be captivated by their slapstick antics. And, most important of all, the Stooges would form their own production company and finally get the opportunity to star in their own feature films. All of this came about because Columbia’s television subsidiary, Screen Gems, released a package of Stooges shorts to the television market in 1958. Columbia hadn’t expected to profit very much from the old shorts, but within months, the Stooges comedies were among the most popular daytime syndicated television programs on the market. While the Stooges themselves received no residuals from the showings of the Columbia shorts, the constant broadcast of the old films kept the Stooges in the public eye. Children across the nation became quite familiar with the antics of the threesome, and before long the Stooges were in terrific demand for personal and television appearances.

By this time Moe and Larry had found a replacement for Joe Besser. His name was Joe DeRita, a roughhouse comic who was also physically similar to Curly Howard.

Joe DeRita had been suggested to the Stooges by his friend Mousie Garner. “Joe was already fat,” says Garner, “and he wore a crewcut. Moe met him and thought he looked a lot like Curly. So Joe wound up playing the ‘Curly’ part with them instead of me.”

Although billed as “Curly Joe” for appearances with the Stooges, DeRita made no attempt to pattern himself after Curly Howard. This was a wise move, because DeRita had none of Curly’s characteristic stamina or lunatic comic nature. The only major similarities between DeRita and his popular predecessor were that they were both fat and both had shaved heads. Like Joe Besser, and Shemp Howard before him, Joe DeRita had worked extensively as a single. He even had his own series of two-reelers in the late 1940s at Columbia, the “Joe DeRita” series. During this time, DeRita was actually working in close quarters with his future teammates, turning out comedies which played up his cherubic qualities. But DeRita had not known Moe Howard or Larry Fine prior to teaming with them as one of the Stooges. “I had met them years before,” says DeRita, “but we were only acquaintances.” DeRita had started out in show business with a family dancing act in vaudeville, then moved on to comedy in burlesque when he went out on his own.

DeRita was considerably younger than his partners, but physically, he fit in quite well as a Stooge. DeRita’s character was basically gentle and relaxed, and, as Emil Sitka has described it, “cupid-like.” As a member of the Stooges, DeRita offered a pleasant complement, rather than contrast, to the characters of his partners. As the Stooges began to tone down their comic violence in the late 1950s and early ‘60s, DeRita’s passive, less

boisterous character blended in easily. Moe and Larry, both of whom were getting on in years, began to relax as well, both personally and professionally. “Moe especially began to mellow out in his later years,” points out Babe Howard. This mellowing out was reflected in the Stooges’ movie and television appearances. In the 1960s, the Stooges relied more on their established comic personalities than violence and roughhousing to get laughs.

DeRita, in turn, played the “Curly” part in his own relaxed style. He simply adapted his own comic personality for appearances with the Stooges and often performed material originally written for Curly Howard in his own character. “He never tried to be like the original Curly,” says Emil Sitka. Sitka had appeared in some shorts with DeRita at Columbia, and recalls that his character was “somewhat like the one he did with the Stooges,” but adds “he was thinner and he had his hair.” Sitka, who appeared quite frequently in films and on television with DeRita as one of the Stooges, remembers that DeRita had his notions as to how he wanted to perform. “If you were a director,” says Sitka, “the best thing to do was to leave Joe alone. Because he wouldn’t take suggestions. He ignored them.”

Shortly after acquiring DeRita as a member, the Stooges began popping up on the entertainment scene more and more often. One newspaper columnist observed that there was seldom a moment when the Stooges weren’t in the limelight, what with the constant showings of their old movies on television and their frequent live appearances in theaters and night clubs. As the Columbia Stooges shorts grew in popularity on television, the Stooges themselves began making personal appearances throughout the country on local television stations that aired the comedies. The Columbia shorts were excellent publicity for them, and they capitalized on their renewed popularity to initiate a series of feature length Three Stooges movies. Moe Howard had wanted the Stooges to do feature films for years, but Columbia was reluctant to give them the opportunity. The fact that Abbott and Costello had starred in features no doubt had an influence on the Stooges’ desire to raise their status, both financially and artistically. “ For this reason the Stooges formed their own production outfit, Normandy Productions, in the early 1960s. The main thrust of Normandy was the production of feature comedies for theatrical release. Norman Maurer, Moe’s son-in-law, was chosen as producer for the company. Maurer would be the driving force of the Stooges films throughout the 1960s, producing, directing and even contributing to the writing of the features. Normandy churned out several low-budget comedies in the 1960s, all of which are characterized by a low level of violence in comparison with their Columbia shorts. Even so, Normandy hired a number of the Stooges’ former collaborators to work on the features. Elwood Ullman wrote the screenplays, and Ed Bernds even directed a couple of films. Several of the Stooges’ former supporting players were even recruited for appearances in the films. Columbia distributed the new Stooges movies, all of which provided considerable profit for each of the Stooges. For the first time, the Stooges owned a percentage of their own movies, a full fifty percent to be split between them. “Moe and Larry were very fair,” says Joe DeRita. “Everything was a three-way split, as far as money was concerned.” But what is quite possible the best feature the Stooges did in the 1960s wasn’t even produced by Normandy. SNOW WHITE AND THE THREE STOOGES (1961), directed by Walter Lang, was filmed at 20th Century-Fox on a budget of more than three million dollars. It stands as the most expensive Three Stooges movie ever made, filmed in Technicolor and

released in Panavision. Over the years the film has received a great deal of criticism from a number of standpoints. Many consider the Stooges’ version to be an obnoxious bastardization of the classic fairy tale. On the other hand, many Three Stooges fans believe there’s too much fairy tale and not enough Three Stooges in the picture. Most of the complaints, however, are unwarranted. SNOW WHITE AND THE THREE STOOGES is, in fact, a charming little movie. Critic Howard Thompson called the film “pictorially lavish, beautiful and tasteful from start to finish.” He especially had kind words for “Ye Stooges Three,” as they’re called in the film, saying the Stooges, “never more subdued, are lively, to be sure. If their pleasant, friendly bumbling (the pies fly only once) doesn’t exactly enhance Grimm, the boys do quite nicely as sideline sponsors of the hero and heroine.”

SNOW WHITE AND THE THREE STOOGES actually involves very little slapstick, but is an outstanding children’s feature nevertheless. Elwood Ullman collaborated on the screenplay, which deftly utilizes the talents of the Stooges in an unusual manner. The film shows them to good advantage as sympathetic characters; the boys display an ability, however modest, for pathos that previously had been untapped.

The scenes with Snow White, the Prince and the Stooges are tasteful and appealing. The film serves as a lasting testimony that the Stooges had the potential to develop into bona fide character actors in their later years. For the first time in their movie career, the Three Stooges were beginning to receive critical acceptance for exactly what they were: low comics, but talented low comics nevertheless. Certainly nostalgia played a key role in the newly-found popularity of the Stooges, both with audiences and critics, and the Stooges capitalized on this phenomenon at every possible opportunity. Ed Bernds recalls that when he began working with the Stooges again on their Normandy features, they had changed relatively little from when he had last worked with them in the 1950s. “Moe and Larry were about the same,” says Bernds. “Moe was a little touchier, and Larry was a little flightier. In their own ways, they were troupers. They wanted to do good. I guess Joe DeRita did, too.” Bernds notes that he was aware of the fact that the Stooges were no longer in prime physical condition. “Joe was very fat, and any fat person, if he runs or climbs upstairs too fast, could have a heart attack. And I was aware of that. I was also aware of the fact that Moe and Larry were a lot older than they had been before, so I tried not to strain them too much, either. For instance, if we had to shoot a scene of them running up a flight of tairs, I wouldn’t ask them to actually run all the way up the stairs.

We would do a shot of them running up a couple of stairs, and then cut to a shot of them reaching the top. “ While age and size limited their physical flexibility, it brought the Stooges a kind of elfish charm. Seeing three aged men slapping each other and indulging in physical mayhem was grotesquely funny in itself. Even though the Stooges were well past middle age, this did not hamper their appearances. If anything, the ravages of age actually enhanced their physical features. Now Moe really looked like an old crab, and Larry’s sagging facial features complemented his droopy personality. DeRita was much younger than his partners, but because of his girth, he still fit in well. As Moe put it in a magazine interview in the 1960s, “In color, we’re just twice as ugly as in black and white.”

Despite their comic stage appearances, Emil Sitka points out that the Stooges were very businesslike once out of costume, especially as they grew older. Sitka, who often accompanied them on personal appearance tours, says the Stooges more often than not

resembled serious businessmen. “After one of their features was shown in a theater,” says Sitka, “the Stooges frequently would stand out in the lobby and sign autographs. But they usually weren’t in costume. They had their hair all combed back, and they wore dark business suits. They looked very proper and dignified. Sometimes the kids were a little afraid to approach them. They looked ‘really serious, even stern. The kids didn’t recognize them without their makeup and haircuts.” In addition to feature film work, the Stooges embarked on a new and prolific career in television. The boys appeared quite frequently on the Ed Sullivan and Steven Allen shows, among others. They made a guest appearance with Frances Langford on NBC’s “Sunday Showcase,” and were featured in a number of sketches. On many of these variety-themed programs, the Stooges simply performed old vaudeville material from their Healy days, or routines from the Broadway show with Curly Howard. They resurrected some old Healy material for an appearance on Milton Berle’s show in the 1960s. Berle, a close friend and longtime admirer of Healy, stepped into the Healy role, with the Stooges reverting to their old “Healy’s Stooges” status. Moe later pointed out that he really didn’t like being on “the receiving end” of slapstick, particularly in this instance. While delivering a facial slap, Berle reportedly cracked Moe’s tooth. But the television success of the Stooges was tainted by one factor, still very much an issue in the television industry: violence. While the Stooges themselves had toned down the slapstick, the Stooges shorts nevertheless were loaded with graphic, visual violence, and parents across the country became outraged when their children began slapping each other and poking their playmates in the eyes. Many believed this was the result of daily exposure to the old Stooges comedies.

Responding to parental complaints, some television stations pulled the Stooges comedies from their program lineups. The general response to this, however, was negative, and station managers were sometimes forced to resume broadcast of the shorts.

Many stations attempted to alleviate the parental panic by scissoring out the more violent gags, but the roughhouse slapstick remained intact. On talk shows and in press interviews, Moe Howard constantly defended the Stooges’ style of comedy, explaining that it was all in fun. “We’re not as violent as we used to be,” Moe pointed out. “Our comedy is based on upsetting dignity- something that’s very easy for us to do.” But the Stooges did more than upset dignity. They became the scourge of parental groups across the nation, who persisted in their attempt to force the Three Stooges comedies off the television screen. As a result of the outcry against violence in the early 1960s, the Stooges toned down their stock-in-trade slapstick considerably. They all but completely abandoned the “poke in the eyes,” and at each personal appearance at theaters and in night clubs Moe would mention, for the benefit of the juvenile audience, that their mayhem was phony, that nobody really got hurt, and that it was all just for laughs. But he also warned children not to try the slapstick on each other, noting that the results could be disastrous. Ed Bernds was well aware of the possibly harmful effects of the “poke in the eyes” while directing the Stooges as far back as the 1940s. Bernds was relatively tolerant of the often excessive violence inherent to the Stooges’ routines, but he had his limits as to what he would allow to be filmed: “Even as a fledgling director, I wouldn’t let the boys do the ‘poke in the eyes.’

That was gratuitously cruel. I told Moe, ‘If one kid, anywhere, pokes another kid’s eye out, it’s no good. It isn’t that funny.’ So in any picture I directed, there’s never the ‘poke in the eyes.’ Jules White continued to use it, but I think eventually Moe himself decided

they wouldn’t do it. It’s too real to be tolerated. “ One of the Stooges’ Normandy efforts from the 1960s features a clever self-spoof of their deletion of the eye-poking bit from their repertoire. When one character pokes another character in the eyes, Moe scolds him, explaining, “We don’t do that one anymore.” Although violence became an important issue of concern for the Stooges in the 1960s, it was not a significant problem during the time in which they were actually making the shorts. Elwood Ullman describes the situation: “We used our judgment and we had no particular trouble with censorship. As a matter of fact, when Moe punished Larry and Curly too bad, we’d get a general rebuke from somewhere. And we’d tone it down a little bit. Some of the methods Moe had were thrown out; they were too sadistic. We didn’t want children going around practicing some of that mayhem on each other. And when Moe went around later on, making personal appearances in theaters, sometimes in connection with the showing of feature pictures, he’d always caution the kids: ‘Don’t do any of these stunts, because you could hurt yourself. We did it for fun and we did it “cheating,” really, but don’t try it.’ He always said that during the intermission with the announcements and speeches.” Ed Bernds explains, “Violence was our stock-in-trade, but we tried not to be senselessly violent. “ Jules White believes the violent aspect of the Three Stooges shorts has been blown out of proportion in recent years. “My God,” says White, “they’ve been doing violence in motion pictures since the inception of motion pictures. And it’s been going on because it’s a way of life. They want realism; they’ve got to take that with it. The trouble is that producers should tell these sob sisters to go to hell! Because they’re the ones that create the trouble. Nobody was ever injured because the Stooges had broad-action comedy.

Their form of violence was amongst themselves, and it wasn’t so much violence as it was a burlesque of violence. If Moe slaps Curly and Curly says, “Listen, you, remember the good book says turn the other cheek, “ and he turns over and puts his fanny up in the air on a bench-that has a con-notation of ‘dirty.’ But it’s cleaned up because Moe kicks him in the pants, and he deserves it. There was always a provocation for the thing. Nobody ever just went into the scene and went “slap”; never. There was always a provocation for the slap or for the other things that they did.”

In 1965, the Stooges completed a series of cartoon segments for television release, titled the “New Three Stooges.” The violence was kept at a minimum, and the episodes featured live-action introductions by the Stooges themselves. In these segments, the emphasis was on dialogue rather than action; as a result, these sequences are rather weak.

But while the live-action scenes are weak, the cartoons themselves, unfortunately, are even worse. Released through Heritage Productions, the series was produced by Norman Maurer. Ed Bernds wrote most of the live-action episodes, and directed many of them as well. Bernds explains that the cartoons were of low quality because qualified animators were difficult to obtain at that time. He adds that directing the episodes was rather nightmarish. Although he received reasonable cooperation from the Stooges, completing the live-action filming was a difficult task, even though the actual screen time of the fleshand-blood Stooges was minimal. Bernds personally disliked the series’ format, that of the Stooges introducing the cartoons and then concluding them with a quick bit of business at the end of each segment. He felt that switching from scene to scene without explanation

was too unnerving for actors to comprehend. In addition to this, Bernds feels that the crew wasn’t up to par, leaving him with more on-the-set worries than he really needed. In 1969, Normandy began work on a series of color travelogues starring the Stooges. These were to be filmed in half-hour segments for television release. A pilot film was completed in late 1969, with the boys traveling across the country, pointing out the natural beauty of America’s outdoors. The approach was decidedly relaxed, as the boys, supposedly retired from performing, tour the country and share its marvels with their viewers.

After the completion of the pilot film, however, Larry Fine was felled by a stroke in Hollywood. Since a series of episodes had now been ruled out because of Larry’s illness, plans were made to release the film as a full-length theatrical feature. Nothing ever came of it, however. The pilot has been seen at various private showings, but even after these years, the film has not yet gone into general release. After Larry’s stroke, Moe Howard decided to retire the act. Larry was taken to the Motion Picture Country Home, where Curly Howard had stayed after his stroke. Like Curly, Larry remained there for six years before succumbing to another stroke. Larry’s life had its share of personal tragedy (his son had died years earlier and Larry became a widower shortly before his stroke), but he often stressed that he was able to overcome his personal sadness by providing happiness to others through entertaining. Larry was also grateful to his daughter and family for their encouragement after he became ill, and he maintained a positive attitude about life even after his stroke left him partially paralyzed. Although officially “retired” as well, Moe returned to occasional entertaining with appearances on local television programs in the Hollywood area, as well as several significant guest shots on Mike Douglas’ syndicated series. One emorable segment of the Douglas program, and one of Moe’s last television appearances, featured a demonstration by Moe on the art of pie throwing. Douglas and several members of the audience, as a result, wound up covered with pastry.

Although confined to a wheelchair, Larry made appearances as well, mostly at local high schools and colleges. Ed Bernds, who attended one of Larry’s personal appearances, says several Stooges films were shown, and Larry answered questions from the audience. “Larry spoke, but his speech was slurred,” says Bernds. “It was pretty grim. Having known Larry in his prime, it was a shock to me.” Bernds adds, however, that the high school auditorium was packed to capacity with children and their parents who had come to see the popular Stooge. “I didn’t realize there were so many Stooges fans,” he says. At the Motion Picture Country Home, Larry also helped organize stage shows and actually participated in the productions. Although his condition gradually improved, he made no attempt to return to professional performing. He simply didn’t want to work himself into another stroke as Curly Howard had done years earlier. During his illness Larry was persuaded to write a book about his experiences in show business.

Titled Stroke of Luck, the book told of Larry’s early days before becoming one of the Stooges, his experiences as a member of the trio, and his life as it was after his retirement.

Larry even made television commercials promoting the book, which was published by a Hollywood company and sold on a mail-order basis. Moe Howard, however, was less than pleased with the content of the book. “Moe had a very poor opinion of it,” says Ed Bernds. Shortly afterward, Moe began work on his own autobiography. Joe DeRita,

meanwhile, continued making appearances, even though his eyesight was failing and his physical size had increased to the point where he was often uncomfortable performing. He made appearances at some local Three Stooges film festivals, where he was invited as guest of honor. DeRita even formed a comedy act of his own several years after Moe Howard retired the Three Stooges. Strange as it may seem, the Three Stooges may have reached their peak of popularity years after the act had disbanded. A whole generation of fans who had more or less grown up with the Stooges through daily television viewing came to feel as if the Stooges were old friends. The demand for Three Stooges comedies never diminished, for theater showings as well as television broadcast. To this day, in fact, the Columbia shorts are still matinee staples at many theaters across the country.

While the “Three Stooges” had retired as an act, each of Healy’s “Super Stooges” from the 1930s was still actively performing, although not together as a team. They had lost interest in working as a trio shortly after Healy’s death, and had gone their separate ways. Occasionally they got together for local appearances in the Hollywood area, but they appeared primarily as solo performers. Jack Wolf had retired from show business shortly before Healy’s death. Wolf married and had decided to start a family, and felt that the hectic atmosphere of vaudeville would be unfit for raising children. Wolf’s son, Warner Wolf, eventually went into a branch of the entertainment business himself; Warner Wolf is currently a television sports caster. Jack Wolf died of cancer in 1964, but his replacement, Sammy Wolf, was still performing his comedy act in night clubs and revival shows throughout the 1970s. Dick Hakins had also lost interest in appearing as a Stooge shortly after Healy died, but continued writing and performing as a musician. Hakins eventually set up his own recording company, and turned out a number of hit singles. By the 1970s Hakins was still active, composing music and working quite frequently as a performer in the Hollywood area. Mousie Garner had also been working steadily as both a comic and musician since Healy’s death. By the 1970s, he had dozens of movie and television appearances under his belt, as well as innumerable stage credits. Like his former partners, Garner was still performing at various clubs and theaters in Hollywood and the surrounding area. All three of these former Healy Stooges are still alive and well and living in the Hollywood area, as of the writing of this book. Of all the various Stooges acts, these three men have the distinction of being the only surviving members of the original Healy Stooges.

Healy’s “Super Stooges” continued performing throughout the 1970s. Meanwhile, public interest in the “Three Stooges” continued as strongly as ever. Moe Howard eventually became a lecturer on the college circuit, showing old Columbia Stooges shorts and answering questions from the student audiences about the team. Often he performed old vaudeville material, reciting the parts of all Three Stooges himself. Moe was still in demand for television talk shows, and he continued to appear on local programs. He even signed with an agent in hopes of obtaining movie roles as a solo character performer. Moe continued to answer fan mail by hand, as did both Larry Fine and Joe DeRita. Mail for the Stooges never stopped pouring in, even after they had been retired from performing for years. By the mid-1970s, the popularity of the Stooges was such that plans were made to bring back the team for a special appearance. Problems arose immediately. Moe Howard had been retired for several years, and his wife did not want him actively performing again.

Larry Fine, in turn, was physically unable to perform because of his stroke. And Joe DeRita’s failing eyesight hindered him as well. However, after lengthy consideration, Moe decided to resurrect the act-even if it meant bringing in a new partner to replace Larry Fine.

The “Third Stooge” had been replaced three times, so why not replace the “Middle Stooge” as well? Moe was confident audiences would accept a “Three Stooges” with only one of the original members remaining, and began making plans for the new act.

Obviously, the new member of the act would have to be someone familiar with the Three Stooges’ style of comedy. Moe did not wish to rehearse a new performer for the role, and was looking for someone who already knew their act. In addition, the new member would have to be someone familiar to Three Stooges fans. There was little time for breaking in a new member of the Stooges. Emil Sitka was eventually chosen to replace Larry Fine, primarily because of his comic acting ability and his lengthy association with the Stooges comedies. “I was kind of taken aback, being asked to be a Stooge,” says Sitka, “because then I’d have to forget everything else; I’d be typed as a Stooge.” But Sitka agreed to become an actual member of the team, and he quickly began developing his Stooge character. He was determined to play the role his own way, rather than attempt to imitate Larry Fine. His character was to be, as Sitka himself describes it, “conscientious to the point of being ridiculous.” Press releases were issued and publicity photos were taken in Hollywood of the new trio, as the “Three Stooges” were again signed to star in a feature comedy. The movie, to be produced by an independent producer, was to be dubbed in several languages and released throughout the world. There was also talk of an entire new series of Three Stooges comedies. But more problems arose, this time legal, and the initial film was never made. However, the formation of the “new” Three Stooges had aroused public interest in the act. The group planned to make other appearances, and was soon contracted for a guest shot in a feature comedy, BLAZING STEWARDESSES, also an independent production. Emil Sitka recalls that trying to get Moe Howard to rehearse the new act was no easy task. “If Moe was here right now,” says Sitka, “he’d say we could wing it without rehearsal. Moe felt that we could make a scene right on the spot, that we didn’t need to rehearse. And I wondered if we shouldn’t have, because we were only appearing in a few scenes. It wasn’t a Stooges comedy. But Moe, of course, assured me that we could do without it.” Then Larry Fine suffered a second stroke and fell into a coma in early 1975. A week later, he was dead. This devastated Moe, who was now the only living member of the original threesome. Moe nevertheless planned to go through with the new movie deal, but was forced to pull out when he fell ill himself. “I had my bags all packed and was set to go film on location,” says Emil Sitka, “and then I received a call that Moe was too sick to do the picture.” It was later learned that Moe was suffering from stomach cancer, and he was hospitalized immediately.

Moe’s illness precluded any further plans for the “new” Three Stooges. The team disbanded almost as quickly as it was formed. After a good deal of media fanfare and publicity, the return of the Three Stooges to the big screen faded into the realm of “things that might have been.” Perhaps the most interesting “Three Stooges” capitalization was a brand new “Three Stooges” act, which surfaced several years ago. Joe DeRita formed the team, called the “New Three Stooges.” Another member of the act was Mousie Garner,

who simply adapted his own night club act for appearances with the new ensemble. Moe Howard was still alive when the act was formed, and he was asked to tour with the new group. “But Moe wouldn’t,” says Garner, “because his wife didn’t want him to. She thought he was too old.” DeRita received permission from Moe Howard to use the “Three Stooges” name. “When we were putting the act together,” says Garner, “we went over to Moe’s house and asked his permission to use the title. He said it was okay, and then we asked him what percentage of the profits he wanted for letting us use it. He said, ‘I don’t want anything. I don’t need the money.’ I looked around at the beautiful house he had, and I said, ‘With this house, you’re damn right you don’t need the money! “ Since Moe refused to tour with the act, DeRita hired another performer to stand in as the team’s traditional antagonist figure. Frank Mitchell, who had been part of a roughhouse vaudeville act similar in content to the Three Stooges, was hired as Moe’s replacement.

The new trio opened in Boston in 1975. “The place we were playing was packed,” says Garner. “We were pretty nervous, because we didn’t know how we would go over, not being the real Three Stooges. But it went over great. I’d even say we were a smash. The audience was happy to see anything that resembled the Stooges.”

The “New Three Stooges” featured a good deal of musical comedy, with Garner doing a variation of his “professor” piano routine. “Every time I hit a wrong note, Mitchell would give me a slap,” says Garner. “Mitchell knew how to slap because his old vaudeville act was all physical comedy, like the Stooges.” The act played several engagements, but was forced to disband because of Joe DeRita’s failing eyesight. This, combined with his large size, made it difficult for him to continue performing. “Joe couldn’t get around very well,” says Mousie Garner, “so we had to break up the act.”

Shortly after the “New Three Stooges” disbanded, Moe Howard died. At the time of his death, he was transcribing his memoirs. These were later released as his autobiography.

At the time of Moe’s death, television stations throughout the country announced the news, accompanied by film clips of the Stooges with Curly Howard. The last of the original “Three Stooges” was dead, and with him died one of the most memorable acts in the history of screen comedy.

Chapter Seven Although all of the various “Stooges” are now gone (Joe DeRita died in 1993), the “Three Stooges” comedy team, as perpetuated by the various media, is riding high on a crest of unprecedented popularity. As a result of the nostalgia craze, the Three Stooges have entered the 1990s more popular than ever. The Three Stooges have never received more recognition than they are getting right now, more than a decade after their Golden anniversary. Film rental services report that the Columbia Stooges shorts are still constantly in demand. This is in spite of the fact, of course, that these very same films are being shown on television in dozens of markets, including the three biggest in the nation.

These old movies are now approaching a quarter of a century of release time to television alone. It seems ironic that years after the team has disbanded, and all of its original members are dead, the Three Stooges are quite possibly the most popular comedy team in America today. Laurel and Hardy and Abbott and Costello are still popular, to be sure, but their popularity has seemed to diminish in the last few years. It now appears that the Three Stooges, for years considered to be bottom of the barrel, are finally seeing their place in the sun. And the Stooges are beginning to receive critical acknowledgment as well. Critic Leonard Maltin has written numerous books and articles in which he recognizes the Stooges, as he put it in one piece, as “truly fine clowns.” Maltin has led the crusade in the last decade to abandon artistic pretensions and evaluate the Three Stooges on their own terms. Many discriminating viewers are beginning to judge the Stooges simply on the basis of their ability to provide laughs, without regard to “artistic contribution.”

Tom Kuntz of The New York Times wrote an article in July, 1994 entitled “Thoughts on the Social Significance Of Getting Hit With a Pie. Seriously.” Donald B. Morlan, Ph.D., professor of communications and a comedy film historian at the University of Dayton in Ohio, was quoted extensively, showing how the “Stooges were major contributors to the anti-aristocracy-wealth theme so prevalent in Depression-era films.”

The Boston Herald also quotes Moran, in an article from July, 1992, titled “Expert says: Nyuk nyuk! Stooges 1st to satirize Hitler”. Moran states that “Most film historians have given Charlie Chaplin credit in ‘The Great Dictator’ for being the first... Actually, Moe Howard was the first comedian to portray Hitler and to satirize him.” And in July, 1994, a new fan club (of sorts) was begun, but in a way never dreamed of by Moe, Larry, or Curly. An internet newsgroup, called “alt.comedy.slapstick.3-stooges” was created, which allows millions of computer users all over the world to engage in discussions of subjects related to the Boys. Comments in these postings range from a short “I like Curly the best!” to the full text of The Stooge Chronicles collection that you are now reading (a “posting” is the electronic equivalent of thumb-tacking up a printout on the community bulletin board for all to see) The Three Stooges have long been lambasted as being too “crude” to warrant critical re-cognition in movie history. However, many critics are coming to realize, finally, that that is precisely what the Stooges were trying to do. The essence of their comedy is outrageous crudity, and this concept was exemplified both verbally and visually. As Leonard Maltin has put it, “Their ‘artlessness’ is their particular ‘art.’”

In a recent newspaper article on the Stooges, Greg Daugherty noted that “foes and fans alike are impressed by the trio’s staying power,” adding that “though they sent their first pies aloft nearly half a century ago, they still remain popular.” Gary Deeb recently confessed his love for the trio. “I’m not ashamed to admit it,” says Deeb. “I’m crazy about the Three Stooges.” He adds, “there seems to be some truth to the belief that they were vastly underrated throughout their long career.” Newspaper articles on the Stooges have popped up quite frequently recently, stemming primarily from yet another media phenomenon. Recently many television stations have been scheduling broadcast of the Stooges comedies for late-night viewing, in what is generally considered an “adult” time slot. As a result, many of the people who “grew up” with the Stooges, by watching them on afternoon television in the late 1950s and early ‘60s, have renewed their interest in the team. Many of them, like Gary Deeb, have come to enjoy them even more as adults.

While the Three Stooges have recently been a topic of discussion in the print media, actual Three Stooges film festivals are growing in number and popularity as well. This is in itself a phenomenon, considering the fact that their old movies are so often played, and have been played for so long, on television. Chicago audiences, for example, have seen the Stooges comedies almost continuously since 1958, when independent WGN Television began airing them as part of a weekday noontime children’s program. Later, the time slot was changed to late afternoon, after school hours, hosted by Chicago television personality Bob Bell. Set in the “Odeon Theater,” Bell introduced the shorts, read letters from viewers, and occasionally warned children of the hazards of practicing Stooges slapsticks on their friends. Eventually WGN dropped the afternoon Stooges showings, but continued to broadcast the shorts on Saturday mornings. Presented along with Laurel and Hardy and Abbott and Costello cartoons, the Stooges comedies became part of the “Funny Men” for several years until WGN dropped the Stooges from their lineup completely. Another local Chicago station, WFLD, almost immediately picked up the shorts and began running them in an hour-long time slot each weekday afternoon. The old movies enhanced WFLD’s ratings considerably, and the independent station played them to the hilt. In addition to weekday afternoon broadcast, the Stooges showings were expanded to include Saturday and Sunday presentations. Eventually the Stooges shorts found themselves occupying late evening weekday time periods on WFLD, with additional scheduling of the films during the early morning hours as well.

Other stations throughout the country have had considerable success with the Columbia shorts. Local independent stations in all of the major cities have included the Stooges comedies as part of their weekday afternoon programming schedules. In addition, the stations have often played the comedies during prime time or late evening hours. The Columbia Stooges shorts are also becoming a popular item on cable television, where they are shown uncut and without commercial interruption. Boston’s WSBK has been showing three hours of Stooges films every weekend for several years. However, this practiced was dropped last year, but only for a couple of weeks. “I received death threats from fans,” says Dana Hersey of WSBK. “These letters threatened to have my eyes gouged out, or my tonsils torn out if we didn’t put the Stooges back on.” Hersey found out later that these were not really death threats, but rather, terms of endearment from admirers of Moe Howard. “I’ve become quite a fan myself,” Hersey admits. TV 38 not only has the weekend showings, but a Three Stooges Marathon is presented every

New Year’s Eve. Because of the demand for “Three Stooges” programming, attempts to resurrect their style of comedy have continued even today. Norman Maurer produced a series of Three Stooges cartoons for CBS television, and has churned out a number of Stooges-related products as well. Three Stooges novelty items have increased in popularity over the years. Another recent idea capitalizing on the popularity of the Three Stooges is the Three Stooges “Fan Club.” Morris Feinberg, Larry Fine’s brother, is president of the club, which is headquartered in his home town of Philadelphia. Feinberg publishes several club newsletters each year, keeping fans up to date on the latest film festivals and activities, as well as publishing articles from contributing writers about the Stooges. The public affection and admiration for the Three Stooges has not diminished since Moe Howard’s death several years ago. If anything, it has actually increased. The Three Stooges are quickly becoming our nation’s most revered clowns, something that the Stooges themselves thought would never happen. “When we were on top,” said Moe in a newspaper interview, “nobody liked me. After all, I’m the mean one who does all the hitting. Now the kids come up to me on the street and say they love me. I can’t figure it out. A couple of new generations popped up while we had our back turned and they’re different, I guess.” Different, perhaps, but loyal fans nevertheless. Although all of the original “Three Stooges” are gone, the impact their comedy had on the American motion picture will not quickly be erased. They were the most prolific comedy team in the history of movies, and they proved themselves to be the most durable. They survived when others dropped into obscurity and reached new heights of popularity when slapstick was almost considered a dirty word. And they created a brand of violent physical comedy that will not soon be forgotten. It is this style of comedy that singles out the Three Stooges as one of the most unusual, and controversial, acts in the history of screen comedy. The Three Stooges never achieved widespread critical acceptance, at least not during their time. As long as pretensions against comedy for comedy’s sake exist, they never will. In retrospect, however, the Three Stooges accomplished exactly what they had always intended to do. They made people laugh.

The Three Stooges

Curly Howard (OCTOBER 22, 1903-JANUARY l8, 1952) CURLY HOWARD, the one with the shaven head which Moe referred to as “looking like a dirty tennis ball,” was the most popular member of the Three Stooges and the most inventive of the three. His hilarious improvisations and classic catch-phrases of “N’yukn’yuk-n’yuk!” and “Wooo-wooo-wooo!” have established him as a great American cult hero. His real name was Jerome Lester Horwitz, born to Jennie and Solomon Horwitz on October 22, 1903, in Bath Beach, a summer resort in a section of Brooklyn, He was the fifth and youngest of the Horwitz sons and weighed eight and a half pounds at birth. He was delivered by Dr. Duffy, the brother of Moe Howard’s six-grade school teacher.

Curly-Jerome, to complicate matters, was nicknamed “Babe” by his brother Moe. Curly was a quiet child and gave his parents very little trouble. Moe and Shemp made up for him in spades. Moe recalls one mischievous incident when Curly was an infant: “We took his brand-new baby carriage, removed the wheels, made a pair of axles from two-by-fours and built our own version of a `soap box racer. We put Curly in it and dragged him all over town. It was a lucky thing we didn’t kill him. When our parents found out we had the devil to pay.

When Curly was about four, Moe and Shemp started to instill in their brother the idea of becoming a comedian. Quite frequently they would stage small theater productions in the basement of their friends’ homes; the cast would usually consist of Shemp, Moe and Curly. There was a charge of two cents for admission, but the ventures could not have been very lucrative, as the boys had to split the take three ways. It is believed that during

these performances Curly got his first taste of comedy. Moe also recalled that Curly was only a fair student in school. A boyhood friend, Lester Friedman, remembers that he was a fine athlete, making a name for himself on the elementary school basketball team. Though Curly never graduated from school, he kept himself busy doing odd jobs, following Moe and Shemp wherever they went. As a young man, Curly loved to dance and listen to music, and he became an accomplished ballroom dancer. He would go regularly to the Triangle Ballroom in Brooklyn, where on several occasions he met George Raft, who in the early days of his career was a fine ballroom dancer. Curly also tried his hand at the ukulele, singing along as he strummed. As Moe once said, “He was not a good student but he was in demand socially, what with his beautiful singing voice.” Moe continued to influence his kid brother’s theatrical education, taking him along with him to vaudeville shows and the melodrama theaters, but Curly’s first love was musicals and comedy.

During this period, sometime in his late teens, Curly found another love and married a young girl whose name remains a mystery to this day. His mother, Jennie Horwitz, the matriarch of the family, was against the idea of Curly’s marrying at such a young age and, before six months had gone by, had the marriage annulled. In 1928, Curly landed a job as a comedy musical conductor for the Orville Knapp Band, which, to that date, was his only stage experience. Moe recalls that his brother’s performances usually overshadowed those of the band. “He was billed as the guest conductor and would come out and lead the band in a breakaway tuxedo. The sections of the suit would fall away, piece by piece, while he stood there swinging his baton.” Young Curly’s interest in show business continued to grow as he watched his brothers, Shemp and Moe, perform as stooges in Ted Healy’s act.

Joe Besser, who worked with them in The Passing Show of 1932, recalls that Curly liked to hang around backstage. “He was there all the time and would get sandwiches for all of us in the show, including Ted Healy and his Stooges. He never participated in any of the routines but liked to watch us perform.” During this period Curly remained in the shadow of his brothers, and watched as their careers began to skyrocket them to stardom along with Healy. It was in 1932, during J.J. Shubert’s Passing Show, that Healy had an argument with Shubert and walked off the show; taking Larry and Moe along with him.

Shemp, disenchanted with Healy’s drunken bouts and practical jokes, decided to remain in the Shubert show. Later that afternoon, Moe suggested to Healy that his kid brother, Babe (Curly), was available and would make an excellent replacement for Shemp, since he was familiar with the act. Ted agreed, asking Curly to join the act, but under the condition that he shave his head. At the time, Curly sported long, wavy brown hair and a mustache. In an interview; Curly recalled the incident: “I had beautiful wavy hair and a waxed mustache. When I went to see Ted Healy about a job as one of the Stooges, he said, `What can you do?’ I said, `I don’t know.’ He said, `I know what you can do. You can shave off your hair to start with.’ Then later on I had to shave off my poor mustache. I had to shave it off right down to the skin.”

Curly’s wacky style of comedy started to emerge, first on stage and then on screen when Healy and his Stooges starred in numerous features and comedy shorts for MCM. Later; in 1934, Curly played an integral part in the team’s rise to fame as the Three Stooges at Columbia Pictures, where he starred as a Stooge in 97 two-reel comedies. But success virtually destroyed Curly. He started to drink heavily, feeling that his shaven head robbed him of his sex appeal. Larry Fine once remarked that Curly wore a hat in public to

confirm an image of masculinity, since he felt like a little kid with his hair shaved off Curly was also unable to save a cent. When he received his check he’d rush out to spend it on life’s pleasures: wine, women, a new house, an automobile or a new dog-Curly was mad about dogs. Since Curly was certainly no businessman, Moe usually handled all of his affairs, helped him manage his money and even made out his income tax returns. Curly’s homes were San Fernando Valley show-places and most of them were either purchased from or sold to a select group of Hollywood personalities. One house Curly purchased was on Cahuenga Boulevard and Sarah Street in North Hollywood and was purchased from child star Sabu. Later Curly sold the property to a promising young actress of the forties, Joan Leslie. Curly also bought a lot next door to Moe Howard’s palatial home in Toluca Lake, expecting to build on it, but he never did. It was eventually sold to film director Raoul Walsh. As to Curly’s personality, he was basically an introvert, barely speaking on the set between takes, the complete antithesis of his insanely hilarious screen character. Charles Lamont, who directed Curly in two Stooges comedies, related in an interview that “Curly was pretty dull. This may not be a very nice thing to say but I don’t think he had all of his marbles. He was always on Cloud Nine whenever you talked to him.” Clarice Seiden, the sister of Moe Howard’s wife, Helen, saw Curly off screen whenever there was a party at his home. She remembers him as being far from “a quiet person.” Seiden said: “Although he wasn’t on (stage) all the time, I wouldn’t call him a quiet person. ... he was a lot of fun. He was quiet at times but when he had a few drinksand he drank quite a bit-he was more gregarious.” Curly’s niece, Dolly Sallin, agreed with Mrs. Seiden that Curly liked people but shared Lamont’s viewpoint that he could be quiet at times. “I can remember his wanting to be with people. He wasn’t a recluse and I wouldn’t call him dull. He wasn’t an intellect nor did he go in for discussions. But when I think of someone as dull, I’d think of them as being under par intelligence-wise, and Curly wasn’t that.”

Friends remember that Curly refrained from any crazy antics in private life but reserved them for his performances in the comedies. However, when he got together with his brothers, Moe and Shemp, it was a totally different story. As Irma Grenner Leveton, a friend of Moe and Helen Howard, recalls: “Yes, Curly did clown around, but only if Moe, Shemp and Larry were with him. Or if his immediate group of friends or family were there.

But the minute there were strangers, he retreated.” But Curly’s main weakness was women; to paraphrase an old adage, “Curly couldn’t live with women, or live without them.” Mrs. Leveton remembers that women were his favorite pastime for a number of reasons. As she said: “He just liked a good time and that was it. And women. he loved women. I don’t have to tell you... not always the nicest women. You know why, because he was so shy. Curly didn’t know how to speak to a woman, so he would wind, up conversing with anyone that approached him. Dolly Sallin viewed his love for women in a similar manner: “I can remember his wanting to be around people, and that included the current woman in his life. That was the most important thing-if she was good, bad, or whatever. If he decided she was interesting, that was that! As long as there was a woman around the house, he would stay home instead of running around. He seemed restless to me.” Director-producer Norman Maurer first met Curly in 1945 and remembers that he “was a pushover for women. If a pretty girl went up to him and gave him a spiel, Curly would marry her. Then she would take his money and run off. It was the same when a real

estate agent would come up and say, `I have a house for you,’ Curly would sell his current home and buy another one. It seemed as though every two weeks he would have a new girl, a new car, a new house and a new dog.” But as much as Curly loved women, they were his downfall. He married three times after his first marriage was annulled. On June 7, 1937, he married Elaine Ackerman. In 1938 Elaine gave birth to Curly’s first child, a daughter, Marilyn. Due to the addition to their family, Curly and Elaine moved to a home on the 400 block of Highland Avenue in Hollywood, near where Moe lived at the time.

But slowly the marriage began to crumble and Elaine filed suit for divorce on July 11, 1940, after only three years of marriage. During the next five years, Curly ate, drank and made merry. He gained a tremendous amount of weight and his blood pressure soared.

On January 23, 1945, he entered the Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara where he was diagnosed as having extreme hypertension, a retinal hemorrhage and obesity. He remained at the hospital for tests and treatment and was discharged on February 9, 1945. Eight months later, while making a personal appearance in New York, Curly met Marion Buxbaum, a petite blonde woman with a ten-year-old son from a previous marriage. Curly instantly fell in love with her and they were married in New York on October 17, 1945. It was felt that Marion used Curly to her advantage. He spent a fortune on her-everything from fur coats to expensive jewelry. Curly even bought her a new home on Ledge Street in Toluca Lake. As Marie Howard, Jack Howard’s wife, recalled: “She was just after his money. It didn’t take long for Curly to find out that Marion wasn’t for him. After a miserable three months of arguments and accusations, Marion and Curly separated on January 14, 1946, and Curly sued for divorce. The divorce was quite scandalous and notices were carried in all the local papers. Dolly Sallin recalled: “It was horrible. She tried to get everything she could from him and even accused Curly of never bathing, which was totally untrue. Curly was fat but he was always immaculate. That marriage nearly ruined him.” Marion was awarded the decree on July 22, 1946, less than nine months after they were married.

Irma Leveton remembers that Moe talked Curly into the marriage with Marion since he, Moe, did not like the kind of wild life his brother was leading. Moe wanted Curly to settle down and take care of his health. As Leveton remarked: “Moe fixed them u* Marion and Curly. He wanted Curly to get married and pushed him into it. He wanted Curly to quit the life be was leading, as he was getting sick. Curly had very high blood pressure and that marriage to Marion didn’t help. It was very aggravating for Curly and a very unhappy time for all concerned.” With his third marriage a disaster, the question surfaced as to why Curly’s marriages had failed? Irma Leveton believed that it was a combination of Curly’s immaturity and a succession of mismatched marriages. As she remarked: “He couldn’t contribute anything to a marriage. Most likely his wives married him because he was a (film) personality. But he had nothing to back it up. There was no substance of any kind. He always seemed to be in a trance... kinda dopey. Once in awhile he would come out with something very funny. And I can’t even imagine him saying, `I love you’, to any woman. But Dolly Sallin brought to light another point of view. She said: “I don’t think Curly ever grew up. He couldn’t make it in a one-to-one relationship.

He was sweet and loving but not really mature. He was very restless. He seemed to need women to soothe his restless quality, not just for sex. I would guess that he was restless and that nothing seemed to help.” It was soon after his separation from Marion that

Curly’s health started its rapid decline. On May 6 (not May 19), 1946, he suffered a stroke during the filming of his 97th Three Stooges comedy, HalftWits’ Holiday (1947). Curly had to leave the team to recuperate from his illness. His condition began to improve and a year later, still not fully recovered from his stroke, Curly met a thrice-married widow of thirty-two who really seemed to care for him-Valerie Newman, whom he married on July 31, 1947. Valerie was Curly’s fourth wife, a very caring woman who nursed him through those last, awful years. Although his health worsened after the marriage, Valerie gave birth to a daughter, Curly’s second child, Janie. As Irma Leveton recalls: “Valerie was the only decent thing that happened to Curly and the only one that really cared about him. I remember she nursed him 24 hours a day.”

Finally, in 1949, Curly’s health took a severe turn for the worse when he suffered his second in a series of strokes and was rushed to Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Hollywood. Doctors contemplated doing spinal surgery on him since the stroke had left him partially paralyzed. But the final decision was not to operate. Curly was confined to a wheelchair and doctors put him on a diet of boiled rice and apples. It was hoped that this would bring down his weight and his high blood pressure. As a result of his illness Curly’s weight dropped dramatically. As Norman Maurer recalls: “I’ll never forget him at this point in his life. His hand would constantly fall off the arm of the wheelchair; either from weakness or the paralysis, and he couldn’t get it back on without help.” When Curly’s condition failed to improve, Valerie admitted him into the Motion Picture Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills on August 29, 1950. He was released after several months of treatment and medical tests on November 15, 1950. Curly would return periodically to the hospital, up until 1952. Curly returned home confined to his bed, where Valerie nursed him. When his health worsened, in February 1951, she made a request for a male nurse to help her. In that same month, Curly was placed in a nursing home, the Colonial House, located in Los Angeles. In March, he suffered another stroke and Moe had to move him, out, due to the fact that the nursing home did not meet state fire codes.

In April of 1951 Curly was moved to North Hollywood Hospital and Sanitarium.

In December; the hospital supervisor advised the family that Curly was becoming a problem to the nursing staff due to mental deterioration and that they could no longer care for him. It was suggested that he be placed in a mental hospital, but Moe would not hear of it. On January 7, 1952, Moe was called from the filming of a Stooges comedy, He Cooked His Goose (1952), to help move Curly again, this time to the Baldy View Sanitarium in San Gabriel. He died 11 days later on January 18, 1952. He was forty-eight years old. Curly Howard is gone and one can only wonder what it would have been like if he had lived and worked with the Stooges through the 1960’s. Imagine Curly starring in full-length features in color and black-and-white. Stooges cartoons could have been voiced with the original Curly “N’yuk-n’yuking” and “Wooo-woooing.” Television audiences could have realized the true genius of Curly Howard on talk and variety shows.

When the Stooges’ popularity suddenly burgeoned in 1959, Curly could have been around to take the bows with Moe and Larry. Hopefully, if there is a Stooges’ heaven Curly will be there watching, seeing his talent, his art of comedy and his contributions as a Stooge continue to be enjoyed by millions throughout the world.

Moe Howard (June 19, 1897 - May 4, 1975) Moe Howard, the irascible one with the world-famous bangs, was born on June 19, 1897, in Bensonhurst, New York, a small Jewish community on the outskirts of Brooklyn. His real name was Moses Horwitz (only later did he adopt the name Harry), son of real estate entrepreneur Jennie Horwitz and clothing cutter Solomon Horwitz. Moe was the fourth eldest of the five Howard brothers, all but two, Jack and Irving, having entered show business. Throughout Moe’s career, columnists the world over tried to find words to describe his unusual haircut; buster brown, spittoon, Sugar Bowl, Rose Bowl and Beatle were but a few. His hair color changed with the years from black in his youth to reddish-brown when he dyed it) to silver-white (its final natural color) during the seventies. He had a marvelous mop of hair until the day he died, but during grammar school days it was the bane of his existence. He was constantly taunted by his class mates over his head of shoulder-length curls - which his mother adored, having always wanted a girl. One day, tired of fighting with his school chums, Moe grabbed a pair of shears and hacked off the curls that encircled his freckled face; the resulting hairstyle was a raggedy version of the one that became his trademark. Moe was an extremely bright child and at a very young age displayed an ability to quickly memorize anything. This ability carried over into later life, making him a quick study during his acting career. Brother Jack reminisced about his youth and his love for books: “I had many Horatio Alger books and it was Moe’s greatest pleasure to read them. They started his imaginative mind working and gave him ideas by the dozen. I think they were instrumental in putting thoughts into his head - to become a person of good character and to become successful.” Moe carried his penchant for learning and a love of the theater right with him to school, acting in a play he dramatized, directed and appeared in, The Story of Nathan Hale. He was fascinated with acting and played hooky to catch the shows at the melodrama theaters during the week.

As his interest in the theater grew, Moe’s excellent marks in school began to suffer. In spite of his truancy, he graduated from P.S. 163 in Brooklyn, but he attended Erasmus High School for only two months, never completing his high school education. This greatly disturbed his parents, who were not in favor of his show business aspirations and urged him to go into a profession or some kind of trade. Moe tried to please them and did take a class in electric shop at the Baron DeHirsch Trade School in New York. His

interest was short-lived, however and within a few months he gave up all thought of school to pursue the career that was closest to his heart, show business.

Years later recalling his lost school days, Moe said: “I used to stand outside the theater knowing the truant officer was looking for me. I would stand there ‘til someone came along and then ask them to buy myticket. It was necessary for an adult to accompany a juvenile into the theater. When I succeeded I’d give him my ten cents - that’s all it cost - and I’d go up to the top of the balcony where I’d put my chinon the rail and watch, spellbound, from the first act to the last. I would usually select the actor I liked the most and follow his performance throughout the play” His love for show business indelibly fixed, Howard embarked on a film career in 1909 at the Vitagraph Studios in Brooklyn, where he earned his entree into filmmaking by running errands, “for no tips,” for such performers as Maurice Costello. As a result of his persistence, Moe soon appeared in films with such silent stars as John Bunny, Flora Finch, Earle William, Herbert Rawlinson and Walter Johnson. In 1909 Moe met Ted Healy for the first time. They became close friends and together in the summer of 1912 joined Annette Kellerman’s aquatic act as diving “girls.” This job lasted through the summer. Then in 1913, Moe and Shemp tried their hand at singing, using the family room at Sullivan’s Saloon to gain their much-needed experience in front of an audience. The Howards sang along in a quartet with the talented bass singer of that time, Babe Tuttle, and an Irish tenor, Willie O’Connor. Moe sang baritone, while Shemp sang lead. Together the foursome harmonized such popular old songs as “Dear Old Girl,” “Oh, You Beautiful Doll,” “By the Light of the Silvery Moon,” “Heart of My Heart” and “I’ve Been Through the Mill, Bill.” Moe and Shemp continued to sing every night until nine or ten o’clock, until their father found out what they were doing and soon put a stop to it. The following year, in 1914, Moe, feeling a bit of Huck Finn in his blood, wangled himself a job with a performing troupe on Capt. Billy Bryant’s showboat, Sunflower. For two summers Howard acted with the company in the same melodramas he had seen as a kid, performing his favorite roles in Bertha, the Sewing Machine Girl, St. Elmo and Ten Nights in a Barroom, all at the age of seventeen. Before answering Ted Healy’s call in 1922 to become a stooge, Moe worked a blackface act with Shemp, touring he country. Besides stage work, Moe also appeared in 12 two-reel shorts with baseball great Hans Wagner. Late in 1922, Moe renewed his acquaintance with Ted Healy and together with Shemp formed a part-nership that, except for a few short breaks, would last for almost ten years. On June 7, 1925, Moe married Helen Schonberger, a cousin of the late Harry Houdini. In 1926 Helen urged Moe to leave the stage and Ted Healy in order to spend more time with her, as she was expecting a child. Moe acquiesced and left show business to work in real estate for a year. When that didn’t work out he opened a small retail store and attempted to sell distressed merchandise, which turned into an hysterical fiasco. During 1927 Moe worked intermittently at the Jewish Community House in Bensonhurst, producing and directing plays. One of his early efforts, Stepping Along, was reviewed by a critic at The New York Dross, who wrote, “A Musical Dream in Three Episodes was probably as good a description as anything else and it was a dream from which none wanted to awaken.” Sorely missing the old gang and unable to make a living in the workaday world, Moe rejoined Healy a short time later, appearing in a J.J. Shubert production, A Night in Venice, in addition to vaudeville engagements and numerous films for MGM. When Healy decided to star in features at Metro and the

Stooges left to star in their two-reel comedies at Columbia, Moe became the permanent leader of the group - a leadership that would last through the Stooges’ contract with Colombia for 24 consecutive years; the longest single contract ever held by a comedy team. In many ways Moe’s off-screen persona was far removed from the character he played on screen. In the theatre or before the cameras, Moe would open up and let his nervous energies flow, but at home he was a very different man. While Larry was gregarious, Moe was introverted, very serious and very nervous, a man who found it very hard to relax. He also had difficulty expressing his true feelings and emotions and bought gifts for family and friends as a means of expressing his love. Moe felt his inability to demonstrate his emotions stemmed from his family upbringing. As he once wrote: “I recall that my father rarely kissed my mother and that I rarely kissed them. Expressing our love for one another was difficult.” As his son-in-law Norman Maurer explains it: “If he liked you, he would do anything for you. Like his mother, he worked for charity organizations and loved to watch people’s faces when they opened their gifts. On one occasion during the Hanukkah/ Christmas season, Moe went grocery shopping for Emil Sitka and his family of seven and delivered the groceries himself. Howard made the gesture without being asked. Sitka, a character actor who had played in many of the Stooges’ comedies, was surprised to come home and find the cupboards and refrigerator packed with groceries. Emil expressed his gratitude to the comedian in a letter he wrote: “The oil burns for eight days during Hanukkah-but my torch burns in gratitude for you forever.” Moe’s desire to give a helping hand to the needy continued throughout his life - as a member and three-time president of the Spastic Children’s Guild, playing Santa Claus for the Guild’s palsied children, rounding up their gifts and committing himself and the other two Stooges to hundreds of benefit performances whenever and wherever he was asked.

Despite his tough demeanor on screen, at home he was quite softhearted. His wife Helen remembers with nostalgia the different ways Moe liked to mark their wedding anniversary each year. As she recalled, he was a very sentimental man and wrote me hundreds of love poems when we were first married. On our tenth wedding anniversary, the phone rang and a strange voice on the other end asked me if I would take Moe Horwitz for my lawful, wedded husband. The voice then proceeded to perform the entire wedding ceremony with me on one end and Moe, the mystery voice, on the other. He was also a singer and at the end of the ceremony, in a beautiful baritone voice, he sang, ‘Oh Promise Me,’ the song sung at our wedding. Moe was also the businessman of the team, ran the group and made most of the team’s decisions. Curly and Larry were carefree individuals, never priding themselves on punctuality and with absolutely no regard for money. Moe did the worrying for all of them. Although Moe was cautious in certain directions about saving money, be would go crazy in other directions. Norman Maurer nicknamed him Wholesale Charlie, since his fondest pleasure was buying clothes for all the members of his family. He’d buy everything by the dozen (it seemed that all his boyhood friends had wound up in the wholesale garment business). Norman felt that be wasted a good deal of money on these spending sprees, but Moe got untold enjoyment out of them.

Despite his inability to relax and enjoy life to its fullest like Curly and Larry, Moe’s goal in life was to give his family their every wish, and this he did. He and his wife Helen traveled to just about every city in the world, where they were treated like royalty by their fans.

Director Edward Bernds, who knew him for 40 years, felt the businesslike side of Moe certainly helped on the set. “Moe was all business, but he was interested in making the film as good as he could. He didn’t take anything away from the director but he did see to it that the boys shaped up. He liked making suggestions and was very creative.” Moe’s social life was quite different from Shemp’s, as he rarely mingled with a show business crowd. Most of his friends, as strange as it seems, were judges, lawyers and doctors and any people his wife befriended. Although he loved his profession, Moe’s first thoughts were for his family and he dreaded the separation caused by hectic shooting schedules and personal appearance tours. After the loss of his brothers, Curly and Shemp, Moe once remarked that be had mixed feeling about watching his brothers in television reruns of their Stooges comedies. As he said, How strange it is that people can laugh at comedians who are dead and never give it a second thought. At the same time, it’s good to think that Shemp and my kid brother Curly, are still remembered. There was more to Moe’s life than bopping and slapping his fellow Stooges. He had a wide range of interests over the years which included traveling, gardening, ceramics and cooking. (He could whip up a mean cioppino and a marvelous lasagna- neither of which he ate. He cooked them because his wife loved them.) In his younger days he enjoyed going to the fights, football games, and midget auto racing and had hobbies that included hooking rugs and stamp and coin collecting. Moe even tried the art of wine making. His daughter Joan, about ten at the time, recalls vaguely what happened: “It seems that my father decided to make wine.

Never one for reading directions carefully, he made a radical mistake somewhere down the line. Something to do with not removing the bung from the wine barrel at the right time... or maybe not removing it at all. When the day arrived for my father to taste his wine, he pulled out the bung and all hell broke loose. The entire contents of the barrel - wine, skins, and seeds - exploded out like they were shot out of a cannon. The room, which had white walls, was splashed with vivid red, but the strangest sight of all was my father. He was wine red from head to toe and peppered with grape seeds. They were stuck to him everywhere: his ears, his nostrils, his hair. Even the walls of the room were plastered with seeds. My dad was able to take a bath after and clean himself up, but that house must still have telltale signs of what went on that fateful day.” Moe’s favorite music was quite diverse. It included anything sung by a barber shop quartet, the music of Andre Segovia, and his favorite song, “How Deep is the Ocean.” His favorite Stooges comedy was You Nazty Spy (1940). For exercise there was golf and a brisk two-mile walk every morning.

Moe had two children: his first, Joan, and eight years later a son, Paul. He was married almost 50 years to his wife, Helen, who died six months after him on October 31, 1975.

When once asked how long the Stooges would remain in show business, Howard replied, “Forever is a long time, but with a little luck, we just might make it.”

Larry Fine (October 5, 1902-January 24, 1975) The team’s middleman, Larry Fine, was born Louis Feinberg on October 5, 1902, in the south side of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His father, Joseph Feinberg, and mother, Fanny Lieberman, owned a watch repair and jewelry shop. Larry was the first of four children; he had two brothers, Morris and a younger brother, Philip, who died prematurely, and a sister, Lyla, who became a school teacher. He wasn’t even a year old when his parents and friends started treating him like a celebrity. He stole the show as an entertainer while still in diapers. One time, at just two years of age, his father propped him up on top of a jewelry showcase to show relatives how well he could dance. Larry managed to do a few dance steps before losing his balance and falling backward through the glass top of the display case. Luckily, he emerged unharmed. Morris Feinberg recalls that Larry had another close call in his youth. “Larry wasn’t so fortunate the next time he got into trouble. It happened when Dad was testing metals to see which were gold. He used a powerful acid that when applied to base metals would turn them green or burn a hole in them. Gold, however was not affected by the acid. One day Dad had removed the stopper from the acid bottle, leaving it uncovered. A thirsty Larry stood unnoticed at his side. As he reached for the bottle of acid to raise it to his mouth and drink, Dad saw him out of the corner of his eye and smacked the bottle from his hand, splashing acid on his left arm and burning it badly.” Larry required immediate medical attention and a skin graft was done on his arm. After the surgery, doctors recommended that he be given violin lessons as a form of therapy. It was believed that the action of drawing the bow over the strings would strengthen his damaged arm muscles. Little did Larry realize that the violin would become an important tool in his career.

I n his teens, Larry had aspirations of becoming a comedian - even a star. He enjoyed putting on shows for anyone who would watch him. As a result, he gained valuable experience. Larry’s skill as a violinist became so impressive that he was asked to play professionally. At age ten, as a student at Southwalk Grammar School, he soloed at a children’s concert at the Roseland Dance Hall in Philadelphia. Backed by Howard Lanin’s orchestra, he played “Humoresque” on his violin. Morris remembers that Larry eventually became a versatile musician. “He was a natural-born performer and could play any instrument he got his hands on - piano, clarinet, saxophone and brass. He even

constructed a violin out of a cigar box and a broom handle. He played its single string like a cello, holding it between his knees.” Music now in his blood, Larry played on the bill of local theater amateur nights, taking top prizes in most of these contests. Which didn’t surprise his peers, since he was certainly good at his craft. During this period he interspersed his musical talents with pugilistic skills, earning money as a lightweight boxer, fighting over 40 bouts. By age fifteen, he started singing along with movie slides at Philadelphia theaters-the Keystone, Alhambra, Broadway, Nixon’s Grand and the Allegheny-where he received two dollars for each performance. All of this was accomplished while he was still a student at Central High School. In later years, he would go on to develop an act in which he would do a Russian dance while playing the violin. In 1921, Larry landed a job in Gus Edwards’ Newsboy Sextette, playing the violin, dancing and telling jokes in a Jewish dialect. On the bill with him was Mabel Haney, who would later become his wife. Mabel, with her sister, Loretta, joined Larry in an act called “The Haney Sisters and Fine.” The trio worked together in vaudeville until 1925, playing the RKO, Orpheum, Keith-Orpheum and Delmar Circuits and the Paramount Theatre in Canada. It was during a playdate in Chicago, in 1925, at a night club called the Rainbow Gardens, that Larry was first asked to become a stooge. Ted Healy, Moe and Shemp Howard took in Larry’s performance one evening, at which time Shemp informed Healy that he planned to leave the act. Moe suggested that perhaps Larry could replace Shemp.

Healy liked the idea and at the conclusion of the show the trio went backstage to meet with Fine. Ted made him an offer: $90 a week to become a stooge and an extra $10 a week if he’d throw away his fiddle. The next day, Larry accepted the offer and this was the beginning of what would eventually be “The Three Stooges Shemp would return later as his stint away from Healy did not pan out. The trio, Moe, Larry and Shemp, first opened on Broadway in A Night in Venice and later appeared in 20th Century-Fox’s comedy Soup to Nuts (1930). The rest of Larry’s career would parallel Moe’s. When the team left MCM in 1934, the Stooges were comprised of Moe, Larry and Curly. They went on to star in two-reel comedies for Columbia Pictures, where the team remained for 24 years. Offstage, Larry was a social butterfly. He liked a good time and surrounded himself with friends. Larry and his wife, Mabel, loved having parties and every Christmas threw lavish midnight suppers. Larry was what some friends have called a “yes man,” since he was always so agreeable, no matter what the circumstances. As film director Charles Lamont recalled after directing Fine in two Stooges comedies, “Larry was a nut.

He was the kind of guy who always said anything. He was a yapper.

Larry’s devil-may-care personality carried over to the world of finance. He was a terrible businessman and spent his money as soon as he earned it. He would either gamble it away at the track or at high-stakes gin rummy games. In an interview, Fine even admitted that he often gave money to actors and friends who needed help and never asked to be reimbursed. Joe Besser and director Edward Bernds remember that because of his free spending, Larry was almost forced into bankruptcy when Columbia terminated the Three Stooges comedies in 1958. Norman Maurer recalls that Larry was surrounded by friends, some of whom were ready and waiting to take his money. “Larry would wait around at the end of a booking during personal appearance tours. Then, the minute Moe would go to the theater manager to get their money, Larry would take his cut and ten minutes later it was gone. It would be spent on life’s luxuries: diamond rings, fur coats

and on the horses. Or if one of his friends would say, `Larry, I’ve got a deal-this nonsinkable bathing suit... all we need is $l5,000’—Larry was had!” On another occasion, Larry convinced Moe to finance a fast-food restaurant in Glendale called Mi Patio.

Larry’s two friends, who conceived the idea, planned to sell Stoogeburgers, which would be served in little plastic baskets with the Stooges’ faces printed on the sides. After several months of so-so business the partners skipped town with everything they could get their hands on, including the burgers. As a result, Moe and Larry were left holding the bag. Because of his prodigal ways and his wife’s dislike for housekeeping, Larry and his family lived in hotels-first in the President Hotel in Atlantic City, where his daughter Phyllis was raised, then the Knickerbocker Hotel in Hollywood. Not until the late forties did Larry buy a home - a splendid, old Mediterranean structure in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles Larry’s screen personality was as laid back as his real life one, and thus his character was never forced. Prior to the filming of a scene he’d come up with a gag idea that he’d toss at the director; he would always shrug it off when his ideas were ignored.

He was said to be a bit of a whiner, sometimes complaining about the smallest things. If he stubbed his toe on a chair during a scene, he’d carry on until the propman cushioned the chair leg with a sponge pad to protect him from injuring the toe again. In the early days, Larry would put on an act in public, trying to appear aloof, to make people believe he was a serious intellectual-a complete opposite of his screen persona. But this false front disappeared as he matured.

Fine was also known for his tardiness. He rarely got to the set on time, or to any other engagement. Several times during his career, Moe had to cover for him until he showed up. Tardiness was definitely one of his foibles, which even the cast’s call-sheets bear out. In fact, one time while performing in Atlantic City, a newspaper photographer had arranged a photo session with the Stooges in advance of their engagement. When Larry forgot the appointment, Moe had to ask the theater manager to take his place. Ed Bernds, who directed Larry in numerous Stooges films, recalls that he wasn’t as dedicated to his career as the other Stooges. “He tended to be a bit of a goof-off” Bernds said.

“But not a real goldbricker; he just wasn’t as dedicated as Moe was. But Norman Maurer believes that Larry’s talent as an actor and comedian were commonly overlooked in Stooges comedies. As he put it: “I think Larry was the best actor of the three. I used to argue with Moe about giving him more lines because Larry was good, but Moe was against it.” Larry had two children, a son, Johnny, who died in a tragic automobile accident on November 17, 1961, at age 24, and a daughter, Phyllis. His wife Mabel died on May 30, 1967, during the Memorial Day weekend while the Stooges were on tour.

Larry left the show when he learned of his wife’s death and, in true show business tradition, Moe and Curly-Joe carried out the team’s three-day engagement. Fine’s favorite hobbies included teaching serious music, preferably jazz, the kind Andre Previn, Percy Faith, Morton Gould and Andre Kostelanetz popularized. His favorite Stooge: Curly. As he once commented, “Personally, I thought Curly was the greatest because he was a natural comedian who had no formal training. Whatever he did he made up on the spur of the moment.” Larry’s favorite sport was baseball, the Los Angeles Dodgers his favorite team. He also enjoyed going to the boxing matches. Larry’s favorite actors were Spencer Tracy, Clark Gable and Peter Falk, while Milton Berle, Jack Benny and Redd Foxx were his choice for comedians. His favorite Stooges films were Scrambled Brains (1951) and

The Three Stooges Meet Hercules (1962). Runner-up favorites included You Nazty Spy (1940) and I’ll Never Heil Again (1941).

Shemp Howard (March 17, 1895 - November 23, 1955) Shemp Howard, his hair slicked down over loving-cup ears, became one of the most famous comedy stooges in the history of stage and screen. The third eldest brother of Moe Howard, the team leader, Shemp was born Samuel Horwitz in Brooklyn, New York, on March 17, 1895 (not 1900 as listed in studio biographies).

Moe once recalled how his brother acquired the name Shemp. “Shemp was given the Hebrew name Schmool, after his mother’s grandfather. Schmool was Anglicized to Samuel and then shortened to Sam. When his mother, with her broad European accent, would call him, the name ‘Sam’ came out ‘Sams,’ and if you weren’t listening carefully it could sound like Shemp... which it did! So from the time he was seven that’s what his family called him. It was Shemp in school and in the world of the theater. In later years, no one knew it was anything else.”

Shemp was a very mischievous child, and Moe recalled his favorite pastime was stuffing everything from woolen stockings to sweaters down the hallway toilet. “I remember one time when Shemp tore the pages out of our brother Irving’s history book and jammed them into the toilet in our home in Bensonhurst,” Moe chuckled as he recalled, “Because of this he had to run the family gauntlet: a smack from Mother, a belt across the head from Dad, a shove from Irving and a kick in the fanny from me.

When Shemp reached the age of thirteen, he was a completely different person and had outgrown most of his mischief-making. Moe remembers that friends of the family had always predicted that Shemp was going to be an actor or a great comedian. But Shemp thought otherwise and never seriously entertained the idea of entering show business.

Moe, on the other hand, worked like a demon at it, planned his future, and eventually made it to the footlights before his brother.

Shemp graduated from P.S. 163 in Brooklyn, the same grammar school his brother Moe attended, and got as far as starting New Utrecht High School. Since he and Moe failed to finish school, their parents, Jennie and Solomon Horwitz, urged them to go to a trade school. Late in 1911, Moe and Shemp enrolled at the Baron DeHirsch Trade School in New York, where Shemp took up plumbing and Moe studied to be an electrician. While Moe learned the definition of an ampere, an ohm and a volt, Shemp learned the basics of threading and cutting pipe. Neither of the boys ever finished these courses but instead put their lessons into practice in a rare act of mischief.

Moe remembers that while learning the tricks of their trade they got the tricks down pat: “Neither Shemp nor I ever finished the course, but we did find a use for lesson #1-“The Push-Button Door Latch.” We wired it into our apartment so that by pushing a concealed button we could open the front-door latch when we got home late at night without our parents being the wiser. I’d just reach under the door step, press the button, wait for the click of the latch and open the door from the outside. This worked well until Dad found out. One night we came home very late, and reached for the button, but the button wasn’t

there. That particular evening Shemp and I had borrowed Jack and Irving’s new longpants suits to go to a party. We came home about three in the morning and there was no way to get in without waking our parents. Then I got the bright idea of going to the back of the house. The bathroom window was open and I climbed through the darkened opening, head down, arms outstretched and probing, right into a half-filled tub that either Irving or Jack had left from that night’s bath. I landed face down in the water. I rolled over and sat up laughing hysterically. I had forgotten all about Shemp and letting him in. A moment later he climbed in and found himself in the same boat. There we were when my father entered, the two of us sopping wet with our brothers’ good clothes on. Somehow our father’s smacks on our wet faces sounded much louder and were more painful than on a dry face.”

In recalling his school days, Moe has said that Shemp was not athletically inclined and as a student he was nil. He tried to pay attention in class but seemed unable to concentrate.

Jack and Irving tried to help him with his schoolwork, but Shemp was already playing the comedian. He’d laugh everything off with a cute remark, draw funny drawings, or make faces at the other students to make them laugh and get them in trouble along with himself Shemp craved attention.

Moe also recalled that Shemp was industrious for his age. The two brothers worked together at many different neighborhood jobs. First, they tried the plumbing business, but when Shemp burned his hand on hot solder he quit. The Howards next tried setting up pins in a local bowling alley, then delivering newspapers for the Brooklyn Eagle. This continued until, finally, Shemp realized there was nothing left for them but the theater.

In the hope of acquiring some stage experience, Shemp agreed to do an act with Moe at dance halls and theater amateur nights in the area. Comedy was neither Moe nor Shemp’s forte at the time. Moe had been directing his energies toward dramatic theater while Shemp, except for fooling around at parties, had practically no theatrical experience. The two boys wrote a short skit, rehearsed it and went on stage at an amateur night at the Bath Beach Theater. Three minutes into their performance, they were thrown bodily out of the theater. Needless to say, Shemp was terribly discouraged but Moe felt it was a step in the right direction.... Shemp had finally performed on a stage.

Charlotte Shurman, an old Bensonhurst friend of the Howards when they were in their twenties, watched many of their performances around the neighborhood. She recalled: “They were just starting out in dance halls and everyone got a big kick out of them and the shows they put on. Shemp and Moe worked together and I followed them around wherever they went ... because I was so proud. I remember Shemp. He was a riot ... simply a riot. And it came so naturally.”

Sometime during the course of World War I, Moe and Shemp formed a blackface vaudeville act which disbanded for a brief period when Shemp was drafted into the army.

He was discharged after only a few months (he was discovered to be a bed wetter) and rejoined Moe in vaudeville. In 1917 Shemp and Moe took their comedy act back to the boards and played on both the Loew’s and RKO circuits, managing to work for the rival outfits through a ruse: They played a blackface routine for RKO and a whiteface one for Loew’s. They continued with their stage appearances through 1922. Shemp jokingly

recalled the blackest moment of his life as the time he was working blackface in a minstrel show and the manager skipped with the payroll and the cold cream. Despite his show business desires, Shemp once said, “My parents wanted me to grow up to be a gentleman.”

Then, one afternoon in 1922, Shemp got his biggest show business break. A former schoolmate and vaudeville comedian, Ted Healy, was playing at the Brooklyn Prospect Theater and needed a replacement in his current act. He prevailed upon Moe and then Shemp to come up out of the audience and perform in the show. The Howards went on stage with Healy and fractured the audience with an entirely ad-libbed routine.

The act with Healy and his Stooges kept up its frantic pace from that night on. A shortlived problem arose at the beginning of the brothers’ careers. Their mother, Jennie Horwitz, was totally against the idea of her sons joining Ted Healy.

Jack Howard remembers what Ted Healy said to persuade her to change her mind. “It seems my mother did not want Shemp or Moe to be actors. She thought it would be much better if they became professionals. Ted Healy came to the house one day to plead with my mother to let Moe and Shemp join the act. He was getting nowhere. Suddenly, Ted said to my mother, ‘Jennie, I’ll give you $100 for your synagogue building fund if you let the boys come with me. She thought about the good that the money would do and agreed, reluctantly.”

Following his debut as a stooge, Shemp’s association with Healy continued to prosper. He was prominently billed in such J. J. Shubert musicals as A Night in Spain and A Night in Venice. In 1925, Howard married Gertrude “Babe” Frank. She gave birth to a son, Morton, in 1927. (He died on January 13, 1972, of cancer.) In this same year, Larry joined Healy, Moe and Shemp.

Then, in 1930, it was off to Hollywood to co-star in Rube Goldberg’s critical sensation Soup to Nuts. A short time later Larry, Moe and Shemp left Healy to form an act of their own, “Three Lost Souls.” But a year later they returned to Healy to star in The Passing Show of 1932, a J.J. Shubert Broadway revue. Healy left the show over a contract dispute, taking Moe and Larry with him. Shemp decided to stay behind.

Leaving the team gave Shemp a chance to use his wide-ranging talents in various film productions, including features and featurettes. He went on to star in countless two-reel comedies for Vitaphone in 1932 and he later played the role of Knobby Walsh in the Joe Palooka series. Shemp’s leaving the act also gave his kid brother Curly the opportunity of a lifetime-to become the world’s favorite Stooge.

In 1937, Shemp Howard returned to Hollywood, this time to open the “Stage One” nightclub (now Andre’s restaurant on Wilshire Boulevard) with actor/partner Wally Vernon. Shortly after the club opened, Shemp signed a contract to do a comedy series at Columbia and later feature film roles at RKO, MGM and Monogram. In the 1940’s, he was given numerous roles in such Universal films as Buck Privates, The Bank Dick and Hellzapoppin! He also worked in films starring Abbott and Costello, W.C. Fields, Broderick Crawford and John Wayne.

When times were good, Shemp and his wife Gertrude’s greatest pleasure was entertaining actor friends in the movie community. The Howards’ parties at their North Hollywood home included such guests as Morey Amsterdam, Phil Silvers, Harry Silvers, Huntz Hall, Gabe Dell, Martha Raye and Murray Alpert. On rare occasions, brothers Moe and Curly would drop by with their wives, but when things went sour work-wise, some of Shemp’s friends were known to abandon ship. Clarice Seiden, Moe Howard’s sister-in-law, recalls: “I remember when Shemp’s contract was not renewed with Universal, the partygoers that were always at his house disappeared. When his contract was renewed everyone would come back.”

Whatever the situation, no matter how unnerving, Shemp was always a warm, caring, understanding man, though a bit of an introvert at times. Once he was at ease with people, Shemp opened up and the jokes and humorous anecdotes poured forth. Dolly Sallin, daughter of Jack Howard, remembers Shemp as informal and casual. She says, “Shemp was really a quiet, family man who had evening get-togethers where friends would drop in.

He was quite devoted to his ‘wife and son. Moe was the one who kept up on world affairs and kept his mind active, while Shemp simply didn’t care. He wanted things to be easy and uncomplicated.” Friends also reveal that Shemp was not a businessman and spent most of his time sitting at home listening to his favorite radio show or, in his later years, watching television.

Shemp also shared many intimate moments with his son Mort, who was an only child and bore more resemblance to his mother than to Shemp. Irma Leveton, Helen Howard’s friend, remembered that Shemp liked to go fishing ‘with Mort. Dolly Sallin added that Shemp and Mort used to produce their own tape-recorded music on a reel-to-reel recorder Shemp owned.

Norman Maurer, who first met Shemp in 1945, remembers the comedian as always being jovial and never without a kind word. Maurer recalls: “Shemp was a delightful man. He was the funniest of the three brothers ... he was a riot.

He would just open his mouth and he was funny. He was also the world’s greatest environmentalist. He couldn’t step on an ant.”

Shemp also had his share of phobias that he was never able to outgrow-a fear of heights, a fear of driving or being driven in a car and a fear of water. Moe told of the time that Shemp insisted he was getting seasick.. .just standing on the dock fishing. The Stooges always traveled by train whenever they went across country on personal appearance tours because of Shemp’s paranoia; it was impossible to get him on an airplane. Irma Leveton recalled Shemp’s fear of dogs, even though he had a dog of his own, a collie named Wags.

As Leveton said: “He used to walk down the street with a stick in his hand to protect himself If a dog ever came near him, he would have fainted. There was no way he would ever hit a dog. He couldn’t kill a fly. It’s hard to imagine that a man with a face like that-he looked like a killer-was really a gentle man.”

Emil Sitka, who worked with Shemp in many comedies, remembers his fear on the set of Hold That Lion (1947). “We had a lion in this film who was so sickly he would fall asleep

in the middle of a take. When Shemp heard that there was a lion on the set, he was really panicked. I thought he was kidding, but he wasn’t. When he finally shot the scene the technicians had to put a glass plate between the lion and Shemp...he was that scared.”

Another anecdote concerning Shemp’s phobias occurred during the filming of Africa Screams, a 1949 romp featuring Shemp and starring Abbott and Costello. In it was another future Stooge, Joe Besser. Charles Barton directed the epic and remembers that Shemp’s fear of heights and water seemed funny to everyone but Shemp: “I remember when we did Africa Screams together, there were some funny scenes between Joe Besser and Shemp Howard where they were sitting on a raft floating down a river and Shemp was beside himself with fear and refused to get on the raft, even though the water wasn’t up to his knees. I had to literally carry him onto the raft. When it started moving, he was so afraid of falling off; he kept clutching at Joe Besser’s shirt. This brought on a lot of teasing from the cast and crew. After the scene, they left him sitting on the raft as a gag. And he kept yelling, ‘Will someone get me down from here? How much longer do I have to stay here? I’m getting sea-sick!’ Everybody just laughed.”

Joe Besser, who replaced Shemp as a third Stooge, was his good personal friend. During production on Africa Screams, Besser recalls an incident which illustrated the comedian)s inborn fear: “Every night Shemp would wait outside the studio for a cab. One time I stopped to give him a lift. He seemed nervous and didn’t want to go with me. Finally, I convinced him to get in the car but he couldn’t relax. In desperation, I took his hands and made him hold them as if he was holding an imaginary steering wheel, hoping that would help. He seemed more at ease but when I took off down the street, he started madly turning his hands back and forth as if he were actually driving the car!”

Shemp loved spectator sports, the more aggressive the better. It was probably a form of release for his fear and tension. He also filled his leisure time fishing, attending the fights and listening to Cole Porter)s music. Richard Arlen, Andy Devine and Horace MacMahon were his favorite actors, Patsy Kelly his favorite actress and Fred Allen his choice for radio comedian. His favorite Three Stooges comedy was Fright Night (1947), his first comedy with the Three Stooges and which, coincidentally, dealt with boxing.

Shemp’s mother wished her son to be a gentleman and according to everyone who knew him he certainly was a gentle man!

By Joseph McBride (From AMC homepage) In a career for which the word "eclectic" might have been coined, Edward L. Bernds worked with everyone from D. W. Griffith, Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford and Buster Keaton to Frank Capra, Cary Grant, Fred Astaire, Elvis Presley, Sam Peckinpah, and the Three Stooges.

A pioneer radio operator in Chicago, Bernds was brought out to Hollywood in 1928 by United Artists to help with the transition to talking pictures. After moving to Columbia Pictures, he became Capra's regular sound mixer, working on all but one of Capra's films from 1930

through 1939, including such classics as "It Happened One Night" [1934], "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town" [1936], and "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" [1939]. Bernds also worked with Howard Hawks on "Twentieth Century" [1934] and "Only Angels Have Wings" [1939] and with Leo McCarey on "The Awful Truth" [1937].

Bernds was a soundman on Three Stooges shorts at Columbia in the 1930s and wrote some of the popular two-reelers before becoming a director in 1944. He went on to direct 25 Stooges shorts and two of their features, as well as parts of their television series "The New Three Stooges." Stooges historians Tom and Jeff Forrester describe Bernds as "the Stooges' all-time favorite writer-director. . . . The team loved working with Bernds, whose affable personality and vast experience lent itself to the Stooges' workmanlike approach. In addition, Bernds also happened to be an excellent comedy director, and, consequently, the films he turned out with the Stooges represent their very best work."

Bernds's other films as a director include several in the "Bowery Boys" and "Blondie" series (two of his "Blondie" films were shown in recently on AMC), as well as "World Without End" [1956], "Reform School Girl" [1957] and "Queen of Outer Space" [1958].

In recent years, Bernds became a valuable source for film historians and appeared in the documentaries "Buster Keaton: A Hard Act to Follow" [1987] and "Frank Capra's American Dream" [1997]. In 1998 he was honored by the National Board of Review with its Lifetime Achievement Award for Film Technology, and in 1999 he received the Cinema Audio Society's President's Award. Last year, Scarecrow Press published his autobiography, "Mr. Bernds Goes to Hollywood: My Early Life and Career in Sound Recording at Columbia with Frank Capra and Others" (to which I contributed the introduction). Edward Bernds passed away on May 19, 2000, at the age of 94. We talked in December 1999 at his home in Van Nuys, California.

McBride: Some of Hollywood's first talking pictures were very clumsy, but it took only a couple of years before they began to greatly improve. Why do you think that was?

Bernds: They began to realize that the soundman was not a nuisance. I was able to establish a rapport with Capra fairly early, thank goodness. Because of the fluke that hooked me up with him -- because another mixer, Harry Blanchard, thought he could get out of a cold night on location [on Ladies of Leisure, 1930] and got me to substitute -- it changed my whole life, and for that matter,

Blanchard's too. In that group of pictures, the Capra crew were first-class people all the way. Capra was a good judge of people, and he managed to get pretty much the top man in each craft. I showed very early that I understood what he was trying for, what constitutes good acting, what constitutes good sound -- not loud sound, not necessarily intelligible, but sound that serves the scene and serves the picture.

Working as a soundman was fine, but that got to be pretty much a routine. It was no more difficult to record a super-A picture than it was a two-reeler. Mixers didn't have as much control over the quality as you might think. The quality was determined by the system, the recording system, which generally was excellent; there were no bad recording systems in the studios. Too easy to get excellence.

McBride: It takes a lot of experience to time gags properly. How did you learn to do comedy?

Bernds: Working on the two-reelers as a soundman broke me in on the basics of it. I think I always had it in me to be a good comedy writer. Even to this day, when I'm sleepless, I often think of comedy routines.

McBride: You were a soundman on some of the Stooges shorts Del Lord directed in the '30s, such as "Woman Haters" [1934] and "Three Little Beers" [1935].

Bernds: Oh, yes, a lot of 'em. Del Lord was Mack Sennett's leading director in the silents for chase scenes. He did some really hairy work in car chases, because he could do a lot more expensive and elaborate things with Sennett; Sennett had more money to spend than Columbia. "Three Little Beers" was memorable. That's the one with the barrel chase, with barrels coming down the hill. It also has the scene of the Stooges tearing up a golf course.

McBride: You wrote in your book that they really tore up the golf course and the poor greenskeeper was going crazy.

Bernds: He really was. The script called for Moe to go hacking, taking divots a foot long, at the old Rancho Golf Course on Pico Boulevard.

It actually didn't do any real permanent harm. He was chopping it up, but a lot of those divots you saw there were not real divots.

McBride: So you learned a lot from working with Del Lord?

Bernds: I gained a lot from him as a soundman. And I got acquainted with the boys. It could have worked with this disadvantage -- if they

had been snooty and said, "Hey, wait a minute, we don't want this rookie director, this soundman, give us a real director." But I had a talk with Moe before I started directing. He assured me of his cooperation. Del Lord, who had graduated to features, gave me a good sendoff. He told Hugh McCollum [who produced half of the Columbia short subjects] and he told the boys, "There's no reason he can't do it."

McBride: How did you see the characters of the Stooges?

Bernds: All the relationships were formed by the time I came in. Moe was Moe and Larry was Larry and Curly was Curly. The big change occurred, of course, when Curly wasn't able to work [in 1946, because of illness]. Shemp brought a whole new dimension in, and I was able to put a lot more of my stuff in, because in the five pictures I made with Curly I more or less had to conform.

McBride: Curly had a stroke and he started phasing out, was that it?

Bernds: I think he had a series of them. The first time he passed out on the set everybody thought it was just a hangover but it appears that, no, it might have been his first small stroke. That was not on my picture. I believe Jules White [who produced the other half of the Columbia shorts and also directed some of them] was able to finish the picture without Curly, sent him home, improvised somehow. Then I got Curly on the next picture, and Moe had kind of concealed how bad he was, the whole problem, not to deceive us but to protect him, you know. And so on my first picture, you can imagine -McBride: Wasn't "A Bird in the Head" [1946] the first one you directed even though Micro-Phonies [1945] came out first?

Bernds: Yeah. My first picture, my whole future depended on it. If it went well, I was all right. If anything happened, if the picture was not good, my 17 years of wanting to be a director would go down the drain. Really anxious time. But Moe was wonderful. I'll always be grateful for the help he gave me, a newcomer. He could have stood back, but even though I was brand-new he pitched right in and helped.

I don't think I could have gotten through the first couple of pictures without Moe's help. Somehow we got through "A Bird in the Head." It's not a good picture, but it's not terrible, at least.

McBride: Moe was so mean in the movies that people always wonder if he was a mean guy in real life.

Bernds: Oh, no, no, perfect gentleman, very fine man, good family man, good citizen, considerate to people he worked with. Actors somehow acquire a persona. Moe got that long before he came to Columbia.

McBride: In vaudeville?

Bernds: Yes, with Ted Healy [in an act billed as "Ted Healy and His Stooges"]. I guess it was very easy to become a grouch with Healy.

Healy was cruel to them. Moe always hated him because he said Healy would not modify his slaps enough, he'd really hurt them. And on the stage, Moe said, there were times when he was hit that so hard that he was a little shaky. But on the stage you can't quit.

McBride: Were the Stooges sometimes rebellious? How obedient were they to a director?

Bernds: I never had a beef from them. Once in a while I would have a discussion but never any mutiny or any refusal to do it. Moe was the spokesman. He was the boss. If he felt a stunt was dangerous and made out a good case for me, I believed him, I would do something else. He wouldn't do it just to save himself bumps or bruises, he took an awful lot of bumps and bruises, but he wanted to escape major hurts. If we had to have a stunt, we used doubles if at all possible. In the two-reelers we never bothered with masks. Later, when we did the features, we had masks of the Stooges -- the doubles would wear them.

McBride: In long shot?

Bernds: You could get pretty good close with it. With Larry, that mirage was very realistic. We had the Larry hair, and with the Larry mask you could get pretty close for fast action.

McBride: Did you use masks because they were getting older then and it was harder for them to do stunts?

Bernds: No, it was that the technique was new. During most of my career with the Stooges, the technique of masks didn't exist.

McBride: It's said that you were the Stooges' favorite director.

Bernds: Yeah, I know Shemp liked working with me, probably because I liked him so much. And Shemp was kind of a sensitive guy and Jules had a bad habit of showing an actor what he wanted him to do.

McBride: You've said that when Shemp came along you were able to get

more of your own ideas into the films. What was it about Shemp that you liked?

Bernds: Good actor. Could do anything you wanted. Curly was not really an actor, he just was something there. If you'd look back, you'd realize that he very seldom did anything that called for acting. He just was his zany self. When Shemp came on, he was eager, but he wasn't able to protect himself against getting hurt as much as the others. They were so experienced that the slaps were not real -- Moe had a way [Bernds mimes a faked slap involving only glancing contact].

McBride: Did Moe ever feel typecast as a Stooge and want to try different roles?

Bernds: He loved the Stooges. He wanted them to go on forever, but when Columbia finally cut 'em off [in 1958] he was heartbroken. He wanted to work, he wanted to be an actor. I was making a science-fiction film at the time ["Space Master X-7" (1958)], and his son-in-law, Norman Maurer, was the producer [as well as the Stooges' manager]. There was a part, not a big part, but a very interesting, funny kind of part, a cab driver giving some testimony, and Norman said, "Hey, Moe wants to do it." So we hired Moe to be a typical New York cab driver. He was excellent. He didn't have much of a New York accent, but he put on just enough so that he was really convincing. It was not a comedy scene but it was a scene with humor just because of who was in that.

McBride: Did you think of most of the titles for the Stooges two-reelers, including the ones you didn't direct?

Bernds: What happened -- I hope this doesn't sound like boasting, but it's the truth -- McCollum was not very good at titles. After a while, I had done enough for him to say, "Let me do it." I did practically all of them, not just for the Stooges but for the other shorts too.

Sometimes a writer of a script would bring in a title, but mostly the titles were mine. One of the producer's prerogatives is deciding on writers. McCollum more or less turned that over to me and let me decide which writers we would hire.

McBride: Did you work on the scripts you directed even if you didn't receive writing credit?

Bernds: Everything I ever directed I worked on -- even stuff I wrote myself. The director's big work is the night before he shoots, planning. Very frequently I'd rewrite myself based on new ideas and

maybe observation of how the actors were. Maybe figure out that this actor can't handle this dialogue very well or give him more if he was good. You could give him a piece of script in the morning rewritten, if he's good, and he could probably memorize it in 20 minutes or so.

McBride: Did the Stooges change the scripts or improvise?

Bernds: Not the dialogue. Oh, in the heat of battle they would do things, they would adlib. I'd indicate their action sequences in the script, but I can't tell 'em every time to "Pick her up" or say, "Why you so-and-so." When we'd have a story conference I liked to call the boys in because it made them feel more that we're working together. It made them feel good. Especially if you open it to discussion: "How does this feel? Can we say this a better way? Do you think his speech is too long, can we cut it?" Jules didn't do it. He'd give 'em a script and say, "Be here Monday morning." But I would call 'em in even before a script was even started, just to discuss it. I found it very valuable. They would all come up with stories. Four of five would be no good, but then there maybe there'd be a fifth thing that would give me an idea. You badly need ideas, to get something new.

McBride: What were your shooting schedules and budgets for the Stooge two-reelers?

Bernds: Four eight-hour days was the schedule. Thirty-five thousand dollars was the average negative cost of a Stooge two-reeler.

McBride: You recall in your book that you just couldn't go over schedule. There was no question of an extra day on those films, so you had to be efficient and disciplined.

Bernds: The only time we knocked off and came back the next day, I think, was April 12, 1945, the day President Roosevelt died. Knocked off immediately. Roosevelt was so loved that if the studio head [Harry Cohn] hadn't said, "Quick, stop production," the crews would have walked off.

McBride: Since the Stooges knew their characters so well, what kinds of things did a director have to do to make a good film with them?

Bernds: A great deal was in preparation -- preparation of gags, discussion with the boys -- to get everything as ready as possible.

Directors who I believe didn't do as well as I did didn't give enough time or thought to preparation. Then the mechanics. If there's a gag, select the best angle. If it's the boys crashing through a fake brick

wall, figure what's going to happen. Figure not just the crash but what happens to them later. Plan the shots, and while on the set use the camera to the very best advantage. If the wall is going to take four hours to redo, then you use two cameras. Maybe put one of the cameras on a dolly, directly on the boys -- they crash through the wall, the camera follows 'em, and you can only follow them if you have the camera on a dolly. With lenses you had great flexibility, this camera could shoot a fairly close shot from a distance because it was a long-focus lens, what you call a closeup lens. As far as directing the boys, show them, not tell them so much what they're going to do, but what was going to happen. If this wall would break, you don't rehearse a thing like that, because it takes four hours to rebuild a fake brick wall. So you show the mechanics, what would probably happen. If you tell 'em you expect them to fall into the foreground, they will do it. And I'll tell 'em, "I've got a camera here."

McBride: Did you use two cameras fairly often?

Bernds: No. On a big picture, if a director wanted four cameras he got 'em. But I had a big fight with the production office to get two on occasion.

McBride: Did you undercrank the camera to speed up the action very often on your Stooges shorts?

Bernds: Yes. McBride: Did you shoot those scenes without sound?

Bernds: You can undercrank and shoot sound. You use sound that you undercrank too, but sometimes that's a funny effect if somebody runs around in a tizzy and the sound of his voice is squeaking. And noises -- a lot of people don't realize that if you shoot a scene silent and it's got movement in it, it's awfully hard to recreate the sound with movement. So we used to shoot sound on everything. The production office sometimes objected to us shooting sound on what were really silent scenes. The head film editor took it up to the highest level.

He talked to one of the bosses, who said, "Shoot everything. Film is cheaper than trying to recreate it later."

McBride: A lot of the effects were added later, the exaggerated sound effects, the knuckle-rapping on the head and things like that?

Bernds: Oh, of course. I once showed someone an edited reel of a two-reeler without any sound effects -- dialogue but before the

rerecording was added -- and it looked so flat. Later, when the film was finished, I brought back this person -- this was not a person experienced in movies, it was an outsider friend of mine -- I brought him back to show the finished film with the sound effects. All the difference in the world.

McBride: That's where your sound background came in handy?

Bernds: To an extent, yes.

McBride: Did Columbia use the same sound effects over and over again?

Bernds: Yes. That's done by the sound effects editor. One I remember was Murray Opper. His cutting room was lined with shelves big enough to hold rolls of film. He had a file cabinet full of sound effects, and he had a great memory. If he needed a certain kind of belly bump, he would pull it out and find it. To the split second he could cut in a belly bump.

McBride: You told me that in the Stooge comedies you tried to tone down some of their violence. You didn't like their eye-poking routine.

How did you try to modify it with them?

Bernds: I went to Moe before I was supposed to direct the first one. I was careful not to antagonize him, but I said, "If one kid anywhere in the world damages the eye of another kid, I'd never forgive myself."

Moe is a man with a heart, really, and Moe never used it in one of my pictures except if it was an action thing and he kind of [Bernds mimes poking two fingers on the forehead and pushing someone].

McBride: And you didn't like the nostril pulling?

Bernds: That I told them right out, and they agreed not to use it.

Didn't you find it kind of distasteful?

McBride: Well, to be honest, when we were kids we used to do that.

Some of the other directors put it in and the kids would imitate that behavior. It is pretty gross.

Bernds: Well, maybe I was a spoilsport.

McBride: We also did the head rapping. Except that we really did it and we didn't realize they faked it in the movies. Our mothers used to get upset about the Three Stooges because we all copied them.

Bernds: I don't blame the mothers!

McBride: But we didn't do the eye-poking, so we must have been watching your movies! Why do you think it is that women generally don't like the Stooges but men like them?

Bernds: I guess the women don't like the violence. The men realize that nobody really gets hurt -- it's almost a cartoonlike quality.

Curly gets hit on the head with a sledgehammer and says, "Ouch." But the women don't like the violence even if they know it's non-lethal.

Men are just rougher. Why do men go for the rougher sports like football?

McBride: I guess the Stooges movies are like football - it's a game, it's not real, so that's part of the fun of it for men.

Bernds: The women know it's not real, but the presence of violence even in that form is abhorrent to them, I think, some of them.

McBride: Did you find that when you were making those movies that women had that attitude or did you think you were making the movies for men?

Bernds: I don't think I concerned myself about that. I must have known that women wouldn't like it. We used women on the set, of course, as actresses and so on. The script clerk was usually a woman; we always had a hairdresser; and if we had a leading lady we had a wardrobe lady. They never were concerned about the violence, and it was occurring right before their eyes.

McBride: Maybe women also are bothered by the fact that the Stooges characters aren't very interested in the opposite sex. They aren't ladies' men, they're childlike, presexual. Would you agree with that?

Bernds: Yeah. They had girlfriends, not girlfriends in the sex sense, but friends who are girls. We used it for jealousy things, but we didn't want these romances to be convincing. We never really even approached sex in the two-reelers. Because we who made them thought that a good share of our audience was McBride: How did you like the later features you did with the Stooges?

You hadn't worked with them for a while.

Bernds: The features were pretty good. But the Stooges were older, and I had to be a little more careful not to run 'em too much. Especially

Joe De Rita, who was in as Curly Joe. He was fat and out of condition, and I just had a feeling that he was the most likely to drop dead on me, which would be a very inconvenient thing for me, as well as for him. I did "The Three Stooges Meet Hercules" [1962] -- big, big hit -and The Three Stooges in Orbit [1962]. I wanted to do the next two; I could have used the money. Throughout my career, I needed the money.

For various reasons, no matter how much money I made, I never had a nice big cushion where I could say, "No, thanks, I don't want to do it."

McBride: Did you enjoy directing those live-action wraparounds for "The New Three Stooges?" [a syndicated TV series filmed in the summer of 1965, also using cartoons].

Bernds: They were knocked off in a big hurry, but that didn't hurt 'em much. The Stooges did their stuff, and they didn't require a lot of rehearsal.

McBride: When you were directing the Stooges, did you ever think that these pictures would still be popular many years in the future?

Bernds: We never dreamed. I still don't know why. But there's some quality there.

Stooge Shorts 1934-1940

[Mitch Shapiro Rev. 1.0 4/95]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------Moe, Larry, Curly: ================== 1.

Woman Haters (1934) ***+ ------------

Director: Archie Gottler Cast : Marjorie White, A.R. Haysel, Monte Collins, Bud Jamison, “Snowflake”, Jack Norton, Don Roberts, Tiny Sanford, Dorthy Vernon, Les Goodwin, Charles Richman, George Gray, Gilbert C. Emery, Walter Brennan The stooges join the “Women Haters” club and vow to have nothing to do with the fair sex. Larry marries a girl anyway and attempts to hide the fact from Moe and Curly as they take a train trip. [ This story is done in rhyme which detracts from the enjoyability. ] 2.

Punch Drunks (1934) **** -----------Director: Lou Breslow Cast

: Dorothy Granger, Arthur Housman

Moe is a boxing promoter looking for a good fighter. Curly is a mild-mannered waiter who goes crazy whenever he hears “Pop Goes the Weasel”. Larry is a violinist recruited to play the tune. Curly becomes a great fighter and gets a championship match. Things look bad when Larry’s violin is smashed, but everything turns out fine when Larry delivers the music by driving a truck through the arena wall.

3.

Men in Black (1934) ***+ ------------

Director: Raymond McCarey Cast : Dell Henderson, Jeanie Roberts, Ruth Hiatt, Joe Fine, Irene Coleman, Billy Gilbert, Little Billy, Neal Burns, Arthur West, Bud Jamison, Hank Mann, Joe Mills, Bob Callahan, Phyllis Crane, Carmen Andre, Betty Andre, Helen Splane, Kay Hughes, Eve Reynolds, Charles King, Eve

Kimberly, Lucille Watson, Billie Stockton, Arthur Ranking, Charles Dorety The stooges become doctors at a large hospital where they disrupt patients and staff alike.

[The title is a play on “Men in White”, a popular film of the time.

Nominated for “Best Short Subject” in 1934. ] 4.

Three Little Pigskins (1934) ****---------------------

Director: Raymond McCarey Cast : Lucille Ball, Gertie Green, Phyllis Green, Walter Long, Joe Young, Milt Douglas, Harry Bowen, Lynton Brent, Bud Jamison, Dutch Hendrian, Charles Dorett, William Irving, Joe Levine, Alex Hirschfield, Billy Wolfstone, Bobby Burns, Jimmie Philips, Johnny Korcsier.

The stooges are mistaken by a gangster for the “Three Horsemen of Boulder Dam”, famous football players. Hired to play for his team, they blow the big game and get it in the end. Lucille Ball has a nice part as a gun moll.

5.

Horses Collars (1935) ***+ -------------Director: Clyde Bruckman Cast

: Dorothy Kent, Fred Kohler, Fred Kelsey

The stooges are private detectives in the old west trying to help a girl recover an IOU from a bad guy. Their attempts to steal the IOU from the villains wallet and then from a safe meet with problems until Curly, who goes berserk whenever he sees a mouse, knocks out all the bad guys.

6.

Restless Knights (1935) ***+ ----------------

Director: Charles Lamont Cast : Geneva Mitchell, Stanley Blystone, Walter Brennan, Chris Franke, George Baxter, Bud O’Neill, James Howard, Jack Duffy, Ernie Young, Lynton Brent, Bob Burns, William Irving, Joe Perry, Dutch Hendrian, George Speer, Bert Young, Billy Franey, Al Thompson.

Set in Medieval times, the stooges learn they are of royal blood and vow to save the kingdom. They become the queen’s royal guards but are sentenced to die when the queen is abducted on the orders of the evil prime minister. The stooges escape, free the queen, and end up knocking each other out.

7.

Pop Goes the Easel (1935) **** ------------------

Director: Del Lord Cast : Leo White, Robert Burns, Jack Duffy, Elinor Vandivere, Geneva Mitchell The stooges are down and out. With a cop chasing them, they flee into an artists studio where they are mistaken for students. The cop continues to hunt for them and they use a variety of disguises and tactics to elude him. A wild clay throwing fight ends the film.

8.

Uncivil Warriors (1935) **** ----------------

Director: Del Lord Cast : Bud Jamison, Theodore Lorch, Lew Davis, Mary Loback, Bill Engel, Ford West, Si Jenks, Charles Dorety, Jack Kenny, Phyliss Crane, Jennifer Grey, Celeste Edwards, Wes Warner, Lew Archer, Hubert Diltz, Charles Cross, George Grey, Jack Rand, Harry Kenton.

Set in the civil war, the stooges are spies for the north. They impersonate southern officers and infiltrate the enemy ranks to get valuable information. On the run when they are discovered, they hide in a cannon and are blown back to their northern headquarters.

9.

Pardon My Scotch (1935) ***+ ---------------Director: Del Lord Cast

: Nat Carr, James C. Morton, Billy Gilbert, Grace Goodall

The stooges are running the local drugstore and mix up a potion that a desperate businessman decides to sell as scotch. The stooges impersonate Scotsmen at party to fool the prospective buyer. Their usual antics disrupt the party, ending when a barrel of their “scotch” explodes and floods the whole house.

10.

Hoi Polloi (1935) **** ----------

Director: Del Lord Cast : Harry Holmes, Robert Graves, Bud Jamison, Mary Dees, Grace Goodall, Betty McMahon, Harriett De Bussman, Phyliss Crane, Geneva Mitchell, Kathryn McHugh, James C. Morton, William Irving, Arthur Rankin, Robert McKenzie, Celeste Edwards, Blanche Payson, George B. French, Gail Arnold, Don Roberts, Billy Mann.

A professor bets that he can turn the stooges into gentlemen. After many attempts to teach them etiquette, he brings them to a fancy society party. The stooges new found manners don’t last very long, and the party quickly degenerates. By the end, the other guests have adopted stooge-like behavior and the stooges leave as gentlemen.

11.

Three Little Beers (1935) ****+ -----------------Director: Del Lord Cast : Bud Jamison The stooges are inept deliverymen at a brewery. When they learn about a company golf tournament, they sneak onto a golf course to get some practice. They quickly proceed to bother the other golfers and destroy the course. Forced to escape in their beer truck, more havoc ensues when the load of beer barrels are spilled out down a steep hill.

12.

Ants in the Pantry (1936) ****------------------

Director: Preston Black Cast : Clara Kimball Young, Harrison Greene, Bud Jamison, Isabelle LaMal, Vesey O’Davoren, Douglass Gerrard, Anne O’Neal, James C. Morton, Arthur Rowland, Phyliss Crane, Al Thompson, Helen Martinez, Charles Dorety, Hilda Title, Bert Young, Lou Davis, Ron Wilson, Robert Burns, Lynton Brent, Arthur Thalasso, Elaine Waters, Althea Henly, Idalyn Dupre, Stella Le Saint, Flo Promise, Gay Waters.

The stooges are pest exterminators who drum up business by planting vermin in a ritzy mansion where a party is going on. They are hired, but must pose as guests to work unobserved. They ruin a piano and generally make a mess of the party, but the hostess passes them off as vaudeville comedians and they are invited to join the guests on a fox hunt.

13.

Movie Maniacs (1936) **** --------------------

Director: Del Lord Cast : Bud Jamison, Lois Lindsey, Arthur Henly, Eve Reynolds, Kenneth Harlon, Mildred Harris, Harry Semels, Antrim Short, Jack Kenney, Charles Dorety, Elaine Waters, Bert Young.

The stooges arrive in Hollywood hoping to make it in the movie business (“There must be a couple a hundred guys in Hollywood who don’t know anything about making movies, three more ain’t gonna make any difference”.) They sneak into a movie studio where they are mistaken for three new executives who were due to arrive. after taking over production of a movie, causing the director and cast to walk off, Moe takes over as director, with Larry and Curly as the leading man and lady.

When the real executives send a telegram explaining why they haven’t arrived, the stooges must leave on the run.

14.

Half-Shot Shooters (1936) ***+ -----------------Director: Preston Black Cast

: Harry Semels, John Kascier, Vernon Dent, Stanley Blystone

The stooges are discharged from the army after WW I, and promptly administer some revenge to their mean sergeant. Years later they wind up in the army again, and of course the same sergeant is their superior. The sergeant plays various tricks on them, and when the stooges go crazy with a cannon, blowing up a house, a bridge, and a smoke stack, he blows them up.

15.

Disorder in the Court (1936) ****+ ---------------------

Director: Preston Black Cast : Susan Karoan, Dan Brady, Tiny Jones, Bill O’Brien, Bud Jamison, Harry Semels, Edward LeSaint, Hank Bell, James C. Morton The stooges are witnesses at a trial where their friend, a dancer at a nightclub where they are musicians, is accused of murder. The stooges manage to disrupt the proceedings but save the day when they discover the real murderer’s identity.

16.

A Pain in the Pullman (1936) **** --------------------Director: Preston Black

Cast

: Bud Jamison, James C. Morton

The stooges are small time actors traveling by train to an engagement. Along with their pet monkey, they manage to spoil the trip for quite a few of the other passengers including the conductor and a big movie star. Eventually their antics get out of hand and they are literally tossed off the train.

17.

False Alarms (1936) ***+ -----------Director: Del Lord Cast : Stanley Blystone The stooges are firemen who are constantly getting in trouble, they’ve been warned that one more incident will cost them their jobs. Curly sneaks out anyway to visit his girlfriend. She has two friends who need dates, but the only way Curly can get Moe and Larry out of the station is to pull a fire alarm. The firetruck leaves without Moe and Larry, so they steal the captains new car to make it to the call first. They manage to get Curly and get back to the station, but in doing so wreck the car and must leave on the run.

18.

Whoops I’m an Indian (1936) ****-------------------Director: Del Lord Cast : Bud Jamison Set in the old west, the stooges are crooked gamblers gypping the resident of a frontier town. They are discovered and must escape into the woods. To elude the sheriff they disguise themselves as Indians. Their plan works until Curly, dressed as a squaw, is forced to marry a local tough guy. The stooges are unmasked and wind up in the hoosegow.

19.

Slippery Silks (1936) ****-------------Director: Preston Black Cast

: Symona Boniface, Vernon Dent, Robert Williams

The stooges are carpenters who inherit a fancy dress boutique. They put on a fashion show with dresses they’ve designed based on furniture. During the show the owner of a antique box the stooges wrecked shows up and a wild cream puff fight ensues.

20.

Grips, Grunts and Groans (1937) ****+ ------------------------

Director: Preston Black Cast : Harrison Greene, Casey Colombo, Herb Stagman, Budd Fine, Chuck Callahan, Blackie Whitford, Tony Chavex, Elaine Waters, Sam Lufkin, Everett Sullivan, Bill Irving, Cy Schindell The stooges become trainers of “Bustoff”, a champion wrestler. The big boss has a lot of money bet on Bustoff and orders the boys to take good care of him. Instead they accidentally knock him out and Curly must disguises himself as Bustoff and wrestle in his place. The match doesn’t go very well until Curly smells “Wild Hyacinth” perfume on a lady fan at ringside. This drives him crazy and he knocks out his opponent and half the people in the stadium.

21.

Dizzy Doctors (1937) ****+ -------------

Director: Del Lord Cast : June Gittleson, Eva Murray, Ione Leslie, Vernon Dent, Bud Jamison, Erle Bunn, Wilfred Lucas, Betty MacDonald, Louise Carver, Frank Mills, Harley Wood, James C. Morton, A. R. Haysel, Ella McKenzie The stooges get a job selling “Brighto”, what they think is cleaning fluid. After ruining a cop’s uniform and a new car, they discover Brighto is actually medicine. Taking their sales pitch to a hospital, they get into more trouble and must leave on the run when the head of hospital turns out to be the owner of the car they ruined.

22.

Three Dumb Clucks (1937) **** ----------------Director: Del Lord Cast : Lynton Brent, Frank Austin The stooges escape from jail when they learn their father, who has just become rich, is planning to leave their mother and marry a young girl. Curly is mistaken for the stooges father (he plays both parts) and marries the girl instead. When they learn that she is working with gangsters who plan to kill their father for his money, they escape and take their father with them.

23.

Goofs and Saddles (1937) **** -----------------

Director: Del Lord Cast : Ethan Laidlaw, Tod Lorch, Hank Mann, Stanley Blystone,

George Gray, Sam Lufkin Set in the old west, the stooges are spies for US Calvary; “Buffalo Bilious”, “Wild Bill Hiccup” and “Just Plain Bill”. Sent by General “Muster” to catch a gang of cattle rustlers, they wind up in a saloon where the boss of the gang hangs out. The boys disguise themselves as gamblers and get into a card game with the villain, but must flee when their identities are discovered. They hole up in a cabin, fighting off the bad guys, until the calvary arrives.

24.

Back to the Woods (1937) ****----------------Director: Preston Black Cast : Bud Jamison, Vernon Dent Set in colonial times, the stooges are convicted criminals who are banished from England to the American colonies. When they arrive, they find that the colonists are starving because the local Indians won’t let them on their hunting grounds. The stooges go hunting any, and after a wild chase, are captured by the Indians. They escape and another wild chase ensues.

25.

Cash and Carry (1937) ****-------------Director: Del Lord Cast : Lester Dorr The stooges find a crippled boy and his sister living in their dumpyard shack. To raise money to pay for the little boys operation they buy a phony treasure map from a con man. Thinking the treasure is buried beneath an old house, the boys start digging and wind up in a US treasury vault where they are promptly arrested. The president (FDR) gives them amnesty and arranges for the boy’s operation.

26.

Playing the Ponies (1937) **** -----------------Director: Charles Lamont Cast : William Irving, Tiny Lipson

The stooges are gypped into trading their restaurant for “Thunderbolt”, a washed up race horse. When Curly feeds Thunderbolt some chili pepperinos, he runs like crazy towards the nearest water. The boys enter Thunderbolt in a big race. With jockey Larry feeding Thunderbolt the pepperinos, and Moe and Curly on a motorcycle leading him with a bucket of water, they win the race.

27.

The Sitter-Downers (1937) ****+ ------------------

Director: Del Lord Cast : Marcia Healy, Betty Mack, June Gittleson, James C. Morton, Bob McCenzie, Jack Long.

The stooges are suitors who go on a sit down strike when their prospective father-inlaw refuses to consent the marriages. The strike wins them fame and they receive numerous gifts including a lot and a prefabricated house. They win the strike and get married, but the wives decree no honeymoon until the house is built. The boys have some problems with the construction, especially since Curly burned up the plans. The eventually finish the house, a monstrosity that collapses when one post is accidentally moved.

28.

Termites of 1938 (1938) ****+ ---------------Director: Del Lord Cast

: Dorothy Granger, Bud Jamison, Bess Flowers

The stooges are pest exterminators, mistakenly hired by a rich lady looking for an escort to a fancy society party. The stooges wreck the fancy mansion where the party is taking place and befuddle the guest of honor, an English Lord.

29.

Wee Wee Monsieur (1938) ***+ ---------------Director: Del Lord Cast : Bud Jamison, Vernon Dent The stooges are artists living in Paris. When the landlord comes after the overdue rent, the boys skip out and wind up joining the French Foreign Legion. Posted to the desert, their assignment is to guard captain Gorgonzola from the natives. When the captain is kidnapped, the boys must disguise themselves as harem girls to infiltrate the chieftains hideout and rescue him.

30.

Tassels in the Air (1938) ****+ -----------------Director: Charley Chase Cast

: Bess Flowers, Vernon Dent, Bud Jamison

The stooges are janitors in an office building. They stencil the wrong names on all the offices, causing a rich lady to mistakes Moe for “Omay”, a famous decorator (the real Omay gets “Janitor, keep out” painted on his door.) She hires the boys to redecorate her house, which they proceed to ruin. More trouble ensues when the real Omay

shows up. Adding to the chaos is the fact that Curly goes crazy whenever he sees tassels.

31.

Healthy, Wealthy and Dumb (1938) ****+ -------------------------------Director: Del Lord Cast

: Lucille Lund, James C. Morton, Bud Jamison, Bobby Burns

Curly wins $50,000 in a radio contest and the stooges move into the Hotel Costa Plente. Their suite is furnished with many expensive items which they systematically wreck, running up quite a bill. When they discover that, minus tax deductions, the jackpot is only $4.85 they quickly agree to marry three pretty rich widows who are also living in the hotel. The “widows” are actually gold diggers conniving to the get the jackpot money. When the girls find out what the jackpot is really worth, the boys get conked with champagne bottles.

32.

Three Missing Links (1938) ****------------------Director: Jules White Cast

: Monty Collins, Jane Hamilton, Naba, James C. Morton

The stooges are janitors working in a movie studio. After wrecking the bosses office, they get jobs as actors in an African movie. Curly plays a gorilla and Moe and Larry are primitive natives. On location in Africa, the stooges have a confrontation with a witch doctor from whom Curly buys some “love candy” with hopes of attracting the films leading lady. When a female gorilla disrupts the movie set, Curly eats some of the candy and chases after her.

33.

Violent is the Word for Curly (1938) ***+ -----------------------------

Director: Charley Chase Cast : Eddie Featherstone, Gladys Gale, Marjorie Denn, Bud Jamison, John T. Murray, Pat Glenson The stooges are left in charge of a gas station and manage to blow up the car of their first customers, three famous European professors. The stooges steal some of the academics’ clothes and wind up at “Mildew”, a women’s college where the three professors are expected. Mistaken as the real thing, the boys take their place on the faculty. When the real professors show up, the stooges try to convince a rich woman, the schools benefactor, that an athletics programs is more important. Their athletics demonstration comes to an explosive end when the real professors slip them a nitroglycerin basketball.

[The title is a play on “Valiant is the Word for Carrie”, a popular

film of the time.]

34.

Mutts to You (1938) ***+ -----------Director: Charley Chase Cast

: Bess Flowers, Lane Chandler, Vernon Dent Bud Jamison

The stooges, professional dog washers, find a baby on a doorstep and, thinking it to be abandoned, take it home. When they read in the paper the baby is believed to have been kidnapped, they disguise Curly as a the baby’s mother and try to sneak past the local cop. They are caught, but when the baby’s parents show up and realize what happened, the result is a happy ending.

35.

Flat Foot Stooges (1938) ***+ ----------------Director: Charley Chase Cast

: Chester Conklin, Dick Curtis, Lola Jensen

The stooges are firemen at a station that still uses horses to pull the engines. A salesman who wants to sell the chief some modern equipment plants gun powder in one of the engines. The chiefs daughter catches him and after a chase both are knocked unconscious. When a fire starts, the stooges respond to the alarm, but don’t realize its their firehouse that’s burning! Somehow they manage to arrive in time to save the girl, and the villain gets his just desserts.

36.

Three Little Sew and Sews (1938) **** -------------------------

Director: Del Lord Cast : Harry Semels, Phyliss Barry, James C. Morton, Vernon Dent, Bud Jamison The stooges are sailors working in a ships’ tailor shop. When they can’t get passes to go ashore, they steal officers uniforms and go to a party with Curly passing himself off as Admiral Taylor and Moe and Larry as his aides. Two spies, one of them a beautiful woman, trick the stooges into stealing a new submarine. The boys turn the table on the spies and capture them. When the real Admiral shows up, Curly’s reenacts the capture and accidentally detonates a bomb, blowing them all to kingdom come.

37.

We Want Our Mummy (1939) ***+ ----------------Director: Del Lord Cast

: Bud Jamison, James C. Morton, Dick Curtis

The stooges go to Egypt in search of the mummy of king Rootin-Tootin for which a museum will pay a $5000 prize. They wind up in the mummy’s tomb where they are harassed by some bad guys after the same objective. The villains, who have kidnapped a professor from the museum, want the jewels buried inside the mummy. When Curly accidentally destroys the mummy, Moe and Larry wrap him in bandages to fool the bad guys. They manage to rescue the professor and retrieve the real mummy of Rootin-Tootin who turns out to have been a midget.

38.

A Ducking They Did Go (1939) ***+ --------------------Director: Del Lord Cast : Bud Jamison, Vernon Dent The stooges are tricked by some con men into selling memberships to a phony duck hunting club. To the amazement of the con men, they sell all the memberships to the police department. When the bad guys skip town, the stooges are stuck at a duck-less lake with a lodge full of cops and plenty of trouble ahead. Moe and Larry stall the cops with duck decoys while Curly searches for some real ducks. The boys think their troubles are solved when Curly returns with a whole flock, but it turns out the ducks belong to local farmer and the boys leave in a hail of buckshot. [ Ending from “A Pain in the Pullman”. ]

39.

Yes, We Have No Bonanza (1939) **** ----------------------Director: Del Lord Cast

: Dick Curtis, Lynon Brent, Vernon Dent

Set in a western town, the stooges are working as waiters in a saloon with the three girls they hope to marry. The proprietor of the saloon is a crook who, with his partner, has buried $40,000 of stolen money. The boys go prospecting in hopes of raising enough money to pay off the debts of their fiancees father, who owes money to their boss. They dig up the stolen money, which the crooks recognize as their loot and abscond with. A wild chase ensues, ending with the bad guy’s car crashing into the Sheriff’s office.

40.

Saved by the Belle (1939) ****-----------------Director: Charley Chase Cast : Carmen LaRue, Leroy Mason

The stooges are traveling salesmen stranded in Valeska, a tropical country prone to earthquakes. Having no luck selling fur coats to the natives they are arrested when they receive a telegram instructing them to “get rid of present wardrobe” and an official thinks they are planning to assassinate president Ward Robey. With the help of Rita, a beautiful revolutionary, the boys escape a firing squad, and are sent on a mission to deliver important plans to the revolutionary leader. When they deliver a rolled up calendar by mistake, they are once again heading for a firing squad but are spared when Rita arrives with the real plans.

41.

Calling all Curs (1939) ***+ ---------------Director: Jules White Cast : Lynton Brent The stooges run a pet hospital and get an important patient, Garcon, a rich ladies poodle. When dognappers posing as reporters steal the poodle, the boys are in a tough spot. First they try to fool their client by disguising a mutt as the poodle. When that doesn’t work, they use the mutt as a bloodhound to track down the crooks.

When they discover the bad guys hideout, Curly defeats them in a fight and they find Garcon, only to discover that “he” has had a litter of puppies.

42.

Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise (1939) **** ------------------------Director: Jules White Cast

: Dick Curtis, Richard Fiske, Eddie Laughton, Eva McKenzie

The stooges are tramps looking for handouts. Although the boys are down and out, Curly seems to get everything he wishes for. After some trouble with a farmer, the boys come across an abandoned car, one of Curly’s wishes. The car actually belongs to some con men who have just gypped the widow Jenkins out of her land. The boys winds up at the Mrs. Jenkins house just in time for a free meal. To repay Mrs. Jenkins the boys try to fix her well and instead unleash an oil geyser. Learning that Mrs. Jenkins has been swindled, the boys go to retrieve the deed before it can be recorded.

They find the bad guys and after a wild fight recover the deed. The boys return the deed to Mrs. Jenkins and marry her daughters; April, May and June.

43.

Three Sappy People (1939) ****+ -----------------Director: Jules White Cast

: Richard Fiske, Lorna Gray, Don Beddoe, Bud Jamison

The stooges are phone repairmen who are mistaken for the psychiatrists in whose office they are working. A rich man hires them to treat his impetuous young wife who is always running of for submarine rides and the like. The boys ruin a dinner party at

their clients mansion but their antics so amuse his wife the she is cured and the stooges are paid off handsomely.

44.

You Natzy Spy (1940) ***+ ------------Director: Jules White Cast : Dick Curtis, Don Beddoe In this satire of the Nazis the stooges are paperhangers in the country of Moronica.

When evil cabinet ministers overthrow the king, they decide to make Moe the new ruler as he’ll be stupid enough to follow their orders. Moe becomes Dictator, Curly is a Field Marshall and Larry becomes Minister of propaganda. After successfully preventing a female spy from committing mayhem, the boys are run out of office by a mob and eaten by lions.

45.

Rockin Through the Rockies (1940) ***+ --------------------------

Director: Jules White Cast : Linda Winters, Dorothy Appleby, Lorna Gray, Kathryn Sheldon The stooges are frontier guides leading a minstrel show west. When hostile Indians run the horses run off they are stranded. They must contend with a snow storm and a marauding bear as well the Indians. After almost killing each other ice fishing they solve their problems by rigging up a sail on the wagon and sailing west.

46.

A Plumbing We Will Go (1940) ****+ --------------------Director: Del Lord Cast

: Symona Boniface, Bud Jamison, Bess Flowers, Eddie Laughton

To escape the police, the stooges pose as plumbers and are hired to fix a leak in a fancy mansion. They wind up crossing the electrical system with the plumbing and generally ruin the place. One memorable scene has the lady of the house tuning into a television broadcast from Niagara Falls as a torrent of water pours from the set. To escape the wrath of the homeowners the stooges escape through a magicians trap door.

47.

From Nurse to Worse (1940) ***** -------------------Director: Jules White Cast : Vernon Dent, Dorothy Appleby

The stooge’s friend Jerry convinces them to take out on insurance on Curly and then have him act insane to collect. Moe and Larry put Curly on a leash and take him to the insurance doctor and have him act like a dog. Unfortunately, the insurance doctor wants to perform a brain operation (Cerebrum decapitation). The boys try to escape by hiding in the dog catchers wagon, but are caught and taken to the hospital. They escape again, this time by rigging a sheet to a gurney and sailing down the street, where they run into Jerry and knock him into wet cement.

48.

Nutty But Nice (1940) ***+ -------------Director: Jules White Cast : Vernon Dent The stooges are singing waiters who are enlisted by a doctor to try and cheer up a little girl. It seems that the girl’s father is a banker who was kidnapped with $300,000 worth of bonds. Failing to cheer up the girl, the stooges go out looking for the father and by a series of coincidences wind up in the bad guys hideout. The villains return and after a wild fight the boys free the missing man.

49.

How High is Up (1940) ****+ -------------Director: Del Lord Cast

: Bruce Bennett, Edmund Cobb, Vernon Dent

The stooges are the ‘Minute Menders’, three tinkers who live under their car. The boys decide to drum up some business by punching holes in the unattended lunch boxes of some workmen. When they’re caught in the act, they escape and accidentally get hired as riveters on a new building, working on the 97th floor. Their ineptitude and lousy workmanship screw up construction of the building and they must parachute off the building to escape the wrath of the boss.

50.

No Census, No Feeling (1940) ****---------------------

Director: Del Lord Cast : Vernon Dent, Symona Boniface, Max Davidson, Bruce Bennett, Elinor Vandivere The stooges get jobs as census takers and wind up in a fancy mansion looking for people to survey. Moe and Larry are recruited to join a bridge game, while Curly adds Alum to the lemonade. The resulting concoction is consumed by everyone, resulting in puckered lips and shrunken clothes. The boys next try to take the census at a

football stadium. They disguise themselves as players and wind up in the middle of the game. Curly runs off with the ball and all the other players in pursuit.

51.

Cuckoo Cavaliers (1940) ***+ ---------------Director: Jules White Cast : Dorothy Appleby The stooges are three fish peddlers who, looking for a new business opportunity, open a beauty salon south of the border. Their first customers are some chorus girls from a local night club. After the stooges completely ruin the girl’s hair, and their manager finds out, the boys must leave on the run.

52.

Boobs in Arms (1940) ****------------Director: Jules White Cast

: Richard Fiske, Evelyn Young, Phil Van Zandt

The stooges are greeting card salesmen who are mistakenly inducted into the army after escaping from the jealous husband of one of their customers. In bootcamp their sergeant turns out to be the same man, whom they constantly vex and bewilder. When the boys are sent to the front lines and the sergeant is captured they must rescue him, which they do after doping themselves with laughing gas. At the end they get shot off into the sunset on a cannon shell. ..........................................................................

Stooge Shorts Part 3 of 5 1941-1947

[Mitch Shapiro Rev. 1.0 4/95]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------Moe, Larry, Curly: ==================

53.

So Long Mr. Chumps (1941) ***+ -----------------Director: Jules White Cast

: Vernon Dent, Bud Jamison, Bruce Bennet, Robert Williams

The stooges are street cleaners who find some valuable bonds and return them to their owner. The man is so grateful that he offers them a big reward if they can find an honest man with executive ability. Their search leads them to a woman who’s fiancee is honest, but he’s in jail. The boys decide to commit a crime so they can go behind

bars to find him. In prison the boys locate the man and help him escape, only to find out that their benefactor is a con man and on the way himself to the slammer.

54.

Dutiful But Dumb (1941) ****+ ----------------

Director: Del Lord Cast : Bud Jamison, Vernon Dent, James C. Morton, Bruce Bennett, Chetster Conklin The stooges are photographers for Whack magazine (“If it’s a good picture it’s out of Whack”) who, after messing up an assignment, are sent to the country of Vulgaria to get a picture of a death ray gun. In Vulgaria the penalty for taking pictures in is death, and the boys soon wind up in front of a firing squad. Curly’s last request is a giant cigar and by the time he’s done smoking it all the soldiers are asleep and the stooges make their escape.

55.

All the Worlds a Stooge (1941) ****-----------------------

Director: Del Lord Cast : Lelah Taylor, Emory Parnell, Bud Jamison, Symona Boniface, Olaf Hytten, Richard Fiske The stooges are window washers who lose their jobs after Moe impersonates the dentist in whose office they were cleaning. On the run, they are hired by a millionaire to pose as children. It seems the man’s wife wants to adopt some refugees to impress her society friends. Moe is Johnny, Curly is Frankie and Larry is Mabel. Everything goes fairly well as the lady shows off the stooges to her friends, but they finally irritate her husband so much that he goes after them with an ax.

56.

I’ll Never Heil Again (1941) ****+ --------------------Director: Jules White Cast

: Mary Ainslee, John Kascier, Vernon Dent, Bud Jaimison

A follow up to “You Nazty Spy”, the stooges have taken over the country of Moronica. Moe is Hailstone the Dictator, Curly is a Field Marshall and Larry is Minister of Propaganda. The stooges are planning with their allies to conquer the world, which mainly consists of fighting over a globe. The former king’s daughter gets into their headquarters and plants a bomb which Curly detonates. All ends well as the king regains control of the country and the stooges wind up as trophies on the wall.

57.

An Ache in Every Stake (1941) ****+ ----------------------

Director: Del Lord Cast : Vernon Dent, Bud Jamison, Gino Corrado, Bess Flowers, Symona Boniface The stooges are icemen who, while delivering ice to a house on the top of a high hill, destroy several cakes that a wealthy man is trying to bring home. When their antics cause the servants at their customer’s house to quit, the boys are hired to take their place and prepare a dinner party. What they don’t know is that the party is for the man whose cakes they wrecked. When Moe’s gas filled cake explodes and the man realizes who they are, they must leave in a hurry.

58.

In the Sweet Pie and Pie (1941) ****+ ------------------------

Director: Jules White Cast : Dorothy Appleby, Mary Ainslee, Etheldera Leopold, Symona Boniface, Vernon Dent.

The stooges are convicts about to be executed for some murders they didn’t commit.

The day before the execution they are tricked into marrying three rich girls who need husbands to collect a legacy. At the last minute the real murderers confess and the stooges are pardoned. The girls are now stuck with the stooges so they plot to get rid of them by making them become gentlemen. The girl’s lawyer convinces them to throw a big party in the hope that the stooges will humiliate them and they can get a divorce. The boys do just that as the party degenerates into a wild pie fight. But the girls decide to keep the stooges and give their lawyer the boot. [ Dance teacher footage from “Hoi Polloi” ] 59.

Some More of Samoa (1941) ***+ -----------------Director: Del Lord Cast

: Louise Carver, Symona Boniface, Mary Ainslee

The stooges are tree surgeons who are enlisted by a rich old man to find a mate for his rare puckerless persimmon tree. The boys sail to the tropical island of Rhum-Boogie to find the tree. When they arrive they are captured by the natives and will be eaten unless Curly marries the Chief’s ugly daughter. The stooges escape with the tree and, after a confrontation with an alligator, sail off with their prize.

60.

Loco Boy Makes Good (1942) **** -------------------

Director: Jules White Cast : Dorothy Appleby, Vernon Dent, Bud Jamison, Robert Williams, John Tyrel The stooges decide to get some easy money by having Curly slip on a bar of soap in a hotel lobby so they can sue the owner. Curly slips as planned but the hotel turns out to be run by an old lady who is about to lose her lease to the evil landlord. The stooges decide to help her fix up the place and start by beating up the landlord and stealing his watch. After their usual antics in renovating the place, the hotel is ready for the grand re-opening. The stooges put on a big show with a famous critic in attendance. Their corny act goes over poorly until Curly accidentally puts on a magicians coat and becomes a sensation and the place is a success.

61.

Cactus Makes Perfect (1942) ***+ -------------------Director: Jules White Cast

: Monty Collins, Vernon Dent, Ernie Adams

The stooges are living with their mother who persuades them its time to leave home and seek their fortune. After a con man sells them a phony deed to a lost gold mine, the boys head west to find the treasure. After some mishaps with Curly’s gold finding invention, they locate the mine and strike it rich. When two crooked miners try to take their gold they hole up in an abandoned hotel and, although they get bombarded by dynamite, triumph over the crooks.

62.

What’s the Matador (1942) ***+ ------------------

Director: Jules White Cast : Suzanne Kaaven, Harry Burns, Dorothy Appleby, Eddie Laughton The stooges are actors traveling to perform at a fiesta in Mexico. After they accidentally switch suitcases with that of Dolores, a lovely senorita they met on trip down, they must sneak into her house to retrieve their suitcase. When they are confronted by her jealous husband he vows to kill them if he sees them again. At the fiesta where they are performing a comedy bullfight (Curly is the matador, Moe and Larry are in a bull costume) the husband bribes the attendants to let a real bull into the ring. Curly knocks the bull out with a head butt and becomes a hero. [ I never understood how the bull costume could have fit in that

suitcase. ] 63.

Matri-Phony (1942) ***+ -----------------Director: Harry Edwards Cast : Vernon Dent, Marjorie Deanne The stooges are potters in ancient Rome during the reign of Emperor Octopus Grabus.

When the emperor orders all beautiful red-headed women to be brought before him so he can select a wife, Diana, a pretty red-head, seeks refuge with the stooges. Some soldiers find Diana’s hiding place and they are all brought to the palace where the stooges escape and try to pass of Curly as Diana, having broken the emperor’s glasses.

Their ruse fails and they’re caught by the palace guards as they try to escape.

64.

Three Smart Saps (1942) **** ---------------Director: Jules White Cast : Vernon Dent, Bud Jamison The stooges are engaged to the three daughters of a prison warden. When they learn that some crooks have taken over the prison and their prospective father-in-law has been locked up, they decide to go undercover to rescue him. The stooges sneak into the prison where they find a casino with a fancy party in progress. After swiping some formal attire, they crash the party and get candid camera evidence to expose the crooked goings-on. With the crooks behind bars once again, the stooges are able to get married and all ends well.

65.

Even as I.O.U (1942) ****+ -------------

Director: Del Lord Cast : Ruth Skinner, Stanley Blystone, Vernon Dent, Bud Jamison, Heine Conklin, Jack Gardner, Billie Bletcher A destitute mother and child move into the stooge’s vacant lot home and the boys decide to help them. They steal the kids piggy bank and sneak into the race track.

They bet on a long shot that wins and then are gypped out of their winnings by two con men who sell them a washed up race horse. Everything turns out happily when Curly swallows horse vitamins and gives birth to a colt!

66.

Sock-a-Bye-Baby (1942) *** --------------Director: Jules White

Cast

: Bud Jamison

The stooges mistakenly kidnap a baby they find on their doorstep. When the cops and the baby’s mother come looking for the baby, the boys panic and flee into the country with the cops (one of them is the baby’s father) pursuing them by motorcycle. It all ends happily with the baby reunited with its parents and the stooges running off disguised as bushes.

67.

They Stooge to Conga (1943) **** -------------------Director: Del Lord Cast : Vernon Dent The stooges are repairmen who get a job fixing the doorbell in large house which is the secret headquarters of some Nazi spies. They manage to ruin most of the house while working on the wiring and then subdue the spies and sink an enemy submarine by remote control. [ One of the most violent of all the shorts, especially the scene where Curly spikes Moe in the eye. The stooges manage a maximum of destruction in the shortest time. ]

68.

Dizzy Detectives (1943) ***+ ---------------Director: Jules Whites Cast : Bud Jamison The stooges are carpenters who become policemen. A mysterious burglar disguised as a gorilla has the cops baffled and Mr. Dill, the head of the citizens league, threatening the police chief’s job. The boys go on the case and pose as night watchmen at an antiques store. They confront the crook, who turns out to be a real gorilla owned by Dill. After defeating Dill and some other bad guys in a wild fight, the gorilla drinks some nitroglycerin and blows up. [ The carpentry scenes are taken from “Pardon My Scotch”. ]

69.

Spook Louder (1943) ***+ -----------Director: Del Lord Cast

: Stanley Blystone, Symona Boniface, William Kelley

The stooges are salesman selling a weight reducing machine. They have no luck until they show up at the house of an eccentric inventor where they are hired as caretakers.

When the scientist goes to Washington to demonstrate his death-ray machine to the

government, the boys are left to guard his house and must contend with enemy spies and a mysterious pie thrower.

70.

Back From the Front (1943) ***+ ------------------Director: Jules White Cast : Bud Jamison, Vernon Dent Set in WW II, the stooges are the only survivors of an American ship sunk by an enemy torpedo. Adrift on a raft, they come upon a German battleship and by various means, such as Moe disguising himself as Hitler, and Curly and Larry as Goering and Goebbels, manage to capture the enemy ship.

71.

Three Little Twerps (1943) **** -------------------

Director: Harry Edwards Cast : Chester Conklin, Hienie Conklin, Stanley Blystone, Bud Jamison.

The Stooges get a job putting up posters for a circus but discover that instead of money, their pay is tickets to the show. When trying to scalp their tickets gets them in trouble, they hide out backstage where Curly has an encounter with a bearded lady and Moe and Larry hide in a horse suit. When they’re caught, the circus manager gives them a choice of going to jail or joining the circus. What they don’t know is that they are to be targets for the Zulu spear thrower. When Curly hits the spear thrower with one of his own spears, the boys are on the run once again.

72.

Higher Than a Kite (1943) ***+ -----------------Director: Del Lord Cast : Vernon Dent, Dick Curtis The stooges are auto mechanics working for the R.A.F. in England. After wrecking an officers car they need a place to hide, but their choice, a sewer pipe, turns out to a bomb which is dropped on the enemy. Finding themselves behind enemy lines, Moe and Curly disguise as German officers and Larry dresses as a seductive fraulein. While general Bommel chases after Larry, Moe and Curly steal the secret plans from the high command.

73.

I Can Hardly Wait (1943) ****+ ----------------Director: Jules White

Cast

: Bud Jamison

The stooges are defense workers who have trouble getting to sleep when Curly gets a toothache. Moe and Larry try various ways to remove the offending tooth, but nothing works so they take Curly to the dentist. While Moe gets in the chair to show Curly how easy its going to be, the dentist enters and pulls Moe’s tooth by mistake.

Curly then wakes up and realizes its all been a dream and a punch to the mouth from Moe dislodges the tooth.

74.

Dizzy Pilots (1943) ****-----------Director: Jules White Cast : Richard Fiske The stooges are the Wrong brothers, three inventors trying to finish building an airplane they can sell to the army and thereby avoid the draft. When their plane, the “Buzzard”, turns out to be a flop, the boys are drafted into the army where they have trouble with a tough drill sergeant. [ The army footage is taken from “Boobs in Arms” ]

75.

Phony Express (1943) ****+ ------------Director: Del Lord Cast

: Chester Conklin, Snub Pollard, Bud Jamison

Set in the old west, the stooges are three tramps wanted for vagrancy. After ruining a medicine peddlers show, they arrive in Peaceful Gulch where a picture has been printed declaring them to be three famous lawmen coming to clean up the town.

Assigned to guard the bank, the boys have the local gang scared at first, but when the gang learns who the stooges really are, they rob the bank. The boys go in pursuit, find the bad guy’s hideout, subdue the bandits and recover the money.

76.

A Gem of a Jam (1943) ***+ -------------Director: Del Lord Cast : Bud Jamison, Stanley Blystone The stooges are janitors working in the offices of Doctors Harts, Burns and Belcher.

Some crooks arrive seeking medical attention after their boss has been wounded in a shoot out with the cops. Mistaken for doctors, the boys are forced to operate on the wounded crook, but instead they accidentally dump him out the window into a passing police car. The rest of the gang chases them into a store room filled with dummies where the cops finally catch the bad guys.

77.

Crash Goes the Hash (1944) **** ------------------Director: Jules White Cast

: Vernon Dent, Bud Jamison, Dick Curtis, Symona Boniface

The stooges are hired as reporters and their first assignment is to get a picture of a visiting prince who is planning to marry a local socialite. The boys disguise as servants and infiltrate a party being in thrown in the honor of the prince. The stooges ruin the party, but save the day as they expose the prince as crook who is planning to rob the house. Their boss is so grateful for the expose that he gives the boys a bonus and the rich lady decides to marry Curly!

78.

Busy Buddies (1944) ***+ -----------Director: Del Lord Cast : Vernon Dent, Fred Kelsey The stooges run a small restaurant, and must come up with some quick money to pay off a pie dealer who’s wares they ruined. They enter Curly in a milking contest at the county fair, but his technique leaves something to be desired, and he quickly falls behind the champ. Moe and try to help by putting on a cow suit and pouring milk from a concealed bottle, but when their cheating is exposed, they must leave on the run.

79.

The Yokes on Me (1944) *** --------------Director: Jules White Cast : Bob McKenzie, Emmett Lynn Rejected by the armed services, the stooges decide to “do their bit” by becoming farmers. After paying $1000 and throwing in their car, the boys are owners of a run down farm, which lacks any livestock. After capturing an escaped ostrich, they decide to carve jack-o-lanterns for profit and then must contend with some Japanese who have escaped from a relocation center. The stooges become heroes by capturing the escapees, with the help of explosive eggs laid by the ostrich who had swallowed some blasting powder. [ This short is rarely seen on broadcast TV because of its obvious WW II racial overtones. ]

80.

Idle Roomers (1944) **** -----------Director: Del Lord

Cast

: Christyne McIntyre, Duke York, Vernon Dent

The stooges are working as bellboys in a large hotel when a side show promoter shows up with ‘Lupe’, a wild wolfman who promptly escapes. The stooges try to capture the wolfman by playing music to calm him, but music makes the wolfman go berserk and soon the stooges are the ones trying to run away. The boys end up caught in an elevator with the wolfman who shoots them into the sky.

81.

Gents Without Cents (1944) ***+ ------------------Director: Jules White Cast : Lindsay, Laverne, and Betty The stooges are three small time actors looking for a job. They meet three girl dancers in the situation and get a small part in a big producers show at the shipyard. When the rest of the cast doesn’t show up, the stooges and the girls must put on the whole show themselves. The show is a hit and the stooges marry the girls and head to Niagara Falls for their honeymoon. [ Their act at the shipyard contains the classic “Niagara Falls” bit; “Slowly I turned, step by step, inch by inch...” ]

82.

No Dough Boys (1944) ***+ ------------Director: Jules White Cast

: Vernon Dent, Christyne McIntyre

The stooges are dressed as Japanese soldiers for their job as magazine models. On their lunch break they go into a restaurant with their Japanese uniforms on causing the proprietor to mistake them for the real thing, and a chase ensues. The boys fall through a trap door, and into a nest of Nazi spies where they are mistaken for “Naki”, “Saki” and “Waki”, three Japanese saboteurs. The stooges try to act the part, including demonstrating acrobatics and jiu-jitsu to their hosts. When the real “Naki”, “Saki” and “Waki” show up, the boys are exposed and impostors, but after a wild fight manage to capture all the Axis spies.

83.

Three Pests in a Mess (1945) ****---------------------

Director: Del Lord Cast : Vernon Dent, Vic Travers, Snub Pollard, Christyne MacIntyre, Brian Ohara The stooges are three inventors trying to a get a patent on their preposterous fly catching invention. When they learn they’ll have to catch 100,000 flies to earn enough

to get a patent, some crooks overhear and think the boys are the $100,000 sweepstakes winners. When the crooks give chase, the stooges hide in a sporting goods store where Curly shoots a dummy, which they mistake for a real person. The boys decide to bury the “body” in a pet cemetery, but the cemetery owner arrives from a costume party with his partners, all dressed as spooks, and they proceed to scare the devil out of the stooges.

84.

Booby Dupes (1945) ***+ ----------Director: Del Lord Cast : Rebel Randally, Vernon Dent The stooges are three fish peddlers who decide to cut out the middleman by catching their own fish. They trade their car and $300 for a “new” boat which turns out to be a piece of junk that soon falls apart and sinks in the middle of the ocean. Luckily the boys also have a row boat which they climb into and then try to signal some passing planes for help. Unfortunately, their paint spattered rag is mistaken for a Japanese flag and they are bombed from the sky.

85.

Idiots Deluxe (1945) ***+ ------------Director: Jules White Cast : Vernon Dent, Paul Kruger Moe is on trial for assaulting Curly and Larry with an ax. Moe relates how Curly and Larry took him on a hunting trip for his nerves. Out in the woods they confronted a bear which Curly and Larry stunned, and thinking it was dead, threw it in the back of their car, where it came awake, tossed Moe out and drove the car into a tree. The judge finds Moe not guilty and Moe promptly goes after Larry and Curly again with the ax.

86.

If a Body Meets a Body (1945) ****---------------------Director: Jules White Cast : Theodore Lorch, Fred Kelsey Curly learns that he is named in the will of his rich uncle, so the boys head for the uncle’s mansion to attend the reading of the will. They arrive on a dark and stormy night only to find that the lawyer has been murdered and the will and the body have disappeared. All the relatives must stay in the spooky house while the police investigate and the stooges are given the bedroom where the uncle was murdered.

After a series of misadventures with a walking skull and the uncle’s body, which keeps turning up in strange places, the stooges unmask the butler and maid as the killers and recover the will. Then they learn that Curly has only been left sixty seven cents.

87.

Micro-Phonies (1945) ***** -------------

Director: Jules White Cast : Christyne McIntyre, Gino Corrado, Symona Boniface, Fred Kelsey, Sam Flint, Chester Conklin The stooges are working in a radio station where a pretty girl has just made a recording of “Voices of Spring” under an assumed name. She wants to hide her singing career from her disapproving society parents while auditioning for Mrs. Bixby’s “Krispy Krunchy” radio program. After a run-in with a pompous violinist, the boys find the record and Curly starts mimicking to it, dressed as a women. Mrs. Bixby witnesses their performance and is impressed enough to hire “Senorita Cucaracha” (Curly) and Senors “Mucho” and “Gusto” (Moe and Larry) for her radio program. The boys show up in their disguises to “sing” at a Mrs. Bixby’s party but run into trouble when Moe smashes the record over Curly’s head. The real singer tries to help by singing from behind a curtain while Curly mimics, but she is discovered and the stooges exit to a hail of phonograph records.

88.

Beer Barrel Polecats (1946) ***+ -------------------Director: Jules White Cast

: Robert Williams, Vernon Dent, Bruce Bennett

The stooges make a whole batch of homemade beer, but get tossed in jail when Curly sells some to a cop. Their minor indiscretion turns into a forty year sentence when a keg of beer Curly has hidden under his coat explodes while the boys are being photographed. In prison the stooges get into more trouble with the warden and wind on the rockpile when they try to escape. Released as old men with long gray beards, the first thing Curly wants is a bottle of beer. [ A pretty good short, but only because of heavy use of footage from “In the Sweet Pie and Pie” and “Goodbye Mr. Chumps”. ] 89.

A Bird in the Head (1946) ***+ -----------------Director: Edward Bernds Cast

: Vernon Dent, Robert Williams, Frank Lackteen

The stooges are working as paperhangers in the home of Professor Panzer, a mad scientist looking for a brain to use in his experiments. The professor wants to put a human brain into a gorilla but has trouble finding a brain small enough, which leads

him to select Curly (for obvious reasons) as the perfect donor. The stooges manage to foil the madman with the help of the Gorilla who befriends Curly 90.

Uncivil Warbirds (1946) ***+ ----------------

Director: Jules White Cast : Faye WIlliams, Eleanor Counts, Marilyn Johnson, Maury Dexter, Ted Lorch, Al Rosen, Blackie Whiteford The stooges are civil war soldiers who are constantly changing uniforms to avoid the opposing armies. Eventually they decide to be loyal to the south, but remain disguised as Union soldiers. Curly is detected as a spy, but Moe and Larry prevent his execution. The boys escape with a secret map and marry their three southern belles.

91.

The Three Troubledoers (1946) ***+ ---------------------Director: Edward Bernds Cast

: Christyne McIntyre, Dick Curtis, Vernon Dent

Set in the old west, the stooges become marshalls in a town with a high death rate for lawmen. The boys set out prevent a marriage between the villain Blackie and the heroine Nell, who’s father Blackie has kidnapped. The stooges manage to defeat Blackie and his henchmen, but when Nell’s father learns she promised to marry Curly if he could save her, he decides death would be a preferable fate.

92.

Monkey Businessmen (1946) ***+ ------------------

Director: Edward Bernds Cast : Kenneth MacDonald, Fred Kelsey, Snub Pollard, Jean Donahue, Cy Schindell The stooges are bumbling electricians who decide to go away for a rest after they are fired for their incompetence. The rest home they choose is run by Dr. Mallard, a quack who gyps the patients for everything they’ve got. When the boys discover the crooked goings on they escape, but not before Curly accidentally cures another patient who rewards him with a thousand dollars.

93.

Three Loan Wolves (1946) ****-----------------

Director: Jules White Cast

: Beverley Warren, Harold Brauer

Told in flash back, the stooges tell their son how he came to have three fathers. The stooges, owners of a pawn shop, owed money to the gashouse protection society, a bunch of loan sharks. To complicate matters, a lady leaves a baby in the shop as part of a plan to sell a phony diamond and the stooges wind up caring for the kid. The stooges manage to defeat the crooks and when they finish telling the story, the kid goes off to find his real mother.

94.

G.I. Wanna Go Home (1946) ***------------------

Director: Jules White Cast : Judy Malcom, Ethelread Leopold, Doris Houck, Symona Boniface The stooges are discharged from the army and go to see their fiancees, but find they have been dispossessed and the wedding is off until they find a home. The boys have trouble finding a vacant apartment so they set up housekeeping in a vacant lot. Their housing problems seem to be solved until a farmer destroys their new home with a tractor. The stooges then build a house of their own, but the girls aren’t impressed with the one room mansion and walk out on them.

95.

Rhythm and Weep (1946) ***--------------Director: Jules White Cast

: Jack Norton, Doria Patrice, Ruth Godfrey, Nita Bieber

The stooges are actors who can’t seem to find a job, so they decide to jump off a high building and end it all. On the roof top they meet three girl dancers with the same idea. Before they can jump, they meet a millionaire Broadway producer who hires them all for his next show. The rehearsal goes so well that he doubles their salary, but it all comes to naught when they discover that the “producer” is an escaped patient from Dr. Dippy’s retreat.

96.

Three Little Pirates (1946) **** --------------------

Director: Edward Bernds Cast : Robert Stevens, Dorothy DeHaven, Vernon Dent, Christyne McIntyre

The stooges are castaways from a garbage scow who land on Dead Man’s Island where everyone is living in olden times. To escape from the governor, they disguise Curly as a Maharaja and win permission to journey to their own country to fetch presents. The governor is fooled, but the boys run into more trouble in the den of Black Louie the pirate where Curly is forced into a knife throwing contest with Larry as the target. Things look bad until a mis-thrown knife cuts the rope that holds the chandelier and it crashes down on Black Louie’s men. With the pirates defeated, Moe decides to take over as ruler of the island.

97.

Half-Wits Holiday (1947) ****+ -----------------

Director: Jules White Cast : Vernon Dent, Barbara Slater, Ted Lorch, Emil Sitka, Symona Boniface A professor bets one of his colleagues that he can turn the stooges into gentlemen within 60 days. With the aid of his pretty daughter, the professor tries to teach the boys proper etiquette. After many frustrating attempts, he introduces the stooges into society at a fancy party. At first things go all right, but the party soon degenerates into a wild pie fight. [ A remake of “Hoi Polloi” with lots of footage from the original.

Except for a cameo in “Hold That Lion”, this was Curly’s last appearance in a stooge short. ] .........................................................................

Stooge Shorts Part 4 of 5 1947-1952

[Mitch Shapiro Rev. 1.0 4/95]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------Moe, Larry, Shemp: ================== 98.

Fright Night (1947) ***+ -----------Director: Jules White Cast

: Cy Shindell, Dick Wesell, Harold Brauer, Claire Carleton

The stooges are managers of “Chopper”, a beefy boxer, and they bet their bank roll on his next fight. When a gangster tells them to have Chopper lose or they’ll lose their lives, the boys decide to play along. They try to soften Chopper up by feeding him

rich food and having him spend time with their friend Kitty. The fight gets canceled when Kitty dumps Chopper for his opponent and the two boxers engage in some prematch fisticuffs that result in a broken hand for the opponent. The stooges think they’ve put one over on the gangsters, only to have the bad guys corner them in a deserted warehouse. Instead of being rubbed out, the boys capture the crooks and get a reward.

99.

Out West (1947) ***+ --------

Director: Edward Bernds Cast : Jack Norman, Jock Mahoney, Vernon Dent, Christyne McIntyre, Stanley Blystone, George Chesbro, Frank Ellis The stooges go out west for Shemp’s health and get mixed up with some bad guys.

The villains have locked up the Arizona Kid and their leader plans to marry his girl, Nell. The boys help the Arizona Kid escape and he rides to fetch the Cavalry.

Somehow, the stooges manage to defeat the bad guys before the Cavalry arrives.

100.

Hold That Lion (1947) ***+ --------------

Director: Jules White Cast : Kenneth McDonald, Emil Sitka, Dudley Dickerson, Curly Howard The stooges are gypped out of their inheritance by Icabob Slipp, a crooked lawyer.

The boys follow Slipp onto a passenger train and corner him, but not before they accidentally let a lion loose on the train. [ Curly Howard has a cameo role as a snoring passenger. ] 101.

Brideless Groom (1947) ***+ --------------Director: Edward Bernds Cast

: Emil Sitka, Dee Green, Christyne McIntyre, Doris Colleen

To inherit a fortune, voice teacher Shemp must marry before six o’clock, but no girl will accept his proposal. Finally one of his repulsive students agrees to marry him, just in the nick of time. When the rest of the prospective brides hear about the inheritance, they show up at the ceremony and a free for all ensues. Shemp marries before the deadline, but wishes he was still a free man.

102.

Sing a Song of Six Pants (1947) ***+ -----------------------Director: Jules White Cast

: Vernon Dent, Virginia Hunter, Dee Green, Harold Baur

The stooges are tailors, and are heavily in debt to the Skin & Flint finance company.

When the boys read about the big reward for a fugitive robber, they think it could be the answer to their problems. The bank robber conveniently ducks into their shop and leaves a suit with a safe combination. After his girl friend fails to retrieve it, the robber returns with gang and a wild fight ensues. The boys miss out on the reward but wind up with the crook’s bankroll and can pay their creditors.

103.

All Gummed Up (1947) *** ------------Director: Jules White Cast : Christyne McIntyre, Emil Sitka The stooges run a drug store and are about to have their lease taken away by the Flint, the mean old man who owns the place. When Flint kicks his wife out for being old, the stooges try to help her by inventing a formula that makes old people young. Their concoction turns the wife into a beautiful young woman, and Flint offers the boys the store for free if they’ll transform him as well. They agree, but after he swallows the stuff he turns into an infant, and the boys leave on the run.

104.

Shivering Sherlocks (1948) *** -------------------

Director: Del Lord Cast : Christyne McIntyre, Vernon Dent, Duke York, Kenneth McDonald, Frank Lacteen The stooges witness an armed robbery and are brought in by the cops as suspects.

After passing a lie detector test, the boys are freed but are now the only ones who can identify the crooks. Meanwhile, their friend Gladys has inherited a house in the country and the boys go with her to inspect it so she won’t be gypped when its sold.

The house turns out to be the crook’s hideout, and when they abduct Gladys, the stooges must rescue her.

105.

Pardon My Clutch (1948) ***+ ---------------Director: Edward Bernds Cast : Matt McHugh, Emil Sitka

The stooge’s friend Claude sells them his old lemon of a car so they can take Shemp, who is sick with a toothache, camping. The car won’t work and the boys are apparently out a bundle, when a car collector happens on the scene and offers to buy it at a premium. Claude backs out on the deal and gives the stooges their money back, only to discover the “collector” is an escaped lunatic.

106.

Square Heads of the Round Table (1948) ***+ -------------------------------

Director: Edward Bernds Cast : Jock Mahoney, Christyne McIntyre, Vernon Dent, Phil Van Zandt Set in Elizabethan times, the stooges decide to help their friend Cedric the Blacksmith win the hand of the fair princess Elaine. At night the group sneaks into the castle to serenade Elaine, but pick the wrong window and are caught by the King. Tossed in the dungeon, the boys escape with Cedric’s help and manage to foil the plans of the Black Prince who was plotting against the King. All turns out well when the grateful King allows Cedric to marry Elaine.

107.

Fiddlers Three (1948) ***+ -------------Director: Jules White Cast

: Virginia Hunter, Vernon Dent, Phil Van Zandt

The stooges are musicians at the court of King Cole. When they ask the king’s permission to marry their sweethearts, the King agrees, but only after Princess Alicia has married Prince Valiant. This news upsets Mergatroyd, an evil magician who plans to marry the Princess himself and rule the Kingdom. Mergatroyd abducts the Princess, and it’s up to the stooges to foil his plans and expose his evil doings.

108.

Heavenly Daze (1948) ***+ ------------Director: Jules White Cast

: Vernon Dent, Sam McDaniel, Symona Boniface

Shemp dies but cannot get into heaven until he reforms Moe and Larry. He returns to earth as an invisible spirit and sets out to prevent the other two stooges from selling a phony invention (a fountain pen that writes under whip cream) to a rich couple.

Shemp sabotages Moe and Larry’s sales pitch, but it looks he’s headed for the fires below anyway. But no, its only a dream and Shemp set the bed on fire while smoking in bed.

109.

Hot Scots (1948) ***+ --------Director: Edward Bernds Cast

: Christyne McIntyre, Herb Evans, Ted Lorch, Charles Knight

The stooges apply for job as ‘Yard Men’ at Scotland Yard, thinking they’ll become detectives, but instead wind up as gardeners. When they learn that detectives are need to guard a Scottish castle where valuables have been disappearing, they masquerades as Scotsmen to get the job. After a spooky night in the castle, the boys expose the servants as the crooks.

110.

I’m a Monkey’s Uncle (1948) ***+ -------------------Director: Jules White Cast : Dee Green, Virginia Hunter Set in the stone age, the stooges are cavemen who must have various misadventures hunting, gathering, and otherwise coping with prehistoric life. When some other cavemen threaten to take their women (“Aggie”, “Maggie”, and “Baggy”), the boys fight them off with a catapulting tree branch that shoots rocks and eggs.

111.

Mummies Dummies (1948) ***+ --------------Director: Edward Bernds Cast

: Dee Green, Ralph Dunn, Phil Van Zandt

Set in ancient Egypt, the stooges run a used chariot lot where they unload defective chariots on unsuspecting customers. When they gyp the head of the palace guard, they’re brought to the palace to be executed, but instead become royal chamberlains after curing the King’s toothache. When they recover some tax money stolen by a corrupt official, the King rewards them with marriage to his daughter. After getting a look at the ugly crone, Moe and Larry select Shemp to be the groom.

112.

Crime on Their Hands (1948) ***+ --------------------

Director: Edward Bernds Cast : Kenneth McDonald, Christyne McIntyre, Charles C. Wilson, Lester Allen The stooges are janitors working in a newspaper office. When an anonymous caller phones in a tip about the theft a famous diamond, the boys decide to become reporters and go after the crooks. They find the crooks, but Shemp accidentally swallows the

diamond which was hidden in a bowl of candy. The crooks want to cut the diamond out, but the boys foil them with the help of a friendly gorilla.

113.

The Ghost Talks (1949) *** --------------Director: Jules White Cast : The stooges are movers for an express company and on a rainy night are sent to move some junk, including a suit of armor, from a spooky old house. The armor is haunted by the ghost of Peeping Tom, who has no intention of leaving. The ghost foils the stooges attempts to take the armor, until Lady Godiva shows up and the two ride off together.

114.

Who Done it? (1949) ***+ -----------Director: Edward Bernds Cast : Christyne McIntyre, Emil Sitka The stooges are private detectives looking for a missing millionaire. They wander around the millionaire’s spooky mansion confronting various crooks and a dangerous dame. The stooges vanquish the crooks (Shemp uses his “trusty shovel”) and find the missing man.

115.

Hocus Pocus (1949) *** ----------Director: Jules White Cast

: Mary Ainslee, Vernon Dent, Jimmie Lloyd

The stooges are taking care of their invalid friend Mary who is confined to wheelchair.

What they don’t is that Mary is only faking her disability to swindle the insurance company. When the boys witness a hypnotist, “The Great Svengarlic”, doing his act on the street, they think he might be able to hypnotize Mary so she can walk. Instead, they become subjects for his show and are hypnotized into walking out on a flagpole high above the ground. When they come out of their trance and realize their predicament, they fall into a window, startling Mary, who jumps from her wheelchair just as the insurance adjuster is about to hand her a check.

116.

Fuelin Around (1949) ***+ -------------

Director: Edward Bernds Cast : Jock Mahoney, Emil Sitka, Vernon Dent, Christyne McIntyre,

Phil Van Zandt The stooges are carpet layers working in the home of a scientist, Professor Sneed, who has invented a super rocket fuel. Larry is mistaken for the professor by foreign agents who kidnap the trio and take them to the country of Anemia where they are ordered to produce the rocket fuel or be executed. The boys come up with a concoction they try to pass of as the real stuff, but are exposed when the real professor and his daughter are also kidnapped. The stooges help them escape, using their secret formula to fuel a jeep.

117.

Malice in the Palace (1949) ***+ -------------------Director: Jules White Cast

: George Lewis, Franck Lacteen, Vernon Dent

Set in a desert land where the stooges run a restaurant, the boys set out to recover the stolen Rootin Tootin diamond after they learn from the thieves that the Emir of Shmo has absconded with the contraband jewel. They journey to the stronghold of Shmo where they disguise as Santa Clauses and scare the ruler into giving them the diamond.

118.

Vagabond Loafers (1949) ***+ ----------------

Director: Edward Bernds Cast : Christyne McIntyre, Kenneth MacDonald, Symona Boniface, Emil Sitka, Dudley Dickerson, Herbet Evans The stooges are the “Day and Night” plumbers. Called out to a fancy mansion where a society party is going on, they cross the electrical and water systems and generally ruin the place. Despite their incompetent plumbing, they save the day by recovering a painting stolen by a pair of thieves masquerading as party guests.

119.

Dunked in the Deep (1949) *** -----------------Director: Jules White Cast : Gene Roth The stooges are tricked into becoming stowaways by their neighbor “Borscht”, a spy for an enemy country. Stranded on a freighter on the high seas, they discover that their friend has concealed some stolen microfilm in watermelons they brought aboard for him. After a wild chase, they subdue Borscht and recover the microfilm.

120.

Punchy Cow Punchers (1950) ***+ -------------------

Director: Edward Bernds Cast : Jock Mahoney, Christyne McIntyre, Dick Wessel, Kenneth MacDonald, Vernon Dent, Emil Sitka Set in the old west, the stooges are three soldiers assigned to go undercover and spy on an outlaw gang that’s terrorizing a nearby town. The bad guys have the Arizona Kid locked up, so the boys set about rescuing him with the help of beautiful Nell, his girl. They free the kid, and he rides to summon help. The stooges, with the help of Nell, manage to subdue the bad guys before the kid arrives with the cavalry.

121.

Hugs and Mugs (1950) *** -------------

Director: Jules White Cast : Christyne McIntyre, Kathleen O’Malley, Nanette Bordeaux, Emil Sitka The stooges run a furniture store and come into possession of a stolen pearl necklace.

Three crooked dames convince the boys that the necklace is theirs, and when the real thieves arrive, the stooges fight to defend the girl’s property. The stooges defeat the bad guys and the girls decide to go honest and return the necklace to its rightful owner.

122.

Dopey Dicks (1950) *** ----------Director: Edward Bernds Cast

: Christyne McIntyre, Stanley Price, Phil Van Zandt

The stooges become detectives and go to the aid of girl in the clutches of a mad scientist. The boys arrive at a spooky mansion where the madman is building a mechanical man that needs a human head. After declining the opportunity to supply a stooge-head for the experiment, they find the girl and escape, only to wind up in a car driven by the headless robot.

123.

Love at First Bite (1950) ***+ -----------------Director: Jules White Cast

: Christyne McIntyre, Yvette Reynard, Marie Monteil

The stooges reminisce about the girls they met overseas while in the military. As they wait for the girls’ ship to arrive, they get drunk and Shemp winds up asleep with his

feet in a tub of cement. After sobering up, they free Shemp with a dynamite blast that lands them at the dock where their sweethearts are waiting.

124.

Self Made Maids (1950) **+ --------------Director: Hugh McCullom Cast

: [ No supporting cast, the stooges play all parts ]

The stooges are artists who want to marry their models; “Moella”, “Larraine”, and “Shempetta”. The girls’ father doesn’t approve, so the stooges tickle him into submission.

125.

Three Hams on Rye (1950) ***+ ----------------Director: Jules White Cast

: Nanette Bordeaux, Emil Sitka, Christyne McIntyre

The stooges are stage hands who also have small parts in a big play. They quickly get on the bad side of the producer. First they fail to prevent a famous critic from sneaking into the audience. Then Shemp accidentally adds a pot holder into a cake they bake as a prop. During the play the stooges (as southern gentlemen) and the rest of the cast spit up feathers during what was supposed to be a serious scene. The critic thinks it’s a hilarious satire and the boys are redeemed.

126.

Studio Stoops (1950) **** -------------

Director: Jules White Cast : Kenneth McDonald, Vernon Dent, Christyne McIntyre, Stanley Price The stooges are hired by a movie studio as publicity men. Their first assignment is to get publicity for Dolly Devore, a pretty starlet. They fake a kidnapping, but the cops won’t believe their story. Then the girl is really kidnapped and the stooges must come to the rescue. Shemp winds up hanging out a tenth story window on an extending telephone.

127.

Slap Happy Sleuths (1950) *** ------------------

Director: Hugh McCullom Cast : Vernon Dent, Stanley Blystone, Gene Roth, Nanette Bordeaux?, Emil Sitka

The stooges are investigators for the Onion Oil company. The company’s service stations are being robbed by a gang of crooks, so the boys pose as gas station attendants to capture the bad guys.

128.

A Snitch in Time (1950) ***+ ---------------Director: Jules White Cast : Jean Willes The stooges are carpenters who are re-staining some furniture they’ve delivered to a boarding house. The plot gets complicated when the boys confront some crooks who are hiding out there. They defeat the bad guys with the help of the varnished furniture which sticks the head crook to a chair.

129.

Three Arabian Nuts (1951) ***+ -----------------Director: Edward Bernds Cast

: Vernon Dent, Phil Van Zandt, Dick Curtis, Wesely Bly

The stooges are delivering some Arabian antiques, which include a magic lamp complete with genie. Three Arabian bad guys are after the magic lamp, but the stooges defeat them once they get the “genius”, (as Shemp calls the genie) on their side.

130.

Baby Sitters’ Jitters (1951) *** --------------------Director: Jules White Cast

: Lynn Davis, David Windsor, Margie Liszt, Myron Healy

The stooges are facing eviction and decide to raise some money by becoming babysitters. Their first client is a women separated from her husband, who entrusts her son “Junior” to the boys’ care. When The husband steals the baby, the stooges set out to find their missing charge and return him to his mother. The boys confront the husband and find Junior, and in the process the estranged couple is re-united.

131.

Don’t Throw That Knife (1951) *** ---------------------Director: Jules White Cast : Dick Curtis, Jean Willes The stooges become census takers and wind up in the apartment of a lady whose husband is both jealous and a knife thrower. When the husband arrives home, the boys try to hide, but are discovered, and after dodging some knives, leave on the run.

132.

Scrambled Brains (1951) **** ---------------Director: Jules White Cast

: Babe London, Emil Sitka, Vernon Dent

Shemp is a sick man, suffering from hallucinations. His worst vision is that his ugly nurse Nora is actually beautiful. When Moe and Larry come to take him home from the sanitarium, they discover he’s become engaged to Nora. On the way to Nora’s apartment for the wedding, the boys get in a fight with a stranger who promises to get even with them if he ever sees them again. They arrive to finding Nora waiting for her father, who, when he arrives, turns out to be the man they just fought with.

133.

Merry Mavericks (1951) *** --------------Director: Edward Bernds Cast

: Dan Harvey, Mary Martin, Paul Campbell

Set in the old west, the stooges are mistaken for lawmen and manage to capture a gang of crooks. The boys then get the job of guarding some money in an old house reputed to be haunted by the ghost of an Indian Chief. The crooks escape and go after the money disguised as ghosts, but Shemp, disguised as the Indian Chief, manages to knock them out.

134.

The Tooth Will Out (1951) ***+ -----------------Director: Edward Bernds Cast : Vernon Dent, Margie Liszt The stooges graduate from dental school and go out west to open a practice.

Everything goes well until Shemp “cures” an outlaw’s toothache from the instructions in a carpentry book, and the boys must leave on the run.

135.

Hu La La (1951) **** -------Director: Hugh McCullom Cast

: Jean Willes, Joy Windsor, Kenneth McDonald

The stooges are dance instructors sent by a movie company to a tropical island to teach the natives how to dance so they can appear in a movie. The boys run into trouble with the local witch doctor who wants to add their heads to his collection.

The stooges defeat the witch doctor with hand grenades they swipe from a multiarmed idol, and get on with the dancing lessons.

136.

The Pest Man Wins (1951) ***+ -----------------

Director: Jules White Cast : Margie Liszt, Nanette Bordeaux, Emil Sitka, Vernon Dent, Helen Dickson, Symona Boniface (stock footage) The stooges are pest exterminators who drum up business by planting vermin in a ritzy mansion where a party is going on. The boys are hired, but must dress as guests to work unobserved. They disrupt the party and a wild pie fight ensues. [ Basically a remake of “Ants in the Pantry”. ] 137.

A Missed Fortune (1952) ***+ ---------------Director: Jules White Cast

: Vernon Dent, Nanette Bordeaux, Vivian Mason

Shemp wins $50,000 in a radio contest and the stooges move into the Hotel Costa Plente where they live it up and wreck their fancy suite. While they wait for the prize money to arrive, the boys are pursued by three gold-digging dames after their winnings. When the check arrives however, it’s only for $4.85 after tax deductions. [ Basically a remake of “Healthy, Wealthy and Dumb”. ] 138.

Listen Judge (1952) ***+ -----------Director: Edward Bernds Cast

: Vernon Dent, Emil Sitka, Kitty McHugh

The stooges are fix-it men who are brought before a judge on a charge of chicken stealing. They escape from the courtroom and wind up getting hired in the judges’ house after their antics attempting to fix the doorbell cause the servants to quit. The boys are discovered when the cake they bakes explodes all over a political supporter of the judge and he loses his chance for re-election.

139.

Corny Casanovas (1952) ***+ --------------Director: Jules White Cast : Connie Cezan The stooges don’t know it, but they are all engaged to the same girl, a gold-digger who plans to get an engagement ring from each of them and then abandon them.

When all three show up at her house at the same time, a wild fight ensues, as each

stooge accuses the others of making time with “his” girl. The stooges knock each other senseless and the girl escapes with their rings.

140.

He Cooked His Goose (1952) *** ------------------Director: Jules White Cast : Mary Ainslee, Angela Stevens Larry is a pet dealer who’s seeing Moe’s wife while at the same time trying to steal Shemp’s fiancee. When Moe’s become suspicious, Larry attempts to frame Shemp as the boyfriend. He gets Shemp a job as a door to door pajama salesman and sends him to Moe’s apartment, and then tells both Moe and Shemp’s fiancee to go there and catch him in the act. Larry’s plan backfires when Shemp catches him and lets Moe deliver some punishment. [ A departure from the regular format. The stooges work as seperate characters and Larry has the main role. ]

141.

Gents in a Jam (1952) ***+ --------------

Director: Edward Bernds Cast : David Bond, Mary Ainslee, Vernon Dent, Emil Sitka, Kitty McHugh, Mickey Simpson, Danny Sue Nolan Shemp’s rich Uncle Phineas comes to visit the stooges who are broke and about to evicted. The boys convince their landlady Mrs. McGruder not to toss them out as Shemp is set to inherit a fortune. The boys also have trouble with a circus strongman after Shemp accidentally rips off his wife’s dress. Uncle Phineas gets in the middle of the fight, and Mrs. McGruder ends it by knocking out the strongman. It turns out that Uncle Phineas and the landlady were childhood sweethearts and he marries her, leaving the stooges out of the bucks once again.

142.

Three Dark Horses (1952) ****+ ----------------Director: Jules White Cast : Kenneth McDonald A campaign boss is looking for three delegates to the presidential convention, delegates that are too stupid to discover that his candidate, Hammond Egger, is a crook. Enter the stooges as janitors sent to clean the man’s office. After some of their antics, the boy’s suitability for the job is apparent and they’re hired. The stooges go to the convention, but double cross their boss and vote for another candidate, Abel

Lamb Stewer. When the boss and his muscle man come looking for revenge, the boys defeat them in a wild fight.

143.

Cuckoo on a Choo-Choo (1952) *** --------------------Director: Jules White Cast : Patricia Wright, Victoria Horne Larry and Shemp are living in a stolen railroad car. Larry wants to marry his girlfriend, but she won’t consent until Shemp marries her sister. Shemp however, is constantly drunk and in love with “Carry”, an imaginary giant canary. Moe is an investigator from the railroad, sent to discover how the car was stolen from a moving train. Moe is also in love with Shemp’s girl. Shemp winds up with both women, but still prefers his imaginary canary. [ One of the strangest stooge shorts. Larry does a good impression of Marlon Brando. ]

...........................................................................

Stooge Shorts Part 5 of 5 1953-1959

[Mitch Shapiro Rev. 1.0 4/95]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------Moe, Larry, Shemp: ================== 144.

Up in Daisy’s Penthouse (1953) ***+ ----------------------Director: Jules White Cast

: Connie Cezan, John Merton, Jack Kenny

The stooges escape from jail to prevent their newly rich dad from marrying Daisy, a gold-digger after his money. Shemp looks like dad, so he impersonates him and marries Daisy. What the stooges don’t know is that Daisy is in cahoots with some crooks, and they plan to bump off her new husband. The boys foil the crook’s plan and take Pa home to Ma. [ A remake of “Three Dumb Clucks”, with Shemp, instead of Curly, playing both father and son. ] 145.

Booty and the Beast (1953) ***+ -------------------

Director: Jules White Cast : Vernon Dent, Kenneth McDonald, Curly Howard (stock footage) The stooges do a good turn and help a stranger open a safe in what they think is the man’s house. Actually the man is a crook and the boys were unwitting accomplices to a robbery. Once they realize what’s happened, the stooges go after the bad guy and who’s left on the train to Los Vegas. The boys trap the villain and recover the booty. [ Lots of footage from “Hold that Lion”, including Curly’s cameo appearance. ] 146.

Loose Loot (1953) ***+ ---------Director: Jules White Cast

: Kenneth MacDonald, Tom Kennedy, Emil Sitka

The stooges are willed a lot of dough from a rich uncle, but the executor of the estate, Icabob Slipp, is a crook who absconds with the money. The stooges trail him to a a theater where they engage in a wild chase and ultimately recover their inheritance. [ The opening scenes are taken from “Hold that Lion”. ] 147.

Tricky Dicks (1953) ***+ ------------

Director: Jules White Cast : Benny Rubin, Connie Cezan, Ferris Taylor, Phil Arnold, Murray Alper The stooges are policemen on the trail of a murderer. They unsuccessfully interrogate an Italian organ grinder, among other suspects, and then catch the bad guy after a gun fight that nearly destroys the police station.

148.

Spooks (1953) ***-----Director: Jules White Cast

: Phil Van Zandt, Tom Kennedy, Norma Randall

The stooges are private detectives hired to find a missing girl. The boys disguise as pie salesmen and end up wandering around a mad scientist’s mansion, trying to find the girl. The boys confront a gorilla and various other bad guys, before rescuing the girl. [ One of two stooge shorts filmed in 3D. ]

149.

Pardon my Backfire (1953) *** -----------------Director: Jules White Cast

: Benny Rubin, Frank Sully, Phil Arnold, Fred Kelsey

The stooges are auto mechanics who need money so they can marry their girls. When some escaped convicts pull into their garage, the boys manage to capture them and use the reward money to marry their sweethearts. [ One of two stooge shorts filmed in 3D. ] 150.

Rip Sew and Stich (1953) ***+ ----------------Director: Jules White Cast : Vernon Dent, Phil Arnold The stooges run a tailor shop and need money to pay their creditors. A bank robber leaves his coat in the shop with a combination to a safe. When the crook comes back to retrieve the coat, the stooges capture him and get his bankroll. [ A remake of “Sing a Song of Six Pants”. ]

151.

Bubble Trouble (1953) ***-------------Director: Jules White Cast

: Christyne McIntyre (stock footage), Emil Sitka

The stooges are pharmacists who invent a fountain of youth formula that can turn old people young. They turn an old lady into a beautiful young woman, but when her husband takes the formula it turns him into a gorilla. [ A remake of “All Gummed Up”, with lots of reused footage. ] 152.

Goof on the Roof (1953) ***+ ---------------Director: Jules White Cast : Frank Mitchell, Maxine Gates The stooges are entrusted with taking care of their friends house while he goes off to get married. At first they only wreck the place a little bit, but when they try to install a television antenna, total destruction ensues. When their friend returns with his bride, she’s so shocked she walks out on him.

153.

Income Tax Sappy (1954) ***+ ----------------

Director: Jules White Cast

: Vernon Dent, Nanette Bordeaux, Margie Liszt

Tax cheats Moe, Larry and Shemp decide they’re so good at cheating the government, that they start a business as crooked tax advisors. They become rich, but an undercover agent from the IRS gets the goods on them, and its off to jail for the stooges.

154.

Musty Musketeers (1954) ***+ ---------------Director: Jules White Cast

: Vernon Dent, Phil Van Zandt, Virginia Hunter

Set in the middle ages, the stooges wish to marry their sweethearts, but the King won’t give his consent until Princess Alicia gets married. The princess is abducted by Mergatroyd, an evil magician who plans to marry her and become ruler of the country.

The stooges help the princess escape and then defeat the magician and his henchmen in a sword fight. [ A remake of “Fiddlers Three”. ] 155.

Pals and Gals (1954) *** -------------

Director: Jules White Cast : Norman Willis, George Chesebroo, Christyne McIntyre, Vernon Dent The stooges go out west for Shemp’s health. The boys soon run afoul of a local villain who is forcing pretty Nell to marry him. The bad guy has Nell’s sisters locked up, and its up to the stooges to rescue them and save the day. [ A remake of “Out West”, with Nell’s sisters, instead of the Arizona Kid, being locked up in the cellar. ] 156.

Knutzy Knights (1954) ***+ --------------

Director: Jules White Cast : Jock Mahoney, Christyne McIntyre, Phil Van Zandt, Vernon Dent Set in Elizabethan times, the stooges help their friend Cedric the Blacksmith win the hand of the fair princess Elaine. The only problem is that Elaine is promised to the

Black Prince who is plotting to take over the kingdom. The stooges manage to foil the plot and the grateful King allows Cedric to marry Elaine. [ A remake of “Square Heads of the Round Table”. ] 157.

Shot in the Frontier (1954) **+ -------------------Director: Jules White Cast : Emil Sitka Set in the old west, the stooges must defend their honor against the Noonan brothers, three desperadoes who want to marry the same girls the stooges are courting.

158.

Scotched in Scotland (1954) ***+ -------------------Director: Jules White Cast

: Phil Van Zandt, Charles Knight, Christyne McIntyre

Would be detectives, the stooges get a job guarding a Scotch castle while the owner is away. The servants are crooks intent on robbing the castle of its valuables. Though they do their best to frighten the boys off, the stooges prevail and expose the crooked goings-on. [ A remake of “Hot Scots”. ] 159.

Fling in the Ring (1955) ***+ ----------------Director: Jules White Cast

: Richard Wessel, Claire Carleton, Frank Sully

The stooges are the trainers of “Chopper”, a beefy boxer, and they bet their bankroll on Chopper to win his next fight. When “Big Mike”, their boss, tells them to have Chopper lose or they’ll lose their lives, the boys try to soften up Chopper so he’ll lose.

The fight gets canceled and the stooges have to contend with an angry Big Mike and his goons. [ A remake of “Fright Night”. ] 160.

Of Cash and Hash (1955) ***+ ---------------Director: Jules White Cast

: Kenneth MacDonald, Christyne McIntyre, Frank Lacteen

The stooges witness an armed robbery and are brought in by the cops as suspects.

After passing a lie detector test, the boys are freed and go back to their jobs in a Cafe.

When one of the robbers comes into the Cafe, the boys recognize him and along with their friend Gladys trail him to a spooky house in the country where the crooks are hiding out. The bad guys abduct Gladys and the stooges must rescue her. [ A remake of “Shivering Sherlocks”.]

161.

Gypped in the Penthouse (1955) *** ----------------------Director: Jules White Cast : Emil Sitka, Jean Willes Larry and Shemp reminisce about their experiences with Jean, a diamond crazy gold digger each of them was gypped by. After telling their stories, they have a run in with Moe, who is now married to the same women. When Jean shows up, they deliver some stooge-style revenge.

162.

Bedlam in Paradise (1955) ***+ -----------------Director: Jules White Cast

: Phil Van Zandt, Vernon Dent, Slyvia Lewis Symona Boniface

Shemp dies but cannot get into heaven until he reforms Moe and Larry. He returns to earth as an invisible spirit and sets out to prevent the other two stooges, who are in league with the devil, from selling a phony invention (a fountain pen that writes under whip cream) to a rich couple. Shemp sabotages Moe and Larry’ plans and makes it through the pearly gates. [ A remake of “Heavenly Daze “.]

163.

Stone Age Romeos (1955) *** ---------------Director: Jules White Cast

: Emil Sitka, Dee Green, Nancy Saunders, Virginia Hunter

The stooges hope to collect a reward by proving to a museum that cavemen still exist.

They return from their expedition with a film purporting to show some stone age stooges defending their women from other cavemen. The museum curators are about to pay they reward, until they overhear the stooges talking about how they faked the film, with themselves playing the cavemen. [ The stone age footage is reused from “I’m a Monkey’s Uncle”. ] 164.

Wham Bam Slam (1955) *** ------------Director: Jules White

Cast

: Matt McHugh, Alyn Loar, Dora Revier, Wanda Perry

Shemp is a sick man with a bad case of nerves. The stooge’s friend Claude, a selftaught healer, tries to cure Shemp with various home-made remedies. When nothing seems to work, Claude suggests they buy his old lemon of a car so they can take Shemp on a trip to the country. The car won’t start, and the trip never gets off the ground, but not to worry, Shemp is cured by all the excitement. [ A remake of “Pardon my Backfire”.]

165.

Hot Ice (1955) *** ------Director: Jules White Cast

: Kenneth MacDonald, Christyne McIntyre, Barbara Bartay

The stooges apply for job as ‘Yard Men’ at Scotland Yard, thinking they’ll become detectives, but instead wind up as gardeners. When they accidentally see a memo about the theft a famous diamond, the boys decide to go after the crooks. They find the crooks, but Shemp accidentally swallows the diamond which was hidden in a bowl of candy. The bad guys want to cut the diamond out, but the boys foil them with the help of a friendly gorilla. [ A remake of “Crime on Their Hands”, with Scotland Yard footage from “Hot Scots”. ] 166.

Blunder Boys (1955) *** -----------Director: Jules White Cast : Emil Sitka, Kenneth MacDonald The stooges go to criminology school and graduate with the lowest possible honors.

The boys join the police force and are assigned to track down a crook called the “Eel”, who disguises himself as a woman. The stooges track the Eel to a hotel, but he slips through their hands after a wild chase. The stooges are booted off the force and wind up as ditch diggers.

167.

Husbands Beware (1956) ***+ ---------------

Director: Jules White Cast : Christyne McIntyre, Dee Green, Emil Sitka, Lou Leonard, Maxine Gates To inherit a fortune, voice teacher Shemp must marry before six o’clock, but no girl will accept his proposal. Finally one of his repulsive students agrees to marry him, just

in the nick of time. When the rest of the prospective brides hear about the inheritance, they show up at the ceremony and a free for all ensues. Shemp marries his student before the deadline, and then finds out that there is no inheritance. Moe and Larry have tricked him into marriage as revenge for their marrying his shrewish sisters. [ A remake of “Brideless Groom”.]

168.

Creeps (1956) *** ------

Director: Jules White The stooges are movers for an express company and on a rainy night are sent to move some junk, including a suit of armor, from a spooky old house. The armor is haunted by the ghost of Sir Tom, who has no intention of leaving. The ghost foils the stooges attempts to take the armor, and is about to skewer them with a sword when it’s revealed that the stooges were only telling a bedtime story to their “sons” (also played by the stooges.) [ A remake of “The Ghost Talks”.]

169.

Flagpole Jitters (1956) *** ----------------

Director: Jules White Cast : Beverly Thomas, Barbara Bartay, Mary Ainslee, Bonnie Mensunm Dan Harvey, David Bond, Frank Sully, Dick Alexander, Vernon Dent The stooges are taking care of their invalid friend Mary who is confined to wheelchair.

At their jobs in a theater, where they hope to earn money for an operation for Mary, they witness a hypnotist, doing his act. The stooges become subjects for his show and are hypnotized into walking out on a flagpole high above the ground. When they come out of their trance and realize their predicament they fall into a window and foil a robbery in progress thus earning reward money to pay for Mary’s operation. [ A remake of “Hocus Pocus”.]

170.

For Crimin Out Loud (1956) ***+ -------------------

Director: Jules White Cast : Ralph Dunn, Barbara Bartay, Christyne McIntyre, Emil Sitka, Duke York, Charles Knight

The stooges are private detectives hired to protect a rich politician. After the man disappears, the boys wander around his spooky mansion confronting various villains and a dangerous dame. The stooges vanquish the crooks (Shemp uses his “trusty shovel”) and find the missing man. [ A remake of “Who Done it?”. This was the last short with new footage of Shemp. ] 171.

Rumpus in the Harem (1956) *** -------------------

Director: Jules White Cast : Vernon Dent, George Lewis, Helen Jay, Harriette Tarler, Diana Darvin, Suzanne Ridgeway, Ruth Godfrey White Set in a desert land where the stooges run a restaurant, the boys need money to pay their fiancee’s taxes, or the girls will be sold as slaves. Some crooks come into their restaurant and convince the boys to recover the stolen Rootin Tootin diamond. The stooges decide to return the diamond to the government and get the reward money.

They learn that the Emir of Shmo has absconded with the contraband jewel. They journey to the stronghold of Shmo where they disguise as Santa Clauses and scare the ruler into giving them the diamond. [ A remake of “Malice in the Palace”. Joe Palma (face hidden) stands in for Shemp. ] 172.

Hot Stuff (1956) ***+ ---------

Director: Jules White Cast : Emil Sitka, Christyne McIntyre, Connie Cezan, Evelyn Lovequist, Andri Pola, Vernon Dent, Harold Brower, Phil Van Zandt The stooges are government agent entrusted with protecting professor Sneed, who has invented a super rocket fuel. Larry is mistaken for the professor by foreign agents who kidnap the trio and take them to the country of Anemia where they are ordered to produce the rocket fuel or be executed. The boys come up with a concoction they try to pass of as the real stuff, but are exposed when the real professor and his daughter are also kidnapped. The stooges help them escape, using their secret formula to fuel a jeep. [ A remake of “Fuelin Around”. Joe Palma (face hidden) stands in for Shemp. ]

173.

Scheming Schemers (1956) ***+ -----------------

Director: Jules White Cast : Christyne McIntyre, Kenneth McDonald, Symona Boniface, Emil Sitka, Dudley Dickerson, H. Coons The stooges are three incompetent plumbers who foul up the plumbing in a fancy mansion where a society party is going on. They manage to catch a couple of thieves masquerading as guests before the whole party degenerates into a pie fight. [ A remake of “Vagabond Loafers”, with footage from “A Plumbing we will go” and “Half-Wits Holiday”. Joe Palma (face hidden) stands in for Shemp. ] 174.

Commotion on the Ocean (1956) *** ---------------------Director: Jules White Cast

: Gene Roth, Harriette Taylor, Emil Sitka

The stooges are would-be reporters, who are tricked into becoming stowaways by “Borscht”, a spy for an enemy country. Stranded on a freighter on the high seas, they discover that Borscht has concealed some stolen microfilm in watermelons they brought aboard for him. After a wild chase, they subdue Borscht and recover the microfilm. [ A remake of “Dunked in the Deep”. Joe Palma (face hidden) stands in for Shemp. ] Moe, Larry, Joe: ================ 175.

Hoofs and Goofs (1957) *** --------------Director: Jules White Cast

: Benny Rubin, Hariette Tayler, Tony the Wonder Horse

Joe dreams that the stooge’s sister Birdie has died and been reincarnated as a horse.

The stooges take Birdie home but must conceal her from the snoopy landlord. They succeed, but more complications ensue when Birdie gives birth to a colt. Joe wakes up to suffer some abuse from the real Birdie (Moe in drag), when he tells her he dreamed she was a horse.

176

Muscle up a Little Closer (1957) **+ -------------------------

Director: Jules White Cast : Maxine Gates, Matt Murphy, Ruth Godfrey White, Hariette Tayler Joe is engaged but can’t get married until he recovers the engagement ring which has disappeared. The stooges suspect the ring was stolen by Elmo, a beefy bully, who works at the same factory they do. They confront Elmo in the company gym, but he’s too tough for them. Fortunately Joe’s girl is even tougher, and she gets Elmo to confess and return the ring.

177.

A Merry Mix-up (1957) *** --------------

Director: Jules White Cast : Nannette Bordeaux, Jean Carmen, Ruth Godfrey White, Suzanne Ridgeway, Hariette Tayler, Diana Darrin The stooges appear in triplicate as three sets of triplets who were separated a long time ago. Their reunion causes confusion and troubles for various wives and sweethearts, but it all works out in the end.

178.

Space Ship Sappy (1957) ***+ ----------------

Director: Jules White Cast : Benny Rubin, Emil Sitka, Lorraine Crawford, Hariette Tayler, Marilyn Hanold, Doreen Woodbury An eccentric scientist tricks the stooges into joining himself and his daughter on an expedition to Venus. On Venus, the boys go exploring and encounter some cannibalistic amazons who plan to devour them. The stooges escape and take off in the spaceship which goes wildly out of control. As the ship is about to crash, the scene changes to the annual meeting of the Liars Club, where the stooges win the prize as the biggest liars in the world.

179.

Guns A-Poppin (1957) ***+ ------------Director: Jules White Cast

: Frank Sully, Joe Palma, Vernon Dent

Told in flashback, Moe is on trial for assaulting Larry and Joe. It seems that Moe was in debt and suffering a nervous breakdown so Larry and Joe took him to the country for rest and relaxation. After a marauding bear ruined the peace and quiet, their cabin became the scene of a shoot-out between the sheriff and an escaped outlaw. The boys captured the bad guy, and the reward would have paid Moe’s debts, but the crook escaped and Moe went after Larry and Joe with an ax. [ A partial remake of “Idiots Deluxe”. ] 180.

Horsing Around (1957) **+ -------------Director: Jules White Cast

: Emil Sitka, Hariette Tayler, Tony the Wonder Horse

A sequel (sort of) to “Hoofs and Goofs”, The stooges are taking care of their sister Birdie who has been reincarnated as a horse. When they learn that her mate “Schnapps”, a famous circus horse, is about to be destroyed, they got to the circus grounds to rescue him. The stooges are successful, and Birdie and Schnapps are reunited.

181.

Rusty Romeos (1957) ***+ -----------Director: Jules White Cast : Connie Cezan The stooges don’t know it, but they are all engaged to the same girl, a gold-digger who plans to get an engagement ring from each of them and then abandon them.

When all three show up at her house at the same time, a wild fight ensues, as each stooge accuses the others of making time with “his” girl. The gold-digger gets it in the end (literally) with tacks shot from a repeating rifle. [ A remake of “Corny Casanovas”. ]

182.

Outer Space Jitters (1957) ***+ -------------------

Director: Jules White Cast : Emil Sitka, Gene Roth, Dan Blocker, Phil Van Zandt, Joe Palma, Harriette Tayler, Diana Darrin, Arline Hunter The stooges accompany professor Jones on an expedition to Venus, where they discover that the Venusians are planning to conquer the earth with an army of zombies. When the boys learn that they’re going to be turned into zombies, they escape. The scene changes to the stooges apartment where we learn they are just telling a bedtime story to their kids (also played by the stooges) while they wait for the

baby sitter to arrive. When the baby sitter shows up, she looks like one of the zombies and the boys exit in a hurry. [ Dan Blocker of “Bonanza” fame plays a zombie. ] 183.

Quiz Whiz (1958) *** ---------

Director: Jules White Cast : Greta Thyssen, Gene Roth, Milton Frome, Bill Brawer, Emil Sitka Joe wins a contest and is promptly fleeced out of his winnings by some con men.

When the stooges go to recover his money, the bad guys convince them that they can get rich by posing as children and becoming the wards of a millionaire. The boys go along with the plan, not realizing that the “millionaire” and his pretty niece are in on the scam and are planning to knock them off. The stooges foil the plan and recover Joe’s money.

184.

Fifi Blows Her Top (1958) *** ------------------

Director: Jules White Cast : Vanda Dupre, Phil Van Zandt, Harriette Tarler, Joe Palma, Hariette Tayler, Christyne McIntyre (stock footage) The stooges reminisce about their wartime romances in Europe. After they finish their tales, they discover that Joe’s girl Fifi, whom he left behind in Paris, has moved in next door. The only problem is that she’s now married, with a very jealous husband. The husband turns out to be a real cad, and when Fifi overhears him tell about his plans to find a new wife, she clobbers him and goes back to Joe. [ Some reused footage from “Love at First Bite”. ] 185.

Pies and Guys (1958) ***+ --------------------

Director: Jules White Cast : Greta Thyssen, Gene Roth, Milton Frome, Helen Dickson, Hariette Tayler, John Kascier, Symona Boniface (stock footage) A professor attempts to win a bet by turning the stooges into gentlemen. After some lessons in etiquette, the boys make their society debut at a fancy party. They soon revert to their old habits and a wild pie fight ensues.

[ A remake of “Half-Wits Holiday. ] 186.

Sweet and Hot (1958) *** ------------------Director: Jules White Cast : Muriel Landers Nightclub performer Larry wants Joe and his sister Tiny to join the act. The only problem is that Tiny is afraid to sing in front of people. They take her to a psychiatrist (Moe) who cures her, and the act is a success.

187.

Flying Saucer Daffy (1958) *** -------------------

Director: Jules White Cast : Harriette Tayler, Emil Sitka, Gail Bonney, Bek Nelson, Diana Darrin Joe accidentally takes a picture of a paper plate which Moe and Larry submit to a magazine as an authentic picture of a flying saucer. Moe and Larry collect a big prize, but when the picture is proven to be phony, they’re hauled off to Jail. Joe then gets a picture of a real spaceship and this time he gets the fame and fortune, while Moe and Larry wind up in a sanitarium.

188.

Oils Well That Ends Well (1958) *** ------------------------

Director: Jules White The stooges need money for their father’s operation, so they head for the country to prospect for uranium. Instead of uranium, they discover oil on their father’s property and all their troubles are solved. [ Oil gusher footage from “Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise”. ] 189.

Triple Crossed (1958) **+ -------------Director: Jules White Cast

: Diana Darrin, Mary Ainslee, Angela Stevens

Larry is a pet dealer who’s seeing Moe’s wife while at the same time trying to steal Joe’s fiancee. When Moe’s become suspicious, Larry attempts to frame Joe as the boyfriend. Larry’s plan backfires when Joe catches him and lets Moe deliver some punishment.

[ A remake of “He Cooked His Goose”. ]

190.

Sappy Bullfighters (1959) *** -----------------Director: Jules White Cast : Greta Thyssen, George Lewis Stranded in Mexico, the stooges need a job and a pretty actress friend gets them an engagement at the Plaza de Toros. When they accidentally switch suitcases with that of their friend, they must sneak into her house to retrieve their own and are confronted by her jealous husband who vows to kill them if he sees them again. At the arena where they perform a comedy bullfight (Joe is the matador, Moe and Larry are in a bull costume) the husband bribes the attendants to let a real bull into the ring. Joe knocks the bull out with a head butt and becomes a hero. [ A remake of “What’s the Matador�. ]

........................................................................

Frequently Asked Questions 1.

Who were the Three Stooges?

The Three Stooges was a comedy act that began making short subject films in the early 1930’s. They relied on slapstick, sound effects, visual and verbal humor.

2.

How many Stooges were there?

Moe and Larry were there for the Stooges’ entire film career, but the position of the “third Stooge” was filled by several people. After Curly left the act, Shemp played the part, and after Shemp, there was Joe, and finally Curly Joe. That makes six. However, in vaudeville there was more than one act calling themselves “Stooges” or even “The Three Stooges”. Furthermore, our Stooges were once part of an act called “Ted Healy and his Three Southern Gentlemen” that consisted of Ted Healy, Moe, Larry, and Shemp. That’s right, Shemp. Soon Shemp moved on to other things, and Curly took his place in 1932, before they ever made their first Columbia short.

3.

Weren’t the Stooges related?

Yes, some were. Moe, Shemp, and Curly were brothers of a family of five brothers. Neither of the other two got into show business.

4.

What were their real names?

Moe was born Moses Horwitz, and his brothers were Samuel (Shemp) and Jerome (Curly). Larry was born Louis Feinberg. Joe “Not So Haaaaard” Besser used his given name; Joe DeRita’s real name was Joseph Wardell.

5.

Are they still alive?

No. Joe DeRita was the last living Stooge, and he passed away in the early 1990’s.

6.

How many episodes did they make?

The Stooges made a total of 190 “short subject” episodes with Columbia - 97 with Curly, 77 with Shemp, and 16 with Joe. In addition to these, there were feature-length films (at least 20), and cartoons (156 as “The New Three Stooges”). They had short parts in other movies and TV shows, ranging from a fivesecond non-speaking part in “It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World”, to semi-regular appearances on the Ed Wynn show and the Frank Sinatra show. They tried a TV series (Moe, Larry, Shemp), but the pilot was the only episode that ever aired.

7.

Which episode is it...?

This is a summary of all 190 episodes in ftp://ftp.wang.com/dbushong/stooges/text/short1.html These were compiled by Mitchell D. Shapiro (mshapiro@crl.com) who graciously put them in the public domain

8.

Why don’t women like the Stooges?

I have no idea. So I asked my girlfriend Carol. She says that women, in general, aren’t into physical humor, such as slapstick, the way men are. “There are times that the Stooges have some funny lines, and I laugh at that, but I just don’t think that getting hit in the head with a hammer is funny,” she says. I am happy to say that at the last Three Stooges Film Festival, in Lewiston, Maine, roughly 15% of the crowd consisted of women.

9.

What are the words to the “B-A-Bay” song?

This song, sung in “Violent is the Word for Curly”, was called “Swingin’ the Alphabet”. It happens to be, officially, the first “music video”, in that the sound track was recorded in a studio, and the actors would lip-sync to the playback during filming. The words to the song, here spelled somewhat phonetically, are: B A Bay, B E Bee, B I Bicky By, B O Bo, Bicky By Bo B U Bu, Bicky By Bo Bu. Then it repeats for successive consonants, C A Say, C E See, C I Sicky Sy, C O So, Sicky Sy So C U Su Sicky Sy So Su and so on. The rule is that you put each consonant in the position of being joined with each vowel.

The song is in a WAV file at ftp://ftp.wang.com/dbushong/stooges/sounds/babay.wav

10.

What books can I get about the Three Stooges?

Several books have been released by Maurer, the copyright owner of the Stooges. “The Three Stooges Scrapbook” lists a short history and biographies of the Stooges, along with a filmography. “Moe Howard and the Three Stooges” is an autobiography of Moe, with some information not contained in other books.

“Curly - The Ultimate Stooge” is a biography of Curly (and is one of the saddest books I’ve ever read).

Stooge Memoribilia and souvenirs can be purchased from Soitenly Stooges! Call 1-800-3STOOGES for a catalog of Three Stooges merchandise.

11.

Who was Ted Healy?

Ted Healy was the comedian who gave the Stooges their start in vaudeville. Ted had the rare gift of perfect comedic timing, and many vaudeville comedians tried to imitate Healy’s style. After some years together, the act broke up and The Three Stooges went out on their own. Ted died in 1937 from complications arising from injuries sustained in a brawl while celebrating the birth of his first child, a son.

12.

No.

Does anyone like Joe Besser episodes?

=============

Thanks to Mark Mudgett (mudgett@bose.com) Jack Harris (rharris@iadfw.net) and especially Mitchell Shapiro (mshapiro@crl.com)

-Dave Bushong Wang Software --

Internet: dbushong@wang.com Amateur radio: kz1o@k1ugm.ma