Three Stooges

The Three Stooges were an American comedy act in the 20th century. Commonly known by their first names, Larry, Moe, & Curly (sometimes spelled "Curley"); Larry, Moe & Shemp; and other lineups became famous for their work in movies and starred in many short features that consisted of masterful ways of showcasing their extremely physical and sometimes controversial brand of slapstick comedy.

History

Ted Healy and His Stooges

The Stooges got their name and their start from a vaudeville act called Ted Healy and His Stooges (originally called "Ted Healy and His Southern Gentlemen"), which was founded in 1922. Brothers Harry Moses Howard (Moe) and Samuel Howard (Shemp) (original last name Horwitz) were later joined by violinist Larry Fine (born Louis Feinberg). Shemp acquired his name from his mother's attempts to pronounce his name, "Sam", in spite of her thick accent. By 1930, Ted Healy and His Stooges were appearing in Hollywood feature films, such as Soup to Nuts. Shemp left the act in 1931 for a career in feature films, notably as trainer Knobby Walsh in the Joe Palooka films, and in The Bank Dick with W.C. Fields.

When Shemp left the act, Ted and the two remaining stooges (Moe and Larry) needed a third stooge, so Moe offered his baby brother, Jerome. Ted took one look at Jerome and with his long black locks and facial hair, stated he was not a character like Moe and Larry, so Jerome left the room and returned moments later with a shaved head and face, thus, Curly was born. According to Moe Howard in his autobiography, Moe Howard and the Three Stooges, the Stooges split with Ted Healy in 1934 once and for all because of his alcoholism and abrasiveness.

Columbia Short Subjects, 1934-1959

The same year, the Three Stooges (as the Howard brothers and Fine renamed their act) signed on to appear in two-reel comedy short subjects for Columbia Pictures at just a few hundred dollars a week. The Stooges went on to star in 190 film short subjects over the next twenty-three years, the longest such series in history. Del Lord directed more than three dozen of the Three Stooges shorts. Jules White directed many others, and his brother Jack White directed several under the pseudonym "Preston Black".

According to a published report,^[1] Moe, Larry, and director Jules White considered their best film to be You Nazty Spy (1940). This 18-minute short subject starring Moe as a Hitler-like character satirized the Nazis in a period when America was still neutral and isolationist about WWII. You Nazty Spy was the first Hollywood film to spoof Hitler, and was released nine months before the more famous Charlie Chaplin film The Great Dictator.

Curly suffered a stroke on May 6, 1946, curtailing his output at 97 shorts. Brother Shemp reluctantly rejoined the act to take Curly's place. Curly did make one brief cameo appearance (doing his "Rrrowf! Rrrowf!" routine) in the third film after Shemp returned to the trio, Hold That Lion!, in an effort to boost his morale. It was the only film that contained all three Howard brothers simultaneously (Curly's cameo appearance was recycled in the 1953 remake Booty and the Beast).

Shemp Howard was hesitant to rejoin the Stooges, as he had a successful solo career going at the time of Curly's untimely illness. However, he realized that Moe and Larry's careers would be finished without the Stooge act. Shemp wanted some kind of assurance that his rejoining was indeed temporary, and that he could leave the Stooges once Curly recovered. Unfortunately, Curly's condition grew worse. He died in January, 1952.

With Shemp on board, the Stooges went on to appear in 77 more shorts and a mediocre feature entitled Gold Raiders (1951). During this period, Moe, Larry, and Shemp also made a pilot for a Three Stooges television show called Jerks of All Trades in 1949. The series was never picked up, although the pilot is today in the public domain and is available on home video, as is an early TV appearance from around the same time on a vaudeville-style comedy series starring Ed Wynn.

The quality of the Stooge shorts took a nosedive in 1952 when director Edward Bernds was fired from Columbia Pictures. Bernds took producer Hugh McCollum with him, and Columbia Short Subjects head Jules White was left to both produce and direct the remainder of the Stooge shorts. Remakes of earlier Shemp shorts occurred on a regular basis as a cost-saving tactic.

To add insult to injury, death paid the Stooges another visit just three years after Curly's demise. Shemp Howard died of a sudden heart attack at age 60 on November 22, 1955. Archived footage of Shemp, combined with new footage of his stand-in, Joe Palma (filmed from behind or with his face hidden), were used to finish the last four films on Shemp's contract.

Joe Besser then replaced Shemp in 1956 and 1957, appearing in 16 shorts. Besser had a clause in his contract specifically prohibiting him from being hit too hard, though this restriction was lifted as Besser's tenure continued (ironically, Besser was the only "third" stooge that dared to hit Moe back). Unfortunately, the market for short subjects had all but dried up by the time Besser joined the trio. Television was the new popular medium, and the Stooges were practically dinosaurs. Columbia Pictures, the last studio still producing shorts, unceremoniously fired the trio in 1957 at the end of production of their final short, Flying Saucer Daffy. Because of a production backlog, the final Stooges short, Sappy Bullfighters, did not reach theatres until 1959.

Rebirth

In 1959, Columbia syndicated the entire Stooges film library to television (through its TV subsidiary, Screen Gems), and the Stooges were rediscovered by the baby boomers. A "Stooge fandom" quickly developed, and Howard and Fine found themselves back in demand again with the public. Besser's wife had had a heart attack, however, and he withdrew from the act. Moe quickly signed Joe DeRita as his replacement; DeRita shaved his head and became "Curly-Joe" because of his resemblance to the original Curly Howard.

This version of the Three Stooges went on to make a series of moderately popular full-length films during the late 1950s and through the 1960s. The trio also filmed 39 short comedy skits that were broadcast as introductions and closings for a 1965 animated television series based upon the comedy team.

In 1969, the Three Stooges filmed a pilot episode for a new TV series entitled Kook's Tour which would have been a combination travelogue and sitcom that would have seen the "retired" Stooges travelling around the world, with the episodes filmed on location. During production of the pilot, Larry suffered a paralyzing stroke, ending his acting career, as well as future plans for the TV series. A 50-minute version of Kook's Tour was edited together from usable material and initially only made available for the home movie market (years before the popularity of home video); it has subsequently been released to DVD, though unrestored.

Later years

Larry suffered another stroke in December 1974. The following month, he suffered a more serious stroke, which Larry did not survive. In January 1975, Larry Fine was gone. After his death, it was decided that long-time Stooge supporting actor Emil Sitka would replace him, and be dubbed "The Middle Stooge". Several movie ideas were considered, including one called Blazing Stewardesses according to Leonard Maltin, who also uncovered a pre-production photo (the film was ultimately made with the last surviving Ritz Brothers). However, Moe passed on a few months later, and it was inconceivable that the Three Stooges continue without a Howard, although Curly-Joe did do some live performances with a new group of Stooges in the early 1970s. It's interesting to note that in 1975, we lost both Larry and Moe, but also Moe's wife of 50 years, Helen. Curly-Joe passed away in 1993, making him the last Stooge to die. Curly-Joe often stated that his time with the Three Stooges were the 'best years of his life.'

Post-history

Throughout their career, Moe was the heart and soul of the troupe, acting as both their main creative force and business manager. Comedy III Productions, Inc., formed by Moe, Larry and Curly-Joe DeRita in 1959, is today the owner of all of the Three Stooges' trademarks and merchandising (the company is currently operated by DeRita's two stepsons).

In Spring of 2000, a TV-movie about the life and careers of the Stooges was produced for and broadcast on ABC. This movie was based on Michael Fleming's authorized biography on the Stooges, The Three Stooges: From Amalgamated Morons to American Icons.

Members

Moe Howard
Real Name: Harry Moses Horwitz
Born: June 19, 1897
Died: May 4, 1975
Stooge years: 1922, 1926, 1929-1975

Larry Fine
Real Name: Louis Feinberg
Born: October 5, 1902
Died: January 24, 1975
Stooge years: 1925-1926, 1929-1971

Curly Howard
Real Name: Jerome Lester Horwitz
Born: October 22, 1903
Died: January 18, 1952
Stooge years: 1934-1946

Shemp Howard
Real Name: Samuel Horwitz
Born: March 4, 1895
Died: November 22, 1955
Stooge years: 1922-1925, 1929-1932, 1947-1955

Joe Besser
Born: August 12, 1907
Died: March 1, 1988
Stooge years: 1957-1959

Curly-Joe DeRita
Real Name: Joseph Wardell
Born: July 12, 1909
Died: July 3, 1993
Stooge years: 1959-1975

Emil Sitka
Born: December 22, 1914
Died: January 16, 1998
Stooge years: c.1971-1975

• Sitka was officially named a member of the Stooges following Larry Fine's stroke, but never got to appear in a movie with the group.

Catchphrases

Although The Three Stooges are best known for their physical comedy, the group's dialogue is also highly quotable, with many of their lines (or signature nonverbal vocalizations) having become popular catchphrases. Here are some examples:

• "Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk!" (Curly laughing)
• "Ngah-ngah-ngah!" (Curly frightened)
• "A hot stake is better than a cold chop." (Curly, on why he would rather be burned at the stake instead of decapitated)
• "Why you...!" (Moe, to others)
• "Come 'ere!" (Moe, to others)
• "Spread Out!" (Moe, to others)
• "Why I oughta..." (Moe)
• "Hey, Moe! Hey, Larry!" (Curly, Shemp)
• "Soitenly!" (certainly) (Curly)
• "You imbecile!" (Moe, to the others)
• "You nitwit!" (Moe, to others)
• "Yauauaua!" (Curly)
• "La-la-la, la-la-la..." (Curly, humming)
• "Mmmmmmmmh!" (Curly) (when frustrated; difficult to transcribe exactly)
• "Rrrowf! Rrrowf!" (Curly) (when angry or defiant)
  • Other attempt: (Ruff! Ruff!)
    • (Sometimes Moe on some Shemp and Joe shorts)
• "You knucklehead!" (Moe, to others)
• "Oh, a wise guy, eh?" (Curly)
• "Oh, you're an intelligent imbecile!" (Moe)
• "I'm a victim of soicumstance" (circumstance) (Curly)
• "Hey, porcupine!" (Moe, to Larry)
• "I'll moider ya!" (Moe)
• "Remind me to kill you later!" (Moe, to others)
  • "I'll make a note of it!" (Larry or Curly)
• "Hello (Moe, low tone), Hellooo (Larry, a note higher, with Moe still holding his 'o'), Hellooooo (Curly, another note higher, with Larry and Moe both holding their 'o's)!"
• "Niagara Falls! Slowly I turn, step by step, inch by inch..." (Moe or Larry)
• "What's the big idea?!" (Moe)
• "Hey! Wake up and go to sleep!" (Moe)
• "Nyahhh-ah-ah!" (Stooges frightened)
  • Other attempts: "Nyuhhh-uh-uh!"
  • Yuhhh-uh-uh-uh!
• "Say a few syllables!" (Curly to Moe when trying to wake him)
• "I'm sorry, Moe, it was an accident!" (Larry)
• "Anakanapuner!" (Moe, demanding a surgical instrument)
• "Seenophran!" (Moe, demanding another surgical instrument)
• "Cotton!!" (Stooges to each other whenever performing surgery)
• "Not so haaaaaard!" (Joe Besser)
• "That huuuuurts!" (Joe Besser)
• "Oh, cut it ouuuuuut!" (Joe Besser)
• "You crazy you!" (Joe Besser)
• "that's good for you! "that's good for you! (get's hit by something) that's bad for me! (Joe Besser)
• "Come on and fight like a man!" (Joe Besser)
• "Okay, buddy boy" (Curly-Joe DeRita)
• "Calling Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine, Dr. Howard." (over the public address system in a hospital).
• "Woo-woo-woo-woo!" (Curly)
  • (or "Whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop!")
  • (or "Woop-oop-oop-oop-oop-oop!")
• "Mee-mee-mee-mee!" (Shemp, frightened or surprised): Uttered very fast, difficult to transcribe exactly; some other attempts:
  • "Heep-heep-heep-heep!"
  • "Hee-hee-hee-hee!"
  • "Bee-bee-bee-bee!"
  • "Vee-vee-vee-vee!"
  • "Meep-meep-meep-meep!"
• "Hey Lorna, How ya do'in?" (Shemp introduction to Lorna Doone)
• "Hold Hands, You Love Birds" (Emil Sitka)
• (After Moe pokes them in the eyes)
  • Curly and/or Larry: "I can't see! I can't see!"
  • Moe: "What'sa matter?"
  • Curly and/or Larry: "I got my eyes closed."
  • (Moe pokes them in the eyes again)
• "I'm tryin' to think, but nothin' happens!" (Curly)
• (After Moe tells them to do something)
• "Mammy!" (Larry gets on his knees to Moe)
• "Pappy!" (Moe gets on his knees to Larry)
  • (Double-slaps Larry after that) "GO ON!"
• "Get out (of here)! (Moe to Larry, Curly, or Shemp)
  • Curly and/or Larry: "Wait a minute! What're you gonna do?"
  • Moe: "Nothin', what about it?!"
  • Curly and/or Larry: "Oh, I just thought I'd ask."
• "I'll take some buint toast 'n' a rotten egg." (any of the Stooges)
  • "Buint toast 'n' a rotten egg?" (any of the Stooges)
  • "Yeah, I got a tape woim, 'n' tha's good enough fer 'im." (any of the Stooges)
• (After Moe gets Larry or Curly to put his right fist up to his chin and puts his right knee up to his right elbow)
  • Curly and/or Larry: "What happens now?"
  • Moe: "This!"
  • (after Moe kicks his right foot causing his right fist to hit his chin)
• "Poifect!"

Slapstick

Examples of archetypical Stooge slapstick:

One Stooge pokes the other in the eyes with the first and second fingers of one hand. After a while, the other Stooge catches on and holds his palm perpendicular to the edge of his nose to block this. The first Stooge then uses the index finger of each hand to jab both eyes at once.

Here is an example:

• Moe: (holding out his hand) Pick out two fingers.
• Curly: (pointing out Moe's first and second fingers) One, two!
• (Moe immediately pokes Curly in the eyes.)
• Curly: YEOW!!

or:

• Moe: (pointing to his left eye) What's that?
• Larry: (points out) That's an eye.
• Moe: Yeah, an eye fer an eye! (Moe immediately pokes Larry in the eyes)
• Larry: OW!!

There were many variants to this classic move, one over the phone, and it being done in two episodes... in 3-D, giving you a Stooge's POV of Moe dishing out the two-finger eyepoke!

One Stooge, usually Moe, strikes his own outstretched fist with his other fist. After being struck, the hand revolves downward, back and onto another Stooge's head.

In a variant of this maneuver, one Stooge strikes his own outstretched fist with his other fist; usually, it is either Curly or Larry who is the one that does this, except after being struck, the clever trick backfires as the hand revolves downward, back and onto Curly's or Larry's own head.

The triple slap: a straight man slaps the faces of all three Stooges in one energetic sweep.

One Stooge, typically Moe, grasps another Stooge's nose then vertically strikes the grasping fist, making the sound of a honking horn-like device.

In some brief scenes for certain episodes, Moe would be seen with his hair standing straight in fright as he yelled in terror. This was done with an air hose off-camera (usually below as it takes an extreme close-up of him) blowing his hair upward as he yells. His voice was later dubbed in.

And in some episodes, there were sight gags involved Curly, who supposedly has a very hard head.

See [2] for more examples.

Sound effects

The use of clever sound effects was important to the overall effect of the action. A good example would be Moe whacking one of his fellow Stooges on the head with a hammer. Typically, the sound of a hammer striking an anvil or a block of wood was used, suggesting the characters were "hard-headed" in more ways than one. A blow to a kettle drum accompanied blows to the stomach, and for pokes to the eye, a plucked violin string made the sound, or sometimes a high pitched piano sound.

Music

Several instrumental tunes were played over the opening credits at different times in the production of their short features. The most commonly used themes were:

• "Three Blind Mice", beginning as a slow but straightforward presentation, often breaking into a "jazzy" style before ending. Another version was played fast all the way through.
• The verse portion of "Listen to the Mockingbird", played in a comic way, complete with sounds of cuckoo birds and such. Ironically, the actual song is mournful.

Feature motion pictures

The Three Stooges also made appearances in many feature length movies in the course of their careers:

• Soup to Nuts (1930)
• Turn Back the Clock (1933)
• Meet the Baron (1933)
• Dancing Lady (1933)
• Myrt and Marge (1933)
• Fugitive Lovers (1934)
• Hollywood Party (1934)
• The Captain Hates the Sea (1934)
• Start Cheering (1938)
• Time Out for Rhythm (1941)
• My Sister Eileen (1942) (Cameo)
• Good Luck, Mr. Yates (1943) (scenes deleted)
• Rockin' in the Rockies (1945)
• Swing Parade of 1946 (1946)
• Gold Raiders (1951)
• Columbia Laff Hour (1956)
• Have Rocket, Will Travel (1959)
• Snow White and the Three Stooges (1961)
• The Three Stooges Meet Hercules (1962)
• The Three Stooges in Orbit (1962)
• The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze (1963)
• It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963) (Cameo)
• 4 for Texas (1963) (Cameo)
• The Outlaws Is Coming (1965)
• Kook's Tour (1970)

Television

In addition to the unsuccessful television series pilots, Jerks of All Trades (1949) and Kook's Tour (1970), the Stooges appeared in a short-lived television show called The New Three Stooges which ran from 1965 to 1966. This series featured a mix of thirty-nine live action segments which were used as wrap-arounds to 156 animated Stooges shorts.

An episode of Hanna-Barbera's The New Scooby-Doo Movies aired in the early 1970's featuring animated Stooges as guest-stars. Due to this guest appearance there was a short-lived animated series, also produced by Hanna-Barbera, entitled The Three Robonic Stooges featuring Moe, Larry, and Curly as bionic cartoon superheroes with extendable limbs, similar to the later Inspector Gadget.

In John Badham's movie Short Circuit, Johnny 5, while watching T.V., sees the original Three Stooges in their first short for Columbia Pictures, Women Haters, made in 1934 at Stephanie's (Ally Sheedy) house. He later reprograms three of the Nova Robots into a breed of the Three Stooges, almost in their likeness.

Public Domain Shorts

There are four Three Stooges shorts that are in the public domain, and which can be downloaded at no charge from the Prelinger Archive:

[3] Disorder in the Court (1936)
[4] Malice in the Palace (1949)
[5]Sing A Song of Six Pants (1947)
[6]Brideless Groom (1947)

Tributes

• The 1984 song "The Curly Shuffle," recorded by Jump N'The Saddle Band, expressed admiration for the Stooges and included several Curly imitations in the chorus.
• The 1985 film, Stoogemania tells the story of an obsessed Three Stooges fan, and includes clips of their classic Shorts.
• The Evil Dead film series has a number of stooge inspired moments. Among these: the blood flowing in the basement in Evil Dead (an homage to 1940's A-Plumbing We Will Go), the fight with his hand in the kitchen in Evil Dead 2, and the fight with the skeleton hands and with the little Ashes in Army of Darkness.
• The 1994 Song, "Two Reelers" by Frank Black tells the story of the four "original" stooges and Jules White, and protests the dismissal of the Three Stooges as mere low-brow slapstick: "If all you see is violence/Well then I make a plea in their defense/Don't you know they speak vaudevillian?"
• A 1987 computer game by Cinemaware, The Three Stooges, has the stooges trying to save an orphanage where they engage in wacky adventures and engage in some of their classic comic scenes. The game was also ported to the NES in 1989 by Activision, and then to Game Boy Advance in 2002 Metro 3D (M3).
• In the 1995 computer game Space Quest 6, there was a minigame called Stooge Fighter, which was a humorous tribute to the stooges.
• In the computer game remake of Quest for Glory 1, three guards attempt to kill the hero in the Brigand fortress. These three guards are none other than the three stooges
• In an episode of the cartoon Pinky and the Brain entitled "Pinky & The Brain And... Larry", Pinky and The Brain are inexplicably joined by a third wheel Larry in their plan to get into the White House posing as wallpaperers, whose unwelcome addition to the team causes Stooge-style antics to ensue.
• The King of the Hill episode "A-Fire Fighting We Will Go" contains several references to the Stooges.
• The Super NES RPG Final Fantasy VI features as bosses the "Three Dream Stooges" (also named Larry, Curly and Moe), who entered Cyan Garamonde's mind while he was facing his inner demons in Doma Castle.
• Homer Simpson from the TV show The Simpsons imitates Curly occasionally, while character Mr Burns suffers from 'Three Stooges Syndrome', where he has every disease known to man, but survives because they all cancel each other out.
• The Stooges were brought back to life (so to speak) in a 2000 TV movie. Moe was played by Paul Ben-Victor, Larry by Evan Handler, Shemp by John Kassir, and Curly by Michael Chiklis. The movie was executive produced by Mel Gibson.
• Tribute to a famous trio by...another famous trio: the legendary Canadian rock group Rush. The Stooges television series theme music, a derivative of "Three Blind Mice", was used by Rush as introductory music during the Signals through Hold Your Fire tours, and again for the Vapor Trails tour. A picture of the Stooges and their names is included in the Counterparts linernotes, and they are included in the "assistance, inspiration, comic relief" listing. (Source: http://www.2112.net/powerwindows/RushInspirations.htm; and...first-hand experience at multiple Rush concerts)
• Doctor John Zoidberg from the Futurama TV show makes Curly's trademark "Woo, woo, woo" sound when running away from trouble (sometimes after squirting ink), and sometimes makes Shemp's trademark "Heep, heep, heep" sound when frustrated.
• In Louis Sachar's children's novel The Boy Who Lost His Face, a group of three children (one of which being a girl called Mo) is nicknamed after the Stooges.
• The Star Trek: Enterprise episode "Carbon Creek" features a group of Vulcans stranded in a small American town in the 1950s. One of the Vulcans is annoyed at being nicknamed "Moe" because of his resemblance to "something called a 'Stooge'". Another Vulcan, who is depicted as being familiar with human pop culture, agrees with the assessment.
• An episode of MTV's Celebrity Deathmatch featured the stooges, who were brought to the present age via a time machine invented by "Stone Cold" Steve Austin to battle the Three Tenors.
• The folk trio Modern Man perform the song "Moe" (written by pianist/singer George Wurzbach), about a boy whose father looks like Moe Howard.
• The appearance of the Second Doctor in the British science fiction series, Doctor Who, played by Patrick Troughton, was often compared to that of Moe Howard, although it's not known if this was intentional.

Trivia

• Legend has it that the eye poke started when Shemp accused Larry of cheating in a card game, and Shemp poked him in the eyes! Moe, watching all this, laughed so hard he fell off his chair and through his patio glass door.
• Stooges folklore has it that the Soviet government asked permission for the aging Stooges shorts to be shown on Soviet TV, and that the Stooges declined, their theory being that the Soviets planned to use the Stooges as Cold War propaganda, i.e., evidence that the American people were pathologically violent and/or stupid.
• The legend of the Sword of Damocles gets mentioned in Half-Wits' Holiday (1946), when a pie get thrown up and stuck to the ceiling during a party. One of the guests starts talking with Moe Howard, who is getting increasingly nervous as the pie starts coming loose. Finally the guest asks, "Young man, what's wrong with you? You act as if the Sword of Damocles was hanging over your head.", to which Moe replies, "Lady, you must be psychic!" and walks away. She comments, "I wonder what's wrong with that man?" as she looks up, and gets the pie right in the face.
• The contact point of the "eye poke" was actually the brow bone, not the eyes. The illusion looked real on television. In the 1950s, after numerous complaints by parents of children imitating the Stooges' eyepoke, they went on TV to demonstrate how exactly they did it safely.
• In the TV show The Simpsons, two regulars of Moe's Tavern are named Larry and Curly. They rarely say anything, but are occaisionally spotted in the background.