Winter Olympic Games

Demonstration sports, in which contests were held but for which no medals were awarded, have also taken place. [3] Disorder in the Court (1936)
[4] Malice in the Palace (1949)
[5]Sing A Song of Six Pants (1947)
[6]Brideless Groom (1947)
. Through the years, the number of sports and events conducted at the Winter Olympic Games has increased. 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] The host city for 2014 will be chosen in July 2007 in Guatemala City among the cities of: Almaty (Kazakhstan), Borjomi (Georgia), Jaca (Spain), PyeongChang (Republic of Korea), Salzburg (Austria), Sochi (Russia), Sofia (Bulgaria). He later reprograms three of the Nova Robots into a breed of the Three Stooges, almost in their likeness. In a 2003 IOC vote, the 2010 Winter Olympics were awarded to Vancouver, allowing Canada to host its second Winter Olympics as well, but the first for the province of British Columbia. 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.

The opening ceremonies for the Olympics are the last ones to be held outdoors for a Winter Olympics until at least the 2014 Winter Olympics because the ones for the 2010 Winter Olympics will be held indoors. 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. It is the second time Italy has hosted the Winter Olympic Games, after Cortina d'Ampezzo in 1956. An episode of Hanna-Barbera's The New Scooby-Doo Movies aired in the early 1970's featuring animated Stooges as guest-stars. The Italian city of Turin (Torino) is hosting the 2006 Winter Olympics. This series featured a mix of thirty-nine live action segments which were used as wrap-arounds to 156 animated Stooges shorts. As of 2004 they had all been officially stripped of all medals won at the 2002 Games. 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.

Cross-country skiers accounted for a second scandal, as Johann Mühlegg (Spain) and Olga Danilova and Larissa Lazutina (both Russia), who had already medalled in earlier events, where shown to have used doping. The Three Stooges also made appearances in many feature length movies in the course of their careers:. Combined with several other referee decisions that came out negatively for Russian athletes, there was a brief threat by the Russians of withdrawing from the Games. The most commonly used themes were:. However, it was decided that a French jury member had favoured the winning Russian pair, and the IOC and the International Skating Union decided to award both pairs the gold medal, after much discussion. Several instrumental tunes were played over the opening credits at different times in the production of their short features. Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier initially placed second. 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.

A major scandal evolved around the pair figure skating contest. 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. Alisa Camplin won Australia's second gold medal in freestyle skiing without the need for such incredible luck. A good example would be Moe whacking one of his fellow Stooges on the head with a hammer. The phrase "to do a Bradbury" has since entered the Australian lexicon meaning to succeed through the failure of others. The use of clever sound effects was important to the overall effect of the action. Many Australians saw this as a painfully humorous example of the country's struggle for competitiveness in winter sports, being that it took for all other competitors to crash for an Aussie to win. See [2] for more examples.

Bradbury was able to avoid the pileup, becoming the first Winter Olympic gold medallist from the Southern Hemisphere. And in some episodes, there were sight gags involved Curly, who supposedly has a very hard head. In the final, Bradbury was fifth going into the final lap, when another collision left him the last man standing. His voice was later dubbed in. Australian Steven Bradbury, who would have been eliminated in the quarterfinals but for the disqualification of Marc Gagnon, advanced to the final when the four other competitors in his semifinal collided on the final lap. 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. The men's 1000 m short track speed skating event saw one of the unlikeliest results in sports history. In some brief scenes for certain episodes, Moe would be seen with his hair standing straight in fright as he yelled in terror.

Great Britain won their first Winter Olympic gold medal since 1984; the ladies Curling team springing a surprise result by beating the highly fancied Canadians in the gold medal match. One Stooge, typically Moe, grasps another Stooge's nose then vertically strikes the grasping fist, making the sound of a honking horn-like device. Canadians jubilated as both their men's and their women's hockey teams defeated the United States to win the gold; the men's team thus ended a medal drought that had lasted 50 years to the day. The triple slap: a straight man slaps the faces of all three Stooges in one energetic sweep. Jochem Uytdehaage broke three world records, winning two golds and a silver; Claudia Pechstein won the 5000 m for the third time in a row, while also winning the 3000 m. 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. In speed skating, the high altitude of the skating rink assured several new world records. After being struck, the hand revolves downward, back and onto another Stooge's head.

Simon Ammann won both individual ski jumping events, while Georg Hackl won his fifth consecutive medal in the same event (luge singles), a feat never before achieved by any Olympian. One Stooge, usually Moe, strikes his own outstretched fist with his other fist. Croatia's Janica Kostelic won four medals in alpine skiing, of which three were gold. in 3-D, giving you a Stooge's POV of Moe dishing out the two-finger eyepoke!. Ole Einar Bjørndalen won all four biathlon events, while Samppa Lajunen took all three Nordic combined medals. There were many variants to this classic move, one over the phone, and it being done in two episodes.. The Salt Lake City Olympics had many stars. or:.

[2]. Here is an example:. Jacques Rogge, presiding over his first Olympics as IOC president, told the athletes of the host country that their nation was overcoming the "horrific tragedy" of that day and stands united with them in promoting the IOC's ideals. The first Stooge then uses the index finger of each hand to jab both eyes at once. During the opening ceremonies, Dr. After a while, the other Stooge catches on and holds his palm perpendicular to the edge of his nose to block this. The Games were also the first Olympics since September 11, 2001, which meant Olympic games since then required a higher level of security to avoid any terrorist attack. One Stooge pokes the other in the eyes with the first and second fingers of one hand.

Skeleton made its return on the Olympic podium after 54 years, while new events were added in biathlon, bobsleigh, cross-country skiing, Nordic combined and short track speed skating. Examples of archetypical Stooge slapstick:. Again, the programme was expanded. Here are some examples:. This resulted in a change of the host city election procedures and several IOC members resigned or were punished. 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. Prior to the opening of the Games, it was found that Salt Lake organisers had bribed several IOC members in order to be elected. Emil Sitka
Born: December 22, 1914
Died: January 16, 1998
Stooge years: c.1971-1975
.

The 19th Olympic Winter Games were held in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. Curly-Joe DeRita
Real Name: Joseph Wardell
Born: July 12, 1909
Died: July 3, 1993
Stooge years: 1959-1975
. [1]. Joe Besser
Born: August 12, 1907
Died: March 1, 1988
Stooge years: 1957-1959
. In 2006, a report ordered by the Nagano region's governor said the Japanese city provided millions of dollars in an "illegitimate and excessive level of hospitality" to IOC members, including $4.4 million spent on entertainment alone. Shemp Howard
Real Name: Samuel Horwitz
Born: March 4, 1895
Died: November 22, 1955
Stooge years: 1922-1925, 1929-1932, 1947-1955
. Snowboarding's introduction into the Olympics did not come without a scandal, as gold medallist Ross Rebagliati (Canada) was initially disqualified for cannabis use, but his disqualification was overturned later. Curly Howard
Real Name: Jerome Lester Horwitz
Born: October 22, 1903
Died: January 18, 1952
Stooge years: 1934-1946
.

Jonny Moseley won the first gold of the Nagano games for the United States, capturing first place in freestyle mogul skiing with a spectacular "360 mute grab.". Larry Fine
Real Name: Louis Feinberg
Born: October 5, 1902
Died: January 24, 1975
Stooge years: 1925-1926, 1929-1971
. German luger Georg Hackl won his third straight singles title, while Austria's Hermann Maier won two gold medals in alpine skiing, after a spectacular fall in the downhill event. Moe Howard
Real Name: Harry Moses Horwitz
Born: June 19, 1897
Died: May 4, 1975
Stooge years: 1922, 1926, 1929-1975
. The Russian women swept the cross-country events, with Larisa Lazutina winning three titles. This movie was based on Michael Fleming's authorized biography on the Stooges, The Three Stooges: From Amalgamated Morons to American Icons. Bjørn Dæhlie won three gold medals, bringing his all-time total to 12 medals, including 8 golds. In Spring of 2000, a TV-movie about the life and careers of the Stooges was produced for and broadcast on ABC.

Speed skating saw a wave of new world records thanks to the use of the revolutionary clap skate; Dutch skaters Gianni Romme and Marianne Timmer each won two golds. 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). The US team then invited global scorn by vandalizing their rooms in the olympic athlete's village after completing their final game. Throughout their career, Moe was the heart and soul of the troupe, acting as both their main creative force and business manager. However, neither nation medalled and the Czech Republic, anchored by future NHL Hall of Fame goaltender Dominik Hasek, captured the gold instead. Curly-Joe often stated that his time with the Three Stooges were the 'best years of his life.'. The men's ice hockey tournament was open to all players for the first time, making Canada and the United States favourites for the gold with their many NHL professionals. Curly-Joe passed away in 1993, making him the last Stooge to die.

Two new sports were conducted - snowboarding and curling - while women's ice hockey was also included. It's interesting to note that in 1975, we lost both Larry and Moe, but also Moe's wife of 50 years, Helen. For the first time, more than 2000 winter athletes competed in the Winter Olympics, Japan's second Winter Olympics, held in the city of Nagano. 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. Both skaters competed in the Games, but neither of them won the gold medal, which went to Oksana Baiul, who won Ukraine's first Olympic title. 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). American skater Nancy Kerrigan had been injured some months before the Games in an assault planned by the ex-husband of opponent Tonya Harding. After his death, it was decided that long-time Stooge supporting actor Emil Sitka would replace him, and be dubbed "The Middle Stooge".

A lot of media attention, especially in the United States, went to the women's figure skating competition. In January 1975, Larry Fine was gone. Another American speed skater, Dan Jansen, ended years of Olympic frustration by winning gold in the 1000 m. The following month, he suffered a more serious stroke, which Larry did not survive. US speed skater Bonnie Blair won the fourth and fifth gold medal of her career, including the third straight gold in the 500 m, while Canadian biathlete Myriam Bédard won both individual events in her sport. Larry suffered another stroke in December 1974. Italian cross-country skier Manuela di Centa won five medals out of five events, including two gold medals; Lyubov Yegorova won three gold medals in the same sport. 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.

Johann Olav Koss emulated Hjalmar Andersen's achievement of 1952, winning speed skating's three longest distances for his home audience - Koss set a new world record in each of the distances as well. During production of the pilot, Larry suffered a paralyzing stroke, ending his acting career, as well as future plans for the TV series. After the split-up of Czechoslovakia in 1993, the Czech Republic and Slovakia made their Olympic debut in Lillehammer, as did several former Soviet republics. 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. The event programme was again extended, adding two new events each in freestyle skiing and short track speed skating. 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. The winter sports-minded Norwegians organised the Olympics extremely well, and many still consider them to be the best organised to date. 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 Lillehammer Games were the first Winter Olympics to be held in a different year. 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. In 1986, the IOC decided to separate the Summer Games and Winter Games and reschedule them on four-year cycles two years apart. Besser's wife had had a heart attack, however, and he withdrew from the act. New Zealand skier Annelise Coberger made history with a silver medal in the women's slalom, becoming the first Winter Olympic medallist from the Southern Hemisphere. A "Stooge fandom" quickly developed, and Howard and Fine found themselves back in demand again with the public. Finnish ski jumper Toni Nieminen made history by becoming the youngest male Winter Olympic champion. 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.

Several athletes won two gold medals, such as Petra Kronberger (skiing), Bonnie Blair, Gunda Niemann (both speed skating) and Kim Ki-Hoon (short track). Because of a production backlog, the final Stooges short, Sappy Bullfighters, did not reach theatres until 1959. Norway won all cross-country events for men, with Bjørn Dæhlie and Vegard Ulvang each winning three gold medals. 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. The Soviet Union still competed as a single team, under the name of Unified Team, but the Baltic States made independent appearances, for the first time since World War II. Television was the new popular medium, and the Stooges were practically dinosaurs. Germany competed as a single nation for the first time since the 1930s, and former Yugoslavian republics Croatia and Slovenia made their debut. Unfortunately, the market for short subjects had all but dried up by the time Besser joined the trio.

Political changes of the time were reflected in the Olympic teams appearing in France. 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). Curling, speed skiing and two freestyle skiing events were demonstrated. Joe Besser then replaced Shemp in 1956 and 1957, appearing in 16 shorts. Women's biathlon was also included for the first time. 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. Two new sports, short track speed skating and freestyle skiing were on the programme. Shemp Howard died of a sudden heart attack at age 60 on November 22, 1955.

They were held in the French Haute Savoie region; Albertville itself only hosted 18 events. To add insult to injury, death paid the Stooges another visit just three years after Curly's demise. The 1992 Games were the last to be held in the same year as the Summer Games. Remakes of earlier Shemp shorts occurred on a regular basis as a cost-saving tactic. Not all athletes making the headlines were winning medals: British ski jumper Eddie 'the Eagle' Edwards, who came in last, and Jamaica's first ever bobsleigh team also received plenty of attention. 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. Other stars of the Games include flamboyant Italian skier Alberto Tomba, East German figure skater Katarina Witt and Swedish cross-country skier Gunde Svan. The quality of the Stooge shorts took a nosedive in 1952 when director Edward Bernds was fired from Columbia Pictures.

Her total was equalled by Finnish ski jumper Matti Nykänen, who won all events in his sport. 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. Dutch skater Yvonne van Gennip beat the favoured East German, winning three gold medals and setting two new world records. During this period, Moe, Larry, and Shemp also made a pilot for a Three Stooges television show called Jerks of All Trades in 1949. For the first time, the speed skating events were held indoor, on the Olympic Oval. With Shemp on board, the Stooges went on to appear in 77 more shorts and a mediocre feature entitled Gold Raiders (1951). New events had been added in alpine skiing, ski jumping and speed skating, while future Olympic sports curling, short track speed skating and freestyle skiing made their appearance as demonstration sports. He died in January, 1952.

The Canadian city of Calgary, Alberta hosted the first Winter Olympics to span 16 days. Unfortunately, Curly's condition grew worse. In addition, Bill Johnson became the first American to win a medal in alpine skiing, winning the gold in the downhill event. Shemp wanted some kind of assurance that his rejoining was indeed temporary, and that he could leave the Stooges once Curly recovered. East German figure skater Katarina Witt also won many hearts with her gold performance and stunning beauty. However, he realized that Moe and Larry's careers would be finished without the Stooge act. In figure skating, British ice dancers Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean were popular with the audience and the jury, who gave them perfect scores for their free dance programme. Shemp Howard was hesitant to rejoin the Stooges, as he had a successful solo career going at the time of Curly's untimely illness.

Enke also won two silver medals in the other two women's speed skating events, which where completely dominated by East Germany, winning all gold and silver medals. 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). Other well scoring athletes were skaters Gaétan Boucher (Canada) and Karin Enke (East Germany), who both won two gold medals. 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. She added a bronze in the relay event. Brother Shemp reluctantly rejoined the act to take Curly's place. Finnish skier Marja-Liisa Hämäläinen took advantage of this new event, which allowed her to win three gold medals, winning all individual events. Curly suffered a stroke on May 6, 1946, curtailing his output at 97 shorts.

There was only one new event at the Sarajevo Games, a 20 km cross-country event for women. 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. This gap was filled by alpine skier Jure Franko, who won a silver medal in the giant slalom. 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. Sarajevo was quite a surprising choice for the Winter Olympics, as no Yugoslavian athlete had ever won an Olympic medal in the Winter Games. According to a published report,^[1] Moe, Larry, and director Jules White considered their best film to be You Nazty Spy (1940). In a match later dubbed the "Miracle on Ice", the home team upset the favoured Soviet Union, and went on to win the title. Jules White directed many others, and his brother Jack White directed several under the pseudonym "Preston Black".

For the Americans, however, the highlight of the Games was the Olympic ice hockey tournament. Del Lord directed more than three dozen of the Three Stooges shorts. In alpine skiing, Liechtenstein's Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals, as did Ingemar Stenmark from Sweden. The Stooges went on to star in 190 film short subjects over the next twenty-three years, the longest such series in history. Additionally, Heiden set world records in each of the 5 events he competed in, another record. 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. However, where Skoblikova won four, Heiden won five gold medals, which made him the first to ever win five gold medals in individual events during a single Olympics (a record equalled by Vitaly Scherbo in the 1992 Summer Olympics). 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.

Speed skater Eric Heiden equalled Lidia Skoblikova's achievement from 1964 by winning all speed skating events. 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. Nordic combiner Ulrich Wehling and figure skater Irina Rodnina both won their third consecutive gold medals in the same event, while biathlete Aleksander Tikhonov won his fourth one in the relay. 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. Fortunately, there were also many sporting highlights. Fields. The threat of the American boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics was also clouding these Olympics, as the decision to do so fell during the Games. 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.

The Taiwanese refused, and thus became the only nation to boycott the Olympic Winter Games. By 1930, Ted Healy and His Stooges were appearing in Hollywood feature films, such as Soup to Nuts. Because of this, the Republic of China (Taiwan) was forced by the IOC to compete under the name of Chinese Taipei. Shemp acquired his name from his mother's attempts to pronounce his name, "Sam", in spite of her thick accent. The People's Republic of China made its debut at the Winter Olympics. Brothers Harry Moses Howard (Moe) and Samuel Howard (Shemp) (original last name Horwitz) were later joined by violinist Larry Fine (born Louis Feinberg). The Olympic Winter Games returned to Lake Placid, New York, which had earlier hosted the 1932 edition. 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.

Russian biathlete Nikolay Kruglov also won two golds. . East German bobsledders Nehmer and Germeshausen collected two gold medals, winning both the 2- and 4-man events. 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. Soviet cross-country skier Raisa Smetanina also won two golds and a silver, while her compatriot Tatyana Averina won two golds and two bronzes in speed skating. The Three Stooges were an American comedy act in the 20th century. West German alpine skier Rosi Mittermaier won two gold medals, and came within 12 hundredths of a second of winning a third. They rarely say anything, but are occaisionally spotted in the background.

No athlete managed to win three gold medals, but a few came close. In the TV show The Simpsons, two regulars of Moe's Tavern are named Larry and Curly. New events on the programme were ice dancing and the men's 1000 m in speed skating. 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. Because it was the second time the Austrian town hosted the Games, two Olympic flames were lit. The illusion looked real on television. Innsbruck, which still had the venues of 1964 in good shape, was chosen in 1973 to replace Denver. The contact point of the "eye poke" was actually the brow bone, not the eyes.

Originally, the 1976 Winter Games had been awarded to Denver, but in a 1972 plebiscite, the city's inhabitants voted against organising the Games. She comments, "I wonder what's wrong with that man?" as she looks up, and gets the pie right in the face. After this, all top-level cross-country skiing would take place with the athletes using skis made mostly of fibreglass synthetics. 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. On a historical note, the 1972 Games were the last Olympic Winter Games where a skier would win the gold medal using all-wooden skis. One of the guests starts talking with Moe Howard, who is getting increasingly nervous as the pie starts coming loose. In alpine skiing, Spaniard Francisco Fernández Ochoa was the surprise winner of the slalom event. 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.

In ski jumping, Wojciech Fortuna from Poland won his country first gold medal, while the host nation performed a clean sweep of the other ski jumping event, also winning its first Olympic winter gold. 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. Sapporo also brought several surprising winners. 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. Switzerland's Marie Thérès Nadig and Vyacheslav Vedenin (USSR) both returned home with two Olympic gold medals. 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. Schenk won three of the four skating events (falling in the 500 m), while Kulakova won all three events she entered. The folk trio Modern Man perform the song "Moe" (written by pianist/singer George Wurzbach), about a boy whose father looks like Moe Howard.

Major stars of the Games were, without a doubt, Dutch speed skater Ard Schenk and Soviet cross-country skier Galina Kulakova. 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. Also, the Canadian ice hockey team was absent, protesting the Eastern European "state amateurs", who, according to the Canadians, were in fact professionals. Another Vulcan, who is depicted as being familiar with human pop culture, agrees with the assessment. Eventually, only Austrian star Karl Schranz, who earned most of all skiers, was not allowed to compete. One of the Vulcans is annoyed at being nicknamed "Moe" because of his resemblance to "something called a 'Stooge'". Three days before the Olympics, IOC president Avery Brundage threatened to bar a large number of top alpine skiers from competing because they did not comply with the amateurism rules. The Star Trek: Enterprise episode "Carbon Creek" features a group of Vulcans stranded in a small American town in the 1950s.

The Games in Sapporo, Japan, were surrounded by several professionalism issues. 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 1972 Winter Games were the first to be held outside North America or Europe. 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. Her male colleagues of Norway, Ole Ellefsæter and Harald Grønningen, also won two gold medals. (Source: http://www.2112.net/powerwindows/RushInspirations.htm; and...first-hand experience at multiple Rush concerts). Other successful athletes were Italian bobsleigh driver Eugenio Monti, who won both bobsleigh events after a long Olympic career, and Toini Gustafsson of Sweden, who won both individual events in cross-country, and added a silver with the Swedish relay team. 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.

The East German women had finished first, second and fourth, but were subsequently disqualified for heating their sledge's runners, which is illegal in lugeing. 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. Another controversy arose in the women's luge. Tribute to a famous trio by...another famous trio: the legendary Canadian rock group Rush. The jury later ruled Schranz had missed a gate before the interruption, and disqualified him as a winner. The movie was executive produced by Mel Gibson. He had been allowed to re-ski his second run after he was interrupted by spectators. Moe was played by Paul Ben-Victor, Larry by Evan Handler, Shemp by John Kassir, and Curly by Michael Chiklis.

Killy's third gold medal was slightly controversial however, as Austrian Karl Schranz was disqualified. The Stooges were brought back to life (so to speak) in a 2000 TV movie. By winning all three alpine events, he equalled Toni Sailer's 1956 performance. 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. Alpine skier Jean-Claude Killy lead the home team's good performances. 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. Another first in the Olympics were doping and sex tests. The King of the Hill episode "A-Fire Fighting We Will Go" contains several references to the Stooges.

One new event was added for the Grenoble Games: the 4 x 10 km relay in biathlon. 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. Until 1964, they had competed in a combined German team. In an episode of the cartoon Pinky and the Brain entitled "Pinky & The Brain And.. Held in the French town of Grenoble, the 1968 Winter Olympics were the first Olympic Games in which East and West Germany participated as separate countries. These three guards are none other than the three stooges. Also remarkable was Eugenio Monti, who leant a spare part of his bobsleigh to British competitors Tony Nash and Robin Dixon, enabling them to win the gold medal in the 2-man event. In the computer game remake of Quest for Glory 1, three guards attempt to kill the hero in the Brigand fortress.

The French sisters Marielle and Christine Goitschel took the first two places in both the slalom and the giant slalom event, each sister winning once. In the 1995 computer game Space Quest 6, there was a minigame called Stooge Fighter, which was a humorous tribute to the stooges. Two other cross-country skiers, Eero Mäntyranta and Sixten Jernberg, took home two gold medals. The game was also ported to the NES in 1989 by Activision, and then to Game Boy Advance in 2002 Metro 3D (M3). Speed skater Lidia Skoblikova swept all four women's events, while her compatriot Klavdia Boyarskikh did the same in women's cross-country, winning three golds. 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. Two Soviet athletes were very successful at these Games. 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?".

Luge was first contested in the Olympics, although the sport got bad publicity when a competitor was killed in a pre-Olympic training run. 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. Bobsleigh returned to the Olympics, while a new event was added to ski jumping and women's cross-country skiing. The Evil Dead film series has a number of stooge inspired moments. Despite being a traditional winter sports resort, there was a lack of snow and ice during the Games, and the Austrian army was called in to bring snow and ice to the sport venues. The 1985 film, Stoogemania tells the story of an obsessed Three Stooges fan, and includes clips of their classic Shorts. The Tyrolean city of Innsbruck was the host in 1964. 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.

A surprise occurred in ice hockey, where the home team surprisingly defeated the favoured Soviets, Canadians and Czechs. Kook's Tour (1970). 35-year-old Veikko Hakulinen of Finland won a complete set of medals in these Games, including a narrow win in the 4 x 10 km relay. The Outlaws Is Coming (1965). The men's 10000 m saw Knut Johannesen glide to the gold in a time 46 seconds under the world record. 4 for Texas (1963) (Cameo). She would add four more titles in 1964. It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963) (Cameo).

Fellow Russian Lidia Skoblikova won the two longest distances in the inaugural women's races. The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze (1963). Even more remarkable was that he again tied for the gold in the 1500, this time with Norwegian Roald Aas. The Three Stooges in Orbit (1962). Yevgeni Grishin repeated his 1956 performance by winning both the 500 and 1500 m. The Three Stooges Meet Hercules (1962). Only two athletes managed to win more than one gold medal in Squaw Valley, both Soviet speed skaters. Snow White and the Three Stooges (1961).

While bobsleighing was absent, biathlon was first contested at the Olympics, and women first took part in speed skating. Have Rocket, Will Travel (1959). The Games were held from February 18 to 28. Columbia Laff Hour (1956). There was a fear of lack of snow, but late snowfall prevented a disaster. Gold Raiders (1951). The organising committee found it too expensive as only 9 nations would take part. Swing Parade of 1946 (1946).

By 1960, this had changed, although there was no bobsleigh run. Rockin' in the Rockies (1945). At the time the Olympics were awarded to Squaw Valley, a resort town created by Alexander Cushing, near Lake Tahoe in California. Yates (1943) (scenes deleted). Cross-country skier Sixten Jernberg won four medals for Sweden, but only one gold medal. Good Luck, Mr. He won all three alpine events, the first time this occurred in the Olympics. My Sister Eileen (1942) (Cameo).