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In 1930, Ted
Healy and His Stooges appeared in their first Hollywood feature
film: Soup to Nuts, released by Fox Studios. The film was not a
critical success but the Stooges' performances were considered the
highlight and Fox offered the trio a contract without Healy. This
upset Healy, who told studio executives that the Stooges were his
employees. The offer was withdrawn, and after Howard, Fine and Howard
learned of the reason, they left Healy to form their own act, which
quickly took off with a tour of the theatre circuit. Healy attempted
to stop the new act with legal action, claiming they were using
his copyrighted material. There are accounts of Healy threatening
to bomb theaters if Howard, Fine and Howard ever performed there,
which worried Shemp so much that he almost left the act; reportedly,
only a pay raise kept him on board. Healy tried to save his act
by hiring replacement stooges, but they were not as well-received
as their predecessors.[2] In 1932, with Moe now acting as business
manager, Healy reached a new agreement with his former Stooges,
and they were booked in a production of J.J. Shubert's The Passing
Show of 1932. During rehearsals, Healy received a more lucrative
offer and found a loophole in his contract allowing him to leave
the production.[2] Shemp, fed up with Healy's abrasiveness,[2] decided
to quit the act and found work almost immediately, in Vitaphone
movie comedies produced in Brooklyn, New York. With Shemp gone,
Healy and the two remaining stooges (Moe and Larry) needed a replacement,
so Moe suggested his younger brother Jerry Howard. Healy reportedly
took one look at Jerry, who had long chestnut red locks and a handbar
mustache, and remarked that he did not look like funny.[2] Jerry
left the room and returned a few moments later with his head shaved
(though his mustache remained for a time), and then quipped "boy,
do I look curly." Healy liked the name, and thus 'Curly' was
born. (There are varying accounts as to how the Curly character
actually came about.)
In 1933, Metro
Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) signed Healy and his Stooges to a movie contract.
They appeared in feature films and short subjects, either together,
individually, or with various combinations of actors. The trio was
featured in a series of musical comedy shorts, beginning with Nertsery
Rhymes. The short was one of a few shorts to be made with an early
two-strip Technicolor process; the shorts themselves were built
around recycled film footage of production numbers cut from MGM
musicals, some of which had been filmed in Technicolor. Soon, additional
shorts followed (sans the experimental Technicolor), including Beer
and Pretzels, Plane Nuts, and The Big Idea.
Healy and company
also appeared in several MGM feature films, such as Turn Back the
Clock, Meet the Baron, Dancing Lady, Fugitive Lovers, and Hollywood
Party. Healy and the Stooges also appeared together in Myrt and
Marge for Universal Pictures. In 1934, the team's contract with
MGM expired, and the Stooges parted professional company with Healy.
According to Moe Howard in his autobiography,[3] the Stooges split
with Ted Healy in 1934 once and for all because of Healy's alcoholism
and abrasiveness. Their final film with Healy was MGM’s 1934 film,
Hollywood Party.
Both Healy and
the Stooges went on to separate success. Healy died under mysterious
circumstances in 1937.
The Columbia
years
The same year,
the trio (now christened The Three Stooges) signed on to appear
in two-reel comedy short subjects for Columbia Pictures. In Moe's
autobiography, he said they each got $600 per week on a one-year
contract with a renewable option; in the Ted Okuda-Edward Watz book
The Columbia Comedy Shorts, the Stooges are said to have gotten
$1,000 between them for their first Columbia effort, Woman Haters,
and then signed a term contract for $7,500 per film, to be divided
among the trio. According to Moe, Columbia Pictures studio head
Harry Cohn would always wait until the last minute to renew the
contract.[3] The Stooges, too worried about keeping their jobs in
an increasingly declining short-subject market, would not dare ask
for a raise during the 23 years they worked for Cohn. The Stooges
appeared in 190 film shorts and five features under the "original"
contract with Columbia. Del Lord directed more than three dozen
Three Stooges shorts. Jules White directed dozens more, and his
brother Jack White directed several under the pseudonym "Preston
Black". (In the early shorts, Curly was billed as "Curley",
and also as "Jerry Howard" when receiving a writing credit).
According to a published report,[4] Moe, Larry, and director Jules
White considered their best film to be You Nazty Spy!. This 18-minute
short subject starring Moe as an Adolf 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 Charlie Chaplin's The
Great Dictator. Reportedly this film caused the Stooges to be placed
on Hitler's so-called "death list" because of its anti-Nazi
stance. Chaplin, along with Jack Benny would also be on this list
due to their later anti-Nazi films.
The
Stooges made occasional guest appearances in feature films, though
generally they stuck to short subjects. Columbia offered theater
owners an entire program of two-reel comedies (15 to 25 titles annually)
featuring such stars as Buster Keaton, Andy Clyde, Charley Chase,
and Hugh Herbert, but the Three Stooges shorts were the most popular
of all.[2]
Curly
was easily the most popular member of the team.[2] His childlike
mannerisms and natural comedic charm made him a hit with audiences.
The fact that Curly had to shave his head for the act led him to
feel unappealing to women. To mask his insecurities, Curly drank,
ate, and made merry whenever the Stooges made personal appearances,
which was approximately seven months out of the year. His weight
ballooned in the 1940s, and his blood pressure was dangerously high.[5]
His wild lifestyle and constant drinking eventually caught up with
him in 1945, and his performances suffered. Anyone viewing Curly's
last dozen shorts will see a seriously ill Curly, struggling to
get through even the most basic scenes.[2]
During
the filming of Half-Wits Holiday on May 6, 1946, Curly suffered
a debilitating stroke, and the film was finished without him. (He
is absent from the last several minutes of the film.) Curly's health
necessitated a temporary retirement from the act, and while the
Stooges hoped for a full recovery, Curly never starred in a film
again. He did make one brief cameo appearance in the third film
after Shemp returned to the trio, Hold That Lion!. It was the only
film that contained all four of the original Stooges (the three
Howard brothers and Larry) on screen simultaneously; Jules White
recalled Curly visiting the set one day, and White had him do this
bit for fun. (Curly's cameo appearance was recycled in the 1953
remake Booty and the Beast).[3] In 1949, Curly was supposed to play
a cameo role in the Stooge comedy Malice in the Palace, but his
chef role was played by Larry.
Shemp
returns
Moe
Howard turned to his older brother Shemp Howard to take Curly's
place. Shemp, however, was hesitant to rejoin the Stooges, as he
had a successful solo career at the time of Curly's untimely illness.
However, he realized that Moe's 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 declined
until his death on January 18, 1952.
Shemp
appeared with the Stooges in 73 more shorts and a quickie Western
comedy feature titled Gold Raiders. During this period, Moe, Larry
and Shemp 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 currently in the public domain and is available on
home video, as is an early television appearance from around the
same time on a vaudeville-style comedy series, Camel Comedy Caravan,
originally broadcast live on CBS-TV on March 11, 1950 and starring
Ed Wynn. Also available commercially is a kinescope of Moe, Larry
and Shemp's appearance on The Frank Sinatra Show, broadcast live
over CBS-TV on January 1, 1952. Sinatra was reportedly a big fan
of the Stooges and slapstick comedy in general. On this broadcast,
the Stooges are joined by one of their longtime stock-company members
Vernon Dent, who plays "Mr. Mortimer", a party-goer who
requests a drink. The Stooges oblige with disastrous results.
The quality of the Stooge shorts declined after Columbia's short-subject
division downsized in 1952. Producer Hugh McCollum was discharged
and director Edward Bernds resigned out of loyalty to McCollum,
leaving only Jules White to both produce and direct the Stooges'
remaining Columbia comedies. Production was significantly faster,
with the former four-day filming schedules now tightened to two
or three days. In another cost-cutting measure, White would create
a "new" Stooge short by borrowing footage from old ones,
setting it in a slightly different storyline, and filming a few
new scenes often with the same actors in the same costumes. White
was initially very subtle when recycling older footage: he would
reuse only a single sequence of old film, re-edited so cleverly
that it was not easy to detect. The later shorts were cheaper and
the recycling more obvious, with as much as 75% of the running time
consisting of old footage. White came to rely so much on older material
that he could film the "new" shorts in a single day.
Death
paid the Stooges another visit just three years after Curly's demise,
when 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 complete the last four films of Shemp's contract: Rumpus
in the Harem, Hot Stuff, Scheming Schemers and Commotion on the
Ocean.
Joe Besser replaces Shemp
Joe
Besser replaced Shemp in 1956, appearing in 16 shorts. Besser, noting
how one side of Larry Fine's face seemed "calloused",[6]
had a clause in his contract specifically prohibiting him from being
hit too hard (though this restriction was later lifted). Ironically,
Besser was the only "third" Stooge that dared to hit Moe
back in retaliation and get away with it; Larry Fine was also known
to hit Moe on occasion, but always with serious repercussions. "I
usually played the kind of character who would hit others back,"
Besser recalled.[7] Actually, Besser simply continued using the
same "whiny sissy" act he had used throughout most of
his career (with such catchphrases as "Not so louuuuuuud!"
and "You craaaaaaaazy, youuuuuu!") and played that character
alongside Larry's and Moe's.
With
Besser on board, the Stooge films began to resemble sitcoms. Sitcoms,
though, were now available for free. Television was the new popular
medium, and by the time Besser joined the act, the Stooges were
generally considered throwbacks to an obsolete era. In addition,
Moe and Larry were growing older, and could not perform pratfalls
and physical comedy as they once had.
The
inevitable occurred soon enough. Columbia was the last studio still
producing shorts, and the market for such films had all but dried
up. As a result, the studio opted not to renew the Stooges' contract
when it expired in late December 1957. The final comedy produced
was Flying Saucer Daffy, filmed on December 19-20, 1957.[8] Several
days later, the Stooges were unceremoniously fired from Columbia
Pictures after 24 years of making low-budget shorts. Joan Howard
Maurer, daughter of Moe, wrote the following in 1982:
“ The
boys' careers had suddenly come to an end. They were at Columbia
one day and gone the next—no 'Thank yous,' no farewell party for
their 24 years of dedication and service and the dollars their comedies
had reaped for the studio.
Moe Howard recalled that a few weeks after their exit from Columbia,
he drove to the studio to say goodbye to several studio executives
when he was stopped by a guard at the gate (obviously, not a Stooges
fan) and, since he did not have the current year's studio pass,
was refused entry. For the moment, it was a crushing blow.[5]
”
Although
the Stooges were no longer working for Columbia, the studio had
enough completed films on the shelf to keep releasing new comedies
for another 18 months, and not in the order they were produced.
The final Stooge release, Sappy Bull Fighters, did not reach theaters
until June 4, 1959.
Comeback
In
1958, 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 with the public.
Moe and Larry discussed plans for a personal appearance tour; meanwhile,
Besser's wife had a heart attack, and he preferred to stay local,
leading him to withdraw from the act. Moe quickly signed movie and
burlesque comic Joe DeRita as his replacement; DeRita shaved his
head and became "Curly-Joe" because of his resemblance
to the original Curly Howard. ("Curly-Joe" was easy to
distinguish from Joe Besser, the previous Stooge called "Joe").
This
Three Stooges lineup went on to make a series of popular full-length
films from 1959 to 1965. The films were aimed at the kiddie-matinee
market, and most were slapstick outings in the Stooge tradition,
with the exception of Snow White and the Three Stooges, a children's
fantasy in Technicolor. Throughout the 1960s, The Three Stooges
were one of the most popular and highest-paid live acts in America.[7]
The trio also filmed 41 short comedy skits for The New Three Stooges,
156 animated cartoons produced for television. The Stooges appeared
in live-action color footage, which preceded and followed each animated
adventure in which they voiced their respective characters.
Final
years
In
1969, the Three Stooges filmed a pilot episode for a new TV series
titled Kook's Tour, a combination travelogue-sitcom that had the
"retired" Stooges traveling around the world, with the
episodes filmed on location. On January 9, 1970, during production
of the pilot, Larry suffered a paralyzing stroke, ending his acting
career, as well as plans for the television 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, in an unrestored version.
Larry
Fine suffered another stroke in December 1974. The following month,
he suffered a more serious one, and slipped into a coma. He died
on January 24, 1975, at the age of 72. Devastated by his friend's
passing, Moe nevertheless decided that the Three Stooges would continue,
and longtime Stooge supporting actor Emil Sitka would replace Larry,
and be dubbed "The Middle Stooge". Sitka later said he
accepted the offer after receiving Larry's blessings.
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, lifelong smoker Moe fell ill from lung cancer,
and died on May 4, 1975.[3]
DeRita, an ill Moe Howard (who died shortly thereafter) and Emil
Sitka.With Moe gone, it was inconceivable that the Three Stooges
would continue without a Howard, although Curly-Joe did perform
live with a new group of Stooges in the mid-1970s.
Joe
Besser died on March 1, 1988, followed by Curly-Joe on July 3, 1993.
Emil Sitka died on January 16, 1998, making him the last "Stooge"
to die (though Sitka never performed on film as a member of the
trio, but did appear in a few publicity shots).
Combinations
Ted Healy, and Moe Howard 1922 - 1923
Ted Healy, Moe Howard, and Shemp Howard 1923
Ted Healy, Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Shemp Howard 1923-1932
Ted Healy, Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Curly Howard 1932-1934
Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Curly Howard 1934-1947
Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Shemp Howard 1947-1956
Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Joe Besser 1957-1959
Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Curly Joe DeRita 1958-1975
Moe Howard, Emil Sitka, and Curly Joe DeRita 1975
Comedy
III Productions, Inc.
Throughout their career, Moe acted as both their main creative force
and business manager. Comedy III Productions, Inc., formed by Moe,
Larry and Curly-Joe DeRita in 1959, is presently the owner of all
Three Stooges trademarks and merchandising. After a court battle
with the grandsons of Moe Howard, the company is currently operated
by DeRita's stepsons, Earl and Robert Benjamin, attorney Bela G.
Lugosi and Larry Fine's grandson, majority owner Eric Lamond.[9]
Comedy
III has also, since 1995, authorized and provided the services of
veteran actors Jim Skousen, Alan Semok, and Dave Knight (as Moe,
Larry, and Curly respectively) for numerous "personal appearances"
by the Stooge characters for a variety of merchandising and promotional
events. This latter day trio has also provided voices for the characters
in a variety of radio spots, merchandising tie-ins, and most recently
for the first new Three Stooges short in fifty years... a CGI animation
by Famous Frames Mobile Interactive, a first-wave "new media"
company. Entitled The Grate Debate, the short has Moe, Larry and
Curly running for President.
2000 TV movie
In Spring of 2000, longtime Stooge fan Mel Gibson produced a TV
movie filmed in Sydney about the lives and careers of the Stooges.
It was produced for and broadcast on ABC. This movie was based on
Michael Fleming's authorized biography of the Stooges, The Three
Stooges: From Amalgamated Morons to American Icons. The film regularly
runs on the American Movie Classics (AMC) channel.
Television broadcasts
A handful of Three Stooges shorts first aired on television in 1949,
on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) network. It was not until
1958 that Screen Gems packaged 78 shorts for national syndication;
the package was gradually enlarged to encompass the entire library
of 190 shorts. In 1959, KTTV in Los Angeles purchased the Three
Stooges films for air, but by the early 1970s, rival station KTLA
began airing the Stooges films, keeping them in the schedule until
early 1994. The Family Channel (now ABC Family) as part of their
Stooge TV block from February 19, 1996 to January 2, 1998. In the
late 1990s, AMC had held the rights to the Three Stooges shorts,
airing them with host Leslie Nielsen, in the format of a college
instructor for NYUK (New Yuk University of Knuckleheads), with several
shorts often grouped by a theme, such as similar schticks used in
different films. The AMC run ended when Spike TV picked them up
in 2004, airing them in their Stooges Happy-Slapping Hour. By 2007,
the network had discontinued airing the shorts. Spike TV had begun
airing Stooges shorts again, this time every Sunday morning at 9:00.
As of late April 2008, Three Stooges has disappeared from the network's
schedule entirely.
Since
the 1990s Columbia has preferred to license the Stooge shorts to
cable networks, precluding the films from being shown on local broadcast
TV. Stations in Chicago and Boston, however, signed long-term syndication
contracts with Columbia years ago and declined to terminate them.
Thus, WCIU-TV in Chicago currently airs all 190 Three Stooges shorts
on Stooge-a-Palooza, hosted by Rich Koz, and WSBK in Boston airs
Stooge shorts and feature films.
Some
of the Stooge films have been colorized by two separate companies.
The first colorized DVD releases, distributed by Sony Pictures Home
Entertainment, were prepared by West Wing Studios in 2004. The following
year, Legend Films and 20th century Fox Home Entertainment colorized
the public domain shorts Malice in the Palace, Sing a Song of Six
Pants, Disorder in the Court and Brideless Groom. Disorder in the
Court and Brideless Groom also appear on two of West Wing's colorized
releases.
Chronological DVD release and public reception
On October 30, 2007, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released The
Three Stooges Collection, Volume One: 1934-1936 on DVD. The two-disc
set contains shorts from the first three years the Stooges worked
at Columbia Pictures. This is the first time ever that all 19 shorts
have been released in their original theatrical order to DVD. Every
short was remastered in high definition, a first for the Stooge
films.[10] Previous DVD releases were based on themes (wartime,
history, work, etc.), and sold poorly. Fans and critics alike praised
Sony for finally giving the Stooges the proper DVD treatment. One
critic states "the Three Stooges on DVD has been a real mix'n
match hodge-podge of un-restored titles and illogical entries. This
new...boxset...seems to be the first concerted effort to categorize
their huge body of work chronologically with many shorts seeing
the digital light for the first time."[11] Videolibrarian.com
critic added "finally, the studio knuckleheads got it right!
The way that the Three Stooges have been presented on home video
has been a real slap in the face and poke in the eye to fans. They’ve
been anthologized, colorized, and public domain-ed, as their shorts
have been released and re-released in varying degrees of quality.
Highly recommended."[12] Critic James Plath of DVDtown.com
added, "Thank you, Sony, for finally giving these Columbia
Pictures icons the kind of DVD retrospective that they deserve.
Remastered in High Definition and presented in chronological order,
these short films now give fans the chance to appreciate the development
of one of the most successful comedy teams in history."[13]
The
next set in the series, The Three Stooges Collection, Volume Two:
1937-1939 was released on May 27, 2008.[14]
Members
e team.Moe Howard
Real Name: Harry Moses Horwitz
Born: June 19, 1897(1897-06-19)
Died: May 4, 1975 (aged 77)
Stooge years: 1922, 1926, 1929-1975
Larry Fine
Real Name: Louis Feinberg
Born: October 5, 1902(1902-10-05)
Died: January 24, 1975 (aged 72)
Stooge years: 1925-1926, 1929-1975
Curly Howard
Real Name: Jerome Lester Horwitz
Born: October 22, 1903(1903-10-22)
Died: January 18, 1952 (aged 48)
Stooge years: 1932-1946
Shemp Howard
Real Name: Schmool Samuel Horwitz
Born: March 4, 1895(1895-03-04)
Died: November 22, 1955 (aged 60)
Stooge years: 1922-1925, 1929-1932, 1947-1955
Ted Healy
Real Name: Clarence Ernst Lee Nash
Born: October 1, 1896(1896-10-01)
Died: December 21, 1937 (aged 41)
Stooge Years: 1922-1925, 1929-1934
Joe Palma
Born: March 17, 1905(1905-03-17)
Died: August 15, 1994 (aged 89)
Stooge Year: 1956 (body double for Shemp)
Joe
Besser
Born: August 12, 1907(1907-08-12)
Died: March 1, 1988 (aged 80)
Stooge years: 1956-1957
Curly-Joe DeRita
Real Name: Joseph Wardell
Born: July 12, 1909(1909-07-12)
Died: July 3, 1993 (aged 83)
Stooge years: 1958-1975
Emil Josef Sitka [15]
Born: December 22, 1914(1914-12-22)
Died: January 16, 1998 (aged 83)
Stooge year: 1975
Sitka was officially named a member of the Stooges following Larry
Fine's stroke, but never got to perform with the group.
Kenny Mraz: the 6 stooges
Music
Several
instrumental tunes were played over the opening credits at different
times in the production of the short features. The most commonly
used themes were:
The
verse portion of "Listen to the Mockingbird", played in
a comical way, complete with sounds of cuckoo birds and such. This
was first used in Pardon My Scotch, their ninth short film. Prior
to that film, the opening theme varied and was usually connected
with the storyline in some way. Ironically, the actual song "Listen
to the Mockingbird" is mournful.
"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 Columbia short subject Woman Haters was done completely in rhyme,
recited (not sung) in rhythm with a Jazz-Age underscore running
throughout the film. It was sixth in a “Musical Novelties” short
subject series, and appropriated its musical score from the first
five films. The memorable “My Life, My Love, My All,” was originally
“At Last!” from the film “Um-Pa.”
"Swinging the Alphabet" (a.k.a. B-A-bay, B-E-be, B-I-bicky-bi…)
from Violent is the Word for Curly is perhaps the best-known song
performed by the Stooges on film.
The “Lucia Sextet” (Chi mi frena in tal memento?), from the opera
Lucia di Lammermoor by Gaetano Donizetti (announced by Larry as
“the sextet from Lucy”), is played on a record player and lip-synched
by the Stooges in Micro-Phonies. The same melody re-appears in Squareheads
of the Round Table as the tune of “Oh, Elaine, can you come out
tonight?”. Micro-Phonies also includes the Johann Strauss Jr. waltz
“Voices of Spring” ("Frühlingsstimmen") Op. 410.
Another Strauss waltz, "The Blue Danube," is featured
in Ants in the Pantry and Punch Drunks.
The Moe-Larry-Curly Joe lineup of the Stooges recorded several musical
record albums in the early 1960s. Most of their songs were adaptations
of nursery rhymes. Among their more popular recordings were "Making
a Record" (a surreal trip to a recording studio built around
the song "Go Tell Aunt Mary"), "Three Little Fishes,"
"All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth," and
"I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas."
In 1983, a group called the Jump 'N The Saddle Band recorded a track
called "The Curly Shuffle", which featured the narrator
singing about his love of the Stooges mixed with a chorus of many
of Curly's catchphrases and sound effects.
Feature
motion pictures
For
a list of their 190 short films, see List of Three Stooges shorts.
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)
Stop! Look! and Laugh! (1960)
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 (see "History" section,
above) television series pilots, Jerks of All Trades and Kook's
Tour, the Stooges appeared in a 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 wraparounds to 156 animated
Stooges shorts.
That
cartoon program became the only regularly scheduled television show
in history for the Stooges. Unlike other films shorts that aired
on TV like the Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry, and Popeye, the film
shorts of the Stooges never had a regularly scheduled national television
program to air in, neither on network nor syndicated. When Columbia/Screen
Gems licensed the film library to television, the shorts aired in
any fashion the local stations chose (examples: late-night "filler"
material between the end of the late movie and the channel's sign-off
time; in "marathon" sessions running shorts back-to-back
for one, one-and-a-half, or two hours; etc.).
Two
episodes of Hanna-Barbera's The New Scooby-Doo Movies aired on CBS
featuring animated Stooges as guest stars: the premiere, "Ghastly
Ghost Town" (September 9, 1972) and "The Ghost of the
Red Baron" (November 18, 1972). Due to these guest appearances
there was a short-lived animated series, also produced by Hanna-Barbera,
titled The Robonic Stooges, originally seen as a featured segment
on Skatebirds (CBS, 1977-1978), featuring Moe, Larry, and Curly
(voiced by new actors) as bionic cartoon superheroes with extendable
limbs, similar to the later Inspector Gadget.
The
Stooges were brought back to life (so to speak) in a 2000 TV movie.
Moe was played by Paul Ben-Victor (who also had a small role as
a fan who thinks he is Moe Howard in the film Stoogemania), Larry
by Evan Handler, Shemp by John Kassir, and Curly by Michael Chiklis.
The executive producer was Mel Gibson.
Mobisode
A mobisode
featuring CGI stooges has been announced, and a short trailer released.
The theme involves the Stooges running for President.[16]
Computer
Game
In
1987, game developers Cinemaware released a successful Three Stooges
computer game, available for Apple IIGS, Amiga, Commodore 64, DOS,
and Nintento Entertainment System (NES). Based around the Stooges
earning money by doing odd jobs to prevent the foreclosure of an
orphanage, it incorporated audio from the original films and was
popular enough to be reissued for the Game Boy Advance in 2002.[17]
Museum
Gary
Lassin opened the Stoogeum in 2004 in a renovated architect's office
in Spring House, Pennsylvania, 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of
Philadelphia. The museum-quality exhibits fill three stories (10,000
square feet or 929 square meters), including an 85-seat theater.[18]
Peter Seely, editor of the book Stoogeology: Essays on the Three
Stooges said that the Stoogeum has "more stuff than I even
imagined existed." 2,500 people visit it yearly, many during
the annual gathering of the Three Stooges Fan Club.[19]
Robert
Swerdlow of Dix Hills, New York has a large collection of Three
Stooges memorabilia. Puppets, dolls, coloring books, paper dolls
and toys are displayed in his Long Island home.
Film
A film
about the Three Stooges, simply titled The Three Stooges, is scheduled
to be released on 2009. The Farrelly Brothers are still attached
to the project,[20] even though their Warner Bros. deal to write
and direct the film has expired. First Look Studios, working with
C3 Entertainment, will distribute the motion picture.[21] The Farrellys
have said that they were not going to do a biopic or remake, but
instead new Three Stooges episodes set in the present day. The plot
of the episodes are said to be an adventure that revolves around
the Stooges characters.[22]
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