Kook's Tour

Kook's Tour
VHS cover for Kook's Tour
Directed by	Norman Maurer
Produced by	Norman Maurer
Written by	Norman Maurer
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Joe DeRita Moose the Dog Norman Maurer Don Lamond Joan Howard Emil Sitka
Cinematography	James T. Flocker Michael Maurer
Editing by	Pat Somerset
Distributed by	Normandy Productions
Release date(s)	February 5, 1970
Running time	51' 22"
Country	United States
Language	English
Preceded by	The Outlaws Is Coming

Kook's Tour is the title of an American short comedy film produced in late 1969 and early 1970. It was the final film to star the Three Stooges. The name is a pun on the term "Cook's Tour", which was popularized by the Thomas Cook travel company.

Summary

Kook's Tour was conceived by Moe Howard's son-in-law, frequent Three Stooges collaborator Norman Maurer, as a weekly television series that would have mixed the Stooges' brand of farce comedy with a documentary travelogue format. The concept of the series was that, after 50 years of comic mayhem, the Stooges (Moe, Larry Fine, and Curly Joe DeRita) have retired and are traveling the world with their motor home and motor boat (which is transported from place to place via a cargo plane). The 50-minute pilot film for the series saw the Stooges exploring the wilderness of the western United States, including areas of Wyoming and Idaho. In the meantime, Larry keeps getting subbed when trying to catch a fish.

Notes

• On January 9, 1970, before the filming was finished, Larry Fine suffered a severe stroke, paralyzing the left side of his body. When it became clear that Fine was not expected to recover fully from the stroke, production of the series was canceled and the Kook's Tour pilot film was shelved.
• The film remained unreleased for several years until Maurer arranged for it to be released to the Super 8 home movie market in the mid-1970s. When Super 8 was replaced by VHS, Kook's Tour disappeared from sight, later to reappear on DVD.
• At the end of Kook's Tour, Moe stated that the second episode (ultimately never produced) would have taken place in Japan.
• Following Larry's stroke and the cancellation of Kook's Tour, several attempts were made to revive the Stooges (with Emil Sitka replacing Larry), but no further films were produced before Larry's and Moe's deaths in 1975.

Further reading

• Moe Howard and the Three Stooges; by Moe Howard (Citadel Press, 1977).
• The Complete Three Stooges: The Official Filmography and Three Stooges Companion; by Jon Solomon (Comedy III Productions, Inc., 2002).
• The Three Stooges Scrapbook; by Jeff Lenburg, Joan Howard Maurer, Greg Lenburg (Citadel Press, 1994).
• The Three Stooges: An Illustrated History, From Amalgamated Morons to American Icons; by Michael Fleming (Broadway Publishing, 2002).
• One Fine Stooge: A Frizzy Life in Pictures; by Steve Cox and Jim Terry (Cumberland House Publishing, 2006).

External links

• Official website description
• Kook's Tour at the Internet Movie Database
• Kook's Tour at Allmovie