The Three Stooges

The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy act of the mid 20th century best known for their numerous short subject films. They were commonly known by their first names: 'Moe, Larry, & Curly', and 'Moe, Larry, & Shemp', among other lineups. The act originally featured Moe Howard (born Harry Moses Horwitz), brother Shemp Howard (born Samuel Horwitz), and longtime friend Larry Fine (born Louis Feinberg). Shemp was later replaced by brother Curly Howard (born Jerome Lester Horwitz) in 1932. When Curly suffered a debilitating stroke in 1946, Shemp rejoined the act. After Shemp's death in 1955, he was replaced by baldheaded comedian Joe Besser, and eventually by Joe "Curly-Joe" DeRita (born Joseph Wardell). After Larry's death, Emil Sitka, a longtime actor in Stooge comedies, was contracted to replace Larry, but no film was ever made with him in the role, although publicity photographs exist of him with his hair combed like Larry's posing with Moe and Curly-Joe prior to Moe's death. Larry's death marked the end of the act.

The Stooges' hallmark was extremely physical slapstick comedy punctuated by one-liners, within outrageous storylines.

History

Ted Healy and His Stooges

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The Three Stooges started in 1925 as part of a raucous vaudeville act called 'Ted Healy and His Stooges' (a.k.a. 'Ted Healy and His Southern Gentlemen', 'Ted Healy and His Three Lost Souls' and 'Ted Healy and His Racketeers'). In the act, lead comedian Healy would attempt to sing or tell jokes while his noisy assistants would keep "interrumping" him. Healy would respond by verbally and physically abusing his stooges. Brothers Moe and Shemp were joined later that year by violinist-comedian Larry Fine.

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 The offer was withdrawn, and after Howard, Fine and Howard learned of the reason, they left Healy to form their own act, which quickly took off with a tour of the theatre circuit.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.

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. Joe Besser, a future member of the Stooges, was a member of the cast. During rehearsals, Healy received a more lucrative offer and found a loophole in his contract allowing him to leave the production. Shemp, fed up with Healy's abrasiveness, decided to quit the act and found work almost immediately, in Vitaphone movie comedies produced in Brooklyn, New York.

When Shemp left, 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 facial hair, and remarked that he did not look like a comedy character, as did Moe and Larry. Jerry left the room and returned a few moments later with his head shaved (though his mustache remained for a time), and thus 'Curly' was born. (There are varying accounts as to how the Curly character actually came about. Some sources maintain that Moe, Larry, Ted Healy, and/or Shemp originated the idea of shaving Jerry's head and dubbing him 'Curly'). Several sources have incorrectly stated that Curly made his first film appearance in a Hollywood on Parade short (entry #B-9), released by Paramount Pictures in 1932. Curly's actual film debut occurred in one of the last film appearances of Ted Healy, Moe, Larry and Curly together, released June 1, 1934. The Hollywood on Parade shorts were later released to television, and replaced opening title sequences carried the same date, 1932, for every segment of the series, which led to the confusion). Although the Stooges' characterizations initially were less distinct and more interchangeable, Moe’s character evolved to approximate Healy’s role as straight man.

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, released July 6, 1933. Nertsery Rhymes was one of a few shorts to be made with an early Technicolor process; the shorts were built around recycled film footage of production numbers cut from MGM musicals, some of which had been filmed in Technicolor; some shorts (including Roast-Beef and Movies, Hello Pop and Jailbirds of Paradise) were filmed in color to match the reused footage. Nertsery Rhymes and Roast-Beef and Movies are the only two color Stooge-related MGM shorts to have survived to this day, while the others are presumed lost. (It should be noted that Jailbirds of Paradise featured Moe and Curly without Larry or Ted Healy, while Roast-Beef and Movies featured Curly, billed as Jerry Howard, as part of a trio with two other comics, George Givot and Bobby Callahan). Other MGM shorts to feature the trio include Beer and Pretzels, Plane Nuts' (which re-creates the Stooges' vaudeville act of the time), and The Big Idea.

Healy and company also appeared in the feature films Turn Back the Clock, Meet the Baron, Dancing Lady, Fugitive Lovers, and Hollywood Party. Larry appeared solo in Stage Mother, while Moe and Curly played a pair of clowns in Broadway to Hollywood. Healy and the Stooges also appeared together in Universal's Myrt and Marge. In 1934, the team's contract with MGM expired, and the Stooges parted professional company with Healy. According to Moe Howard in his autobiography,^[1] 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. He set the "slaps-and-pokes" pattern that the Stooges would follow throughout their careers.

Columbia Short Subjects, 1934-1957

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. (In Moe Howard and the Three Stooges, Moe 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. 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").

The Stooges, Mark I, with Curly on board. Promotional photo from the 1938 short Wee Wee Monsieur.

According to a published report,^[2] Moe, Larry, and director Jules White considered their best film to be You Nazty Spy! (1940). This 18-minute short subject starring Moe as an 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.

The Stooges made occasional guest appearances in feature films, but were much better known for their starring 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.

Curly suffered a stroke on May 6, 1946, during the filming of Half-Wits Holiday, curtailing his Columbia output at 97 shorts. Older brother Shemp reluctantly rejoined the act to take Curly's place. Curly did make one brief cameo appearance (doing his dog-barking routine and with a full head of hair) in the third film after Shemp returned to the trio, Hold That Lion!. It was the only film that contained all three Howard brothers 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).

Curly snoring during his cameo in Hold That Lion!. Also shown (left to right): Larry, Moe, Shemp.

In 1949 Curly showed up for another bit (in Malice in the Palace); a photograph survives of Shemp, Larry, and Moe being threatened by a much thinner Curly, wearing a handlebar mustache and portraying an angry chef wielding a meat cleaver. The scene is missing from current prints of the film.

Shemp Howard 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.

With Shemp on board, the Stooges appeared in 73 more shorts (not counting four posthumous releases, discussed shortly) and a quickie Western comedy feature titled Gold Raiders (1951). 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 starring Ed Wynn, (Camel Comedy Caravan, originally broadcast live on CBS-TV on March 11, 1950). Also available on the commercial market 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 partygoer who requests a drink. The Stooges oblige with disastrous results. Shemp and Joe Besser appeared together in the 1949 Abbott and Costello comedy Africa Screams. Video marketers now promote the film as having "two of the Three Stooges," though Besser was not actually a Stooge until Shemp's passing.

The Three Stooges, during the Shemp years (1947-1956). Shemp takes it like a man in A Snitch In Time.

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 costcutting 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. (This is the main reason why many Stooge shorts are hard to distinguish from each other). 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 replaced Shemp in 1956 and 1957, appearing in 16 shorts. Besser, noting how one side of Larry Fine's face seemed "calloused" (archiville audio- "E Entertainment", May 2002) 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. 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.

Larry Fine and Joe Besser, as "The Original Two-Man Quartet," serenade Moe Howard in the 1957 short Guns A-Poppin!'.

Unfortunately, the market for short subjects had reached an all-time low by the time Besser joined the act. Television was the new popular medium, and the Stooges were generally considered "dinosaurs". Columbia Pictures, the last studio still producing shorts, opted not to renew the Stooges' contract, which expired at the end of 1957, after production of Flying Saucer Daffy. This last Stooge short is also notable for having been released in stereophonic sound.

Although the Stooges had stopped working for Columbia in 1957, 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 Bullfighters, did not reach theaters until June 4, 1959.

See also List of Three Stooges shorts.

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 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 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 (1961), 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.

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.

The Three Stooges, Mark IV, with "Curly-Joe" DeRita filling the role of the third stooge. From the 1961 feature film Snow White and the Three Stooges.

In 1969, the Three Stooges filmed a pilot episode for a new TV series entitled 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 future 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.

End of Lives

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. 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 early 1970s.

The Three Stooges, Mark V, promotional picture taken in 1975 (after Larry Fine's death), from left to right, Curly Joe DeRita, Moe Howard (who died shortly thereafter) and Emil Sitka.

Joe Besser died on March 1, 1988, followed by Curly-Joe on July 3, 1993, and Emil Sitka 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

• 1a:Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Shemp Howard 1922-1932
• 2: Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Curly Howard 1932-1946
• 1b: Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Shemp Howard 1947-1955
• 3: Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Joe Besser 1955-1958
• 4: Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Curly Joe DeRita 1958-1975
• 5: Moe Howard, Emil Sitka, and Curly Joe DeRita 1975

Legacy

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 the current owner of all Three Stooges trademarks and merchandising. (The company is currently operated by DeRita's two stepsons and Larry Fine's grandson, majority owner Eric Lamond).

In Spring of 2000, longtime Stooge fan Mel Gibson produced a TV movie filmed in Sydney Australia 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 AMC (American Movie Classics) channel.

The Three Stooges shorts aired on The Family Channel (now ABC Family) as part of their Stooge TV block from February 19, 1996 to August 15, 1998. In the late 1990s, AMC had held the rights to the Three Stooges shorts until Spike TV picked them up in 2004, airing them in their Stooges Slap-Happy Hour. By 2006, the network had discontinued airing the shorts. However, WCIU-TV in Chicago currently airs all 190 Three Stooges shorts on Stooge-A-Palooza, hosted by Rich Koz. WSBK in Boston also airs The Three Stooges shorts. In 1959, KTTV in Los Angeles purchased the Three Stooges Films for air. But by the early 1970's, KTLA 5 began airing the Stooges films. They did so until early 1994. The Three Stooges feature films were often shown during the station's "Family Film Festival" segment.

Some of the Stooges 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 shorts Malice in the Palace, Sing a Song of Six Pants, Disorder in the Court and Brideless Groom. Four more DVDs will be released by Legend in 2007; episodes to be announced. Disorder in the Court and Brideless Groom also appear on two of West Wing's colorized releases.

Books

• Moe Howard and the Three Stooges; by Moe Howard [1], (Citadel Press, 1977).

• The Complete Three Stooges: The Official Filmography and Three Stooges Companion; by Jon Solomon [2], (Comedy III Productions, Inc., 2002).

• The Three Stooges Scrapbook; by Jeff Lenburg, Joan Howard Maurer, Greg Lenburg [3](Citadel Press, 1994).(Overview of the Stooges career, with bios of all members, photos and a complete filmogtaphy of every short and movie the Stooges appeared in.)

• The Three Stooges: An Illustrated History, From Amalgamated Morons to American Icons; by Michael Fleming [4](Broadway Publishing, 2002).

• The Columbia Comedy Shorts by Ted Okuda with Edward Watz, [5]. (Includes complete filmography of the Stooges' Columbia shorts, and interviews with the people who produced and acted in them)

• Smile When the Raindrops Fall by Brian Anthony and Andy Edmonds, [6]. (Biography of actor and Stooge director Charley Chase includes a chapter on Columbia)

• One Fine Stooge: Larry Fine's Frizzy Life in Pictures[7],(Cumberland House Publishing, 2005, hardback coffee-table format) by Steve Cox and Jim Terry

Members

Moe Howard
Real Name: Harry Moses Horwitz
Born: 1897-09-06
Died: 1975-04-05
Stooge years: 1922, 1926, 1929-1975

Larry Fine
Real Name: Louis Feinberg
Born: 1902-10-05
Died: 1975-01-24
Stooge years: 1925-1926, 1929-1975

Curly Howard
Real Name: Jerome Lester Horwitz
Born: 1903-10-22
Died: 1952-01-18
Stooge years: 1932-1946

Shemp Howard
Real Name: Samuel Horwitz
Born: 1895-03-04
Died: 1955-11-22
Stooge years: 1922-1925, 1929-1932, 1947-1955

Ted Healy
Real Name: Lee Nash
Born: 1896-10-01
Died: 1937-12-21
Stooge Years: 1922-1925, 1929-1934

Joe Palma
Born: 1905-03-17
Died: 1994-08-15
Stooge Year: 1956 (body double for Shemp)

Joe Besser
Born: 1907-08-12
Died: 1988-03-01
Stooge years: 1956-1957

Curly-Joe DeRita
Real Name: Joseph Wardell
Born: 1909-07-12
Died: 1993-07-03
Stooge years: 1958-1975

Harry (last name unknown)
Real Name: Emil Sitka
Born: 1914-12-22
Died: 1998-01-16
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.

Catchphrases

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Three Stooges

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)
• "Why I oughta..." (Moe)
• "Hey, who ya hittin'?" (Moe)
• "What's the big idea?" (Larry)
• "Eeeb-eeeb-eeeb-eeeb!" (Shemp)
• "Woo, woo, woo, woo, woo!" (Curly)
• "I'm sorry Moe, it was an accident." (Larry)
• "I'll murderize ya!" (Moe)
• "Wake up and go to sleep!" (Moe)
• "Remind me to kill you later." (Moe)
• "Wise guy, eh?" (Moe)
• "What's the matter with you?" (Moe)
• "Not so ha-a-a-ard." (Joe)
• "Soitenly!" (certainly) (Curly)
• "I resemble that remark!" (Curly)
• "I'm a victim of soicumstance!" (circumstance) (Curly)
• "Spread out!" (Moe, to the others)
• "Yauauaua!" (Curly)
• "La-leee, la-la..." (Curly, humming)
• "Rrrowf! Rrrowf!" (Curly) (when angry or defiant) (Sometimes Moe on several Shemp and Joe shorts)
  • Other attempt: (Ruff! Ruff!)
• "Whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop!" (Curly, when frightened or agitated, shouts this accelerated version of "woo-woo." He sometimes runs around or away when saying this and variations exist.)
• "N'yaaah-ah-ah!" (Curly) (when he realizes he's looking at something that scares him, and just before running away from it.) (Sometimes he uses it to cut off what he WAS saying.)
• "Yaadadeeee, Yaadeda" (Curly, high pitch singing. Usually while concentrating on something such as cooking.) (Moe does this on at least one Shemp short Flagpole Jitters.)
• Moe: "Wash that ham." (or anything Moe orders his underlings to do; he's the boss). Curly, defiantly: "I'll do it when I'm ready." Moe, menacingly: "Are you ready?" Curly, sheepishly: "Yeah, I'm ready."
• Larry: "I can't see, I can't see!" Others: "Whatsamatta?" Larry: "I had my eyes closed."
• Curly: "Hey fellas, I can't hear anything!" Others: "Why not?" Curly: "'Cuz I ain't listenin'."
• Curly: "Are you casting asparagus on my cooking?" (aspersions)
• Curly: "I hear footprints"
• Moe: "Get another piece of pipe." (or anything else Moe says) Curly: "I resent that!" Moe menacingly: "What are you going to do about it?" Curly: "Get another piece of pipe."
• "Better watch your Ps and Qs." (Moe)
• "Moe (to Larry): "Get me more paint!" Larry: "Ask me nice!" (Moe then smacks him numerous times with the brush in his hand) Larry: "That's nice enough."
• "Moe (to Larry and Shemp): "Mingle or I'll mangle!""
• "Larry: Reminds me of the Reform School!""
• Various Stooges:"Oh, superstitious, eh?"
• Curly: "Oh saba-toogie eh?"
• Larry: "Puddin head" (pudding head)
• Shemp or Curly would put on glasses. Moe: "why you wearin' those?" Shemp or Curly: "I need them to see." Moe: "Nah It's all in your head, here how many lines or on this paper." Shemp or Curly: (looking at the paper without the glasses) "Twelve." Moe: "wrong it's six, put those glasses on." (Shemp or Curly puts on the glasses) Moe: "Now how many lines or on this side of the paper?" Shemp or Curly: "What paper?" Moe: "Who told you you need glasses anyway?" Shemp or Curtly: "An opsamatrican" (optomatrist)
• Moe: sarcasticly "Can we fix it?" Larry: also sarcasticly "Can we fix it?" Shemp or Curly: honestly " Can we?" Moe and Larry covers up his mouth. Moe and Lary: "Yes"
• Larry: "Let's barracade the cave and smother the bear to death." Moe: "I think you've got a little piece of brain, now." pats Larry on the head.

Moe inconsistently had facial hair throughout the many Three Stooges sketches.

Slapstick

Slapstick was a mainstay of Stooge humor. No matter how hard anyone was poked, slapped, punched or prodded, the pain immediately went away, and no one was ever really injured by it. Even Moe dragging a handsaw across Curly's head would result only in a momentary "OH! OH! OH!" and then a "Oh, LOOK!" as they gazed at the bent and/or dulled teeth of the now completely useless saw. Moe would inevitably blame Curly for the damage... "You and that iron head o' yours. You've ruined the saw!"

They used their physical statures (or lack thereof, as Moe and Larry were 5 ft 4 in Curly was 5 ft 5 in and Shemp was 5 ft 6 in for comedic effect. For the sake of humorous contrast, their female co-stars were often very tall.

Examples of archetypal Stooge slapstick:

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

Another example (From Ants in the Pantry):

• Moe: (pokes Larry in the eyes)
• Larry: Ow! I can't see! I CAN'T SEE!
• Moe: (Concerned) What's the matter?
• Larry: I got my eyes closed.

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. This move is known as the "Around-The-World Bop".

Moe: See that?

Larry: (jeering) Ahhh.

(Larry slaps Moe's hand, which flies up and knocks Larry's head.)

Sound effect: *BONK!*

Larry: (in pain) Ow!

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.

Curly: See that?

Moe: (jeering) Ahhh!

(Moe slaps Curly's hand, which flies up and knocks himself on the head.)

Sound effect: *BONK!*

Curly: (in pain) Owowow!

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

Sound effect: *SLAD-DA-DAP!!*

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

Sound effect: *HONK!*

Other side-aching classics include:

(Three Stooges are cops)

Moe: Next time you handle a gun, shoot yourself in the head.

Curly: (Pulling out a pen and pad of paper) I'll make a note of it. How do you spell head?

Moe: B-O-N-E Head.

(He hits Curly on the head with the gun)

Curly: (Painfully) Ow! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh... look!

(The butt of the gun is smashed)

Occasionally, when a Stooge was hit over the head three times, the NBC chimes would play as each hit landed, usually with bowling balls or some other heavy object. Sometimes a fourth hit would cause a "CLANK!" sound effect as well.

A popular 'Curly trademark' was the mad dog impression. When startled, Curly would direct a barking noise at the source. He would bark at anything or anyone, including policeman, mobsters, oysters, false teeth, fish, dogs, cats, hot dogs, alligators, skunks, cars and the like.

For brief moments in certain instances, Moe would be seen with his hair standing straight as he screamed in terror. The effect was accomplished with an off-camera air hose blowing his hair upward as he screams.

Other bizarre gags occurred, including a scene in Brideless Groom where Moe sits in a chair containing a live bear trap, which clamps down on Moe's rear end. He runs around the room screaming, "Larry! Larry! An octopus has got me!" There were many occasions when they would blame a phantom octopus for their injuries.

See Three Stooges Online's Slapshtick for more examples.

Social commentary, satire, and use of language

Although the Stooges' slapstick comedy was primarily arranged around basic plots dealing with mundane issues of daily life, a number of their shorts did feature social commentary or satire. The Stooges often served as anti-heroical "commentators" on the class divisions and economic hardships of the Great Depression in the United States. They were usually under- or unemployed and sometimes homeless or living in shanty towns.

The language used by the Three Stooges was more slang-laden than that of typical feature films of the period and deliberately affected a lower-class status with use of crude terms, ethnic mannerisms, and inside jokes. One such inside joke involved the use of the initials "A.K." for uptight elitists. "A.K." was an inside joke which stood for Alter Kaker (Lit: elderly defecater), a Yiddish idiom which refers to "an aged person of diminished capacity." They also used the phrase "Ver G'harget" as a toast; it's Yiddish for "drop dead."

In fact, much of the "gibberish" that the Stooges occasionally used was actually Yiddish, a famous example of which occurs 15 minutes into the 1938 short Mutts to You, when Moe and Larry impersonate Chinese laundrymen in an attempt to deceive an inquisitive policeman, to whom Larry replies, "Ech Bin A China Boychic Frim Slobatkya-Gebernya Hak Mir Nisht Ken Tshaynik And I Dont Mean Efsher", which translates as "I'm a china boy from Slobatkya Gebernya (a Jewish European City in the 19-20th centuries); stop annoying me and I don't mean maybe." (Moe explains to the cop, "Him from China, East Side" (a sly reference to the predominately-Jewish East Side of Manhattan.)

One important area of political commentary regarded the rise of totalitarianism in Europe, notably in the overtly satirical You Nazty Spy! and I'll Never Heil Again, both released before United States' entry into World War II despite an industry production code advocating the avoidance of sociopolitical issues and negative portrayals of foreign countries.

Sound effects

The use of sound effects was quite important in the Stooges' comedic arsenal. For instance, a blow to the head was typically accompanied by the sound of a woodblock or anvil being struck, implying that the Stooges had hard, vacant heads. The pounding of a kettle drum often would accompany blows to the stomach, and for eye pokes, a plucked violin string (or high piano note) often provided the sound effect. When appendages such as fingers, noses or toes were pinched, crunched or vice-gripped, a "cracking nut" sound effect might be used; if a Stooge came into contact with something hot, a "sizzling" sound would often be used. If something heavy were dropped on a head, the sound of a gong was often heard, or a staccato version of a cuckoo would sound as they might stumble in a daze. If a Stooge drank a harsh liquid or "magic potion", the whistling sound of a falling bomb might be heard. When one ingested something inedible, there would be an accompanying "splashing" sound effect.

For unknown reasons, sound effects were not used in the Jerks of All Trades (1949) television pilot, whose commercial failure is sometimes attributed to the lack of sound effects that made the hitting, poking and punching come across as a joke; without the clever sounds, the exchanges were merely violent.

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:

• "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.

The Columbia short subject Woman Haters (1934) was done completely in song. 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 (B-A-bay, B-E-be, B-I-bicky-bi…) from the 1938 “Violent is the Word for Curly” is perhaps the best-known original 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” (1945). The same melody re-appears in “Squareheads of the Round Table” (1948) 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 Three 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".

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)
• 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)

Shorts

see List of Three Stooges shorts

Television

Title card for The Three Stooges' guest appearances on The New Scooby-Doo Movies.

In addition to the unsuccessful (see "History" section, above) 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 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 Columba/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, entitled The Robonic Stooges, originally seen as a featured segment on Skatebirds (CBS, 1977-1978), featuring Moe, Larry, and Curly 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's Moe in 'StoogeMania'), Larry by Evan Handler, Shemp by John Kassir, and Curly by Michael Chiklis. The executive producer was Mel Gibson.

Museum

Gary Lassin, 52, opened the Stoogeum 3 years ago in a renovated architect's office in Spring House, 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of Philadelphia. The museum-quality exhibits fill 3 stories (10,000 square feet or 929 square meters), including an 85-seat theater. 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.^[3]

Tributes

It has been suggested that this article be split into articles entitled Three Stooges in popular culture, accessible from a disambiguation page. (Discuss)

• In the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Donatello says "Nyuk Nyuk" thrice.
• In an episode of Power Rangers Operation Overdrive, Mack (as the Red Sentinel Ranger) yelled "Three more stooges to go!"
• The well known line, "Calling Doctor Howard, Doctor Fine, Doctor Howard," is from the Three Stooges' 1934 short Men in Black (1934), in which the trio play doctors. This line is frequently echoed in the media:
  • In the first episode of the second season of The Pretender, Jarod (Michael T. Weiss) pretends to be Dr. Howard, a University anatomy professor, while working with Dr. Fein, the head of the department. One of their students calls to them, "Dr. Howard, Dr. Fein, Dr. Howard!"
  • In the film Conspiracy Theory, Mel Gibson's character, Jerry Fletcher, disguises himself in medical scrubs to elude capture. He introduces himself as "Dr. Fine".
  • Gene Simmons, co-founder of Kiss, came up with the song title "Calling Dr. Love" after finding inspiration from watching the Men In Black short on television one day.
  • The eclectic group NRBQ recorded an instrumental entitled "Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine, Dr. Howard" with Carl Perkins on their second LP, Boppin' the Blues in 1970 as an homage to the Stooges' famous hospital routine.
  • In an episode of the sixties cult cartoon Beany and Cecil, the lead characters set out to capture "The Dreaded Three-Headed Threep", a monster whose three heads resemble the Stooges.
  • In the movie version of Inspector Gadget, "Calling Doctor Howard, Doctor Fine, Doctor Howard" can be heard over the intercom in the hospital. (This is an obvious tribute to Men in Black).
  • In an episode of the Disney afternoon show Tale Spin when Baloo is briefly hospitalized after one of his misadventures, a scene begins with a long shot of the hospital while the intercom announces, "Paging Doctor Howard, Doctor Fine, Doctor Howard," in yet another direct tribute.
  • In a "Weird Al" Yankovic single Like A Surgeon, the line "calling Doctor Howard, Doctor Fine, Doctor Howard" can be heard in the background.

• Jules White, the producer of Men in Black (1934), was nominated for an Oscar in the Short Subject (Comedy) category of the 7th Academy Awards. This was the only Oscar nomination for the Three Stooges series.

• In the 1994 movie Pulp Fiction, when Vincent takes Mia to Lance's house after she overdoses on heroin, Lance is watching The Three Stooges short Brideless Groom and Emil Sitka chants his famous line "Hold hands, you lovebirds"..

• In The Flintstones, during the episode where Pebbles and Bam-Bam are contestants in a baby beauty contest, rival campaigners Fred and Barney call on a trio of men to get their votes. The trio engage in some stooge-like slapstick.

• The Ren & Stimpy Adult Party Cartoon episode, "The Altruists", is largely a homage to the Stooges, a fact that creator John Kricfalusi confirms on the DVD release of the episode, which was an attempt to recreate the altruistic nature of the Stooges, and takes several comical cues from classic Stooges episodes. Other homages in the episode include a version of "Three Blind Mice" being played prior to the cartoon, as well as borrowed plot elements and gags. Stimpy's voice has always been an impression of Larry Fine's Stooge character.

• The song "Hairstyles and Attitudes" by Timbuk 3 describes scientific research which "categorize[s] us into three basic types based on which of the Three Stooges we most closely resemble."

• In 1983, the very first film documentary about the lives and careers of The Three Stooges debuted at The Gordon Theatre in Hollywood. Produced by Mark Gilman, the film was later released to television under the title, STOOGE SNAPSHOTS: 50 YEARS WITH THE FUNNIEST GUYS IN THE WORLD. The documentary was later re-released on home video with added footage as LOVE THOSE STOOGES. It was hosted by comedian Steve Allen and included filmed interviews with producer/director Jules White, writer/director Ed Bernds, writer Elwood Ulmann, actors Emil Sitka, Jock Mahoney, Julie Gibson, Ted Healy's Three Stooges (Mousie Garner, Dick Hakins and Sammy Wolfe) and Curly's ex-wife Elaine and daughter Marilyn. On the day of the documentary's release, radio host Gary Owens introduced the Hollywood Walk of Fame star featuring the names of all six Stooge comics. While Besser and DeRita were the lone survivors, only Besser and Larry's daughter did the unveiling.

• In the book Garfield: His 9 Lives, it is shown in Garfield's fourth life, he was a Moe-type character that led a group of mouse exterminators who resembled Larry and Curly. The exterminators were similar to the Stooges for their hair-styles, their slapstick ways of hurting each other, and their clumsiness of certain jobs.

• 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.

• In the television show Friends in Joey's and Chandler's apartment there is a small statue with the Stooges' heads.

• Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins has said that the only television he watches is sports and "Three Stooges" shorts.

• 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, including the blood flowing in the basement in Evil Dead (an homage to the 1940 short A-Plumbing We Will Go), the hero's fight with his own severed hand in Evil Dead 2, and the fight with the skeleton hands and with the little Ashes in Army of Darkness.

• The 1992 Seinfeld episode "The Suicide" features Jerry's reference to The Three Stooges to his very enamored neighbor, Gina.

Another Seinfeld episode, "The Trip Part I", Kramer runs into an elderly woman who claims to have played a part as Mr. Sugarman's secretary (Mr. Sugarman himself was said to have been played by Curly) in a Three Stooges short titled "Sappy Pappies". When Kramer replies that he never saw it, the woman tells of three sailors charged with taking care of a baby. The story becomes unbelievable and overly dark for a Three Stooges short, as the ending has the baby dying and the Stooges being sent to death row.

• In John Badham's movie Short Circuit, Johnny 5, while watching television, sees the original Three Stooges in their first short for Columbia Pictures, Woman Haters, made in 1934 at Stephanie's (Ally Sheedy) house. He later reprograms three of the Nova Robots into a version of the Three Stooges, almost in their likeness.

• The 1994 Song, "Two Reelers" by Frank Black tells the story of the four "original" Stooges and producer/director Jules White, and protests the dismissal of the Three Stooges as mere lowbrow 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