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The Three Stooges were an (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 Sissy 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 looks on.]] 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, '', 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 The offer was withdrawn, and after Howard, Fine and Howard learned of the reason, they left Healy to form their own act, which quickly took off with a tour of the Theatre circuit.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 recreates 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,Moe Howard and the Three Stooges 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"). , with Curly on board. Promotional photo from 1938's '' Wee Wee Monsieur ''.]] According to a published report, Newspaper article about the antifascist short ''You Nazty Spy'' 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 ''). 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 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 percent 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" , 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. 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,'' didn't 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 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 1961's ''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. 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. , with "Curly-Joe" DeRita filling the role of the third stooge. From 1961's 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., 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
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 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. KTLA in Los Angeles aired the Stooges films from the early 1960's 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
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
CATCHPHRASES Although The Three Stooges are best known for their physical comedy, the group's dialogue is also highly quotable, with many of their lines (or signature nonverbal vocalizations) having become popular catchphrases. Here are some examples:
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 5'4"; Curly was 5'5", and Shemp was 5'6") 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:
Another example (From Ants In The Pantry ):
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.)
: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.)
:Curly: ''(in pain)'' Owowow! The triple slap: a man slaps the faces of all three Stooges in one energetic sweep.
One Stooge, typically Moe, grasps another Stooge's nose then vertically strikes the grasping fist, making the sound of a honking horn-like device.
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 Ball s 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-hero ical "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 Town s. The language used by the Three Stooges was more idiom which refers to "an aged person of diminished capacity." 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."''' 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:
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:
SHORTS see List Of Three Stooges Shorts TELEVISION ''.]] 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 , 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 had 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.[http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap_travel/20070907/ap_tr_ge/travel_brief_three_stooges_museum;_ylt=Ar.kdy3uCdTqwQffAbzPnzas0NUE Yahoo.com,Three Stooges Museum in Pa.] TRIBUTES
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.
sequel '' Lethal Weapon 3 '', Rene Russo 's character has The Three Stooges (video Game) on her computer.
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