Reminiscing: The Three Stooges

I was about to go to sleep the other night and I knew I need to hit the sack soon.  I was 12:30 am and my shift starts at 5 am, so if I’m still awake at around 10 pm I start to worry.  I make it a point to get at least six hours of sleep during the days that I have work so I was really thinking of ways to doze off.  “Watch TV!” what a great idea, or so I thought.  I tuned in at HBO, expecting to watch a dull B-movie which they usually show during the wee hours of the night.  I was wrong. They were showing a Mel Gibson produced TV movie about the origins of the best slapstick Trio of all time.  The Three Stooges!

Now don’t be a hypocrite and say that you don’t know these men.  If you were a kid of the 80’s then for sure you watch the reruns on the local channels every 6 pm.  (News were shown at 7 pm during those great times.)

I was amazed on the way they start.  The original trio was…….. Moe, Larry and Shemp!  Yes folks it was Shemp not Curly who started the routine with his brother Moe.  They started off 1925 with Ted Healy in a
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’—the moniker ‘Three Stooges’ was never used during their tenure with Healy).  The act would start with Healy who will start to sing while Shemp and his brother Moe (Yes, they were brothers) would interrupt Healy in some way.  Healy would verbally and physically abuse them as a way of stopping them, much to the audiences delight.  After sometime Larry Fine Joined them.

The Trio would set themselves with Healy’s abrasive behavior in 1930, during which time Shemp who was fed up with Healy, quits and a replacement was needed.  Moe suggested their other brother Jerome.  Who has long hair and a mustache back then.  Healy said he doesn’t look funny enough.  So Jerome went backstage and shaved his hair, his mustache would stay for awhile 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.)

They stayed on with Healy till 1934, then went on their own way.  Heally would die in 1937.  When Curly (the most famous of the three) suffered a stroke, Shemp was convinced by Moe to re-join the act.  Curly would die in 1952.  In 1955, death took out Shemp and Joe Besser replaced him, after then Joe DeRita would replaced Joe Besser in 1958 and Curly-Joe was born.  And they went on to filming movies till 1969.  In 1970 Larry suffered a stroke and Emil Sitka was signed to replaced him.  Larry Fine Died in 1975.  Moe would die 4 months later from lung cancer.

With Moe gone, it was inconceivable that the Three Stooges would continue without a Howard. However, Curly-Joe did perform live with Mousie Garner and Frank Mitchell as “The New 3 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

1. Moe Howard and Ted Healy 1922–1923
2. Moe Howard, Ted Healy, and Shemp Howard 1923
3. Moe Howard, Ted Healy, Larry Fine, and Shemp Howard 1923–1932
4. Moe Howard, Ted Healy, Larry Fine, and Curly Howard 1932–1934
5. Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Curly Howard 1934–1947
6. Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Shemp Howard 1947–1956
7. Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Joe Besser1957–1959
8. Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Curly Joe DeRita1958–1975
9. Moe Howard, Emil Sitka and Curly Joe DeRita 1975

What ever the combination is the Three Stoges never fails to make me laugh out loud.  To be honest  I’m not a fan of Slapstick comedy, but if it’s the stooges that are doing it, then I will became a fan until the show is over.