The Three Stooges have entertained fans with their riotous eye-gouging, face-slapping, and head-bopping insanity for nearly 100 years! Now, CINEMUSEUM LLC and KIT PARKER FILMS offer fans of the Amalgamated Morons a chance to revisit the Golden Age of Stoogery with this new 3-Disc collection of archival rarities. Whether you’re a lifelong Stoogephile or just a casual knucklehead, you are sure to find something to love about this comprehensive tribute to America’s most beloved madcaps: Moe, Larry, Curly, Shemp, Joe, and Curly Joe – The Three Stooges!
Curly Howard’s grandson, Bradley Server, opens “The Three Stooges – Stooge-O-Rama: The Men Behind the Mayhem – and Even More Mayhem!” in what looks like a promising documentary on the lives and fortunes of among the most recognizable comedic actors ever. Many of us have repeatedly watched the same Stooges’ short films since the 1960s – an indication of their timeless appeal.
The group started in 1922 as part of a boisterous vaudeville act called “Ted Healy and His Stooges.” Healy would play the straight man in the ensemble while Moe and Shemp Howard – later joined by Larry Fine in 1925 – provided the gags and received generous quantities of physical and verbal abuse in return. Over the years, this became a trademark and criticism of the group, something they boasted about dropping from the act decades later to become more kid-friendly.
Because of Healy’s volatile personality, Shemp left the group, returning to his solo acting career, and was replaced by Curly Howard – widely considered the most endearing of all the Stooges. Look at 1984’s “The Curly Shuffle” by Jump’ N The Saddle for a sampling of the proof.
Moe, Larry, and Curley had a good run for 24 years, making nearly 200 short subjects and some feature films for Columbia Pictures. In that time period, the Stooges never asked for or received a raise, despite their popularity, because Harry Cohn told them that the market for short subjects was declining. The Stooges made up for their lack of pay by making personal appearances for 13 weeks each year, as allowed in their contract with Columbia. In the over two decades with the studio, Cohn never made the Stooges aware of their high demand by theater exhibitors across the country.
In 1946, Curly suffered a massive stroke, forcing him to retire. Shemp rejoined the act to fill Curly’s slot, but like many James Bond actors after Sean Connery, he was not generally as well-regarded. However, a closer look at Shemp’s performances reveals a highly-skilled comic who used his talents to good effect following Curly’s departure. Of course, I’m one of those guys who thinks that George Lazenby was one of the better Bonds – erudite, sophisticated, even vulnerable, with an understated sense of humor – so take my opinion for whatever it may be worth.
In 1955, Shemp died of a heart attack and was replaced by Joe Besser – arguably the weakest entry of all the third men teamed with Moe and Larry. When Besser left in 1958 to care for his ailing wife, Moe and Larry considered retiring. But then, with the advent of the television medium, the popularity of the Stooges soared. While The Three Stooges gained solid notoriety on the big screen in short subject film format as an adjunct to the main feature, the interviewees correctly note that the television format propelled their fame to new heights.
Joe DeRita was brought on board with the moniker Curly Joe, and the new trio made several feature-length films until 1970 when Larry suffered a stroke. Though a substitute player was considered, Larry’s illness effectively ended the long run of The Three Stooges. Nonetheless, they live on even today in syndication.
The documentary lays out many lesser-known details surrounding the Stooges, such as Healy’s duplicitous business practices. Other scenes depict never-before-seen home movie footage. Interviews with Larry Fine’s sister and one of Healy’s replacement Stooges, Paul “Mousie” Garner, also round out the backstory.
Written and directed by Paul Gierucki, the Blu-ray™ three-disc set offers hours of fascinating time-capsule material, such as the anachronistic advertising for Geritol. At the same time, much of the presentation feels randomly patched together and may likely resonate with only the most die-hard Stooges fans. “The Three Stooges – Stooge-O-Rama: The Men Behind the Mayhem – and Even More Mayhem!” serves up both engaging yet disparate content that might have benefited from a tighter editing process.
Available on Blu-ray™ July 11th
