Any Stooge fans on here?

[Froggy0705]

Just curious to see if there is anyone out there that loves the stooges as well. I've seen many of there DVD's available through Columbia and i heard the transfers are great! I thought about starting a collection of them lol! They are funny especially the ones with Curly!

[OPT]

I like the stooges :-)

keeping a looooong story short, a group of us took on the "stooges" names a few years ago having a load of fun.

[musheater]

Oh, yeah. The Stooges are great. I think my favorite is probably Disorder in the Court. There really ought to be a comprehensive set out there. A compilation would be great! Go for it!

[sidewayscap]

I LOVE the Stooges!!!!!!

I've been watching them since I was six or seven!! I like Shemp, but only because I think it's totally unfair that he was the "ugliest man in Hollywood".

He looks like Randolph Scott-but RS doesnt' get that lavel, oh no, RS just has to put up with gay rumors, lol

[musheater]

Have you seen Shemp in any of the Abbott and Costello movies? He was in Buck Privates and In the Navy. He was great in both, but I think he was funnier in In the Navy.

[sidewayscap]

I just remember turning on the TV a couple weeks ago, and what do you know, the last half hour of "Another Thin Man", which I had never seen.
Who should enter stage left (I think) but Shemp!

I love Shemp!

[Froggy0705]

Does anybody have any of the DVD releases that they have? From what i saw you have your choice of black and white and color. The ones from Columbia anyways are the ones that i noticed like that. Just curious to hear if the quality of them are any good.
Thanks

[sidewayscap]

YES! you are very able to puchase a DVD collection. try the official site
www.thethreestooges.com I think is the address.

I have most of them on tape but my VHS chewed up one of them

RIP Three Stooges tape, lol. They've been converted onto DVD for me!

[rascal1973]

joe besser was one of the most annoying members ever.
moe even wrote in his biography he didn't like besser said he wasn't a team player.

[OPT]

annoying is an understatement for Joe Besser. I have a few stooges films with him in them. Get 'em cheap unlike the ones I have with Curly and even Shemp which cost a bit more.

[rascalstooge]

I have all but one Curly-era series DVD, as well as a couple of Shemp-era ones.

[john16]

May 15, 2006 20:34:35 GMT -5 musheater said:

Have you seen Shemp in any of the Abbott and Costello movies? He was in Buck Privates and In the Navy. He was great in both, but I think he was funnier in In the Navy. Yes,Shemp was also in Africa Screams and It Ain't Hay.I also have him in a war movie with the Andrews Sisters titled Private Buckaroo.Incidently Joe Besser was also in Africa Screams. 

[john16]

Count me in!

I've got tons of stooges films on VHS.I've even got some of their lesser known feature films with Curly Joe DeRita.

[rascalstooge]

I can handle Joe Besser as a Stooge, but only in small doses.

[mtw12055]

While a funny comic, Besser seemed to do better on his own than as a member of a team. In fact, I can see Joe playing opposite the Stooges in a supporting role (as opposed to a member of the group) as something that could have worked.

Moe once mentioned in an interview that his initial choice as Shemp Howard's replacement in 1955 was actually Mantan Moreland. However, Columbia nixed the idea, insisting on a white performer. Moe, Larry, and Mantan - now that would have been something! More can be read about the story here:

cravenlovelace.com/cravenblog/2008/08/the-stooge-that-almost-was/

I've also read comments from Emil Sitka's son about Besser not being particularly happy on the Stooges' set. Larry Fine, while speaking of Joe with fondness, also apparently stated he didn't really like being a Stooge.

Despite all of that, I largely blame the poor quality of the Besser shorts as a whole, rather than Besser himself. By the time he joined the act, the Stooges were the only ones in Hollywood still making short comedies. Columbia was putting very little effort into the latter day Stooges films, which is evident as early as the late-Shemp period. But every now and then, a decent effort shows up in the strange mix of 16 Besser shorts.

Curly Joe DeRita, while a better fit as a Stooge, never really seemed to stand out. As opposed to the other Stooges (including Besser) who each had distinguishable characters, DeRita was more of a stock comic. The fact that the Stooges tried 'kiddifying' their act shortly after DeRita joined didn't really help. Still, the DeRita films have their moments. But I wouldn't mind if the majority of them were much shorter in length. It's a shame too, as from what I understand, DeRita was actually a very funny guy off-screen.

Moe had also apparently told Emil Sitka that he would become a Stooge at some point. Following Larry's illness in 1970, Sitka was drafted - he was to have played Larry's self-conscious brother "Harry" in the act. A feature film, “Make Love, Not War”, which was written by Moe’s grandson Jeffrey Scott, was to have been the first Moe-Harry-Curly Joe project. One story for why this film never came to be was that the Stooges were not able to get the proper backing, while another story was that Emil Sitka behaved like a stuck-up celebrity at a meeting, turning the film’s executives off. After reading a detailed summary of the script (which strangely refers to the Stooges as “Moe”, “Larry”, and “Curly”) I can safely say that it is a good thing this was never made.

A few years later, Grade-Z adult film producer Sam Sherman wanted the Stooges to appear as the comic relief in his next R-rated film. They were ultimately replaced by the two surviving members of the Ritz Brothers (Harry and Jimmy), due to Moe’s death. Details on the Stooges’ involvement can be found here:
anthonybalducci.blogspot.com/2009/01/three-stooges-go-to-heaven.html

Additionally, the Ritz Brothers' scenes can be found on YouTube. These clips are pretty sad, but they're also the highlights of the whole film (which I cannot recommend to anybody).