My favorites!
1,320,955 views
•Jul 11, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjfGxnM1sXM
"Moe, Larry, and Curly were just a few funny fellas who grew up in the school of hard knocks. Unfortunately for them, the knocks didn't stop coming after they hit it big in showbusiness. Here's a look at the tragic true-life story of the men known as The Three Stooges."
Who else liked these funny guys with their esoteric humor?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three_Stooges
| The Three Stooges | |
|---|---|
 The Three Stooges in 1937:(clockwise from left) Larry Fine, Curly Howard, and Moe Howard | |
| Medium | Vaudeville, film, television |
| Nationality | American |
| Years active | 1922–1970 |
| Genres | Farce, slapstick, musical comedy |
| Former members | |
The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best known for their 190 short subject films by Columbia Pictures that have been regularly airing on television since 1958. Their hallmark was physical farce and slapstick. Six Stooges appeared over the act's run (with only three active at any given time): Moe Howard (t/n Moses Horwitz) and Larry Fine (t/n Larry Feinberg) were mainstays throughout the ensemble's nearly 50-year run and the pivotal "third stooge" was played by (in order of appearance) Shemp Howard (t/n Samuel Horwitz), Curly Howard (t/n Jerome Horwitz), Shemp Howard again, Joe Besser and "Curly" Joe DeRita.
Disorder in the Court (1936), one of four frequently broadcast Stooges shorts in the public domain
In 1934, the trio—now officially named "The Three Stooges"—signed on to appear in two-reel comedy short subjects for Columbia Pictures. Moe wrote in his autobiography that they each received $600 per week (equal to $11,467 today) on a one-year contract with a renewable option;[7] in the Ted Okuda–Edward Watz book The Columbia Comedy Shorts, the Stooges are said to have received $1,000 among them for their first Columbia effort, Woman Haters (1934), and then signed a term contract for $7,500 per film (equal to $143,340 today), to be divided among the trio.[8]
Within their first year at Columbia, the Stooges became very popular. Realizing this, Columbia Pictures president Harry Cohn used the Stooges as leverage, as the demand for their films was so great that he eventually refused to supply exhibitors with the trio's shorts unless they also agreed to book some of the studio's mediocre B movies.[8] Cohn also saw to it that the Stooges remained ignorant of their popularity.[8] During their 23 years at Columbia, the Stooges were never completely aware of their amazing drawing power at the box office.[8] Their contracts with the studio included an open option that had to be renewed yearly, and Cohn would tell them that the short subjects were in decline, which was not a complete fabrication (Cohn's yearly mantra was "the market for comedy shorts is dying out, fellas"). The Stooges thought that their days were numbered and would sweat it out each year, with Cohn renewing their contract at the last moment. This deception kept the insecure Stooges unaware of their true value, resulting in them having second thoughts about asking for a better contract without a yearly option. Cohn's scare tactics worked for all 23 years that the Stooges were at Columbia; the team never once asked for a salary increase – nor were they ever given one.[8] It was not until after they stopped making the shorts in December 1957 that Moe learned of Cohn's tactics, what a valuable commodity the Stooges had been for the studio and how many millions more the act could have earned.[8] Columbia offered theater owners an entire program of two-reel comedies (15–25 titles annually) featuring such stars as Buster Keaton, Andy Clyde, Charley Chase and Hugh Herbert, but the Stooge shorts were the most popular of all.[6]
They were so very popular. Their influence is still evident today as well as a good deal of mimicking by their fans.
For some odd reason I watched very little of them-never sought them out for their humor??
I'm certainly the odd man out.
John
