Three Stooges

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Three Stooges

Masters of physical comedy, the Three Stooges have been making audiences laugh with their slapstick clowning since the 1920s. The many short and feature-length films they made between 1934 and 1965 gained eternal life through televised reruns. In fact, it could be argued that these bickering halfwits are more popular now than they ever were in their prime Hollywood (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2) years.

The founding members of the Three Stooges were Moe Howard (born Moses Horwitz; 1897–1975) and his brother Shemp (born Samuel Horwitz; 1895–1955), who started performing their comedy act on the vaudeville (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1) stage in 1923. Two years later, Larry Fine (born Louis Feinberg; 1902–1975) rounded out the trio. In those early days Moe, Larry, and Shemp supported the straight man Ted Healy (1896–1937). Together they made their first feature film, Soup to Nuts, in 1930. Eventually, the Stooges broke with Healy to make short films on their own. Shemp Howard left the group and was replaced by another of Moe's brothers, Curly (born Jerome Horwitz; 1903–1952).

The 1930s and 1940s proved to be the most successful period of the group's career. In a series of two-reel comedies, the trio developed their unforgettable comic characters. Moe was the scheming leader of the group. Larry was his less-intelligent second banana. Curly was the confused, childlike man whose idiocy most often spoiled their plans. Inevitably, the Stooges would turn on each other when things went bad. They slapped each other's faces, poked each other in the eye, and bonked each other on the head with various blunt objects, all the while trading verbal insults. It was not exactly high-culture comedy, but it took great skill and timing to pull it off correctly—and American audiences loved it. Many of their short films are considered classics of slapstick humor.

Age and illness took their toll on the Stooges after World War II (1939–45). First Curly died, then Shemp (who rejoined the Stooges after Curly's death). Joe Besser (1907–1988), and later "Curly Joe" DeRita (1909–1993), took turns as the third Stooge, but they were never very popular. The group made a series of children's movies in the 1960s that introduced their comedy to a whole new generation. In the 1980s, the Stooges enjoyed a revival, as TV audiences learned to laugh along with their head-butts and eye-pokes.

—Robert E. Schnakenberg