The Three Stooges

Hi Puzzlers,

The new Three Stooges movie is scheduled to hit theaters Friday April 13th! I can’t wait! Like many of you I have been watching the Three Stooges my whole life and am very happy that their legacy is continuing on. The Three Stooges have been entertaining us for over 80 years! How many acts/shows can make that claim! N’yuk, N’yuk, N’yuk! So I thought it would be fun to take a quick look at how it all began.

The “Godfathers of Comedy” got their start in 1921with an act known as Ted Healy and the Southern Gentleman. In the beginning it only had two of the three stooges, Moe and Shemp. WOW! That factoid supersized me too, I always thought Curly came before Shemp. The shows premise was based around lead comedian Healy attempting to tell a joke or to sing, while his cohorts would keep interrupting him. Healy would counter these antics with verbal and physical assaults known as slapstick comedy. Violinist Larry Fine was added to the trio in 1925 and success was quick to follow.

After a few years Larry and Moe decided to take a two year hiatus from the group in order to be closer to their families, as luck would have it, they returned in the knick of time to join Healy and Shemp for the Broadway revue of A Night in Venice. This extremely popular act became a permanent show, and after 175 performances finally closed due to the Great Depression.

Immediately following the closing of the show a scout from Fox signed Healy, Moe, Larry, and Shemp to star in the movie Soup to Nuts. Healy and the trio parted ways in 1931 due to financial discrepancies but reconciled in 1932. Shemp fed up with all the drama decided to leave the trio to pursue a solo career. This is when Shemp and Moe’s brother Jerome Howard, AKA, Curly joined the group.

Healy and the new trio signed a movie contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) in 1933. They would go on to appear in feature films, short subjects and musical comedy shorts, either together, individually, or with other actors. The contract with MGM ended in 1934 and so did the Stooge’s association with Ted Healy.

In 1934 Moe, Larry and Curly sign with Columbia Pictures to appear in two comedy shorts. This is when they officially became “The Three Stooges” and their popularity soared worldwide. The Stooges would remain with Columbia for 23 years and appear in 190 film shorts and feature films.

Shemp returned to the Stooges in 1947, after Curly suffers a stroke. He continued performing with Moe and Larry until his sudden death in 1955. Joe Besser joined the group in 1956 and remained until 1958 when Columbia Pictures cancels the comedy shorts.

The next Stooge to join Moe and Larry was Joe DeRita. DeRita played Curly Joe from 1958-1971. Along with Moe and Larry, Joe created Comedy III Productions, a company that still owns all the copyrights, trademarks and merchandising of the Three Stooges!

The Three Stooges were one of America’s greatest talents and I’m happy I got to witness part of their journey.

See you April 13th at the opening of the new Three Stooges movie!

Happy Puzzling!