2 Shemp era 3 Stooges shorts coming to blu-ray (in 3-D!)

Watching Stooges in 3D the glasses would be useful as protection from Moe's fingers.

 

There's nothing "problematic" about the transfers if the following review is to be believed. These are not transfers from the 1980's...

Derek

The Mad Magician: THE HTF 3D ADDICT REVIEW »

 

Moe says "get the **** off of me" at about 18 seconds.

 

Love the Shemp episodes the best. Curly tended to dominate things, while with Shemp it was a lot more ensemble stuff.

 

Wonderful review, I am looking forward to this coming to my mailbox soon.

The Mad Magician 3-D »

 

What's the story on the Vitaphone
collections? are they both dvdr?

 

"Hi Lorna, how ya doin'?"

 

Yes.

 

Talk about "couldn't disagree more". I suspect that if there had not been a Curly, the Stooges would have been about as popular as the Ritz Brothers.

 

Thanks

 

I have no idea what that has to do with what I said, or what you're disagreeing with. Clearly Curly was the star, I just enjoy the Shemp episodes more.

 

People knock Shemp but when he returned to the act he brought back some much needed life to those shorts. The last couple years of the Curly era suffered from his poor health and once Shemp returned the Boys were back to their prime. Those Shemp shorts from 1947-1951 are some of the funniest of the Stooges shorts. Shemp wasn't Curly, and that is what I like about him ... he had his own style that allowed Moe and Larry to even change some aspects of their characters, too. Larry was more involved and the act was more a trio once Shemp came back.

 

Absolutely! One of the things I love most about the Shemp episodes is the emergence of Larry as more of a lead character at times. The one Shemp episode that smokes its Curly counterpart is "Hoi Polloi", when they are to be made into gentlemen to settle a bet. Just flat out brilliant.

 

Ummm...which short is that? Hoi Polloi features Curly, its remake Half-Wits Holiday also features Curly, and Half-Wits Holiday's remake Pies And Guys features Joe Besser.

 

Ummmm .... I was obviously mistaken. Could've sworn that episode was done with Shemp as well. Guess I'm not the Stooge scholar you are.

 

What was the storyline? Maybe I can identify it for you.

Footage from Half-Wits Holiday was used in a few Shemp shorts (Pest Man Wins and Scheming Schemers) but they all have different plots to them.

 

All kidding aside, I used to be a Stooges fanatic - still love 'em, but haven't watched regularly in many years. I could have sworn that the same plot from the episode "Hoi Polloi" was done with shemp as well, I remember comparing it to the Curly version. I remember the scene with the Larry line "Yeah, about two bucks" answer to Moe when they were learning to read being better in the Shemp version. Guess I'm delusional.

 

When I was a kid I hated Shemp but watching them now I realize how great of a comedic actor he was.

They all were.

To act that dumb and stupid and be believable as if they were actually that way is a real skill.

Other comedians like Red Skelton or Jerry Lewis you know they are just doing a carefully scripted act and you patiently watch them do their shtick and hope it's funny.

 

I can relate to this. 30 years ago I knew their shorts filmography backwards and forwards, but by the time the DVD collections came out, it was like seeing many of them for the first time. I remember asking a friend if he remembered which film a particular gag was from. Just the fact that I had to ask someone, I felt like I was "recovering." As in "My name is Mark and I'm a Stooge buff."

 

Obviously.

 

Are you thinking of the remake as plumbers? I love Curly in the original, but Shemp adds his own in the remake. I am not saying Shemp's is better, just saying he makes that scenario his own. That one involves high society.

 

"Pest ManWins" is another remake of a Curly that Shemp is great in! I believe all but one Shemp short filmed between 1947-1950 ended up being "remade" between 1951-1956, most of the times with the majority being stock footage with new scenes being filmed in a day to create a new story.

 

No, I'm thinking of the "Hoi Polloi" plot. Asked my wife (another Stooges fan), and she remembers what I did. Guess we're both nuts.

 

In the 30s, the Ritz Brothers were MORE popular than the Stooges! After all, they were in features! Yes, the Stooges were far more popular in the 60s, by which time most kids wouldn't have known who the Ritz Bros were, but in the 30s/40s it was "The Marx Bros and the Ritz Bros"!

 

And 70+ years later, only a handful of us even know that there were Ritz Brothers. I have never found the Ritz to be even mildy funny. But as a kid I was introduced to the Stooges from my Aunt Sally Starr. Then a Marx brothers festival at Temple University. Great memories.