Larry, Moe, and Curly doing what they do best

By the time they reached silver screens all over the U.S., the Stooges had already amassed an impressive following on the 1920s vaudeville circuit. Then, they were known as Ted Healy and His Stooges. Healy, who managed the Stooges act--originally comprised of brothers Moe and Shemp Howard and Larry Fine, was conspicuously absent when The Three Stooges hit the big screen. Shemp, who'd also left the group, was replaced by his younger brother, Jerome--who became the lovable lug we know today as Curly.

After the casting adjustments, the Stooges were picked up by Columbia Pictures and commissioned to film a series of two-reelers, 15-20 minute shorts that ran before each feature in theatres. The two-reelers paved the way for a number of a full-length films, including The Woman Haters (1934), Men in Black (1934), Hoi Polloi (1935), Movie Maniacs (1936), A Pain in the Pullman (1936) and Three Pests in a Mess (1945). By 1965, The Three Stooges had a filmography which boasted two dozen feature films and nearly 200 two-reelers.

During the 30 years between the beginning of their career and retirement, the Stooges changed Curlies four times. Shemp Howard returned after the original Curly (Moe and Shemp's brother, Jerome) suffered a stroke in 1946. Joe Besser succeeded Shemp. Joe DeRita suceeded Besser.

But audience proved to prefer the original bald bumbler, as was evidenced by the widespread popularity of Stooges television reruns featuring the original trio, which began airing in the 1960s.

The rerun craze begat an all-new generation of Stooges fans, who demanded new additions to the thriving franchise. Those additions included The Three Stooges, an animated Hanna-Barbera series in 1965 and The Three Robonic Stooges in 1978. Comics began to appear between the 1940s and 1970s.

This year marks the Stooges' 75th anniversary. Celebrate by renting one of their many widely available films or by watching the ABC original TV movie, The Three Stooges on Saturday, August 2 at 8 p.m., with The Shield's Michael Chiklis as Curly. Warner Brothers also plans to release a new feature length Stooges film in Summer 2004, penned by the Farrelly brothers (of There's Something About Mary and Me, Myself and Irene fame).

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Larry, Moe, and Curly doing what they do best		Snow White and The Three Stooges 1 Sheet Poster