The Three Stooges Collection, Volume Three: 1940-1942

The Three Stooges Collection, Volume Three: 1940-1942

The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy act of the mid 20th century best known for their numerous short subject films. They were commonly known by their first names: 'Moe, Larry, & Curly', and 'Moe, Larry, & Shemp', among other lineups. The act originally featured Moe Howard (born Harry Moses Horwitz), brother Shemp Howard (born Samuel Horwitz), and longtime friend Larry Fine (born Louis Feinberg). Shemp was later replaced by brother Curly Howard (born Jerome Lester Horwitz) in 1932. When Curly suffered a debilitating stroke in 1946, Shemp rejoined the act. After Shemp's death in 1955, he was replaced by baldheaded comedian Joe Besser, and eventually by Joe "Curly-Joe" DeRita (born Joseph Wardell). After Larry's death, Emil Sitka, a longtime actor in Stooge comedies, was contracted to replace Larry, but no film was ever made with him in the role, although publicity photographs exist of him with his hair combed like Larry's posing with Moe and Curly-Joe prior to Moe's death. Larry's death marked the end of the act.

The Stooges' hallmark was extremely physical slapstick comedy punctuated by one-liners, within outrageous storylines.

Excerpt from Wikipedia located HERE

***

Moe Howard was born on June 19, 1897, in Bensonhurst, New York, a small Jewish community on the outskirts of Brooklyn. Moe's real name was Moses Horwitz. Moe's mother's name was Jennie Horwitz, and his father was clothing cutter Solomon Horwitz. Moe was the fourth eldest of five Howard brothers. Two of Moe's brothers, Jerome (Curly), and Shemp performed with him as members of The Three Stooges. Moe's other two brothers, Jack and Irving, never entered show business.

Larry Fine was born Louis Fienberg on October 5, 1902 on the south side of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His father, Joseph Fienberg, and mother Fanny Lieberman, owned a watch repair and jewelry shop. Larry had two brothers, Morris, a younger brother Phillip who died prematurely, and a sister, Lila, who became a school teacher.

As a child, Larry's left arm was badly burned from acid used by his father in the jewelry business. Larry required immediate attention, and a skin graft was done on his arm. Larry's doctors recommended that he be given violin lessons as a form of therapy.

Curly Howard's real name was Jerome Lester Horwitz. He was born to Jenny and Solomon Horwitz on October 22, 1903 in Bath Beach, a summer resort in a section of Brooklyn. He was the fifth and youngest of the five Horwitz brothers. Curly's interest in show business grew as he watched his brothers, Shemp and Moe perform as stooges in Ted Healy's act. After Shemp left the Healy act, Moe suggested to Healy that his kid brother Jerome was available and would make an excellent replacement for Shemp.

Excerpts from the Three Stooges Website (Bio's Section) located HERE.

Short Titles

DVD Reviews

DVD Review: Sony (2-disc) - Region 1 - NTSC

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	Sony Pictures - Region 1 - NTSC
Runtime	23 X approx 18:00 each = about 7 hours
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate: Disc 1
Bitrate: Disc 2
Video	1.33:1 Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 4.12 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s
Audio	English (Dolby Digital 2.0)
Subtitles	None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Sony Pictures Aspect Ratio: Original Aspect Ratio 1.33:1 Edition Details: • none DVD Release Date: August 26th, 2008 2 slim transparent keep cases inside a cardboard box Chapters: 23 shorts

Comments:

Up until these competent Sony DVD packages (Vol. 1 reviewed HERE, Vol. 2 HERE) the Three Stooges on DVD had been a real mix'n match hodge-podge of un-restored titles and illogical entries. Sony are giving us the first concert effort to categorize, chronologically on digital, their huge body of work with many shorts seeing the digital light for the first time. The 2-disc bare-bones DVD package represents 13 shorts on dual layered disc 1 and 10 on dual-layered disc 2. They are progressively transferred and coded for regions 1 in the NTSC standard. There are no extras. Specifically:

Disc One (made in 1940 and 41'):
You Nazty Spy! (1940), Rockin' Thru the Rockies (1940), A Plumbing We Will Go (1940), Nutty But Nice (1940), How High Is Up? (1940), From Nurse to Worse (1940), No Census, No Feeling (1940), Cookoo Cavaliers (1940), Boobs in Arms (1940), So Long Mr. Chumps (1941), Dutiful But Dumb (1941), All the World's a Stooge (1941) and I'll Never Heil Again (1941)

Disc Two (made in 1941 - 42'):

An Ache in Every Stake (1941), In the Sweet Pie and Pie (1941), Some More of Samoa (1941), Loco Boy Makes Good (1942), What's the Matador (1942), Cactus Makes Perfect (1942), Matri-Phony (1942), Three Smart Saps (1942), Even as I.O.U (1942) and Sock-a-Bye Baby (1942)

They are better looking than I ever remember from Saturday mornings and although there are no extras the. almost, 7 hour entertainment value (at only $17) should suffice most fans. There is one less short from Vol. 2 - 23 as opposed to 24 - and accordingly the price is $3 cheaper. Image quality continues to be strong although a couple of shorts have a kind of sepia/green to them marring the perfect contrast. Considering the age though, detail looks remarkable at times with no heavy or even moderate damage. This package has no subtitle options. Audio has has some weaknesses but nothing that renders them any less viewable. They continue to impress me with their visual appearance for stuff made over 65 years ago.

If I am tired and bored with just about everything in my life - spinning one of these discs snaps me right out of my funk. It works every time. My grins turn to snickers and the surreal world of absurdity created by the Stooge antics continues to be a great way to start any film night till the popcorn pops! The Stooges body of work is so immense you can watch these at anytime and it may feel brand new. The gags repeat but they are always funny. Ex. sleeping together in one bed as it floats down the gutter is mesmerizingly humorous - even when you know exactly what will happen next. Being all 'Curlys' adds to the appeal and the zany plots and desperate physical visuals are purely addictive. The price sure is right at about $2/hour of vintage fun. So do we continue to recommend? - 'Why Soitenly... Nyuk, Nyuk, Nyuk'.

Gary W. Tooze

DVD Menus