Shemp, but just by a hair.
I saw a documentary about the Stooges years ago where a number of people who had worked on their films said that all of them were great performers, but Shemp was hands down the funniest when clowning around without a script.
ETA: Why did autocorrect want to change Shemp to sheep?
Shemp was good but Curly was great.
By this you mean?
That he doesn’t realize Shemp was one of the original Stooges and Curly was his replacement when he left the group.
There was only one false Stooge, the afore mentioned Joe Besser. And even he was a good in a sea of greats.
I think you’re confusing Joe Besser with Curly Joe DeRita … or something.
There’s a documentary about the Stooges on YouTube; I think it’s about forty-five minutes long, and is definitely worth watching.
The correct order of the third stooges is: Shemp, Curly, Shemp again, Joe Besser, and Curly Joe DeRita. And yeah, the original Curly was by far the best of the bunch! Before joining the troupe, he actually did have flowing locks of red hair, but he got the crewcut for its comedic effect. His real name was Jerome, and he was known as Jerry.
Curly in the Stooges by a hair, but Shemp was far better than the later fake Curlys.
And Shemp was great as the projectionist in Olsen and Johnson’s Hellzapoppin’. He was also in the followup, Crazy Street, but I only remember that from childhood.
Moving over to Cafe Society.
Not to pick nits, but the original Curly’s last name was Howard, not Joe…which is the one I’m assuming you’re talking about in this post (and although you just say “Joe”, I assume you’re not talking about Joe Besser at all). He was Moe’s (and Shemp’s) brother.
Curly Joe was the fatter, older Curly whose full name was Curly Joe Derita.
Huh. I know, right?
He certainly got the shit end of the stick.
I mean, everyone knows about Curly, and I’d think most would know about Shemp and Curly Joe…
…but If you bust out with the “Larry, Moe, and Joe”, people look at you like “Wha?”.
But anyway, out of the four different people who played the “third stooge” over time (Curly, Shemp, Joe, and Curly Joe), I do have to give the nod to the first Curly.
Useless trivia: In fact, the last incarnation of the Three Stooges was Moe, Curly Joe and someone named Emil, although he wasn’t in any shorts or movies and only filled in (for Larry) for a short time until the Three Stooges broke up entirely.
And thus ends a post where Idle Thoughts shows off his Three Stooges knowledge, which is…something I’m not sure if I’m proud of or not. :S
No, he means Joe Besser. DeRita didn’t work with Abbot and Costello, Besser did regularly.
They actually BOTH worked with them in at least one movie - Africa Screams - Besser played the villain’s butler (as a typical Joe Besser character*) and Shemp as an absurdly nearsighted hunter who was in the party with the boys and the villain.
He could be referring to the phenomenon known as the Fake Shemp where your actor dies and you try to work around it by using an unconvincing double and hope noone notices.
Curly.
But as mentioned earlier in the thread, by the time Shemp came along, the Stooges’ shorts had deteriorated to a collection of reworked scripts and footage, and Moe and Larry were well past their prime. Shemp was by far the best part of the “Shemp Era.” “Brideless Groom” (1947) is one of my favorites of all time, and Shemp excels. (Oh Moe, I cut off my head!)
It’s the one where Shemp has 6 hours to get married in order to come into an inheritance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoaiC8u_Hx8
Curly, without a doubt. There was something unique about him. And nobody places notices at Three Stooges showings saying “All Shemp”, the way they boast of “All Curly” programs.
That said, Shemp was extremely talented, and had the biggest success outside the Stooges of any of them, with multiple movie roles (while the others had only one or two solo efforts). He reportedly went unwillingly to fill Jerome “Curly’s” shoes after his stroke, but went nonetheless*. There’s one Stooges short that has all three brothers in it, along with Larry, although the recuperating Curly only has a very small part.
I was never that fond of Joe Besser, to tell the truth. Moe in his autobiography said that “Curly Joe” de Rita was their first choice, both for compatibility and for his resemblance to Jerome. He’s the Stooge I was most familiar with in that role when I was a kid, because he was still performing with the others, and appearing in their new feature-length films.
*And I suspect it’s a good thing. I think he got more work and exposure than he would have otherwise. Other character actors and bit players from the forties mostly disappeared pretty quickly with the arrival of the fifties.
Shemp was first, but Curly was the best.
Emil Sitka was in lots of the shorts, just not as a Stooge. He was the hapless scientist, butler, photographer, etc.
Is there any question? Curly.
Shemp had a career outside the Stooges and may have been the better actor, but Curly was a better Stooge, and was far funnier. It didn’t help that the series was growing tired by the time Shemp took over: the story options were limited and the budget kept getting cut. Many of his stories were remakes of ones that Curly had starred in.
They were considering having Emil Sitka (“Hold Hands, you Lovebirds” – "Hold hands, you lovebirds!" - YouTube ) fill in for Larry Fine after his debilitating stroke. He even apparently filled that role in live performance. But there was some problem – he wanted too much money, or his ego got in the way, or something – and he never made any movies or TV performances as a proper Stooge. They simply discontinued the act.
Actually, Joe de Rita tried to put together a New Three Stooges act afterwards, but I think he was more a guiding mentor than a performer. It didn’t work out.
That was my thought, too, but I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt and an opportunity to explain himself.
Now it’s your turn to 'splain. Not sure what you mean by “false Stooge” here.
Joe was better as a solo comic with short bits than he was as a Stooge, where he was mostly annoying. He also had it written into his contract that Moe couldn’t hit him, so that changed the dynamic of the Stooges somewhat, to say the least.
Nevertheless, he was certainly an “official” Stooge. But by the time he joined the act for the final shorts, everyone was getting older, and there was still more recycling of old ideas. Still, The Stooges have to be given some credit for having the longest-running continuing short subject series in movie history (1933-1958).
Curly.
Curly, hands down.
I even liked Joe Besser better than Shemp.
That was Hold That Lion! Curly also filmed a scene as the cook in Malice in the Palace, another short that starred Larry, Moe, and Shemp, but his scene was cut due to his illness.
Here’s a promotional picture of Emil Sitka as a Stooge along with Moe Howard and Joe DeRita.
