Three Stooges appreciation

Anyone else as nutty about these nutty nuts as I am? I grew up watching the Stooges on afternoon TV in addition to the annual New Year’s Eve (6 hr) marathon.

Things I like:

[ul]
[li]The historical snapsnot. Between the language, the situations, and the setting there’s a whole lot of the (exaggerated) 1930s and 40s to gobble up here[/li][li]The titles – e.g. Pain in the Pullman; Healthy, Wealthy, and Dumb; Violent is the Word for Curly; Three Sappy People; etc.[/li][li]The fact that pretty much every single episode is the same exact setup (and ending) with only some slight details changed (e.g. high class dinner party, old lady in trouble, etc.) [/li][li]Curly. [/li][/ul]

Favorite episodes are a tough call since they’re all good (and similar), but you’ve gotta love the gift giving scene with the Maja Rajah in Three Little Pirates.

Oh and by the way, I’ve almost completed the collection of M, L, & C episodes. Are these out of copyright yet (and thus freely distributable)?

I’m generally not a Stooge fan, but I have to give it to them for the cleverest parody title ever, Violent Is the Word for Curly.

Most likely not. They’re after the cutoff, and they were sold to TV early on, so Columbia probably renewed the copyright. Works at the time were in copyright for 28 years before renewal. The first Stooges short was in 1934, so the copyright would have begun to lapse in 1962. But by that time they were a staple on TV, so Columbia would have renewed.

I’m a fan of the Stooges; no one was better at low, physical comedy. The better shorts are quite good, though the quality dropped by the end of WWII.

One favorite (non-violent!) clip:

The 3 Stooges teach the alphabet.

Who killed Cock Robin was great. The trial was zany and funny.

When ever I am exasperated to the point of losing it, I blurt out, * “Moe! Larry! The cheese!”* and it seems to take the edge off.

And “Mallethead!” is one of my favorite epithets.