# Were the Three Stooges respected? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 11, 2010, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-three-stooges-respected/546303 "2010-07-11T14:51:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![DChord568](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-three-stooges-respected/546303/41 "2010-07-14T05:34:58Z")
> [@Peanuthead](#): > > Sorry, no cite, but I recenly read somewhere that the key to the success of the 3 Stooges was not the actual slapstick but the _ **sound effects** _. Unless you’re 4 years old there is nothing funny about grabbing someone’s nose. But add the HONK of a bicycle horn and some people find it hilarious. Try watching them without sound and you’ll see quite a difference. > As for Abbot and Costello, you might as well call them the “2 Stooges” as their whole schtick was the slick Abbot slapping around the bufoon Costello. You’ve made a couple of very important points here. Yes, the addition of a ridiculously out-of-proportion sound effect to an act of physical violence perpetrated on a person has the paradoxical effect of “softening” the blow rather than amplifying it, as it takes it out of the realm of reality and into that of cartoon violence. I’d have to dig to find the cite, but I seem to recall one critic pointing out that Laurel and Hardy pioneered this technique in one of their first sound shorts. (Incidentally, I saw The Three Stooges on stage in the early 1960s, and was delighted to find that they traveled with a sound effects man who precisely duplicated the effect of watching their films – expertly timing Moe’s slaps with…well, a slapstick…his bops on the head with an anvil clang, and his blows to the stomach with a tympani. I very recently learned that the man behind this was in fact Larry Fine’s brother-in-law.) You’ve also articulated why, “Who’s on First” aside, I’ve never cared much for Abbott and Costello. Unlike Laurel and Hardy, whose characters were sympathetic and human (if childish), it’s pretty impossible to warm up to Bud Abbott, and only marginally easier to do so with Lou Costello. Slapstick can be funny for a while on its own, but without character development to go along with it, it wears thin. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-three-stooges-respected/546303/42 "2010-07-14T05:50:37Z")
Seriously? There’s 41 posts in a thread about the 3 stooges/marx brothers/abbot and costello/charlie chaplain/etc. and not a single bad pun yet? There’s more humor in the threads about Helen Keller… **GET A MOVE ON PEOPLE!!** ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-three-stooges-respected/546303/43 "2010-07-14T14:44:49Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > There’s more humor in the threads about Helen Keller… What? I haven’t seen or heard any of that. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-three-stooges-respected/546303/44 "2010-07-14T15:53:37Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > What? I haven’t seen or heard any of that. Oh, a wise guy, eh? :: slaps **Wheelz** :: ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-three-stooges-respected/546303/45 "2010-07-14T21:42:40Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > Seriously? There’s 41 posts in a thread about the 3 stooges/marx brothers/abbot and costello/charlie chaplain/etc. and not a single bad pun yet? There’s more humor in the threads about Helen Keller… **GET A MOVE ON PEOPLE!!** You don’t mean to say that #22 was a _good_ pun, do you? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-three-stooges-respected/546303/46 "2010-07-14T22:00:24Z")
The funniest thing ever about the Three Stooges was on Seinfeld. > [@](#): > > Helena: [I was in] a Three Stooges short, “Sappy Pappy.” I played Mr. Sugarman’s > secretary, remember? > > Kramer: Yeah, right, right, yeah, yeah, that was a Shemp, right? > > Helena: No, a Curly. The boys played three sailors who find a baby, the baby’s > been kidnapped and the police think that they did it. > > * * * > > Helena: Moe hits Curly with an axe, > > Kramer: Uh huh. > > Helena: The Stooges catch the kidnappers, > > Kramer: Right. > > Helena: But it’s too late. > > Kramer: Really. > > Helena: The baby’s dead. > > Kramer: Really? > > Helena: The boys are sent to Death Row and are executed. > > Kramer: Well I don’t remember that part. > > Helena: I play Mr. Sugarman’s secretary. > > Kramer: Oh, yeah, yeah, you were, you were very good. > > Helena: Yeah, it was sad for a Three Stooges, what with the dead baby and the > Stooges being executed and all. ---
**Author:** ![BBlacky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a698b9/32.png) [@BBlacky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BBlacky)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-three-stooges-respected/546303/47 "2011-04-14T03:15:07Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > Incidentally, the studio in question was Columbia which, at the time, was run by [Harry Cohn](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Cohn)who even among other Hollywood moguls of the era was notorious for his frequently abrasive and heavy-handed management style. Well that brings to mind a couple of quotes, both which deliciously reveal the degree to which the loathsome Cohn was reviled. I’ll just pop one in here, still warm from Wiki: Cohn died of a sudden heart attack in February 1958 in Phoenix, Arizona, shortly after having finished dinner. He was the subject of the famous quote from Red Skelton, who remarked of his well-attended funeral, “It proves what Harry always said: Give the public what they want and they’ll come out for it.” The other one, not quite so funny for its nastiness, was from a prominent LA rabbi who, when asked whether he didn’t have anything positive to say about the recently-deceased Cohn, commented “Well, he’s dead, isn’t he?” [BTW, the first quote has been attributed to other wags besides the waggish RS] [And hello to everybody at The Straight Dope from an olde newbie in East Jakarta. Watch me at bakhirun’s channel on YouTube] ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-three-stooges-respected/546303/48 "2011-04-14T03:40:03Z")
They might have been more respected if instead of poking each other’s eyes they’d eaten each other’s brains. ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-three-stooges-respected/546303/49 "2011-04-14T08:11:16Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > [Here’s a great story](http://web2.airmail.net/willdogs/) about The Stooge in Winter- a guy recalls his friendship with Moe in Moe’s later years. (Don’t worry that Moe was having to beg for change- he was living in comfortable semi-retirement.) Among other great factoids is that Moe kept a volume of the Encyclopedia Britannica on a bookstand in his house because he was super proud of the fact they used a picture of the Three Stooges for their article on comedy. You realize from [the photos](http://web2.airmail.net/willdogs/athome.htm) (taken at his house) just how tiny Moe was. I was hoping someone would post that, so I didn’t have to go find it again and post it myself. 😃 That’s a must-read for anyone who recalls the Stooges fondly. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-three-stooges-respected/546303/50 "2011-04-14T10:33:11Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > The funniest thing ever about the Three Stooges was on Seinfeld. I’ve always wondered about that joke. I assume the joke is that she was in a different movie, but which one? ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-three-stooges-respected/546303/51 "2011-04-14T23:42:29Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > The funniest thing ever about the Three Stooges was on Seinfeld. I also liked “Couchgrass and crampbark? You know, I think that’s what killed Curly.” ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-three-stooges-respected/546303/52 "2011-04-14T23:52:16Z")
I don’t think vaudeville was _ever_ considered highbrow, and the Three Stooges were certainly vaudeville, even if they peaked after it did. Maybe they would have been better respected if the peaks coincided. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-three-stooges-respected/546303/53 "2011-04-15T04:43:53Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Much has been written about Minnie Marx, a major stage-mother, but I haven’t read anything about Solomon & Jennie Gorovitz Horwitz, parents of Moe (Moses), Shemp (Samuel) and Curly (Jerome) and two other boys. Does anybody know if they were stage parents or if their remaining brothers were ever in the act? By all accounts it was the reverse, and the Horowitzes tried to actively discourage a vaudeville career. As Shemp reminisced later, “My parents always wanted me to be a gentleman”, and they figured acting was inconsistent with that. ---
**Author:** ![C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C.Montgomery_Burns)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2011, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-three-stooges-respected/546303/54 "2011-04-16T22:41:37Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > I don’t think vaudeville was _ever_ considered highbrow, and the Three Stooges were certainly vaudeville, even if they peaked after it did. Maybe they would have been better respected if the peaks coincided. It wasn’t highbrow. It was popular light entertainment. It was much like slightly later radio comedy and early television comedy variety shows. And for a good reason- almost all of the biggest comedy stars of the first half of the twentieth century had backgrounds in vaudeville. Some never moved far away from it- think The Stooges, Abbott & Costello, Burns & Allen, The Marx Brothers, Milton Berle, etc. Others showed their vaudeville roots much more subtly- Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Fred Allen, etc. But vaudeville helped all of these comedians develop very useful skills. They spent years in front of an actual audience learning what people thought was actually funny, and were generally very quick witted- the ability to ad lib was vital when an act went wrong in the middle of a performance. The Three Stooges were actually a pretty high quality version of a typical physical comedy-based vaudeville act. Audiences of the time remembered vaudeville clearly, and the Stooges distilled the gags they had developed over the years into seven minute pure gagfests. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2011, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-three-stooges-respected/546303/55 "2011-04-17T12:53:52Z")
I don’t know if it counts but they never won an Academy Special Award which a few comedians such as Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin and Groucho Marx won. > **[Academy Honorary Award](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Honorary_Award)** > > The Academy Honorary Award – instituted in 1950 for the 23rd Academy Awards (previously called the Special Award, which was first presented at the 1st Academy Awards in 1929) – is given annually by the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). Since 2009, it has been presented at the separate annual Governors Awards rather than at the regular Academy Awards ceremony. The Honorary Award celebrates motion picture achievements that are not covered by existing Aca... I can’t recite too many Oscars for best picture/best actor/actress but I doubt if comedies win a lot. Actors like to talk about how hard comedy is but the academy prefers the big, lavish, heart warming human interest story with good box office. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2011, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-three-stooges-respected/546303/56 "2011-04-17T19:29:51Z")
The Stooges were not regarded well during their time. I think anything with Curly Howard is genius. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-three-stooges-respected/546303.md?page=2)