# Why No Lost Three Stooges Shorts? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 8, 2020, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-lost-three-stooges-shorts/917616 "2020-08-08T23:20:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2020, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-lost-three-stooges-shorts/917616/1 "2020-08-08T23:20:09Z")
[Here’s an article I stumbled upon](https://nypost.com/2013/09/28/long-lost-three-stooges-short-surfaces/) while looking for something else. I had always thought that a good portion of the Stooges’ work before they signed on with Columbia was probably gone, but apparently, only a short called _Hello Pop_ was considered lost. In 2013, the short turned up in Australia. So the entire library of Stooge films, features and shorts, are safe and sound somewhere in the world. Now I love the Stooges, but I can’t imagine how this boon to humanity came about. The Stooges never got the respect they deserved for their films, and most of their work was in theatrical shorts. I can’t imagine a lot of effort went into preserving and safeguarding what were considered more or less extra stuff like cartoons and newsreels that people watched before the main feature came on. And this was over a period of thirty years as far as the shorts are concerned. The Stooges made most of their money on personal appearance tours, not from the shorts, and when Columbia first released the shorts to television, they didn’t think there would be anything close to the impact that there was. So if the Stooges were so little regarded during the time they made those shorts, how is it that none of the shorts ever turned up missing? There’s lost Marx Brothers, and lost Laurel and Hardy, but no lost Stooges. I’m glad this is so, but danged if I can figure it out. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2020, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-lost-three-stooges-shorts/917616/2 "2020-08-08T23:30:38Z")
How do we know there aren’t hundreds of missing Stooge shorts? ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2020, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-lost-three-stooges-shorts/917616/3 "2020-08-08T23:35:37Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > How do we know there aren’t hundreds of missing Stooge shorts? Well they did keep records in actually making the things. I’m only amazed that all of them survived afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2020, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-lost-three-stooges-shorts/917616/4 "2020-08-08T23:49:12Z")
Were any of them silent? Jeez, I remember watching them when I was three or four (late 1950s) and thinking they were contemporary! ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2020, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-lost-three-stooges-shorts/917616/5 "2020-08-09T00:26:59Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Were any of them silent? No. The earliest Stooge movie is with Moe Larry and Shemp (along with Ted Healy). It’s an hour long comedy entitled _Soup to Nuts_, featuring various gadgets by comics artist Rube Goldberg. Shemp left after that film to pursue a solo career, and Curly came in to replace him. Yep, Shemp was an original stooge, and Curly was the replacement. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2020, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-lost-three-stooges-shorts/917616/6 "2020-08-09T00:29:47Z")
It looks like the first Three Stooges short (technically the first short with Ted Healy and his stooges) was _Nertsery Rhymes_ in 1933. (_Soup to Nuts_ from 1930 has them all but isn’t considered a Three Stooges film.) That was well into the sound era. Most lost films are from the silent era, thrown away because they were essentially worthless. Sound films kept their value. The IMDb says that Moe Howard appeared in three silent films which are indeed lost. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2020, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-lost-three-stooges-shorts/917616/7 "2020-08-09T00:43:03Z")
Well, I’ve seen _Soup to Nuts_, and I consider it a Three Stooges film. It even has the Burnt Toast and a Rotten Egg gag. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2020, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-lost-three-stooges-shorts/917616/8 "2020-08-09T00:55:23Z")
I would think that Columbia could still rent the old shorts to theaters. Since they were still making money, they weren’t trashed. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2020, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-lost-three-stooges-shorts/917616/9 "2020-08-09T03:22:54Z")
Go argue with IMDb. I’m just a reporter. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2020, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-lost-three-stooges-shorts/917616/10 "2020-08-09T15:46:30Z")
Regardless, it’s obvious _Soup to Nuts_ is a Stooge film. But there are movies that the Stooges appear in that are in no way Stooge films. _Dancing Lady_ is one of them. Moe, Larry, and Curly only appear in one scene as musicians for Joan Crawford. Ted Healy has a much bigger part than the Stooges. At least Healy gets to share the screen with Clark Gable. There’s a publicity still of the Stooges climbing all over Gable, but I don’t think they appeared with him at all in the movie. At least the Stooges did one scene of their shtick in _Dancing Lady_. In another film _The Captain Hates the Sea_, they again play musicians, and they play it totally straight! I wasted ninety minutes of my life on that shipbound dreck waiting for them to do something, and they never do. They’re just in the background with their goofy haircuts. I mean, what the hell? They’re in the credits and everything. So yeah, there are movies with the Stooges that are not Stooge movies. But the only reason to consider _Soup to Nuts_ “not” a Stooge movie is that it doesn’t feature Curly. But that’s ridiculous. Shemp was a part of the team before Curly and was there after Curly. _Soup to Nuts_. Stooge movie. Period. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2020, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-lost-three-stooges-shorts/917616/11 "2020-08-09T16:12:19Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I would think that Columbia could still rent the old shorts to theaters. Since they were still making money, they weren’t trashed. Not to mention TV. There’s barely 15 years separating the Stooges’ first short and the time studios started packaging their old stuff for TV stations. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2020, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-lost-three-stooges-shorts/917616/12 "2020-08-09T17:11:08Z")
True, but I’d also imagine Columbia would pull out films from their vault if they were short on short subjects one week. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-lost-three-stooges-shorts/917616/13 "2020-08-10T00:00:51Z")
Quite a few of the older scripts were reused after Shemp rejoined the group. One example is _ **A Plumbing We Will Go** _. Remade 4 times under different titles. Curly did the first version in 1939 and Shemp did the 2nd in 1944. Then Columbia made two more reusing old footage. [A Plumbing We Will Go - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Plumbing_We_Will_Go) There were other remakes. I looked for a complete list and couldn’t find anything. TV saved the old Stooges work. It began airing in the late 50’s and was a big success. A entire generation of baby boomers became fans. I’m imagine the Suits at Columbia searched everywhere for old shorts because they had become valuable. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-lost-three-stooges-shorts/917616/14 "2020-08-10T01:10:55Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Shemp did the 2nd in 1944. I believe Curly had his disabling stroke in 1946. I know Shemp did a remake, (I’m thinking the title was _Listen Judge_), but it was made later than 1944. I can’t believe I know this stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-lost-three-stooges-shorts/917616/15 "2020-08-10T01:16:40Z")
Well, I don’t know it as well as I thought. It turns out _Listen, Judge_ is a remake of _An Ache in Every Stake_, another Stooge classic. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-lost-three-stooges-shorts/917616/16 "2020-08-10T10:54:44Z")
Not to hijack, but does anyone know what the title of “An Ache in Every Stake” is an allusion to? They’re usually references to movies, songs, etc., but I’ve never figured that one out. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-lost-three-stooges-shorts/917616/17 "2020-08-10T12:16:39Z")
Prospecting, maybe? As in “to stake a claim”? I could totally see them out in the wilderness, panning for gold and encountering bears and such. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-lost-three-stooges-shorts/917616/18 "2020-08-10T13:36:54Z")
They were icemen in AAiES. (They had just returned from prospecting in “Cash and Carry”, and encountering a bear (who stole their car) in “Idiot’s Deluxe”.) But “An Ache in Every Stake” seems like it’s based on some other title or saying. “In the Sweet Pie and Pie” obviously refers to the hymn of nearly the same name. And “I’ll Never Heil Again” to the Sinatra song. There may have been some popular film or song close to the name AAiES, but it’s not close enough for me to figure it out. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-lost-three-stooges-shorts/917616/19 "2020-08-10T13:37:59Z")
Some song or movie with the title “A \_\_\_ in Every State”? ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-lost-three-stooges-shorts/917616/20 "2020-08-10T13:50:54Z")
Hmm, maybe a reference to Herbert Hoover’s 1928 campaign slogan, “A chicken in every pot, and a car in every garage”. Pretty loose connection though. And still not sure what it had to do with the plot.