ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, August 17, 1996 TAG: 9608190009
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: 3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG NYE KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
As the 1950s came to a close, it was seemingly over for the Three Stooges.
After 25 years of working for Columbia Pictures, the boys had been given the pink slip from the studio.
Because of the growing popularity of television, Hollywood was cutting back on film production. The first to feel the pinch were the folks who produced short subjects, those little 10- to 20-minute films that were a part of just about any movie theater's program.
On a whim, Columbia decided to release the Stooges films to television. The thinking was that maybe the studio could pick up at least a few extra bucks before the shorts lost all value.
Studio heads were stunned by what happened after that.
During the ensuing years, the shorts were aired in practically every television market in the country and were enthusiastically received by a new generation of fans. The Stooges found themselves more popular than ever and lent their images to dozens of items such as watches, lunch boxes, comic books and coffee cups.
``Spread out, you mugs'' and ``I'll moider you'' became better-known phrases than Hamlet's ``To be or not to be.''
Even the Columbia Pictures brass came begging and asked them to return to the screen for a series of Three Stooges features.
And as we head toward the 21st century, the Stooges' popularity continues to thrive. Earlier this year, The Family Channel began airing brand-new prints of the shorts at 11 each weeknight. They were so well-received, Family added another hour of Stooges at 6 p.m.
The most popular Stooges were Moe and Curly Howard, who teamed with Larry Fine to form the group in the late 1920s. During the early 1930s, they were a part of Ted Healy's act. They went out on their own in 1934 and began their long association with Columbia that resulted in 190 comedy shorts.
Their first, ``Woman Haters,'' is an oddity because it's a musical. Happily, Columbia abandoned that approach for the next 189 outings.
A change had to be made in the mid-1940s. Curly became too ill to work and was replaced by brother Shemp Howard. Joe Besser replaced Shemp, who died in 1955. Those shorts with Besser rarely hit the mark.
When the Stooges began their feature films in the 1960s, Joe DeRita became Curly Joe and replaced Besser. DeRita wasn't much of a comic, but at least he didn't get in the way of Moe and Larry.
LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: The Three Stooges are shown in a scene from their 1959by CNBcomedy short, ``Have Rocket, Will Travel.''