I Discuss The Three Stooges

In specific, the start of something new for 2025 that won't be completed until the second half of the year. It's below in three separate reviews of the first three Three Stooges shorts the trio did for Columbia; they were all from 1934.

Woman Haters: 

(Short #1 in Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk: The Columbia Shorts of The Three Stooges)

So, this has been LONG overdue but until sometime in the summer of ‘25, I’ll typically be reviewing one of these shorts plus one movie per day. I don’t want to blow up everyone’s feeds, you know. However, there will be days (like today) where I’ll only review more than one Stooge effort and nothing else. To clarify, what I’ll be tackling is the 190 shorts that the Stooges made for Columbia from 1934 to the last short released, which was a quarter-century later. Linked at top is a list in progress for anyone to follow around while in the midst of this project.

I have Dad to thank for introducing me to the comedy trio as a kid. He was a kid in the 50’s when the Stooges were broadcast on television and became beloved. They were on broadcast TV and VHS tape during the 80’s, when I was less than the age of 10. I’ve had all those shorts on DVD for ages; about time I do this project, in chronological order. Wiki can be read for a detailed recap of how Moe, Larry & Shemp were first led in vaudeville by Ted Healy and why they broke away from an abrasive, abusive person. Shemp tried a solo career so Moe Howard recruited his younger brother Jerome “Curly” Howard. They plus Larry Fine made for a tremendous trio.

Woman Haters was different from the expected Stooges formula. As it was part of Columbia’s “Musical Novelty” series, this explains all the rhyming dialogue throughout. Tom, Jim & Jackie (yes, that was their character names) are part of the titular Woman Haters Club, until naturally a woman enters the picture and this results in comedic chaos.

There’s the expected slapstick-the slaps and eye pokes-but it’s just not quite the same as expected overall. Heck, Larry is the guy who falls in love w/ the girl instead of Moe. Still, it’s amusing; a big asset was Marjorie White as Mary, i.e. the peach who entered the trio’s life & trampled their bachelor credo. White was also a vaudeville veteran and sadly only spent a short amount of time in Hollywood; she died in a car accident, age 31. White was delightful as the pretty blonde w/ the babydoll voice who was a spitfire and alluring at the same time.

Once in awhile a future famous face (like Walter Brennan) or a veteran of other comedic shorts (like Tiny Sandford) will appear. Much to my delight, Bud Jamison also appears. He was in plenty of Chaplin shorts but I know him best for the number of Stooges efforts he was a key supporting player in up to 1944.

Most of the other Stooges reviews won’t be as lengthy; of course an intro and backstory were needed. For today, I’ll post a second review in a few hours and a few hours after that, a third and final review.

Punch Drunks: 

(Short #2 in Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk: The Columbia Shorts of The Three Stooges)

A de facto origin story for the Stooges. It was a rare short Howard, Fine & Howard wrote themselves and unlike typical, the trio are separate to begin but after they meet at a restaurant where Curly is a waiter, Larry comes in to play violin, and Moe is a boxing promoter, they become a trio.

The gag is that Curly goes berserk upon hearing Pop Goes the Weasel. The tune is public domain and recalling something I read once, the tune was chosen due to its natural absurdity. They meet a pretty girl, who doesn’t get to do much, and Curly becomes an up-and-comer pugilistic fighter as Weasel is played on the violin during his bouts.

Already at this point, the boys had their specific, typical personas. So is the slapstick you typically saw in their shorts, and also the clever wordplay/jokes that has always been an underrated aspect of the Stooges. The short starts to run out of steam/cleverness in the second half, even with an amusing running gag involving the championship fight’s timekeeper & a young prankster boy.

Punch Drunks was a nice precursor to what Stooges fans will love in the almost 200 shorts they did over the years at Columbia. This includes the inclusion of a few trademark sound effects that I’ll always associate with those boys. Not all were present here but the effects for the slaps, eye pokes, drinking a liquid, and other moments will forever be imprinted in my mind.

Men in Black

(Short #3 in Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk: The Columbia Shorts of The Three Stooges)

In my third & final review of the day, the only Stooge short ever nominated for an Academy Award; that award back then was “Short Subject – Comedy.” Who even remembers the winners of such honors, anyhow? In any case, those wondering why in the world a short devoted to the trio as doctors in the hospital is titled Men in Black: it’s a topical joke as there was a 1934 Clark Gable/Myrna Loy drama (Men in White) centered around doctors in a hospital.

Atypical is that there isn’t much of a plot aside from “the Stooges just graduated from medical school because they were students for too long and they cause anarchy in a hospital.” That doesn’t mean there isn’t funny one-liners (some to be repeated often in the future; the same goes for certain gags) or amusing slapstick. The focus on absurdist moments and random interactions w/ bizarre patients isn’t quite what I love the most about the Stooges.

At the same time, a nice rating can still be granted for the entertainment/laugh quotient. There were laughs, several running gags and the Betty Boop-voiced nurse was at least memorable; other side characters were also intriguing. Still, I’m glad that most of their work at Columbia had more of a semblance of a plot.