Post by Neverending on Nov 16, 2023 18:19:10 GMT -5
Columbia Pictures (or “Sony” as the cool kids call it) turns 100 next year. They’ll be celebrating this milestone with wonderful pictures such as Madame Web, Kraven the Hunter and Venom 3. We are truly blessed.
Turning 90 are the Three Stooges. Film professor PG Cooper can correct me if I’m wrong, but I feel that the Three Stooges are to Columbia what 19th century literary monsters are to Universal Pictures. What other successful franchise came out of Columbia in the 1930’s? These Stooges were printing money for decades. The Stooges shorts lasted all the way till the 1950’s, then they transitioned into feature-length films in the 1960’s, and when they got too old and senile, they started pumping out Saturday morning cartoons in the 1970’s. The Stooges were “guest stars” in Scooby-Doo cartoons alongside Don Knotts and the Harlem Globetrotters! They were still a big deal in their twilight years. This is what passed for children’s entertainment in Wyldstaar’s youth.
Growing up in the 1990’s, they were still popular on television. I used to watch the shorts and movies on the Family Channel. Not Fox Family. Not ABC Family. Not Freeform. Not even IanTheCool’s Canadian Family Channel. No. Good ol’ 700 Club Family Channel. You could watch Pat Robertson tell you that you’re going to hell, followed by the Three Stooges poking each other in the eye. If thebtskink think I’m dating myself. Back then, you could still get Three Stooges merchandise in stores. My mousepad for my Windows 94-run Packard Bell computer was a still image of the Stooges in their golfing short-subject film. Press. Press. Pull. That’s one of the gags from that short. They play beer delivery men who sneak into a golfing press event. The short ends with them chase a barrel of beer that’s running down the street.
Anyhoo, I’ve rewatched some of their shorts. They’re about 15-20 minutes each. Breezy watch. Maybe I’ll do more down the line. Will 1godzillafan resurrect from the death if I do?
PUNCH DRUNKS
Directed by Lou Breslow
Written by Moe Howard, Jerry Howard, Larry Fine and Jack Cluett.
Release Date: July 13, 1934
This is the second Stooges short, but the first genuine one. Woman Haters is a lot of things, but a proper Three Stooges short it ain’t. It’s also the only one to be preserved by the library of Congress.
Moe plays a boxing promoter/manager. He’s at a restaurant, ordering burnt toast and rotten eggs. Moe’s in top form here. He’s arguably the funniest one. Curly is his mild-mannered waiter. And Larry’s the entertainment, playing his famed violin. When Larry plays the public domain tune, Pop Goes the Weasel, Curly loses it and beats up everyone in the restaurant. This would go on to be a running gag in the series. The most random things turn Curly into a blackout brawler. Moe sees potential in Curly and turns him into his latest boxing prospect. All goes well until Larry’s violin breaks at a match and he has to run all over town for a replacement while Curly is getting beat up in the ring.
If shit goes south and the library of Congresses copy of Punch Drunks is all that’s left of the Stooges, that’s perfectly fine. All three of the Stooges are hilarious in their own individual way. There’s additional gags with side characters that are equally good. It has urgency to it. It’s well-shot, well-edited. Doomsday could show it to his kids and it would work for them.
MEN IN BLACK
Directed by Raymond McCarey
Written by Felix Adler
Release Date: September 28, 1934
This is the only Academy Award nominated Three Stooges short. The Stooges play medical physicians (Dr. Howard. Dr. Fine. Dr. Howard) that’ll do anything for duty and humanity.
Watching this short, you can tell why kids loved the Stooges. This is literally a Looney Tunes cartoon. It’s funny to watch something like 1931’s Bela Lugosi Dracula and then watch something like this. Were audiences whiplashed in the 1930’s? There’s so many gags-per-second here it could actually compete with a 2023 comedy and win. I can guarantee you there’s more jokes here than in SnoBorderZero’s upcoming Candy Cane Lane.
