The Stooges' Take Off

The same year that the Stooges parted with Healy, they signed on to appear in two-reel comedy shorts for Columbia Pictures. After their first short Woman Haters, the Stooges signed a contract for $7,500 per film, to be divided among the three of them. Columbia Pictures Studio head Harry Cohn would wait untill the last minute to renew their contracts, so the Stooges, too scared for their jobs, never asked for a raise. The Stooges appeared in 190 film shorts and five features under their contract with Columbia. The Stooges made occasional appearances in feature films, but were known for their shorts.

Columbia offered theater owners an entire program of two-reel comedies, but the Stooges were the most popular.

Curly suffered a stroke on May 6th, 1946. Needing another Stooge, Moe went to Shemp to fill the role. Shemp had a successful solo career at the time, but realized that Moe's and Larry's careers would be over without the Stooges, and reluctantly agreed to fill in for Curly temporarily untill Curly was well enough to return. Unfortunatly Curly died on January 18th, 1952. With Shemp, the Stooges appeared in 73 more shorts.

Three years after Curly's death, Shemp died from a sudden heart attack on November 22nd, 1955. Using archived footage of Shemp and a stand-in, the Stooges released four more shorts. Joe Besser replaced Shemp in 1956, but had a clause in his contract preventing him from being hit too hard. But at that time, the market for shorts had reached an all-time low, and Columbia Pictures opted not to renew the Stooges' contract. The Stooges's careers seemed to be over, but with the rise of television, the Stooges would soon experience a rebirth.

(picture from www.three-stooges.com/)

Rise of the Stooges

The Three Stooges started in 1925 as part of the vaudeville act known as Ted Healy and His Stooges. In the act, lead comedian, Healy, would attempt to sing or tell jokes while his assistants (Lawrence "Larry" Fine, Harry Moses "Moe" Howard, and Samuel "Shemp" Howard), would keep "interrupting" him. Healy would respondwith an act of violence, either physically or verbally.

In 1930, Ted Healy and His Stooges appeared in their first major motion film Soup to Nuts; although the film was not a critical success, the Stooges' performances were considered the highlight, and Fox offered them a contract without Healy. Healy, upset with the studio, told them that the Stooges were his employees and the offer was withdrawn. After the Stooges learned of the reason for the contract withdrawl, left Healy and formed their own act.

In 1932, with Moe now their business manager, Healy reached an agreement with the Stooges, and they rejoined with Healy. Shemp, fed up with Healy abuse, left the act. Down one stooge, Moe decided to bring in his younger brother Jerome "Curly" Howard.

In 1934, the act's contract with MGM expired, and the Stooges finally departed from Healy for good, due to Healy's alcoholism and abuse. What happened next would define the Stooges' careers.

(picture from http://www.dlib.org/dlib/october00/10featured-collection.html)