Season 14 1947

Filmed in 1946 but held over until January of 1947, Half-Wits Holiday proved a rather sad occasion for the Three Stooges. A remake of the earlier Hoi Polloi, in which a professor wages that he can turn the three dimwits into perfect gentlemen. Sadly, Curly Howard, who had been ailing all year, suffered a stroke on the last day of filming. Supporting actor Emil Sitka, who made his debut with the team in this film, remembered: "No one -- including Moe, Larry, and Jules White -- ever told us how serious his condition was. It was only after the picture had been completed that I found out he took ill." Producer/director White managed to finish the last scene -- the inevitable pie-fight featuring the Stooges' main victim Symona Boniface (as Mrs. Smythe-Smythe) -- by dividing the action between Moe Howard and Larry Fine and inserting reaction shots of the various bystanders. Curly Howard never returned to the series as a member of the team -- he later agreed to a couple of cameos while visiting his former workplace -- and was replaced by brother Shemp. Perhaps the most beloved Stooge, Jerome "Curly" Howard died at the young age of 48 in 1952.

After Curly Howard suffered a stroke, his brother Shemp quickly stepped in and joined the Three Stooges so that there was little time lost between pictures. Although this was his first Columbia short as part of the trio (he had made films for the studio as a solo), it wasn't the first time Shemp was a Stooge -- he had been one of the originals when they were with Ted Healy and had left in the early '30s. Coincidentally (or perhaps not), the plot to this comedy involved one of Shemp's favorite sports -- prize fighting. The Stooges play trainers to Chopper Kane, a lazy bum who would rather read magazines than work out. They finally convince him to "start on the dummy," which he believes means Shemp. The dummy they're really referring to is far more inanimate, but nevertheless manages to knock all three Stooges silly, much to Chopper's amusement. A reluctant Shemp then goes into the ring to spar with Chopper. But the boys are faced with a dilemma -- a pair of tough guys warn them that their man must throw the fight or else. So the Stooges soften Chopper up by hooking him up with Larry's girl, Kitty, and feeding him rich pastries. It's all working out quite well until the night of the fight. Kitty has dumped Chopper for his opponent, Gorilla Watson, and he is ready to kill. Because Moe has tossed a cream puff at Gorilla, the fighter angrily slugs a brick wall and injures his hand. The fight is called off, and the tough guys take the Stooges for a ride. They wind up in a warehouse and after a frantic chase, Shemp trips up the bad guys on mothballs and knocks them out one by one.

It's time to saddle up, you knucklehead! The splendor of the Old West is brought to the screen as only The Three Stooges can in this trio of short subjects featuring Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Shemp Howard among the sagebrush. In Out West, the Stooges are persuaded by a pretty girl to help white-hatted gunfighter The Arizona Kid (Jacques O'Mahoney, later known as Jock Mahoney) break out of jail, which doesn't exactly endear them to trigger happy Doc Barker. The Arizona Kid returns in Punchy Cowpunchers, as he tries to capture a band of notorious thieves called the Killer Dillons. He needs three brave men to help him, but he has to settle for Larry, Moe, and Shemp. And in Merry Mavericks, outlaw Red Morgan (Don C. Harvey) has run the sheriff out of Peaceful Gulch, and when the Stooges ride into town, they're mistaken for a trio of lawmen sent to restore order -- something that the Stooges have never been known for.

After Curly Howard suffered a stroke, his brother Shemp quickly stepped in and joined the Three Stooges so that there was little time lost between pictures. Although this was his first Columbia short as part of the trio (he had made films for the studio as a solo), it wasn't the first time Shemp was a Stooge -- he had been one of the originals when they were with Ted Healy and had left in the early '30s. Coincidentally (or perhaps not), the plot to this comedy involved one of Shemp's favorite sports -- prize fighting. The Stooges play trainers to Chopper Kane, a lazy bum who would rather read magazines than work out. They finally convince him to "start on the dummy," which he believes means Shemp. The dummy they're really referring to is far more inanimate, but nevertheless manages to knock all three Stooges silly, much to Chopper's amusement. A reluctant Shemp then goes into the ring to spar with Chopper. But the boys are faced with a dilemma -- a pair of tough guys warn them that their man must throw the fight or else. So the Stooges soften Chopper up by hooking him up with Larry's girl, Kitty, and feeding him rich pastries. It's all working out quite well until the night of the fight. Kitty has dumped Chopper for his opponent, Gorilla Watson, and he is ready to kill. Because Moe has tossed a cream puff at Gorilla, the fighter angrily slugs a brick wall and injures his hand. The fight is called off, and the tough guys take the Stooges for a ride. They wind up in a warehouse and after a frantic chase, Shemp trips up the bad guys on mothballs and knocks them out one by one.

Shemp Howard plays a vocal coach in this Three Stooges short. His most adoring student is a homely young miss who cheerfully mangles "The Voice of Spring." As soon as her lesson is over, Moe and Larry show up and inform him that his Uncle Caleb has left him a half a million dollars -- provided that he is married by six o'clock that evening. Shemp needs a bride in a hurry, so he heads to a phone booth with his little black book and a handful of nickels, but he only manages to get tangled up with Moe. Then he sees a pretty girl (Christine McIntyre), who's a new resident in the building, but she turns out to be a violent psychopath. Shemp has no choice but to take his awful voice student to the altar, but as the justice of the peace (Emil Sitka) is preparing to wed them, an angry group of Shemp's former girlfriends show up -- Moe ran a notice in the paper announcing his dilemma. The women battle furiously to become Shemp's bride, and the Stooges are all the worse for wear. The semi-conscious Shemp manages to say "I do" to the singing student, and when he comes to and realizes what he's done, his response is to scream, "Help!" If this short bears a few similarities to the Buster Keaton silent Seven Chances, it could be because writer Clyde Bruckman worked on both films. Emil Sitka's line, "Hold hands, you lovebirds," was immortalized in Pulp Fiction -- it can be heard while John Travolta is pumping a hypodermic full of adrenaline into the overdosed Uma Thurman.

In this typical 2-reel farce, "Pip Boys" tailors Moe, Larry and Shemp (The Three Stooges), in hock to the finance company of Skin & Flint ("I. Fleecem, president"), go after a notorious criminal (Harold Brauer) for the reward. Producer-director Jules White's voice was heard on the radio in one scene, delivering a commercial for "Blurb-o-Line, the only gasoline with bicarbonate of soda." Considering the amount of stock footage involved, the official 1953 "remake" of this short, Rip, Sew and Stitch, played more like a re-release.

In this classic Three Stooges comedy short, the boys play drug store operators who help the boss' wife by inventing a youth serum, which turns her into a young girl. The husband, however, overdoses on the stuff and becomes an infant. With Emil Sitka, Christine McIntyre, and the wonderful Symona Boniface in support, this Jules White-directed effort doesn't fail to amuse.