Talk:The Three Stooges

Plenty of Extraneous Material
As has been pointed out elsewhere, Memory Alpha is not Wikipedia; these articles need to address topics as and to the extent shown in Star Trek. I have therefore removed the following as having nothing to do with the Star Trek universe as shown, and included other information that does tie it to Trek:


 * Originally part of a vaudeville act, the three made the transition to motion pictures, making a number of short subject films for Columbia Pictures Corp in a long career. The Stooges specialized in physical, slapstick humor, although Curly was noted for his zany, maniacal takes. The act also borrowed material from old vaudeville and burlesque routines. When Curly suffered a stroke and lost the ability to speak, he was replaced by another Howard brother, Shemp, who previously was a part of a lesser-known comedy act, The Ritz Brothers. (Shemp was considered for the original Stooge act, but ultimately rejected as bearing too close a resemblence to Moe.) Upon Shemp's death from a heart attack, Joe Besser served temporarily with the Stooges until "Curly Joe" DeRita was hired after his contract with another company expired. It was during the DeRita years that the trio (after a period of semi-retirement) enjoyed a revival of sorts, making their first full-length feature films, and starring as main characters in a number of animated cartoons for television. The Stooges retired for good upon the death of Larry Fine. The physical nature of the Stooges' comedy -- complete with faked eye-pokes, head slaps and nose tweaks -- caused some controversy in the late 20th century as entertainment tastes changed, slapstick became passe and some children seeing the old short films began to imitate the sight gags, much to the alarm of their parents. However, the Stooges' films continued to be enjoyed into the early 21st century as another revival took place in the 1980s. In one case, their popularity was so great that during the Seventh-Inning Stretch in games of the Pittsburgh Pirates professional baseball team, the traditional "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" was replaced for a few seasons with "The Curly Shuffle," a popular song honoring the Stooges' work. Aholland 21:06, 30 January 2006 (UTC)