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Filmography

The Official Three Stooges Filmography

Healthy, Wealthy and Dumb

Production Information
Title: Healthy, Wealthy and Dumb
Studio: Columbia
Short Number: 32
Release Date: May 20, 1938
Running Time: 16:24

“You wanna cheat, cheat fair. Anything I hate is a crooked crook.”

Short Take

In this rags-to-riches-to-rags story, Healthy, Wealthy, and Dumb, Curly wins $50,000 from writing a catchy jingle for a radio contest. The boys quickly spend their loot and check in at the Hotel Costa Plente. Their suite is furnished with many expensive items which they systematically destroy. In the process, three gold diggers connive their way into the boys’ room, under the guise that they are three rich widows looking to remarry. This works perfectly, as Curly quickly discovers that all the tax deductions reduce his winnings to a minuscule $4.85. The boys hastily agree to marry the ladies, who soon find out the Stooges are broke and render them unconscious with champagne bottles.

Stooge Humor frequently vacillates between the pain of slapstick and the joy of laughter. But Searle Kramer’s Healthy, Wealthy and Dumb ranges widely from the good fortune of getting rich via a radio quiz program to the double tragedies of getting conned and then taxed back into poverty.

Healthy, Wealthy and Dumb

Directed by	Del Lord
Produced by	Jules White
Written by	Searle Kramer
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Curly Howard James C. Morton Bud Jamison Lucille Lund Jean Carmen Earlene Heath
Cinematography	Allen G. Siegler
Edited by	Charles Nelson

Healthy, Wealthy and Dumb Trivia

When the Stooges hear a knock on their door, they say “Come in…Come in…Come in” musically.
Also used in: I’ll Never Heil Again, Baby Sitter Jitters, and A Missed Fortune.
The title Healthy, Wealthy and Dumb is a parody of Benjamin Franklin’s proverb “early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.”
When the short was remade as A Missed Fortune in 1952, the radio quiz program was updated by adding a phone call to The Stooges, a feature that dates back to the 1939 fNBCpRed radio quiz show ‘Pot O’ Gold.’ jean Carmen (Marge) often used the stage name Julia Thayer, and was best known for her roles in B Westerns and serials (The Painted Stallion).
When Moe slaps Larry and knocks him backwards, we never see where or how he ends up.
Also, when Curly collapses the bed, Moe never gets caught inside; nonetheless, we see him caught in the following result shot

Production Notes

It would be remade as 1952’s A Missed Fortune with Shemp in 1952, with minimal stock footage.

April Shorts Filmography

Three Troubledoers

Production Information
Title: Three Troubledoers
Studio: Columbia
Short Number: 91
Release Date: April 25, 1946
Running Time: 17:04

“Are we mice or men?” “Mice!” – (Moe, Larry, & Curly)

Three Troubledoers Short Take

Three Troubledoers is set in the Western town of Dead Man’s Gulch, The Stooges learn the last 6 sheriffs were killed by the villainous Badlands Blackie. He has kidnapped the father of a woman named Nell and Blackie threatens to kill her father unless Nell marries him. With Curly as the new sheriff, and Moe & Larry as his deputies, how can Blackie possibly succeed?

Dick Curtis and Christine McIntyre – as Badlands blackie and Nell – carry the plot of Three Troubledoers. Curtis towers over everyone and delivers on purty Western cliche’ after another. He had played in Westerns since the early 1930’s and ultimately amassed nearly 200 movie credits.

Three Troubledoers Cast & Crew

Directed by	Edward Bernds
Produced by	Hugh McCollum
Written by	Jack White
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Curly Howard Dick Curtis Christine McIntyre Victor Travers Hank Bell Ethan Laidlaw
Cinematography	George F. Kelley
Edited by	Henry Batista

Three Troubledoers Trivia

Curly’s illness

The Three Troubledoers was produced after Curly Howard suffered a mild stroke. As a result, his performance was marred by slurred speech, and slower timing. Though Curly’s falsetto voice had deepened slightly by this point, the ailing star was comfortable enough to deliver his dialogue in his regular speaking voice. Director Edward Bernds later recalled how Curly’s condition would have its peaks and valleys:

“…it was strange the way he (Curly) went up and down. In the order I shot the pictures, not in the order they were released, he was down for A Bird in the Head and The Three Troubledoers, he was up for Micro-Phonies, way down for Monkey Businessmen, and then up again, for the last time, in Three Little Pirates.”

Moe’s injury

The script for The Three Troubledoers called for a gag in which a bazooka gun was to backfire and shoot black soot into Moe’s face. “The special effects man used too much air pressure,” says director Edward Bernds, “so some of the soot shot up under his [Moe] eyelids. They had to pry his eyes open and remove these big chunks of black powder from his eye. I was terrified; I thought the poor guy had been blinded.”^[4] Moe had a similar ordeal while filming 1939’s Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise, when gobs of black goo (representing oil) shot under his eyelids.

Production Notes

Three Troubledoers was filmed on May 11–15, 1945, nearly a year prior to its release date.
It was the last western-themed short starring Curly Howard and the tenth of sixteen Stooge shorts with the word “three” in the title.

April Shorts Filmography

Loose Loot

Production Information
Title: Loose Loot
Studio: Columbia
Short Number: 146
Release Date: April 2, 1953
Running Time: 15:54

“Watch the master – he’ll throw faster, the faster the master …and the gentleman wins himself a small size panatela!” – (Shemp)

Loose Loot Short Take

The Stooges learn that their inheritance money is in the hands of a crooked lawyer named Ichabod Slipp. They come to his office only to be beaten up by Slipp, who runs off with the money. The Stooges wake up and find a clue that Slipp is meeting his partner-in-crime at a nearby theatre, and a backstage chase is on!

It is not what you do but how you do it

The Three Stooges Sid Caesar, the great television comedian of the 1950’s once remarked: “In comedy, it is not what you do but how you do it,” and this truism is most valid for a Stooge comedy like Loose Loot.

The Stooges rarely perform a gag exactly the say way twice, or, if they do, the gag is usually good enough to be repeated and varied still again. The ‘old comedy rule’ is that three times is the limit, but that says legions about how successful or even more successful the second and third time can be.

The most joyous, uncorrupted, uninterrupted celebration in all of Stoogedom

Even though the first half of Loose Loot uses recycled footage from Hold From That Lion it is not without its unique qualities and gags. The two extended Stooge celebrations stand out. The first occurs after the mattress scene: with Joe knocked out and Slipp immobilized because his head is locked in the Bentwood chair, The Stooges take two minutes of uninhibited pot shots at Slipp as Moe and Larry pound him with apples, tomatoes, and a beer bottle, and Shemp acts like a carnival barker, makes “applesauce” on his head, and then (“Watch the old master: he’ll throw faster, the faster the master!”) throws two pieces of “hen-fruit” at Slipp’s face.

The second is at the end of the film when they recover their money. Although Moe Hailstone lost his turkey to the painted Napoleon in I’ll Never Heil Again, he was unable to conquer, let alone enter, that elusive fourth dimension. We saw that dimension again in The Hot Scots, but now for the first time, The Stooges climb into it. Holding their inheritance in their hand, they have perhaps the most joyous, uncorrupted, uninterrupted celebration in all of Stoogedom – and they do in in a different dimension.

Cast & Crew

Directed by	Jules White
Produced by	Jules White
Written by	Felix Adler Jack White
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Shemp Howard Kenneth MacDonald Tom Kennedy Emil Sitka Nanette Bordeaux Suzanne Ridgeway
Edited by	Edwin H. Bryant

Loose Loot Trivia

The Boys refer to money as lucre, moolah, and geedus. The working title of the short was Filthy Lucre, the phrase used in the song they sing in Slipp’s office (Hold That Lion).
The assistant director was Carter DeHaven an American movie and stage actor, movie director, and writer.
Suzanne Ridgeway plays Suzie the Showgirl. She appeared in nine other Stooge shorts. Ridgeway was in approximately 115 films between 1933 and 1959.
Nanette Bordeaux, who appeared in 8 Stooge shorts. 7 with Shemp and 1 with Joe Besser, also plays a French Showgirl. Bordeaux’s career was cut short when she died of acute bronchopneumonia on September 20, 1956, at age 45. Her last film, A Merry Mix Up, was released six months after her death.

Production Notes

Filmed May 20 -21, 1952.

April Shorts Filmography

Spook Louder

Production Information
Title: Spook Louder
Studio: Columbia
Short Number: 69
Release Date: April 2, 1943
Running Time: 15:59

“I’ll knock your head right through your socks!
(Moe)

Spook Louder Short Take

Spook Louder is told in flashback by Professor J.O. Dunkfeather (Lew Kelly) in an interview with a newspaper reporter (Stanley Brown). The Professor relates to the reporter the story of Graves, the master spy (Ted Lorch). As the tale begins, we see the Three Stooges as traveling salesmen, trying their best to sell their “Miracle Reducing Machine”, which essentially shakes and rattles off the pounds (as Curly demonstrates). Upon failing to sell any of their machines, they trudge onward, needing money to pay their rent. As luck would have it, the boys stumble upon the home of Graves, who assumes the Stooges are the new caretakers. Graves is on his way to Washington, D.C. to test his new death ray machine, and leaves his eerie, spooky mansion in the hands of the trio. Naturally, spies disguised in Halloween costumes show up once Graves departs. The Stooges are on edge the entire time, particularly because mysterious cream pies continuously come flying out of thin air. After being cornered by the spies, the Stooges detonate a bomb given to them by Graves before he departed; they end up subduing the thieves, thus assuring that Graves’ secrets remain in good hands.

Back in the office, the reporter is desperate to know who was throwing the cream pies. Dunkfeather confesses that he was throwing the pies; however, this claim is compromised when, out of nowhere, a pie flies into his face.

Spook Louder Cast & Crew

Directed by	Del Lord
Produced by	Del Lord Hugh McCollum
Written by	Clyde Bruckman
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Curly Howard Stanley Blystone Lew Kelly Symona Boniface Stanley Brown Charles Middleton Ted Lorch Shirley Patterson
Cinematography	John Stumar
Edited by	Paul Borofsky

Spook Louder Trivia

The title Spook Louder is a pun combining the request “speak louder” with the “spooks” of a mansion.
It is a remake of the 1931 Mack Sennett film The Great Pie Mystery.
Co-stars Charles Middleton and Ted Lorch also appeared together in the 1936 serial Flash Gordon.
Spook Louder was one of several World War II-era Stooges shorts that engaged in propaganda against the then-enemy Japanese, with others including No Dough Boys, Booby Dupes and, notably, The Yokes on Me.
Several scenes from Spook Louder appear in the 1992 film Radio Flyer.
Moe’s hair stands on end for the first time in Spook Louder.
What was Dr. Graves trying to sell the government in Spook Louder? (A: A Death Ray)

Production Notes

Filmed on July 17-21, 1942.

April Shorts Filmography

Tassels In The Air

Production Information
Title: Tassels In The Air
Studio: Columbia
Short Number: 30
Release Date: April 1, 1938
Running Time: 17:09

“Sure, you can help. Go mix me a batch of spotted paint.”
(Moe)

Tassels In The Air Short Take

Nouveau riche housewife Mrs. Smirch (Bess Flowers) has intentions to hire the in-demand interior decorator Omay (Jean De Briac) to redecorate her house in a bid to get in the “who’s who” of the local rich elite. Omay accepts her offer.

Meanwhile, the Stooges are hired as painters to redecorate the building where Omay’s office is and are given the job of painting temporary names on the doors of all the offices. They, of course, botch the job. It comes out that Curly has a strange proclivity to fly into a blind rage whenever he sees a tassel, placated only with soft tickling of his chin.

Mrs. Smirch enters the building and mistakes Moe for Omay. The real Omay offended that his office was mislabeled as the janitor’s closet, gives up his lease. The boys’ boss (Vernon Dent) immediately fires them, and they take on the ruse of Omay and his two colleagues with intention of doing the work on the Smirch household.

They arrive at the Smirch’s residence and begin to work as Mrs. Smirch brings in a few of her new rich friends for a card game. However, the real Omay enters the home, exposes the boys as frauds and publicly embarrassing Mrs. Smirch.

Tassels In The Air Cast & Crew

Directed by	Charley Chase
Produced by	Charley Chase Hugh McCollum
Written by	Al Giebler Elwood Ullman
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Curly Howard Vernon Dent Symona Boniface Bess Flowers Bud Jamison Victor Travers Jean De Briac Gertrude Astor
Cinematography	Allen G. Siegler
Edited by	Art Seid

Tassels In The Air Trivia

The film’s title is a play on the old expression, “Building castles in the air,” i.e. dreaming of achieving the impossible.
Curly goes crazy whenever he sees tassels. The cure is to tickle him under his chin with a paintbrush, a similar variety of plot device to those used earlier in Punch Drunks, Horses’ Collars and Grips, Grunts and Groans.
Many of the gags used in the table painting scene would be reused by Moe, Larry, and Shemp in their unsold television 1949 pilot Jerks of All Trades, which, coincidentally, also featured Symona Boniface. The gags would be recycled again the following year in A Snitch in Time.
This was the second Stooge film made by the McCollum/Chase production unit.
Many films since Ants in The Pantry have depended on The Stooges getting ‘one last chance.’ Here, Larry asks the superintendent to give them another chance, but before he can answer, he falls down the elevator shaft.

Production Notes

Tassels in the Air was filmed on November 26–30, 1937.
The exterior of The Deeds home is featured throughout Tassels In The Air. The home was named after the 1936 Columbia Pictures film it was built for, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. The concrete pillars and the gate at the driveway entrance and the fence in front of the property are now gone.

Feature Films Movies

The Three Stooges Movie (2012)

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Watch The The Three Stooges Movie (2012) online

You can also stream the movie on Amazon

The Three Stooges are back, and going strong as ever! Twentieth Century Fox Studios and C3 Entertainment released the all new Three Stooges Movie as one of the biggest hit comedies of 2012.

Larry, Moe and Curly made a triumphant return to the big screen with The Three Stooges madcap slapstick action from the greatest comedy trio of all time. Will Sasso, Sean Hayes, and Chris Diamantopoulos star as The Three Stooges with Peter and Bobby Farrelly directing from their all new screenplay written with Mike Cerrone.

The star-studded cast also includes Larry David, Sofia Vergara, Jane Lynch, Jennifer Hudson, Stephen Collins, Craig Bierko, Kirby Heyborne, Kate Upton, and Carly Craig.

As one of the most anticipated films of 2012, Three Stooges fans everywhere celebrated the first new Three Stooges film in nearly fifty years. The New York Times reviewed the new Movie and made it a Critics’ Pick. Executive Producer Earl Benjamin said “This is such an exciting moment to see The Three Stooges return to theaters everywhere and bring back the greatest brand of slapstick comedy for fans of all ages to enjoy again. This is a family film that everyone can go to and laugh together as these lovable morons once again capture the hearts of people all over the world.”

The worldwide release of the new Three Stooges Movie has reignited the everlasting popularity of one of greatest celebrity brands all over the world. View the movie trailer and for more information, photos and fun stuff on the new movie, visit movie.threestooges.com and visit us on Facebook.

Buy the DVD/BluRay/Digital Combo Pack

Feature Films Filmography

The Outlaws Is Coming

Production Information
Title: The Outlaws Is Coming
Studio: Columbia
Release Date: January 14, 1965
Running Time: 1:28

“It’s against our religion… Yeah, we’re devout cowards!”

Short Take

In 1871, Rance Roden (Don Lamond) plans to kill off all the buffalo and thus causes the Indians to riot. After they destroy the U.S. Cavalry (his real enemy), Rance and his gang will take over the West. Meanwhile, a Boston magazine gets wind of the buffalo slaughter and sends editor Kenneth Cabot (Adam West) and his associates (Moe, Larry and Curly Joe) to Casper, Wyoming to investigate.

Once there, Ken’s shooting skills (secretly aided by sharpshooter Annie Oakley (Nancy Kovack) earn him the job of the town sheriff. Rance has his band of bad guys called in to have the lawmen wiped out, but The Stooges sneak into the gang’s hideout and glue their firearms to their holsters. When Ken confronts the bad guys, they decide that a life of justice is better than crime. Meanwhile, Rance and Trigger attempt to sell firearms to the Indians, including an armored wagon containing a Gatling Gun and cannon in a turret. Fortunately, The Stooges foil this plan by snapping a picture of them making the sale.

The Outlaws Is Coming Cast & Crew

Directed by	Norman Maurer
Produced by	Norman Maurer
Written by	Norman Maurer Elwood Ullman
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Joe DeRita Adam West Nancy Kovack Mort Mills Don Lamond
Music by	Paul Dunlap
Cinematography	Irving Lippman
Edited by	Aaron Nibley

The Outlaws Is Coming Trivia

This is the sixth and final theatrical feature film starring The Three Stooges after their 1959 resurgence in popularity
Like its predecessor, The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze, the film was directed by Moe’s son-in-law, Norman Maurer

Production Notes

The working title was The Three Stooges Meet the Gunslingers
Filming occurred during May 1964 at both the Columbia Ranch and at the B-BAR-B Buffalo Ranch outside Gillette, Wyoming

Feature Films Filmography

4 for Texas

Production Information
Title: 4 for Texas
Studio: Warner Brothers
Release Date: December 18, 1963
Running Time: 1: 55

“If I had to take a bath, you could have waited till Saturday!”

Short Take

The film begins on a delivery route in Galveston, Texas. A gang led by a killer named Matson (Charles Bronson) ambushes a stagecoach filled with money. However, Zack Thomas (Frank Sinatra) and Joe Jarrett (Dean Martin) are able to fight them off. The stage wrecks and Joe makes off with money, leaving Zack in the dust. Zack had a business arrangement with town banker Harvey Burden (Victor Buono). He was to use the funds to purchase an old riverboat and turn it into Galveston’s gambling jewel of the Gulf Coast. Meanwhile, Jarrett arrives in town with the same plan, and meets widow Maxine Richter (Ursula Andress). Jarrett & Maxine, and Zack & Elya Carlson (Anita Ekberg), Galveston’s high society madam, begin a game of one-upmanship to gain final control of the vessel.

The Three Stooges guest star as inept delivery men, who run afoul of two elderly ladies (Ellen Corby, Jesslyn Fax) protesting the delivery of a nude painting to the riverboat lounge. Moe, Larry & Curly Joe perform the “point to the right” and “he’s from Texas” routines.

Unknown to our heroes, Burden wants it all for himself, and he’s the man behind Matson. Opening night arrives, and Joe and Zack engage in a winner-take-all brawl, but Matson is laying in wait to assassinate both.

4 for Texas Cast & Crew

Directed by	Robert Aldrich
Produced by	Robert Aldrich
Written by	Teddi Sherman Robert Aldrich
Starring	Frank Sinatra Dean Martin Anita Ekberg Ursula Andress Charles Bronson Moe Howard Larry Fine Curly Joe DeRita
Music by	Nelson Riddle
Cinematography	Ernest Laszlo
Edited by	Michael Luciano

4 for Texas Trivia

The film’s original title when production began was Two for Texas
The role of Elya was originally intended for Sophia Loren, who had already worked with Sinatra in The Pride and the Passion
Forty-three years after its original premiere, 4 for Texas was presented at the Torino Film Festival on November 12, 2006

Production Notes

4 for Texas was filmed in 1.85:1 aspect ratio on 35-mm Technicolor film
It was nominated for the Golden Laurel as “Top Action Drama”
During production, the relationship between star Sinatra and director Aldrich became strained. Aldrich felt the film was not a success and cited problems with his own script, as well as Sinatra’s lack of enthusiasm for the project. Aldrich calculated that Sinatra worked a total of only 80 hours during 37 days of filming.

Feature Films Filmography

The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze

Production Information
Title: The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze
Studio: Columbia
Release Date: August 21, 1963
Running Time: 1: 33

“Oh, boy! We’re going around the world on our wits!” “With your wits, you won’t get past the front door.”

Short Take

Phileas Fogg III, great-grandson of the original Phileas Fogg, accepts a bet to duplicate his great grandfather’s famous trip around the world in response to a challenge made by Randolph Stuart III, the descendant of the original Fogg’s nemesis. However, “Stuart” is the infamous con man Vicker Cavendish who made the bet in order to cover up his robbing the bank of England by framing Fogg for the crime.

This makes for a dangerous journey for Fogg and his servants (The Stooges) and Amelia Carter, whom they rescue from thugs during a train ride. Can they make it back to England in time?

The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze Cast & Crew

Directed by	Norman Maurer
Produced by	Norman Maurer
Written by	Norman Maurer
Based on	Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Joe DeRita Jay Sheffield Joan Freeman
Music by	Paul Dunlap
Cinematography	Irving Lippman
Edited by	Edwin H. Bryant

The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze Trivia

Many Stooge bits are replayed throughout this film, most famously the maharajah routine performed by Curly Joe (first seen in Three Little Pirates) and Curly Joe gaining strength when he hears “Pop Goes the Weasel” (first seen in Punch Drunks)
The film had multiple working titles, including The Three Stooges Go Around the World on Eighty Cents; The Three Stooges Circle the World on Ninety-Nine Cents; The Three Stooges Meet Phileas Fogg and Merry Go Round the World
The story incorporates several popular Stooges bits from prior films, including “the Maharajah” routine, and reworking the plot of Punch Drunks (1934), with Curly Joe turning into a fighting whirlwind everytime he hears the tune Pop Goes the Weasel.

Production Notes

Filming occurred over 13 days between May 9-27, 1963
Norman Maurer’s son, Jeffrey, plays the boy who takes Larry’s flute at the Sumo match

Feature Films Filmography

The Three Stooges in Orbit

Production Information
Title: The Three Stooges in Orbit
Studio: Columbia
Release Date: July 4, 1962
Running Time: 1′ 27″

“I don’t know whether to call it a seagoing-helio-tank, a landgoing-helio-sub, or an airborne-what-in-hell…”

Short Take

While rehearsing a new opening bit for their children’s television program The Three Stooges Scrapbook, Moe, Larry and Curly Joe are evicted by their landlady for cooking in the rooming house. Searching for a new apartment, The Stooges travel to Professor Danforth’s (Emil Sitka) house in Lompoc. Professor Danforth is convinced that Martians will soon invade Earth, and persuades The Boys to help him guard his new invention: a military craft with the ability to move on the ground like a tank, in the air like a helicopter, in the water like a submarine, and even orbit like a spacecraft.

Danforth’s butler is a Martian spy in human disguise, and he attempts to frighten The Stooges away. Fleeing to their television studio, The Boys learn that their ratings are falling, and the producer doesn’t care for any of their new animation ideas. He gives them 10 days to come up with a ratings gimmick, or he’ll cancel the show. Danforth arrives on the scene with a deal: he’ll create a new “electronic animation” machine for them to use in their TV show if they return to his house and help with the helio-tank invention.

Meanwhile, the Martians have sent two more spies, Ogg and Zogg, to prepare for the invasion. After Danforth’s vehicle is finished and given a test run by The Stooges, the Martians steal it and mount their own “ray gun,”, to destroy selected Earth targets. The Stooges sneak onto the craft and attempt to stop the Martians!

The Three Stooges in Orbit Cast & Crew

Directed by	Edward Bernds
Produced by	Norman Maurer
Written by	Norman Maurer Elwood Ullman
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Joe DeRita Emil Sitka Carol Christensen Edson Stroll George N. Neise Rayford Barnes Norman Leavitt Nestor Paiva Don Lamond Peter Dawson Peter Brocco
Music by	Paul Dunlap
Cinematography	William P. Whitley
Edited by	Edwin H. Bryant

The Three Stooges in Orbit Trivia

The Three Stooges in Orbit was born out of The Three Stooges Scrapbook, an unsold color television pilot produced in 1960 at a cost of $30,000
Portions of the Martian attack on Los Angeles is stock footage from Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers (1956 Columbia)

Production Notes

New footage was shot over the course of 11 days between April 6-27, 1962