Media postings from around the world about The Three Stooges
A Shemptastic day with Geri and Jill Howard, Shemp’s daughter-in-law and granddaughter, at the C3 Entertainment Offices.
Here are Geri and Jill wishing you all a Happy Shemptember.
GLENDALE, CA – August 12, 2016 – C3 Entertainment, Inc. announced a license to Sheer Quality Inventions, LLC to create a line of smart playing cards incorporating QR codes which link to Three Stooges digital content. The product is available now online at http://www.customsmartdecks.com and will soon be available in select retail stores throughout the United States and Canada.
“It is beneficial to increase the digital reach of The Three Stooges brand,” said Ani Khachoian, Executive Vice President of Licensing, Merchandising and Distribution for C3. “This is an entertaining product that crosses traditional playing cards with a digital component.”
Sheer Quality owner Jeffrey Ventola is a lifelong Three Stooges fan and creating a product to honor the iconic brand is a dream come true. Ventola shared, “What a way to pay tribute to the greatest comedians ever!”
About C3 Entertainment, Inc: C3 Entertainment, Inc. is a diversified Entertainment and Media company engaged in motion picture, television, digital and home entertainment production and worldwide distribution, as well as licensing and brand management of world famous classic brands and personalities. For more information, please visit www.c3entertainment.com.
About Sheer Quality Inventions, LLC: Jeffrey Ventola founded Sheer Quality Inventions, LLC after a 25-year career in electronics. He combined his talents for science and sculpting to begin creating consumer entertainment products including a patented aerodynamic throwing disc. The Three Stooges® tribute card deck will be Ventola’s first smart deck utilizing a QR code.
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The Three Stooges® is a registered trademark of C3 Entertainment, Inc.
The Three Stooges characters, names and all related indicia are trademarks of C3 Entertainment, Inc.
1415 Gardena Avenue, Glendale, California 91204 · Telephone 818.956.1337 · Facsimile 818.241.0122
© C3 Entertainment, Inc. 2016
Discovered 2000 June 22 by J. Broughton at Reedy Creek Observatory, Asteroid Larry 30440 is closest to the earth on Monday, August 8th, 2016. If you listen closely you can hear him say: “OOO, Wise guy eh?”
Moe and Curly also have asteroids named for them. Read more about Asteroid Larry on the JPL website.
A Three Stooge salute to https://twitter.com/RonBaalke, who always keeps us posted on the status of our Stooges in Space!
Your vote determined the end of the story. Your voice was heard. Buy The Three Stooges: Red, White & Stooge Comic Book now to find out who will be the next POTUS!
Released by American Mythology (9/28/16)
PREORDER NOW BY CLICKING A CAMPAIGN BUTTON BELOW!
You can also get Curly on Kindle!
CHECK OUT THE OTHER BRAND NEW THREE STOOGE COMIC BOOKS AVAILABLE NOW!
Read an excerpt from an interview on PREVIEWSWorld.com with writer S.A. Check by Vince Brusio
Conventional wisdom tells you to never talk about politics, as most people treat their affiliated party like their hometown baseball team. They root for that team no matter what, so why bother trying to change their mind? But what if the politics you’re pushing are those of three knuckleheads that wouldn’t even know how to hold a press conference? Could we find common ground together, and laugh at them instead of fighting among ourselves? Probably. To be certain: definitely! American Mythology shows us that you can always cross the aisle if the politics involve Moe, Larry, and Curly, and with three covers to choose from with Three Stooges: Red White & Stooge #1 (JUN161087), choosing a presidential candidate have never been more hilarious.
PREVIEWSworld: So tell us about the contest you have going with the multiple covers for Three Stooges: Red White & Stooge #1(JUN161087). Is this issue a one-shot? How are all three “running for President”?
S.A. Check: We’ve decided that the whole democratic process takes way too long and we’ve streamlined it to let the fans choose our next leader, all in one issue! The contest is one of the best parts about the book. We’re coming out with three covers. Each one will showcase one of The Boys – one for Moe, one for Larry, and one for Curly. We figured it was a fun way to get fans and readers involved. Depending on which cover you pre-order either at your local comic shop, you’ll cast your vote to determine which Stooge becomes our next commander-in-chump. Even if you don’t pick up a copy (and shame on you for that), you can join in on social media by shooting @AmericanMytho a tweet with your choice, over on Facebook, or email AM direct. We’re leaving the end of the issue open, so fans will see the results as soon as the book comes out.
Read the entire interview with S.A. Check, writer of The Three Stooges: Red, White & Stooge.”
While The Three Stooges are the masters of mirth, merriment & mayhem, they had a great group of supporting players working with them when they made their shorts. One of those terrific players was Dick Curtis. Among his films with The Three Stooges is The Three Troubledoers, that began shooting on May 11, 1945. He played Badlands Blackie.
Dick Curtis was in 13 shorts, playing the bad guy in the piece, like Hassan in Three Arabian Nuts, Mr. Onay in You Nazty Spy! and General Bommel in Higher Than A Kite. Curtis, unlike many movie villains, showed a flair for physical comedy.
He also appeared in solo shorts with Shemp and Joe Besser. Coincidentally, Curtis was born on May 11th in Newport, Kentucky in 1902. Although much of his career was spent at Columbia, where he specialized in western villains, he can also be seen as one of the crewmen who set out to rescue Fay Wray from the clutches of the giant ape in the original King Kong (1933).
Curtis had quite the career outside of acting. He was one of the developers of Pioneertown in the 1940’s, a village laid out as a functional Western town that was used as the location for many Hollywood Western-themed films and TV shows.
The town still exists and for part of the year, actors reenact gunfights on the town’s Mane Street (yes…that is the name of the street and how it is spelled) for the tourists. It is located about 100 miles east of Los Angeles in Yucca Valley, California.
We mentioned a few of Curtis’ villain roles. Others were Prince Shaam in Crash Goes The Hash, Mr. Wycoff in Don’t Throw That Knife and Jackson in We Want Our Mummy. Which was his best villain?
Pioneertown co-founded by Three Stooges actor Dick Curtis
The first major Three Stooges convention in about 17 years took place this past month, with celebrity guests (including Adam West!) and Stooge family members, rooms full of memorabilia for display and sale, and non-stop screening of Stooge films, including some rarities. Attendees from across the country agreed it was well worth the trip to Trevose, PA. If you couldn’t make it this time, here are the highlights of my visit, from Stooges trivia to collectibles tips. Would I meet Adam West? Find out below!
The families of the Stooges were on hand to share their memories, answer questions and meet with fans up close. Moe’s daughter Joan, now 89, has faithfully attended even the smaller annual gatherings in Fort Washington. The families provided great tidbits about the boys, some of which are not already in published sources. The first stop for Stooges history is Moe’s autobiography (my 1977 first ed. shown). Joan and others have also released books.
The Boys looked like ordinary, well-dressed men in their regular lives, and were not recognizable unless you were up close. They sometimes took advantage of this to play pranks. When eating out, Moe would place an incomprehensible order using his famous double-talk to confuse the waitress. She would turn to Larry, saying, “Maybe we’d better start with you,” and he’d answer, “I’ll have the same.”
Larry’s grandson remembers once Moe, Larry and Shemp decided to put up wallpaper themselves. They laid out the paper, and Larry started to apply the glue, and brushed right over Moe’s hand. Moe paused, reached out and whacked Larry with his brush, and before you knew it, they were doing a full fight scene for one seven-year-old audience member. When they settled down and saw the mess, Moe deadpanned, “I know a contractor.”
Emil Sitka’s son Saxon recalled that, in the scene in “The Tooth Will Out” where Emil comes bursting out of Vesuvius Ravioli yelling at the Stooges, he originally started yelling, “You bastards!” and other epithets. When they cut, the director asked incredulously, “What was THAT?” All the curses were audible on film, so the take was unusable and had to be shot again, this time with scripted, family-friendly exclamations.
Shemp’s daughter in law Geri Greenbaum, married to his son Mort for 20 years, was proud that Mort started the first self-service gas station. Girls in t-shirts and shorts would come out on roller skates. If a customer chose to pump his own gas, they’d hand him the pump, skate back to the office and bring back change.
Interestingly, none of the Stooges really had idols that they looked up to, though there were certainly some contemporaries that they admired (Chaplin, Laurel, Gleason). They were too busy working on their craft to indulge in that sort of thinking. They were setting standards instead of following examples.
Some pre-press copies of the first issue of a new Three Stooges comic were available. One of the writers, S.A. Check, was on hand to sign copies. They explained this will be an ongoing, bimonthly series (not a limited edition or one-off), so the second issue will be in June. There are five different covers for the first issue, and there will be multiple covers for future issues as well. The first issue has two new stories and a reprint of “Midway Madness” from Dell Four Color #1170 (1961). The parody ads are also a nice touch.
Adam West, who appeared in the Stooges’ final feature film, “Outlaws is Coming” (1965), though I think he’s also known for something else, was signing photos and memorabilia. I tried to be cool about it, but that wasn’t happening.
Oh, right, now I remember who he is. If you haven’t already, check out the delightfully surreal “Return to the Batcave” DVD from 2003. By the way, Adam West is tremendously funny in real life, and really delights in interacting with the fans. You can see some of his bizarre self-deprecating deadpan in “Return,” which is a reunion special done right.
There are mixed opinions about “Outlaws is Coming.” Many see it as a clever Western spoof, but some may find the humor a bit telegraphed. Keep in mind the 1960s feature films were aimed at child audiences. The Elvis and Beatles references are either clever or strained attempts at staying up-to-date, depending on your point of view. Johnny Ginger, one of two surviving “Outlaws” from the film, was also on hand to chat and sign autographs.
Naturally, Stooge shorts were being screened constantly. I especially enjoyed the rarely shown Shemp solo films. These help you appreciate that much of what we think of as “Stooge humor” was actually a broader genre, and they were just the “best of breed.” Some of the Shemp shorts are online, including the hilarious “Mr. Noisy.” Shemp actually beat the other Stooges to film, appearing in a couple of Fatty Arbuckle films.
Jim Pauley gave a great talk about his investigation into the Hollywood filming locations of the Columbia shorts. The research was impressive, and can’t be replicated by Google Map searches. For example, a checkerboard sidewalk where Curly stood is now a school, fenced in and tarred over, but they got pics while there was still access. They also found the steep staircase where the boys slid down blocks of ice past a cul-de-sac in a quiet residential neighborhood. You can find details in the handsomely printed book, with high-quality paper and photography. This is one of those books well worth having in hard copy.
Without scooping the book, I can share the location of the famous beer barrel scene in “Three Little Beers,” since this was previously known. This was on Echo Park Ave., but different side streets seem to have been used for different shots. The shots with the policeman at the intersection and the final pile-up of barrels with (real-life) onlookers were definitely filmed at Echo Park and Delta St. The building with distinctive double-windows and fire escape still stands today. This is not a cross-shaped intersection, however, so the scenes showing the barrels rolling down the cross intersection must have been shot elsewhere, likely Echo Park and Scott Ave.
Also check out the new Papercutz graphic novels for kids. The stories follow the continuity of the 2012 movie, if “continuity” is even a meaningful concept for the Stooges.
The Three Stooges event was held at The International House on January 11, 2013. (Credit: Randall E. Scott)
April 2, 2016 BUCKS COUNTY (CBS)
A convention held at the Radisson Hotel in Trevose, Bucks County this weekend is celebrating everything Three Stooges.
The Three Stooges Con had a little something for every fan including incredible memorabilia, all sorts of Three Stooges swag, a chance for fans to meet family members of everyone’s favorite knuckleheads, and the stooges themselves, as the old shorts ran on a constant loop.
Eric Lamond helped organize the event, he also happens to be Larry Fine’s grandson and an encyclopedia of stooges knowledge. He says that hard work was a key in the stooges success, and what made them beloved for almost a century.
“What they did, they did better than anybody else and what they did was funny,” Lamond said. “And that gives it longevity”
The convention also featured guest speakers, and items up for auction.
Philly.com by Jonathan Taklff – April 4, 2016
JENNIFER KERRIGAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER George Likar, 50, of Joliet, Ill. He and hundreds of other fans gathered for a Three Stooges convention.
Howard Maurer celebrated her 89th birthday over the weekend at the Three Stooges Convention 2016 at the Radisson Philadelphia Northeast in Trevose. “I was one day off from being born an April Fool,” she cracked to the “woo woos” of family members and devotees.
Joan’s father, Moe Howard, was by some estimations one of the biggest (and most successful) fools of all – dunce captain of the nitwit, slapstick Three Stooges, the longest-running comedy act in film history. The group still is enjoying staying power 86 years after its Hollywood debut in Soup to Nuts.
Nearly 200 Stooges short films (16- to 18-minutes from the 1930s to the 1950s) “are still being watched and enjoyed, all over the world, on TV and the Internet,” said Philadelphia-based Stooges historian and event host Jim Pauley.
Ditto recent homages such as the Farrelly Brothers’ 2012 The Three Stooges which captured a fair amount of the Stooges’ madcap spirit and did well enough at the box office that two more Stooges films are in the works, said Robert Benjamin of C3 Entertainment Inc. He’s a shepherd of the films and a Stooges heir, as stepson of the sixth and last guy to join the troupe, “Curly Joe” DeRita.
“Their style lives on because they pack in more laughs per minute than any other comedian or filmmaker I’ve ever seen,” said 32-year-old fan Trey Luna, who made the trip from Dallas with wife Kristin just to attend the convention. The couple were in decent-sized company; there were several hundred attendees. Many sported T-shirts decorated with their favorite Stoogism (“Stolen from the law offices of Dewey, Cheatem & Howe”) or image – mostly of the South Philadelphia-spawned, Larry Fine; Brooklyn-born “meanie” Moe Howard; cuddliest brother Curly Howard; or his bull-nosed, slot-alternating brother Shemp Howard.
Conventioneers young, old, and in between did the “Curly Shuffle” and made clip-clop sounds down hotel hallways from the speakers’ room to the autograph-signing areas.
Guests could smack at a classic Three Stooges “Whack a Moe” electronic arcade game; buy merchandise, from newly issued comic books to vintage T.S. rings going for $225 apiece; and gawk at even rarer memorabilia locked behind glass, including a “priceless” violin once owned by Fine, who reputedly sawed away with the Philadelphia Orchestra when he was a child known as Louis Feinberg.
Best of all, visitors could take in hours of such classic shorts as Mutts to You (the boys open an automated dog laundry) and Three Missing Links (a gorilla-costumed Curly and a “real” gorilla fall in love).
In the infectious company of other Stooge-philes, everyone laughed loudly at the establishment-mocking stupidity of it all.
“Being here is like reliving one of the best parts of our childhood,” said Gary Rabin, 53, of Montgomery County, on the scene with his lifelong buds Jim Kantor and Alan Soble. “We used to race home after school to watch the Three Stooges on TV,” said Kantor, 66.
Hardly the first celebration of these pratfall clowns held in Philadelphia (or even this hotel), fan-club-only events were run by local devotee Gary Lassin, a fan club president and memorabilia collector whose Stoogeum museum in Spring House is open for touring Thursday afternoons and by appointment. Lassin came to these callings after marrying Larry Fine’s great-niece in 1981.
This weekend was different, though, “the first national gathering open to the public in 18 years,” said lead producer Richard Cohen of Baron Conventions L.L.C. “And this time, we really wanted the focus on the family telling their stories, while they still could.”
Thirty Stooges relations – children, grandchildren and even one great-grandchild – made the schlep. “It’s great for them,” said Lassin. “At home they’re just regular people. Here they’re king and queen for the day. Everybody wants a picture, wants a piece of them.”
Maurer shared mostly happy memories of father Moe (born Moses Horwitz), saying he was “a devoted father, spoiling me like I was a princess, always bringing a present when he returned from a road trip.”
Even when they were cranking out more than a dozen shorts a year, the Stooges continued to work the vaudeville circuit, including the Earle Theater in Philadelphia, to generate added income because of those infamously tough, short-term, contracts offered by Columbia Pictures.
Howard, Maurer’s 81-year-old brother, recalls a father who was self-absorbed. “I used to tell people my father was a meter reader for Pacific Gas & Electric, which seemed like an honest, reasonable job.” But, Paul Howard said, he later “did a 180” – honoring his father in several books and with the nine-hour DVD documentary set, Hey Moe! Hey Dad!
The most craft-conscious observations came from Eric Lamond, Larry Fine’s grandson and marketing director of C3 Entertainment, who got to see his grandfather and Moe Howard rehearse complicated stunts for hours on the back patio “till they got it right [and] wouldn’t injure each other on the set.”
And – trade secret here – Howard always poked high at victims’ brows, never really aiming his signature assaults at their eyes.
photo by: Jennifer Kerrigan. Bradley Server says people can see the family resemblance between him and grandfather Curly Howard. Server, 50, of Simi Valley, CA signed autographs at the convention.
Server looks a lot like grandfather Curly Howard (a.k.a. Jerome Lester Horwitz), he didn’t know they were related “until I was 8, because my mom had remarried and my stepdad was raising me as his child. I wish I’d gotten to know Curly – he died in 1952, 13 years before I was born. But people do see the family resemblance. I’ve learned to talk like him. And if I mention the connection in a bar, people are buying me drinks for the rest of the night.”
A panel was held at the recent Three Stooges Convention which took place in Philadelphia April 1-3, 2016. Sharing memories, insights and what’s to come for the next Three Stooges Movie, the line-up included Will Sasso, who played Curly in the 2012 Movie, Chris Diamantopoulos, Moe from the 2012 Movie, and co-writer of the 2012 Movie, Mike Cerrone. The panel was moderated by Executive Producer and President & CEO of C3 Entertainment, Inc., Earl Benjamin.
Eric Lamond, grandson of Larry Fine and VP Brand Management & Strategic Planning at C3 Entertainment, Inc., spoke with CBS Philly TV reporter Pat Gallen about what fans will experience at Three Stooges Con 2016. The convention is taking place April 1-3 at the Radisson Philadelphia NE in Trevose, PA. Stooges Con Tickets are still available online and at the door!