The Three Stooges cartoons and movies

MGM and the Farrelly brothers are closing in on their cast for "The Three Stooges."

The Story of Ted Healy and His Stooges

The Three Stooges got their name and their start from a vaudeville act called Ted Healy and His Stooges (previously called "Ted Healy and His Southern Gentlemen" and "Ted Healy and His Racketeers"), which was founded in 1922.

Brothers Harry Moses Howard (Moe) and Samuel Howard (Shemp) (original last name Horwitz) were later joined by violinist Larry Fine (born Louis Feinberg). Shemp acquired his name from his mother's attempts to pronounce his name, "Sam," in spite of her thick accent.

By 1930, Ted Healy and His Stooges were appearing in Hollywood feature films, such as Soup to Nuts. Shemp left the act in 1931 for a career in feature films, notably as trainer Knobby Walsh in the Joe Palooka films, and in The Bank Dick with W.C. Fields.

When Shemp left the act, Ted and the two remaining stooges (Moe and Larry) needed a third stooge, so Moe suggested his youngest brother Jerry (Jerome Lester Howard). Ted took one look at Jerry, who had long black locks and facial hair, and stated that Jerry did not look like a character, as did Moe and Larry. Thus, Jerry left the room and returned moments later with a shaved head and face; thus, 'Curly' was born. (There are varying accounts as to how Curly actually came about.

Some publications maintain that Moe, Larry, Ted Healy, and even Shemp actually came up with the concept of shaving Jerry's head and dubbing him 'Curly.') According to Moe Howard in his autobiography, Moe Howard and the Three Stooges, the Stooges split with Ted Healy in 1934 once and for all because of Healy's alcoholism and abrasiveness.

Columbia Short Subjects, 1934-1959

The same year, the Three Stooges (as the Howard brothers and Fine renamed their act) signed on to appear in two-reel comedy short subjects for Columbia Pictures at just a few hundred dollars a week. (In the aforementioned Moe Howard and the Three Stooges, Moe said they got $600 per week on a one-year contract with a renewable option, and that Columbia Pictures studio head Harry Cohn would always wait until the last minute to renew the option; being too worried about keeping their jobs to ask for a raise, the Stooges didn't get one the entire two decades they worked for him.)

The Stooges went on to star in 190 film short subjects over the next twenty-three years, the longest such series in history. Del Lord directed more than three dozen of the Three Stooges shorts. Jules White directed many others, and his brother Jack White directed several under the pseudonym "Preston Black."

From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Stooges

3 Stooges Movie Collection

These free movies are in the public domain and can be downloaded to your PC, iPod or MP3 player.

Select the movie title (right column), then choose your play option to watch or download these free movies.

"Disorder in the Court (1936) The stooges are witnesses at a trial where their friend is accused of murder.

"Brideless Groom" (1947) To inherit a fortune, voice teacher Shemp must marry before six o'clock, but no girl will accept his proposal. Finally one of his repulsive students agrees to marry him in the nick of time.

"Sing A Song of Six Pants" (1947) the Three Stooges (Moe, Larry, Shemp) are tailors and are heavily in debt. Could a big reward for the capture of a fugitive bank robber answer their financial prayers?

"Malice in the Palace" (1949) Set in a desert land where the stooges run a restaurant, the boys set out to recover the stolen Rootin Tootin diamond after they learn from the thieves that the Emir of Shmo has absconded with the contraband jewel.

The New Three Stooges in "Color Craziness" (1965) The animated adventures of Moe, Larry, & Curly Joe. The cartoons were introduced by live-action inserts with the real Stooges. These inserts were some of the only Stooges material ever filmed in color, and they also feature long-time Stooge collaberator Emil Sitka. An hour feature comprised of these rare color Stooge comedy bits.