When Curly suffered from a severe stroke, which left him far too ill to return to work, the producers of the show were faced with the major challenge of finding a replacement to complete the now incomplete cast of The Three Stooges. According to the book ‘I Only Roast the Ones I Love’, written by comedian Jeffrey Ross, in the frantic search for Curly’s replacement, longtime Stooges’ Director Jules White made a call to notable comedian Buddy Hackett, who was best known for his roles in the films “The Music Man” and “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World”.
During the call, White asked Hackett to move to Hollywood to stand in for Curly while he was healing. However, to White’s dismay, Hackett turned down the offer, in order to support his pregnant wife and child. To him, it did not make sense to relocate his pregnant wife and child, and did not believe this opportunity would be conducive to creating high quality comedy. “I just didn’t want to wake up every morning and wonder how the other two guys were feeling,” said Hackett.
The Eye Poke
Of the many memorable moments on “The Three Stooges,” by far one of the most known is the eye poke gag. The origins of this trademark move? An apparent real life altercation over a game of cards. As the story goes, during during one bridge game between fellow stooges, Sheep angrily accused Larry Fine of cheating, stood up, and in his rage, went up to Fine, and proceeded to poke him in not one, but both of his eyes.
In response, Moe as he watched the hilarious events unfold, he laughed so hard, he fell backwards, right through a glass door. Moe kept note of this occurrence, and eventually made it a part of the comedy group’s onscreen performance. This move was later added to their long list of physical attacks on the show.
Football Players & Ballpoint Bullseyes
While the Stooges are infamous for their unique, physical sense of humor, little are aware of the amount of danger that the actors experienced on set. Little known to most fans, when creating the Stooges’ two-reeler, the director of the filming actually set a violence quota for every film. Stooges director Jules White was especially notorious for his complete disregard of the safety of his actors on set, often promoting unnecessary violence, as well as “many grotesque and overly cruel gags.” In fact, in order to maximize the amount of violence per scenes, at the insistence of White, dangerous objects like mallets, scissors, and even saws were frequently incorporated. As a result, these unnecessarily risky demands frequently lead to a number of physical injuries, including sprained ankles, cracked teeth, and—in the case of Moe Howard—even a broken nose.
Indeed, for the Stooges, who were extremely physical when it came to comedy, injuries were a common occurrence on set. While there were a few props and gags used to fake an injury, in order to avoid any real harm, injuries still were a common occurrence on the set. Most notable of these injuries was one involving a fountain pun stick in the back of Larry’s head, after another stooge threw it at him for one joke concerning a dartboard. One filming even left Curly with six stitches in his head! Despite his injuries, the show went on, and he finished the shoot with a wig on, in order to hide his comedic battle scars. To them, the hilarity of physical comedy was well worth the danger. For the show, they even went as far as to hire professional football players to attack them during their short film, Three Little Pigskins. For this particular scene, the Stooges allowed stunt doubles to take their place instead. A good move on their part, as the stunt doubles that replaced them suffered broken bones and cracked ribs.
A Critic-Defying Oscar Nomination
Though the Stooges have appeared in as many as 220 much-adored films, as it goes for everyone in the entertainment industry, there will always be a critique: this was no exception for the work of the Stooges. Despite many critics disapproval of the Stooges’ unique style of comedy, all cynics were put to shame with the Stooges’ 1934 Oscar-worthy short film, Men In Black, which earned a nomination for Best Short Subject in Comedy.
While the Stooges were sadly beaten out by producer Kenneth Macgowan’s film, La Cucaracha, the Stooges would continue to change the world of comedy for generations to come. In 2004, a colorized version of the Stooges’ Oscar-worthy film was released, making the Three Stooges phenomenon in recent years just as widespread as it was at the height of their career.
Married To Magic
Contrary to the old saying that opposites attract, in the case of Moe Howard, it would be stagecraft that attracted stagecraft. On June 7, 1925, Stooge Moe Howard would marry Helen Schonberger, cousin of the world-renowned magician Harry Houdini, a man infamous for daring stunts like the 'Milk Can Escape' and the 'Chinese water torture cell' stunt. Though it was never clear if Moe ever actually met the legendary magician in person, given that they both performed vaudeville acts during the height of the American theater movement, it is quite possible that the two may have crossed paths a time or two.
It may also be possible that the two met during Houdini’s later attempt to begin a career in film, a mission he began upon seeing other vaudeville acts turning to the new technology of film. The couple would go on to have two kids: Joan and Paul. To this day, Joan is still among the attendees at “Three Stooges” conventions all across the country.