Producers/Directors/Writers Peter and Bobby Farrelly have been trying to put together a biographical movie on the lives and careers of the infamous “Three Stooges” for about ten years now. Just when it appeared that they had nailed down their cast and were ready to go into August 2009 production in time to make a 2010 release date, the cast commitments are falling apart. First to back out was Sean Penn, who had been set to play “Larry,” the bald-on-top, fuzzy-on-the -sides character in the right of our photo. Penn cited personal reasons and a desire to spend more time with his family as the causes behind his decision.
On the heels of Penn’s back-out, Jim Carrey, who had signed on to play the bald and stout “Curly,” our guy in the far left of our photo by putting on fifty pounds for the role, is now rumored as the second actor who will be pulling away from the production. Only Benecio Del Toro, the great Spanish actor who signed up to play the dominant “Mo” character in this crazy mix is still on board, but that could change also with the departure of the two big name stars. The Farrelly Brothers have their script and other production needs in place, they are just stopped for now by a scattering, escaping cast of big star chicken outs! I understand that Paul Giammati is the probable replacement for Penn as Larry, but there is no word on the street about who may replace Carrey as Curly.
Like many of you, I grew up watching the Stooges and their inane physical assaults upon each other through all those countless episodes of “dumb and dumber” adventures with wine, women, and work. It’s undoubtedly no coincidence that the Farrelly Brothers are behind the Stooges movie. These are the same guys who brought us that “Dumb and Dumber” movie series a few years ago.
Moe (Moe Howard) was always my favorite Stooge because of his early behavioral resemblance to some of the grocery store managers I encountered as a kid worker, just starting out. To my profound surprise, I later encountered “Moe” again on my doctoral dissertation committee, and also at insurance agencies, banks, repair shops, and even in the presence of some traffic cops and co-workers. Do you remember “Moe”? He was the guy who was forever pretending to be smart enough to do the job that was always over his head.
Curly (Jerome Howard) was Moe’s real life brother – the idiot child who usally caught the brunt of Moe’s displaced anger and aggression for everything bad that happens. Totally hapless in his ability to immediatelystand up for himself, Curly absorbed the pain with a frustrated cry of “NYUK! NYUK!” and a rapid-fire, self-inflicted hand slap of his own face. His memory for passive-aggressive revenge wasn’t bad, however. A few minutes after each absorbed asault, whenever Moe had returned to his total state of unawareness, Curly would then get him back in some equally painful physical way. – Hammers to Moe’s head were effective, but Curly’s “floating hands butterfly slap” was the real bomb. Moe fell for it every time.
Larry (Larry Fine) was the non-descript, non-relative member of the original Stooges trio. Larry always gave you the impression that he might escape the fate of the Stooges by taking these two easy steps: comb his hair and get far away from Curly and Moe. He was just too dumb to ever do it. As a result, he got his hair pulled, his nose sawed, and his eyes poked on a regular basis by the two Howard boys – and in whatever comibination they came after him.
When Curly Howard had a stroke, he was replaced on screen by brother Shemp Howard, who then played (What do you know?) a character called “Shemp.” (Sadly, Curly later died.) Shemp brought his own brand of creative physical idiocy to the screen. On the broadest band of description, however, Shemp was the guy who looked like Moe and acted like Curly. When Shemp Howard also died and was then serially replaced by the characters named “Joe” and “Curly Joe,” I never watched again. The Three Stooges were then dead to me after the passing of Shemp. Plus, I was older then – and too cool for a while to watch anything like the Three Stooges. Now that I’ve rounded third and am headed for home, I’m a Stooges fan again all the way!
I hope the Farrelly Brothers can get this Stooges movie act finally off the ground and through the force field of all the human egos that are bound to get in the way of making a film of this nature. If they don’t, somebody needs to grab a saw and put it to good use on each of their Farrelly noses.
Editorial Note, 10/01/09: I want to thank Paul Groner for “gently” writing to point out three errors of fact in my original article: (1) I misspelled Moe Howard’s name as “Mo”; and (2) I neglected to note that Curly Howard’s birth name was “Jerome,” not “Curly;” and (3) I stated that Shemp Howard replaced Curly Howard as one of the Three Stooges upon the death of the latter. In reality, Curly left the ensemble after he suffered a stroke. Shemp replaced him as the result of Curly’s illness. – Curly died later, after Shemp was already established in his replacement role.
Those of you who really know me undertsand how important “getting it right” is to me – and how unimportant “being right” is to my psyche. As a result, I have corrected those mistakes today in the piece above in the hope that they will straighten out these facts to any readers I may have misinformed. My apologies also go out to any Stooges fans who were offended by my mistakes.
I may not remember the Three Stooges perfectly, but the perfect joy they brought to my childhood shall live forever. Next time you find I’ve made a mistake, and I will make some, just let me know, matter of factly. I listen a lot better to reasonably expressed opinions snd information.
BASEBALL FILM FESTIVAL IN WAXAHACHIE THIS WEEKEND, AUG. 14-16. Thanks to vintage 19th century base ballist Wendel Dickason, we are now advised of a benefit baseball film festival that is scheduled for the classic Tower Theatre in Waxahachie, Texas this coming Friday through Sunday, August 14-16. Proceeds from the event are all dedicated to the support of the Waxahachie High Shool baseball team.
Houston, Baseball, & Other Musings.
The Pecan Park Eagle 