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Legalize Shemp!

Ask anyone to name the Three Stooges and you’re most likely to get the obvious answer: Larry, Moe and Curly. If you run into a smartass like myself, you may get the answer of Larry, Moe and Joe Besser, or even Moe, Curly Joe and Emil Sitka (look it up). But one Stooge gets the short end of the attention stick quite often and that would be one Shemp Howard.

A lot of people don’t realize that Shemp was one of the original Stooges and was actually replaced by his younger brother Curly after declining to stay with the group as their Hollywood careers started skyrocketing. And when Curly suffered a debilitating stroke, it was Shemp who came back to keep the trio together for several more years.

So why am I talking about Shemp? Because he’s the focal point of the two most recent volumes in the ongoing Three Stooges Collection sets, volumes 5 and 6, from Columbia Pictures. As with previous sets, these chronological releases show the evolution of the team through the years, with volume 5 running from 1946 through 1948 (25 shorts total) and volume 6 going from 1949 through 1951 (24 shorts).

Volume 5 starts off with the most familiar line-up, with Curly, but a little less than half-way through we are treated to Half-Wit’s Holiday, his final bow as a main part of the act (he does have a cameo a few shorts later in Hold That Lion). After that, it’s pure Shemp the rest of the way through.

The Shemp Years were interesting as these releases show us. He didn’t play the complete idiot that Larry and Curly did, but was a buffoon nonetheless (and I mean that in a good way). To me, they’re oftentimes funnier than the Curly era, as Shemp had to rely more on his delivery than Curly – whose mannerisms became his trademark – did.

These 49 shorts look wonderful and the restoration is a job well done. Sadly there are no extras to be found on the two sets, leading me to believe the original theory that they were holding out on them in order to boost the appeal of the Curly-less sets was wrong. Oh well, we’ll see about that when volumes 7 and 8 arrive, as those should be the final two in this collection.

If you’re a Three Stooges fan, don’t discount the Shemp years in favor of Curly; they both have their place atop the legacy of this comedic team and both have a lot to offer.

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