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Due June 5
Get All Your Nyuks in a Row!
THE THREE STOOGES
ULTIMATE COLLECTION
All 190 Short Films, Plus 11 Hours of Movies, Shorts
and Never-Before-Released Material!
The Masters of Mayhem -- Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard, Shemp Howard, Joe Besser and Curly Joe Derita -- Are in One Definitive Collection on DVD June 5th
CULVER CITY, CALIF. (April 9, 2012) – Fans will enjoy more than 60 hours of fun and laughter for the whole family from the masters of mirth, merriment and mayhem when Sony Pictures Home Entertainment releases THE THREE STOOGES ULTIMATE COLLECTION on DVD June 5th. The entire Three Stooges Columbia shorts catalog spans three decades of slapstick silliness, featuring 190 shorts, plus three discs of rare and unreleased content. Fans will revel in this chance to see several of the Stooges work separately in solo shorts, developing the comic skills that would lead them to their roles as successors to Curly in the comedy trio. The collection includes 28 never-before-released short films starring Stooges actors Shemp Howard, Joe Besser, and Joe DeRita, as well as the feature length films Have Rocket, Will Travel and Rockin’ in the Rockies available for the first time on DVD. From the classic teaming of Moe, Larry and Curly to later cast members Shemp, Joe and Curly Joe, this 20-disc set is a must-own collection for any Stooges fan.
ABOUT THE THREE STOOGES
The Three Stooges were the longest-running comedy act in motion picture history. The team included Moe Howard (born Harry Horwitz, June 19, 1897 – May 4, 1975), Larry Fine (born Andrew Feinberg, October 22, 1902 – January 24, 1975), Curly Howard (born Jerome Horwitz, October 22, 1903 – January 18, 1952), Shemp Howard (born Samuel Horwitz, March 4, 1895 – November 22, 1955), Joe Besser (August 12, 1907 – March 1, 1988) and Joe “Curly-Joe” DeRita (born Joseph Wardell, July 12, 1909 – July 3, 1993).
Moe Howard and brother Shemp started in 1922 as noisy assistants to lead comedian Ted Healy in the vaudeville act, “Ted Healy and His Stooges;” Larry Fine joined the team in 1925. Five years later, the act would make its screen debut in Fox’s Soup to Nuts (1930). The Stooges quit Healy soon after and struck out on their own as “Howard, Fine and Howard.” Healy begged them to return, and in 1933 they did, with young brother Jerry (aka Curly) replacing Shemp. After a single film at Universal, they were signed by MGM, making shorts and feature films until the Stooges left Healy for the last time and signed with Columbia in 1934.
After the boys’ first two-reelers, Woman Haters and Punch Drunks (both 1934), Healy relinquished his claim to the word “Stooge,” and they were rechristened “The Three Stooges,” beginning with the Oscar®-nominated Men in Black (1934). Curly stayed until 1946, when a stroke forced him into retirement. Among his personal best were Violent is the Word for Curly (1938), A-Plumbing They Did Go (1940), In the Sweet Pie and Pie and An Ache in Every Stake (both 1941), Micro-Phonies (1945) and You Nazty Spy! (1940), the classic Hitler spoof that earned the boys a prominent place on the Nazis’ death list.
Shemp rejoined the Stooges as Curly’s replacement in 1946. He would make 73 two-reelers with the team, as well as an unsold TV pilot, “Jerk of All Trades,” and a feature, Gold Raiders (1951) with George O’Brien. A gifted comedian with an unrivaled talent for zany ad-libs and non sequiturs, Shemp is considered by some the funniest Stooge of all and appeared in numerous classics, including Brideless Groom (1947), Hot Scots, Squareheads of the Round Table (both 1948), Merry Mavericks (1950) and a pair in 3D, Spooks! and Pardon My Backfire (both 1953).
When their popularity skyrocketed after the release of their shorts to television in 1958, the Stooges returned to Columbia, where they made five hit feature-length films: Have Rocket, Will Travel (1959); The Three Stooges Meet Hercules (1962); The Three Stooges in Orbit (1962); The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze (1963); and The Outlaws is Coming (1965).
In 2002, Punch Drunks (1934) was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant,” the first Stooge film to achieve such an honor.
The Three Discs of Rare and Unreleased Content Features:
§ 11 hours of Stooges content never before released on DVD
§ Full-length Columbia films starring the Stooges:
o Have Rocket, Will Travel (1959)
o Rockin' In The Rockies (1945)
§ A collection of 28 short films starring Stooges actors Shemp Howard, Joe Besser and Joe DeRita
§ The Three Stooges in Columbia Pictures’ animated shorts:
o Bon Bon Parade
o Merry Mutineers
o Hollywood Detour
The Three Stooges Ultimate Collection has a running time of approximately 635 minutes and is not rated.
