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| My son and I watched six hours of The Three Stooges, due to his illness. |
The Farrelly Brother’s film, The Three Stooges opens on April 13th. I would have expected it to open on April Fool’s Day, because of all the fools America has produced, other than the Marx Brothers, few can compare to the Stooges for physical comedy. http://www.threestooges.com/movie/
Their humor was the foundation for later comic pairings, seen in Trains, Planes, and Automobiles, What About Bob? Wayne’s World, and Dumb and Dumber.
My son, Sam, when he was little, had osteoitis, which is a swelling of the joints. Sam’s collarbone, in particular, used to swell to three times its normal size. The problem started when Sam was about six years of age, and lasted until he was eleven. Sam often woke my wife and I from our sleep. I had been given a six-hour VHS tape of Three Stooges shows by a friend at work, so in the wee hours of the mornings, Sam and I sat in the living room and watched it, at least twice a week for two years. Sam usually fell asleep after an hour and I carried him to bed. The problem became so severe that my wife and I took Sam for an extensive series of tests. He endured blood tests, MRI, CAT scans, X-Rays, and was on prescription pain medication for three years. Finally Sam had a biopsy done at OHSU, a children’s hospital in Portland, when it appeared he might have a cancerous growth in his collarbone. They were wrong, and Sam was left with a long scar.
Due to his bouts with osteoitis, Sam missed out on the sports young boys often participate in, such as little league. One day we were in the back yard and I suggested Sam try to hit a baseball. He lacked confidence, but I encouraged him to try. He took a few swings and he could not hit the ball. Finally I told him to imagine the ball was all the pain he had been through. Two swings later he hit the ball so hard it nearly took my head off. And for the next half-hour he cracked balls off the fence and the trees. I had tears in my eyes and so did he. This is one of our favorite memories. It was a breakthrough moment.
I never thought The Three Stooges were hysterically funny. My humor is more akin to Ground Hog Day, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Dkej22sn3U&feature=related or the Coen Brother's classic, Raising Arizona, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3-Y6UdDNWU&feature=related I don’t plan on seeing the new Three Stooges film. Some films in Hollywood should never be remade. My Dad loved The Three Stooges; he was big on physical humor, and born when Vaudeville was still in full swing. Dad’s humor was never my humor. Seeing Dad make fart noises by putting his hand in his armpit, and flapping his arm up and down like a chicken, never did anything for me. But when you grow up with a father like this, you tend to be warped forever. I certainly am.
I never saw Dad laugh more than when I took my parents to see “Throw Momma From the Train.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kt_aFCpebpY&feature=fvwrel The premise of Throw Momma From the Train is as follows: an aspiring writer, Owen, (Danny DeVito) in Professor Larry Donner’s (Billy Crystal) writing class, is inspired by Donner’s suggestion that he would learn something from the Hitchcock film “Strangers On A Train.” The storyline of the Hitchcock film is that two strangers make a deal to kill each other’s spouses. Owen hates his domineering mother (Anne Ramsey), and believes, after overhearing Donner rant about how he wants to kill his ex-wife, due to her having stolen his first fiction novel, (and has become a bestseller), that he and Donner could reenact the double murder of Hitchcock's film. Owen follows Donner’s ex-wife on a cruise ship in Hawaii do fulfill his half of the deal. He finds Donner's wife at the stern of the boat, and is about to push her overboard, but as he reaches to push her off the back of the boat, she drops an earring and falls of her own accord. Owen then phones Donner from Hawaii to convey the code word, “criss-cross,” meaning he expects Donner to now kill his mother. Donner, fearing he will be arrested soon for his wife’s murder, and having no alibi, reluctantly agrees to Owen’s bizarre proposal.
In films, the Stooges were commonly known by their first names: "Moe, Larry, and Curly" and "Moe, Larry, and Shemp," among other lineups. They first started as "Ted Healy and his Stooges" which contained Moe, Larry and Shemp. "The Three Stooges" film trio was originally composed of Moe Howard, brother Curly Howard and Larry Fine. Shemp Howard replaced brother Curly, when Curly suffered a debilitating stroke in May of 1946.
After Shemp's death from a heart attack in November of 1955, he was replaced by comedian Joe Besser, after the use of film actor Joe Palma to film four Shemp-era shorts. Ultimately, Joe DeRita (nicknamed "Curly Joe") replaced Joe Besser by 1958. The act regained momentum throughout the 1960s as popular kiddie fare until Larry Fine's paralyzing stroke in January 1970 effectively marked the end of the act proper. Moe tried unsuccessfully one final time to revive the Stooges with longtime supporting actor Emil Sitka filling in for Larry. Larry ultimately succumbed to a series of strokes in January 1975, followed by Moe, who died of lung cancer in May 1975.
I write comedy screenplays and novels. Two excerpts of my comedies will be performed by the Seattle Theatre. http://www.theatrereaders.com/ The recent snowfall caused the performance last night to be delayed. They were to read from my screenplay, “The Accordion.” The log line of this screenplay is as follows: A teenager separated from his parents when he was six years old, by the French invasion of Mexico, must not only discover who he is, but thwart an ancient curse on his family, with the help of a beautiful, accordion playing Gypsy.
My theory about comedy is essentially the same as Kahlil Gibran’s. He wrote: Your joy is your sorrow unmasked. And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears. And how else can it be?
The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain. Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter's oven? And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives? When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy. When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight. Some of you say, "Joy is greater than sorrow," and others say, "Nay, sorrow is the greater." But I say unto you, they are inseparable.
Ditto.
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