Early Movie Shorts Hal Roach and The Three Stooges

By Bruce Shawkey

Hal Roach  (January, 1892 – November, 1992) was active in the industry from the 1910s to the 1990s. He is known for producing a number of early media franchise successes, including Laurel and Hardy, Harold Lloyd, and the Our Gang kids.

I can remember watching a number of his films, especially Laurel and Hardy, and Our Gang.

The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy troupe active from 1922 until 1970, best remembered for their 190 short-subject films by Columbia Pictures. Their hallmark styles were physical, farce, and slapstick comedy. Six Stooges appeared over the act's run, with only three working at any given time. The two constants were:

Moe Howard (born Moses Horwitz), 1922–1970, and

Larry Fine (born Louis Feinberg), 1925–1970

The "third stooge" was played, in turn, by:

Shemp Howard (born Samuel Horwitz), 1923–1932 and 1946–1955

"Curly Joe" Howard (born Jerome Horwitz), 1932–1946

Joe Besser (born Jessel Besser), 1956–1958

My favorite third Stooge was Curly Joe:

The last stooge was "Curly Joe" DeRita (July, 1909 – July, 1993), born Joseph Wardell, and he only played the third stooge for two years, from 1958–1970.

Curly Joe (left) would get staged smacked in the face so often in the movies that fellow movie stars would smack him in real life.