Six Stooges and Counting

by Ramsey Campbell, Neil Snowdon (Illustrator)

When Ramsey Campbell first encountered the Three Stooges, he was only a bemused spectator. Now he’s an admirer, and this personal appreciation celebrates the reasons. Few Hollywood comedy teams have endured like the Stooges, either in length of career or in continuing to entertain. One secret of their longevity was how their line-up often changed. Moe and Larry were the constant personnel, supported over the decades by Shemp and Curly and a trinity of Joes, one of them uncredited. In Six Stooges and Counting Campbell argues that the impermanence of identity is a frequent theme of their films, one aspect of the anarchy they incarnate. Once he believed there was little to their comedy but knockabout, and in this book he demonstrates how wrong he was. You’ll learn of their influence on Kubrick and Tarantino, and may it be present in Fassbinder’s films and Hong Kong action movies as well? You’ll find them playing Shakespeare and Greek tragedy, and figuring in Beckett and Bram Stoker. To quote Bridget “I think that anybody who doesn’t like the Three Stooges just never really watched.” Ramsey Campbell looked at them afresh and hopes this book will make the reader do that too.

Genres: Nonfiction

277 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2023

About the author

Ramsey Campbell is a British writer considered by a number of critics to be one of the great masters of horror fiction. T. E. D. Klein has written that "Campbell reigns supreme in the field today," while S. T. Joshi has said that "future generations will regard him as the leading horror writer of our generation, every bit the equal of Lovecraft or Blackwood."

Reviews

[Happy Goat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full review at Happy Goat Horror:
https://happygoathorror.com/2024/08/0...

I knew nothing really about The 3 Stooges prior to reading this and to be honest, I wasn't really that interested in them. I read this book purely because Ramsey Campbell wrote it and I love Ramsey Campbell.

He's a really special writer. I wasn't that interested in the topic in the beginning, but his enthusiasm and knowledge was infectious, and at the end of the book, I was delighted to have read it, and came away not only with a lot more information, but a deep respect for the performers, and also a lovely sense of the comedy that inspired the artists I currently enjoy, and a little popular entertainment history. Great book!

[Dan'l Danehy-Oakes · Rating 4 out of 5]

An odd choice of subjects for one of Britain's most-respected horror writers, but ...

Ramsey Campbell is a latecomer to the Stooge party, but, having arrived, he partied hard. After a brief introduction, this book is, in essence, a year-by-year rundown of (as near as I can tell) every celluloid appearance the Three Stooges, in any of their incarnations, appeared; and, while it is subtitled "A Personal Tribute," the rundown is not afraid to run down, and even mock, inferior work -- especially when the inferiority is brought on by the ill-behavior of Columbia Pictures with regard to their reliable cash cow.

The Six Stooges in question: Moe, Curly, and Shemp Howard, Larry Fine, Joe Besser, and Curly-Joe DeRita. There is a semi-secret seventh, another Joe, whom I'll get to shortly.

The book is well-researched, and told me a number of things I did not know. A few snippets: Moe's lifelong mate, Helen (née Schonberger), was a cousin of Erich Weisz, better known as Harry Houdini. Samuel Horwitz, who was older than his brothers Moses (Moe) and Jerome (Curly), was called "Shemp" because that's how their Lithuanian mother pronounced "Sam." (There were two even older brothers, Irving and Benjamin, but they were never Stooges ... a fact I learned elsewhere.)

Things I did know: The later Stooges shorts were infested with recycled footage from earlier shorts, creating some interesting scenes where a Stooge (or other character) visibly ages or youthens from one shot to another. When Shemp died of a massive heart attack in 1955, the Stooges were under contract for four more shorts, and Columbia held them to it, partly by using even more recycled footage of Shemp, and partly by using Joe Palma as a standin, generally with his back to the camera. This gave rise to the term "Fake Shemp," coined by Sam Raimi, meaning an actor substituting for another actor because that actor has become unable (especially because of death) or unwilling to carry on with a role, such as Dick Sargent quietly replacing Dick York as Darrin on _Bewitched_. Anyway, Moe and Larry wanted to continue as the Two Stooges, but Columbia forced Joe Besser on them: a fine comedian in his own right (his turn as "Stinky" in the _Abbot and Costello Show_ is a good example), but entirely unsuited to be a Stooge.

Another thing I did not know was that the Stooges had occasional appearances in feature films while they were still doing the shorts. However (and this I _did_ know), their first star turn in a MMP did not come until 1959's _Have Rocket, Will Travel_, which was also the first appearance of Curly-Joe.

The final unlucky turn for the Stooges came when they filmed a pilot for a proposed TV series, _Kook's Tour_. The premise was that Moe, Larry, and Curly-Joe, having retired from slapstick comedy, were traveling the world to see the places they had only previously seen as studio lot creations or from trains passing through on their way from one vaudeville (or vaudeville-type; they continued to do a stage act after vaudeville itself was dead) stage to another. In this pilot, they visited a number of National Parks and similar places in the American Northwest, mostly doing a lot of fishing. (One of the running jokes was to be that Larry never caught anything.) But during filming, Larry had a stroke, and that was pretty much the end of the Stooges.

A final chapter, "After the Stooges," considers their legacy as they are imitated and referenced in films from _Short Circuit_ to _Adventures in the Forbidden Zone_ to ... _Singin' in the Rain_? Yep, Donald O'Connor borrowed Curly's floor spin (with permission, but without the woo-woo-woos). Plus, of course, the Farrelly Brothers' _The Three Stooges_ (2012) antho-movie, which Campbell treats with full respect.

Highly readable, but probably not highly re-readable.

[Catherine Cavendish · Rating 5 out of 5]

First let me say that I come to this book primarily as a fan of Ramsey Campbell, whose prowess as one of the world’s greatest writers in the horror genre is beyond question. I had heard of the Three Stooges and had seen snippets of their work but I think it’s fair to say that, in the UK at least, they never caught on in the same way as, say, the Marx Brothers, Abbot and Costello and Laurel and Hardy.

‘Six Stooges and Counting’ is subtitled, ‘A Personal Tribute’ and is a critical appreciation of their considerable body of work spanning more than thirty years. Ramsey Campbell himself has been a massive fan of theirs for more years than he probably cares to remember and while it may seem an odd choice of subject for a horror writer whose ability to scare his readers in ways no other writer can, anyone who has attended any of his events knows he has a wicked sense of humour. Once you know that, you’ll see why the zany, slapstick, perfectly timed slapstick comedy of The Three Stooges holds such a lasting appeal.

Not that this is in any way a sycophantic gushing love-fest. A quick trip to Youtube throws up a plethora of their titles – most coming in at thirty minutes or less – and, amongst the innovative, laugh-out-loud comic antics, there are some real turkeys and Campbell isn’t afraid to call them. Both praise and criticism are delivered constructively and objectively. As I read on I became more and more determined to correct an omission in my life and delve into the Three Stooges film archive for myself – a journey on which I have now embarked. Journey? I should say pleasure cruise!
Before I read this, I had been unaware of just how great an influence they were and now, having watched and learned more about them I can see nods to them that even this author doesn’t mention. The Monkees’ capers in their zany 1960s TV series, Bob Hope and Bing Crosby’s pat-a-cake routine in the ‘Road To…’ films… What other revelations await me as I now begin my journey of discovery of the crazy world of the Three Stooges, who went on to number six – and counting.

[Miguel Fliguer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ramsey Campbell is a horror fiction legend whose imagination and style I always admired (and stole from on occasion for my own fiction). He's been described by critics as on par with H.P. Lovecraft, and I heartily concur! Some of his creations are truly the stuff of nightmares!

That said, it was an absolute surprise to find, in a Facebook group devoted to the masters of slapstick, the Three Stooges, that Mr. Campbell had written a comprehensive filmography including every short of their different incarnations, TV appearances, their biopics, etc. Superbly documented with production and cast details, plus pictures of promotional material, the book effortlessly switches from tongue-in-cheek humor to erudition to poignant anecdote. An absolute must for the hardcore Stooges fan and the casual enthusiast (but is there a "moderate" Stooges fan?)

[Kayleigh Dobbs · Rating 5 out of 5]

It takes a really special author to take a subject that I've never been particularly interested in, like The 3 Stooges, and keep me captivated from the first page to the last, as Ramsey did here. And it's non-fiction! Delightful non-fiction charting the concept, performances, and career of the stooges.

[John Bleasdale · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read about a comedy team I knew
Little about.

[Kim Hendricks · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a child growing up with Three Stooges reruns and laughing hysterically at every episode, I really enjoyed reading this book and I learned so much! Thank you Ramsay Campbell.