Challenge: Three Stooges, Shemp, Moe, & Curley

[Emperor Norton I]

*Hello, Niche Thread*

In the OTL, the Stooges line up fluctuated: Starting off in the Vaudeville days with Moe, then involving Moe and Shemp, then Moe, Shemp, and Larry, and then Shemp left and they brought in Curly when they were with Columbia Pictures. Then Curly got sick so they brought Shemp back in, and Curly later died. Then Shemp died. And then they had Curly Besser followed by Curly Joe DeRita.

Is it possible to cut out Larry completely and get the Stooges to all be the Howard brothers: Moe Howard, Shemp Howard, and Curly Howard?

[eltf177]

Interesting idea. From what I've read Larry wasn't really a comedian (he played violin and did a light comedy act with two sisters), so maybe he says 'no' to Moe's offer. But Curly (who's real name was Jerome and who was an accomplished ballroom dancer) wasn't a comedian either, so his saying 'no' is almost as likely.

Personally I liked Larry, a great straight man to the others...

[phil5775]

As a Stooge purist, I say it wouldn't work. Larry was the axis that the two extreme personalities of Moe and Curly spun around. He was there to fill a gap and ground the other two. Shemp and Curly together causes too much chaos and you have something more along the lines of the Bowery Boys then you do the classic Stooges. And having Shemp as the "straight" or "middle" man would suppress his comic genius.

[Saladan]

Originally Posted by phil5775

As a Stooge purist, I say it wouldn't work. Larry was the axis that the two extreme personalities of Moe and Curly spun around. He was there to fill a gap and ground the other two. Shemp and Curly together causes too much chaos and you have something more along the lines of the Bowery Boys then you do the classic Stooges. And having Shemp as the "straight" or "middle" man would suppress his comic genius.

Yeah i got to agree with this. You need larry to make the whole dynamic work.

[phil5775]

Saladan, dynamic perfectly decsribes the interaction of Moe, Larry and Curly. As funny as Shemp was, it just didn't exist when he was a member.