Topic: My Visit to the Stoogeum for Larry's 105th B-Day

[Justin T]

After a 5 and a half hour drive back home from Philadelphia, I'm home but damn I had one of the
most fun times I've ever had the last 2 days.

As a long time Stooge fan, this trip down for Larry's birthday celebration was a dream come true
since I have yet to attend one of the conventions.

After driving nearly 6 and a half hours on Friday my father and I arrived just in time for the 8PM  "Best of Larry" film festival
at Moore College of Art, sponsored by Philadelphia's Secret Cinema. (Who did a great job btw). The film selection was quite
good. They showed 4 shorts which showcase Larry very well.

Women Haters
Punch Drunks
Coo Coo on a Choo Choo
He Cooked His Goose

they also showed footage from Dancing Lady along with a trailer for The Outlaws is Coming! and the Stooges Dickees commercial.
The presentations by Larry Fine's niece Phyllis Goldbloom's and fan Scott Reboul were both alot of fun. Phyllis was shorter since she wanted to save the pictures and alot more stories for the next day at the Stoogeum.

My dad had alot of fun watching the shorts, he had never seen any of them and was cracking up right along with me. 

Then today was the "open house" at the Stoogeum......AMAZING and AWESOME come to mind about this place.

I wont go into too much detail so not to spoil all the amazing stuff Gary has put in there, but I will say whatever you can think of that
might be in there, its in there. Photos, Memorabillia, personal affects, artwork, merchandise you name it, its got it. It truly is a treasure trove for
Stooge fans and every fan should find a way to go and visit the place and see this amazing collection with you own eyes. Another great feature is
flatscreen tv monitors all over the museam that show various Stoooge Shorts continuisly while you are there, and you can watch them on the big
screen in the museam theater.

One of the first things I did was sign the guestbook, and I noticed there was ALOT of fans there for the day. The place was packed the entire time
I was there, which was about 10:30am to 3pm.

The showing of the behind the scenes colour footage was beyond awesome. Seeing the boys behind the scenes of filming is a real treat and rare
glimpse into the making of the shorts. It's esp. amazing seeing it all in real colour. The footage is from the filming of 3 shorts,
Back from the Front, Uncivil War Birds and Three Little Pirates. It was a real treat seeing this footage. Again, I don't want
to go into too much detail so not to spoil it for others who may get to see this in the future, but if you ask I will.

After that was over I got the chance to meet not only Gary Lassin (garystooge) but he then introduced me to Brent aka BeAStooge too! It was
great to meet them both in person and get to talk to them, both are just very nice guys. I was glad they knew who I was from here on the board!
It was alot of fun getting to chat with fellow Stooge fans about stuff. I got to learn alot of cool Stooge trivia I never heard before from BeAStooge.

I unfortunatly missed Jazzbill, who was also there, I did not get to meet him. Hopefully we will meet another time, perhaps next year at
the Convention? Who knows.

Phyllis Goldbloom's afternoon presentation was wonderful, lots of great stories about her Uncle Larry along with a great slide show of pictures of him and the rest of the Stooges from her personal collection. She is a funny, nice and warm lady. It was a pleasure to meet her.

I had a wonderful time visiting the Stoogeum, hopefully I can get the pictures of father took of us outside the front of the building scanned and
posted here on the board sometime.

I can't wait to go back and visit again, hopefully with my Mom. She loves the Stooge just as much as I do.

Now I need to sign up for the fanclub and start getting a subscription to the very awesome Three Stooges Journal. I got a membership form and
a free copy of the Fall 2006 issue of the Journal while I was there, they were out on display for people to grab. I'm glad I got my copy, they
vanished very fast!

Hope everyone else who was there that I didn't get to meet had a great time.

- Justin

[Hammond Eggar]

I'm so glad you had a wonderful time this weekend.  Isn't Gary a great guy?  I had the pleasure of meeting him at a Three Stooges Convention in PA back in July of 1991.  That was the year in which they first screened Soup to Nuts.  I went with my dad, and had the time of my life.  I can't wait for another opportunity to go back, especially now with the Stoogeum there.  Thanks for not going into too much detail about what you saw at the Stoogeum.  I am curious about one thing, though.  Most places have music piped in.  I'm curious if any Stooges music was playing while you were visiting the Stoogeum?  I thought it would be cool if they were to have selections from the boys' albums and films playing in the background.

I found the list of "Larry" shorts interesting.  I was racking my brain trying to guess which shorts they would screen for a Larry celebration.  Those four seem reasonable enough.  It sounds like you and all the other knuckleheads really had a grand time this weekend.  Thanks for the report, and keep on Stoogin'!!!

[Justin T]

Thanks Hammond!

There wasn't any music playing, although when you go inside and into the main lobby you get greeted by the Stooges
saying "Hello....Hello.....Hello! Hello." over the intercom, which is a very nice touch. You get enough music and sound effects with the
Stooge shorts playing all over the place. 

Yeah, its tough to choose ones for Larry, but those 4 are good choices IMO. I think Women Haters and He Cooked His Goose were two shorts he really got the chance to shine. Prob. Three Loan Wolves would count too. I thought they were going
to show that one but they didn't. Dancing Lady was good because Larry shares a very funny moment with Joan Crawford
and gets to play the piano alot.

I hope to make next year's convention, Gary mentioned it's probably going to be in April but the date has not been set yet.

[BeAStooge]

I hope to make next year's convention, Gary mentioned it's probably going to be in April but the date has not been set yet.

Fan Club Meeting...

April 25 - 27, 2008

[Justin T]

Fan Club Meeting...

April 25 - 27, 2008

Thanks BeAStooge, I couldnt remember if there was dates set, just that it was in April.

[BeAStooge]

Most places have music piped in.  I'm curious if any Stooges music was playing while you were visiting the Stoogeum?  I thought it would be cool if they were to have selections from the boys' albums and films playing in the background.

As 'Justin T' noted earlier...

Another great feature is flatscreen tv monitors all over the museum that show various Stooge shorts continously while you are there, and you can watch them on the big screen in the museum theater.

Stoogeum TV monitors installed over 3 floors, with Stooge films, is a good thing.

... it would be cool if they were to have selections from the boys' albums... playing in the background.

Speaking as someone who regretfully attended C3's 1998 convention in Burbank...

Listening to Howard-Fine-DeRita singing "Aba Daba Honeymoon," "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" and "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" over a PA system for 72 hours is a bad thing.

[garystooge]

Thanks Justin and Hammond for your kind words. It was great meeting Justin and JazzBill over the weekend. Both of them traveled quite a distance, in fact Bill rode his Harley in from Illinois and is probably still trekking home!

As for Hammond’s question about background music/sounds at the Stoogeum, this is something I pondered long and hard during the planning stages of the building. I definitely wanted something Stoogey in the background as I did not want the Stoogeum to be a staid, scholarly museum, but rather a hands-on, fun place to visit. Initially, my plan was to play audio tapes of interviews with the Stooges, Ed Bernds, Emil Sitka, etc.  I decided against that for two reasons. First, to get anything out of it, visitors would have to pay fairly close attention to the audio and that would make it harder to pay attention to the stuff on display. Secondly, there just aren’t too many high-quality audio tapes of this nature floating around, so I felt it would be somewhat limiting.

I also considered Hammond’s idea of playing the Stooges’ records as background. But again, that’s  a limited amount of material and as Brent mentioned, not something that would hold up well if played over and over.

Finally I decided that showing Columbia shorts on strategically positioned monitors would be the best bet. There’s hours and hours of available DVD and VHS to choose from and it’s very Stooge-like for visitors to hear the mayhem of the eyepokes, headbonks and ear-twists in the background as they look at the Stoogeabilia. Being able to look at the artifacts while also enjoying the actual humor of the Stooges seemed to be the best way to go. It’s also nice for those who aren’t really interested in the “stuff” as it gives them something to pay attention to. I often have families visit, and while the adults are busy looking at the display cases, the kids are belly-laughing at whatever short is playing.

[Ms. JazzBill]

He's back! Why couldn't you keep him longer? 

[JazzBill]

Just got in from Philly. What a great road trip. The weather stayed good, my scooter ran good and I met a lot of nice people. You forgot to mention FineBari3 was there also. I too would like to thank Gary and Brent for their hospitality. By the way Ms.JazzBill is my wife, looks like while I was gone she has been cleaning up in the arcade.

[Hammond Eggar]

Thanks Justin and Hammond for your kind words. It was great meeting Justin and JazzBill over the weekend. Both of them traveled quite a distance, in fact Bill rode his Harley in from Illinois and is probably still trekking home!

As for Hammond’s question about background music/sounds at the Stoogeum, this is something I pondered long and hard during the planning stages of the building. I definitely wanted something Stoogey in the background as I did not want the Stoogeum to be a staid, scholarly museum, but rather a hands-on, fun place to visit. Initially, my plan was to play audio tapes of interviews with the Stooges, Ed Bernds, Emil Sitka, etc.  I decided against that for two reasons. First, to get anything out of it, visitors would have to pay fairly close attention to the audio and that would make it harder to pay attention to the stuff on display. Secondly, there just aren’t too many high-quality audio tapes of this nature floating around, so I felt it would be somewhat limiting.

I also considered Hammond’s idea of playing the Stooges’ records as background. But again, that’s  a limited amount of material and as Brent mentioned, not something that would hold up well if played over and over.

Finally I decided that showing Columbia shorts on strategically positioned monitors would be the best bet. There’s hours and hours of available DVD and VHS to choose from and it’s very Stooge-like for visitors to hear the mayhem of the eyepokes, headbonks and ear-twists in the background as they look at the Stoogeabilia. Being able to look at the artifacts while also enjoying the actual humor of the Stooges seemed to be the best way to go. It’s also nice for those who aren’t really interested in the “stuff” as it gives them something to pay attention to. I often have families visit, and while the adults are busy looking at the display cases, the kids are belly-laughing at whatever short is playing.

I hadn't thought of your idea of playing shorts and features on TV monitors.  That does sound like a great idea, Gary.  I guess the music idea was a bit limited, even if you dubbed songs and music from films onto various CDs.  There is more available than just the few LPs recorded by Moe, Larry and Curly-Joe.  What about the soundtrack album (on CD) for It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World?  What about "The Curly Shuffle"?  What about songs from the boys' various films, such as "Merry, Merry World Tonight" from Beer and Pretzels, "Swingin' the Alphabet" from Violent is the Word for Curly or "I Wanna Be a Stooge" from The Three Stooges Scrapbook?  Let's not forget Christine McIntyre singing "Voices of Spring" in Micro-Phonies.  Plus, what about all the supporting actors, and songs they contributed to their own films?  I still think that would work, perhaps in the Stoogeum lobby.  I do agree that it wouldn't work 24/7, and not through-out the entire museum, but on occasion it would be nice to hear some of that.

[garystooge]

What about the soundtrack album (on CD) for It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World?  What about "The Curly Shuffle"?  What about "Merry, Merry World Tonight" from Beer and Pretzels, "Swingin' the Alphabet" from Violent is the Word for Curly or "I Wanna Be a Stooge" from The Three Stooges Scrapbook?  Let's not forget Christine McIntyre singing "Voices of Spring" in Micro-Phonies.

Hammond-
I really like your suggestions and when you visit the Stoogeum I'll be happy to play that stuff in the background for you. But believe it or not, the average visitor to the Stoogeum is not a hardcore fan like yourself. Many folks don't know that the Howards were brothers or who Ted Healy was.  They certainly don't know Christine McIntyre from Christine McVie or that the Stooges were in "Mad Mad World" or an obscure song from a Stooges MGM short.  The Columbia shorts are much more appropriate for the bulk of the visitors I get, who are most likely to be casual fans or complete neophytes.
Gary

[Hammond Eggar]

I get your point, Gary.  I wasn't trying to convince you to play music, it was just a suggestion.  I agree that playing the Stooges' films and TV appearances does make much more sense.  As for the Stoogeum getting visits from many non-hardcore fans, I understand some of that.  Then again, don't visitors usually have to set up an appointment to be able to visit?  It sounds like one would have to be actively seeking out the museum.  If that's the case, I would have assumed that the bulk of traffic in and out of the Stoogeum would be by people with a greater knowledge and appreciation of the Stooges than the casual fan or person would have.

As for your idea of playing taped interviews with Stooge-related personalities, I like that idea very much.  Of course, having the interviews piped-in like Muzak wouldn't make much sense.  I could invision a display where an interview is playing.  Perhaps there'd be a sign letting people know who's being interviewed and the source of the interview.  Have you considered what other museums sometimes do?  Say your visiting a WWII-related museum.  In one area, you may find an old-timey radio.  If you push a button, an excerpt of an FDR speech may begin playing.  When the audio is through playing, the machine shuts off until another visitor pushes the button.  Some places even have the audio on a loop.  I know you've got quite a few audio interviews in your collection.  In fact, years ago you were nice enough to make a cassette copy of one of The Moe Feinberg Tapes.  It was an interview broadcast on Boston's WBZ in the early-1980s.  I have enjoyed and appreciated that so much over the years.

Please take all my comments as nothing more than one excited Stooges fan's friendly suggestions.  No more, no less.

[jrvass]

I know what Hammond is trying to get across. Kinda like the "Detroit Zoo Key".

You bought a little plastic key for a $1 or so at the zoo. An elephant whose "trunk" unlocked a box with an audio  description of the exhibit. Lions & Tigers & Bears (OH MY!)  The audio lasted maybe a minute or so. Dunrobin or one of the other SE-MI local-yocals may remember them too.

It was good "forever", no matter how many times you visited. Of course the one in my desk is 40 years old and they probably don't have the audio boxes any more.

James

[FineBari3]

I know what Hammond is trying to get across. Kinda like the "Detroit Zoo Key".

You bought a little plastic key for a $1 or so at the zoo. An elephant whose "trunk" unlocked a box with an audio  description of the exhibit. Lions & Tigers & Bears (OH MY!)  The audio lasted maybe a minute or so. Dunrobin or one of the other SE-MI local-yocals may remember them too.

It was good "forever", no matter how many times you visited. Of course the one in my desk is 40 years old and they probably don't have the audio boxes any more.

James

Can anybody there (Gary or Brent) mention the Stooge connection with this 'zoo key' Hint: he was at our Fan Club Meeting in 2005. I cant remember the whole story.

Yeah, thanks for mentioning that I was there at the Stoogeum back in Oct, JazzBill! (Oh, I was SO sick...)

[garystooge]

MJ-
The "talking storybook" zoo key was invented by former San Franciso kiddie show host Bruce Sedley, one of the "outlaws" from "The Outlaws is Coming".  Bruce was at the Stoogeum for the 2005 fan club meeting. He's a fairly succesful inventor who also made some major advances in developing those "card keys" that you often use for hotel rooms, security clearance doors, etc.  While at the Stoogeum he told me that his company was developing a system for museums that I might be interested in. It involved putting some type of bar code on each piece in the museum. Visitors would be able to point a wand at an item they were interested in and would hear a description of the item through a set of headphones.   I didn't really have much interest because it would be too much work for me to develop the audio and because most items in the Stoogeum don't need much expalanation (those that do already have labels with descriptions).
Gary