Cover (*) and cast list pages from the playbill of THE GEORGE WHITE SCANDALS OF 1939, scanned below. The Stooges costarred in this Broadway revue, in-between their 1939 British Isle tour, and reporting back to work at Columbia to begin work on another batch of shorts.
* An earlier version of the playbill did not feature the Stooges; the cover was revised to this version sometime during their run.
The picture on the cover is from them performing the "Stand In" sketch, which was written by George White and adapted by the Stooges in future live appearances, plus television. The playbill also lists them as appearing in several cast musical numbers, and a sketch called "Madame DuBarry," with the Stooges masquerading as 'Robert Taylor' (Moe), 'Tyrone Power' (Larry) and 'Walt Disney' (Curly) to court DuBarry.
The Besser appearances are only partial... he was busy in various Broadway revues during the 1930s, especially with an Army routine he created with Jimmy Little (and "borrowed" by Jules White for the Stooges in BOOBS IN ARMS, after Jules visited NYC and saw Besser on Broadway). SONS OF FUN was one of Olsen & Johnson's comedy revues (the others being HELLZAPOPPIN' and CRAZY HOUSE, which both had film adaptations at Universal in 1941 and 1943 respectively). Besser's busy Broadway-era career is well-documented in his autobiography.
A NIGHT IN SPAIN starred Ted Healy, with Shemp as his main stooge. Shemp and Ted also appeared in the road show version that toured in the New York and New England areas. A NIGHT IN VENICE starred Healy, with Moe, Larry and Shemp as his Stooges; they were appearing in this when seen by William Fox, and cast for SOUP TO NUTS. Joan's home movies, which turned up on youtube recently, have footage of the Stooges clowning around in costume on the roof of VENICE's theatre.
Healy had several other Broadway shows from 1925 - 1932, notably CRAZY QUILT with his replacement stooges Garner, Wolf and Hakins, and others featuring his first wife Betty.
Playbills from all these have turned up on eBay many times over the years... most are generally affordable, except SCANDALS and VENICE, which tend to become pricey depending on the bidders.
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