Topic: Curly in OPERATOR 13

[BeAStooge]

The Three Stooges Scrapbook states that Curly's scene(s) in OPERATOR 13 (1934) were deleted after Healy and the Stooges split. The discovery of an MGM wardrobe production shot of Curly as a Confederate soldier, as seen in One Fine Stooge, and the cover of The Three Stooges Journal # 118 confirms his involvement in the film.

Possibly Curly was intended for a larger onscreen role... but he does appear in the film. Taking advantage of my copy of the new DVD-R release from The Warner Archive, I decided to watch very closely at all background and ancillary players, just to doublecheck. Imagine my surprise to see Curly, for all of 8 seconds... per the elapsed time on the DVD, he appears from 19:49 to 19:57.

For anyone who wants to watch OPERATOR 13, but not buy the disc... it is scheduled for TCM on August 4 at 2AM Eastern (see the July - September 2009 TV Stooges post of June 30 for more details).


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[curlysdame]

OMG, there he is!!      What a great find, Brent.  Major kudos!  I think it's fascinating that we keep finding little bits like this, despite the fact that The Stooges have been gone for so long.  'Add another tally to Curly's solo appearances.   

[archiezappa]

That definitely counts!  Another solo appearance of Curly.  Soitenly!

[Rich Finegan]

Yes, good work, Brent!

I've watched that movie numerous times and didn't recognize Curly. Just further proof of the better image quality of DVD's over video tape.

By the way, I don't know if this is documented elsewhere, but for the record I have a source that gives the shooting dates for "Operator 13" as February 19 through April 26, 1934. Different sources give the release date as either June 8 or 15, 1934. It was copyrighted on June 11. 

--- Richard Finegan

[chad2411]

Absolutely amazing, you never fail to amaze me.. 

[Justin T]

Awesome work Brent! Rich is right, this shows once again why DVD restorations are
a wonderful thing.

I may pick up this movie now.

[Hassan bin Sober]

Awesome work!  I'll have to set up the DVR to record it next month!

Thanks man!

[BeAStooge]

For anyone who wants to watch OPERATOR 13, but not buy the disc... it is scheduled for TCM on August 4 at 2AM Eastern.

Reminder.

[Dunrobin]

Thanks for the reminder.  I'll program my DVR to get record it.   

[xraffle]

Awesome work!  I'll have to set up the DVR to record it next month!

Thanks for the reminder.  I'll program my DVR to get record it.  

Am I the only one without a DVR?

I still use those legacy VCRs to record programs. There's rarely any program on TV anymore that's even worth recording, so I rarely get to use it. And I hate having to pay monthly service just to record programs. But anyways, I'll see if I can program my VCR to record this movie. I would watch it when it's on, but I'll be busy sleeping.

[chad2411]

Good movie, very cool to see Curly, although my DVR turned up a bad copy.  Oh well, Thanks again!

[xraffle]

Oh darn! It totally slipped my mind. My life's been so chaotic the last few weeks that I forget so many things like programming my VCR. Oh well, if I missed anything good, please let me know.

[Hammond Eggar]

Whenever I think of "Operator 13," I'm reminded of an exchange from "Uncivil Warriors."  The General asks the Stooges, "What happened to Operator 13?"  Curly replies, "He swam across the river and died from Patomic poisoning."  Classic!