Topic: Stooges TV release question

[stoogerascalfan62]

When the first 78 Stooges films were released to TV in 1958, how many of them had the 1955-60 Screen Gems logo-one of my favorite logos by the way-?

[Squirrelbait]

When the first 78 Stooges films were released to TV in 1958, how many of them had the 1955-60 Screen Gems logo-one of my favorite logos by the way-?

Hi

I'm not exactly sure how many had them originally on  TV, but a few of them even have the Screen Gems opening on the Columbia VHS tapes (Three Smart Saps, I'm A Monkey's Uncle - those are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head.)

I've also seen an old TV print of 'Pies And Guys' with the same logo.

You're not the only one who enjoys the Screen Gems opening - it really brings out the nostalgia value!

[Squirrelbait]

When the first 78 Stooges films were released to TV in 1958, how many of them had the 1955-60 Screen Gems logo-one of my favorite logos by the way-?

I've been thinking about this question and the history of the Stooges on TV through the years. I know this would be a tall order, but would it ever be possible for all of us members to work on a list of local stations/cable channels that ran the shorts through the years?

With or without the ever-popular 'Missing 60'!

[Larrys#1]

I remember owning Three Smart Saps on VHS back in the day and being so annoyed about the bad quality. The picture was so bright that the faces were whited out. I was almost ready to exchange it at the store because I thought I got a bad copy, but when my friend showed me his copy and the quality was also bad, I came to the conclusion that all copies were bad. It astounds me how they would release such a crappy copy on VHS, especially when they used to charge a lot of money back then?

[Mark The Shark]

I think the Screen Gems logo you speak of was on all 190 shorts. But depending on which of the three packages a short was in, they could differ in how it was used. Elsewhere, I posted a list of 61 of the first 78 Stooge shorts released to TV in 1958 -- the 61 titles initially aired by WGN-Channel 9 in Chicago, compiled many years ago by a friend who combed through microfilm at a library, pre-internet. Anyway, the shorts generally had it at the beginning and also at the end, and on the early (pre-1940) shorts it would replace the visuals of the Columbia Pictures logo while the original audio played. Later TV prints were often restored to the original Columbia logo, but I remember seeing a print of "Restless Knights" on TBS in the late 1980s which had a non-original Columbia logo "plastered" over the original (probably to replace the Screen Gems logo) while the audio was intact. Many (though not all) shorts had the Screen Gems logo replacing the end title, normally with the original audio playing -- but in Chicago, WFLD-Channel 32's print of "Calling All Curs" abruptly spliced to the Screen Gems logo with fanfare audio. "A Bird In The Head" as first released on Beta and VHS had a Screen Gems logo replacing the original end title, even though Columbia's name wasn't on the end title to cover up.

I kind of miss the Screen Gems logo. Many of the mid-1940s shorts on DVD have a silent Columbia logo added at the beginning, but that's different. It seems to have been added because on those particular shorts, the Columbia Pictures name isn't on the main title preceding the words "The Three Stooges." But I don't believe it to be original. It would have been fun to have some shorts on DVD with the Screen Gems intro.

[Squirrelbait]

"A Bird In The Head" as first released on Beta and VHS had a Screen Gems logo replacing the original end title, even though Columbia's name wasn't on the end title to cover up.

Taught me something new today - I just transferred my VHS copy of 'A Bird In The Head' (1993 tape) onto disc, but this one didn't have any Screen Gems logo. I always assumed the VHS releases were all the same, at least, that they had used the same prints (for instance, The Three Stooges Volume I original - A Bird In The Head re-issue.)

I know I'm behind times for still using VHS tapes, but I've always found this pretty interesting.

I had actually started another thread about this very subject:
http://threestooges.net/forums/index.php/topic,5206.0.html

By the way, thanks for all the info, Mark The Shark!

[Mark The Shark]

No problem. One odd thing I remember for some reason -- I rented that Vol. 1 tape back in the 1980s. On the cover, it listed "A Bird In The Head" first but on the tape, "Dizzy Pilots" played first. Then some years later I rented a different copy (I never got around to buying many of the Columbia tapes) and it was just the reverse: "Dizzy Pilots" was listed first on the cover, but "A Bird In The Head" played first on the tape. "We all put the yeast in!" I honestly don't remember if the end title was different, or if the formerly edited scenes were restored.

I also remember getting a catalog from Soitenly Stooges, back when they were based in the north suburbs of Chicago and Harry Ross was running it. They carried the Columbia VHS tapes but they started with Volume 6. I asked Harry Ross and he told me the first five were actually deleted somewhere along the line. Later, they were re-released along with the rest in new packaging which used the title of one of the shorts rather than a volume number. They released a half-dozen volumes in the late 1980s which had one "new-to-video" (at that time) short and two repeats from earlier volumes, even though many shorts had yet to be released. Later, those were deleted and the six "new" shorts were compiled into two new volumes. We have it easy these days with DVD!

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

In answer to Squirrelbait's question, I can contribute that the Stooges first aired in Boston in maybe '59 or '60 on WNAC-TV channel seven,  both before school ( 7 A M ) and after school (4.30 or 5.00 P M).  In the early going, they played many non-stooge Columbia shorts as well: I clearly remember Andy Clyde, Buster Keaton, solo Joe DeRita, and ( I think ) El Brendel.  I remember Shemp's Mr. Noisy, but that's the only one of his solos I remember.  I think I even remember one or two of those boxing shorts, Glove-slingers, or Glove Busters, or whatever they were.  The non-stooge shorts were phased out fairly quickly.  The morning show had no host, but the evening show was hosted by an actor named Ed. T McDonnell, who played an astronaut character named Major Mudd ( he was pretty damn funny, as I recall  55 years later ) and who appeared as Bat Masterson in The Outlaws is Coming.  With the coming of UHF stations later, the Stooges were run on channel 38, whose call letters I don't remember.  38 kept them on for ages, my bet would be that most Bostonian stoogeophiles remember them from 38 rather than 7.

[Mark The Shark]

In answer to Squirrelbait's question, I can contribute that the Stooges first aired in Boston in maybe '59 or '60 on WNAC-TV channel seven,  both before school ( 7 A M ) and after school (4.30 or 5.00 P M).  In the early going, they played many non-stooge Columbia shorts as well: I clearly remember Andy Clyde, Buster Keaton, solo Joe DeRita, and ( I think ) El Brendel.  I remember Shemp's Mr. Noisy, but that's the only one of his solos I remember.  I think I even remember one or two of those boxing shorts, Glove-slingers, or Glove Busters, or whatever they were.  The non-stooge shorts were phased out fairly quickly.  The morning show had no host, but the evening show was hosted by an actor named Ed. T McDonnell, who played an astronaut character named Major Mudd ( he was pretty damn funny, as I recall  55 years later ) and who appeared as Bat Masterson in The Outlaws is Coming.  With the coming of UHF stations later, the Stooges were run on channel 38, whose call letters I don't remember.  38 kept them on for ages, my bet would be that most Bostonian stoogeophiles remember them from 38 rather than 7.

Early on in Chicago, the Stooges were on WGN-Channel 9 and originally hosted by Carl Greyson (with Chatter the chimp) and then by Bob Bell as "Andy Starr," custodian at the Odeon Theatre. At one point, they were showing Andy Clyde and Buster Keaton along with the Stooges. Some years ago, I saw a photo of Bob Bell as Andy Starr standing by a theatre marquee or poster listing the Three Stooges, Buster Keaton, Andy Clyde, and...W.C. Fields! My guess would be WGN had Fields' Paramount shorts, but there weren't very many of them, so if they showed them, they had to spread them pretty thin.

I don't know of any of the other Columbia comedy shorts (besides the Stooges, Andy Clyde and Buster Keaton) airing on Chicago TV. I do know there was a TV package of various shorts featuring various comedians, with selected titles, i.e. they wouldn't have had ALL the Andy Clyde shorts.

[stoogerascalfan62]

I recall seeing "So Long, Mr. Chumps" on WTAE-4 in Pittsburgh in the early '70s-probably tuned in in progress-and seeing the original 1940-42 Columbia Short Subject Presentation logo at the end. However when the same short aired years later on then-independent Channel 22 when they had the Stooges the Screen Gems logo was shown at the end as well as the beginning.

[Mark The Shark]

I recall seeing "So Long, Mr. Chumps" on WTAE-4 in Pittsburgh in the early '70s-probably tuned in in progress-and seeing the original 1940-42 Columbia Short Subject Presentation logo at the end. However when the same short aired years later on then-independent Channel 22 when they had the Stooges the Screen Gems logo was shown at the end as well as the beginning.

Interesting -- for some reason, this short showed up on Channel 32 in Chicago in the mid-1980s with a Columbia logo at the beginning accompanied by the Screen Gems fanfare. Must have been a fairly newer film print struck after Screen Gems became Columbia Pictures Television. By the late 1980s, Channel 32 was skipping the Screen Gems intros unless they had music behind them that continued into the title sequence.

I saw other shorts with a silent Columbia logo after this, once the Stooges moved to WPWR-Channel 50. But not very many.

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

For what it's worth, we lived more or less equidistantly between Boston and Providence, RI, so we also got Three Stooges programming from WJAR, Providence, channel 10, I think.  This show was hosted by a Providence radio/TV personality named Salty Brine ( we all lived near the frigid Atlantic, you see ).  WJAR's reception was not as good as WNAC's, except during blizzards.  Salty was O K, but not as good as Boston's Major Mudd.  Again, I think this is what Squirrelbait was asking for, but if not, say the word and I'll stop.

[Squirrelbait]

For what it's worth, we lived more or less equidistantly between Boston and Providence, RI, so we also got Three Stooges programming from WJAR, Providence, channel 10, I think.  This show was hosted by a Providence radio/TV personality named Salty Brine ( we all lived near the frigid Atlantic, you see ).  WJAR's reception was not as good as WNAC's, except during blizzards.  Salty was O K, but not as good as Boston's Major Mudd.  Again, I think this is what Squirrelbait was asking for, but if not, say the word and I'll stop.

No, don't stop - it all sounds good!

And since we're on the subject, here in Milwaukee, the shorts used to run on the 'Pop's Theater' program back in the day. Never saw any of it before, as it was a little bit before my time.