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What Did Curly think of the Shemp-Stooge Shorts?

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VaudevilleFan:
Has any of the family ever say if Curly ever saw the some of the Shenp-era stooge shorts and what he thought of them? Did he have any favorites or perhaps one he would have liked to have been?

Shemp:
I'm not the most qualified to answer, but everything I've read indicated that once he left the Stooges, he never looked back (though he did believe between May 1946 until his second stroke that he might actually rejoin the boys).  But once he married Valerie, everything changed.  He accepted his new life as a dad and husband and settled down and never really talked about his days with the boys. I think the shows he would watch were Bedtime with Beany (going off of memory) and he also liked watching a young Jackie Gleason. I think he would watch kiddie shows with his daughter as his only other TV exposure. I've never read or heard anything about him watching Stooge shorts. I think he turned a chapter in his life, trying to become the husband and father that he never was before, and was actually really enjoying the moment, for as long as his health allowed.   

Mark The Shark:
I think it would depend if he was going out to the movies at that point in his life. What I've read suggests he watched television and had his favorites, but the Stooge shorts wouldn't have been on television at that point. Of course, over time his condition got worse and I wonder if he was even watching television. I remember seeing quotes from a letter Moe wrote to Curly about Shemp filling in for him, and Moe said something like "it may encourage you, and in a way delight you, to know..." so I would guess Curly was glad to know his brother stepped in and the Stooges were able to continue (for what was considered officially at the time) temporarily until his return.

Shemp:
He loved to watch Jackie Gleason in those days.  I think he also would watch some show called "bedtime for beanie" or something like that.  He would share with Valerie and her sister about the history of comedy and the art of comedy etc when he would watch those shows, but nothing I've read indicates he was watching the "new" shorts that were being pumped out.  I think given his druthers, my guess would be that he'd rather swim in his backyard pool or spend time with his family than go to the movies.  But what do I know. 

I'd give anything to see the discarded footage of Curly from "Malice in the Palace" in 1949 though...

Mark The Shark:
It was "Time For Beany" -- created by Bob Clampett, featuring the voices of Stan Freberg and Daws Butler:



Clampett later brought them back in the animated series "Matty's Funnies With Beany & Cecil" (sponsored by Mattell Toys)

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