Topic: NEW! A Tour De Farce: The Complete History of the Three Stooges on the Road

[Dunrobin]

The Stoogeum is pleased to announce the publication of A Tour De Farce: The Complete History of the Three Stooges on the Road. This hardcover, 765-page encyclopedic compendium is the product of almost twenty years of research and it is the first new book about the Three Stooges in over a decade!
A Tour De Farce follows the Boys’ day by day travels over five decades as they entertain live audiences at theaters, military bases, circuses, hospital wards, and even a corn palace, with over 1,500 personal appearances documented for the very first time. While the Stooges spent months at a time on the road, none of these antics were ever chronicled…until now.

Authored by Gary Lassin, the museum’s Executive Director and Three Stooges Fan Club president, A Tour De Farce features hundreds of never-before-published photos, documents, and stage reviews that bring the Stooges' road trips to life. Make a home for A Tour De Farce on your bookshelf today or give as a gift to your favorite Stooge!

Product Availability
The book is priced at $49.95 which includes free shipping via USPS media mail and a bookplate signed by the author. It can be purchased in person at The Stoogeum, online via the book’s website (tourdefarce.net) or through the mail by sending check or money order payable to: The Stoogeum, P.O. Box 747, Gwynedd Valley, PA 19437.

For press and interview inquiries:
Gary Lassin, Erin Smith, Michelle Squiccimara
(267) 468-0810
tourdefarce.book@gmail.com

The Stoogeum
P.O. Box 747
Gwynedd Valley, PA 19437

[Bustoff73]

This looks amazing. Ordered mine two days ago and tracking says it should be here Monday. Cant wait.

[Dunrobin]

This looks amazing. Ordered mine two days ago and tracking says it should be here Monday. Cant wait.

I'm glad you posted - I almost forgot today is Wednesday.  Off to order my copy! 

[ProfessorStooge]

I just ordered a copy. This book should be interesting.

[Dunrobin]

I'm glad you posted - I almost forgot today is Wednesday.  Off to order my copy! 

I got my notice from the USPS saying delivery should be on Tuesday. 

I Can Hardly Wait!  

[metaldams]

I just ordered a bunch of Euro horror blu rays and vowed to cut back on my spending for a while.  Then - this.  Gary, you got my money.  Looking forward to this book!

[Bustoff73]

Ok. So, I received my copy today and......this has got to be the most detailed, researched book on the Three Stooges thus far. Absolutely amazing. Its like reading a 700 page issue of the Journal, lol. Kudos to Mr. Lassin! I cant imagine the thousands of hours it took to put this together. Just incredible. There is SO MUCH information here. I was introduced to the Stooges via late night showings on KPLR in St. Louis as a 9 year old in 1982 and since that time I have devoured any and every book or piece of info about the Stooges. This tops them all. I love this book.

[metaldams]

Nice endorsement, Bustoff.  Looking forward to my copy that much more.  Stooge news has been dead for years.  Nice to see something come down the pike like this!

[garystooge]

Thanks for the kind review Bustoff....sounds like you have given it your seal of approval which is greatly appreciated! I used the same design philosophy for the book that I used for the Stoogeum....to cram-jam so much stuff inside that when you come back for the umpteenth time you can still find something you didn't notice before. Thanks again for sharing your thoughts! Gary

[Dunrobin]

Thanks for the kind review Bustoff....sounds like you have given it your seal of approval which is greatly appreciated! I used the same design philosophy for the book that I used for the Stoogeum....to cram-jam so much stuff inside that when you come back for the umpteenth time you can still find something you didn't notice before. Thanks again for sharing your thoughts! Gary

My father was one of those people who watch a movie once and then are never interested in watching it again, no matter how good it was, so he never understood my love of watching old movies and shorts - like the Stooges! - over and over again.  But your "design philosophy" plays on the same reason I re-watch movies.  I've watched the Stooges literally hundreds of times over the decades, for example, and I still notice things I never noticed before.  Being so familiar with the story itself makes it easier to focus on other things like small props in the background or the set itself, or just watching Larry's reactions in the background to Curly or Shemp's antics, etc.  And it fits in with my life-long philosophy of "Learn something new every day." 

I love delving into details (I grew reading from an encyclopedia set for my bedtime stories), so I think I am going to be spending a lot of time with your book, Gary, especially since it covers an aspect of the Stooges' career that I've known very little about - so far. 

I Can Hardly Wait!   

[garystooge]

Rob-The book is very encyclopedic in nature because it contains mini-capsule entries for each appearance which are independent of each other. So you can basically open the book to any page and start reading without being invested in anything which came before, just like an encyclopedia. Hope you like it.

[Dunrobin]

Rob-The book is very encyclopedic in nature because it contains mini-capsule entries for each appearance which are independent of each other. So you can basically open the book to any page and start reading without being invested in anything which came before, just like an encyclopedia. Hope you like it.

You're just making it worse, you know!  Now I'm going to be jonesing for it like a basketball until my copy arrives on Tuesday!   

[metaldams]

Some schmuck who is impersonating me just made an unboxing video. 

Literally my first moments with the book, so it’s me figuring out what I’m looking at.  Plus bubble wrap!

[Dunrobin]

I got my copy today as well, a day earlier than expected!  As you can tell from Doug's video above, the book is incredibly complete, and it's also an incredibly well-made book.  It weighs a ton, as it is printed on a high-quality glossy paper, which makes the photos beautifully vivid.  And what an awesome collection of cool pictures that I've never seen before!

Bravo, again, Gary for blowing my mind and providing me with something that I know I will be pouring through for hours on end! 

Major thumbs up!   

[garystooge]

Thanks so much  Rob and Metal for your early reviews. Love the drama you created with your video Metal...seeing the potential here makes me glad I didn't sell away the foreign movie rights to the book! I hope it's not too heavy or unwieldy to work with. Part of the blame lies with the Stooges for having such a long career and part with me for subtitling it "The Complete History...." and then really feeling like the book needed to look and feel complete. Truth-be-told this book had several hundred pages which wound up on the cutting room floor out of concern for the size/weight issue. As for the unseen photos, many of them I've been sitting on for 30 years waiting to run them in the Journal but the right time never came... until now. Anyway I'll hold off on quizzing you guys about the book until you've had a chance to digest further.

[Freddie Sanborn]

Can’t wait. Does the book cover the vaudeville years with Healy?

[metaldams]

Can’t wait. Does the book cover the vaudeville years with Healy?

Unless if I’m overlooking it, the actual entries themselves for appearances begin in 1929.  However, there is a twenty four page chapter on the years preceding that with a lot of pictures of Ted and Betty Healy along with the young Stooges themselves.

[garystooge]

Doug- There is a detailed list of all the 1918-1928 appearances in Appendix B beginning on page 682

[metaldams]

Doug- There is a detailed list of all the 1918-1928 appearances in Appendix B beginning on page 682

Ah!  Thanks Gary!  I’ll check that out tonight.

So far, I have skipped to sections to answer certain questions I’ve had about the late Curly era and the Besser era.  My questions have been answered.  This book will last a lifetime, so much info.

[garystooge]

Originally I wrote entries for all those 1918-1928 appearances but they were so Healy-centric that I decided just to list them in an appendix, saving about a hundred pages.

[Paul Pain]

Doug, I actually found your unboxing video by logging onto my YouTube account and not by coming on here. 

Great video, and I really wish I could get my hands on the book but am unable to do so because of my living conditions.

[falsealarms]

[metaldams]

Reading about their MGM era appearances, it really feels like the boys were just comic filler for bigger stars - very much like the movies themselves.  Doing waiter routines and the like.  This book is going to take years to absorb.  Wonderful job, Gary.

[metaldams]

One thing I wondered in my unboxing video is of the shorts would somehow be linked to the appearances and indeed - they are.  I find it fun going through going through this book and watching the shorts.  Going through the first six shorts while reading about 1934, for example.  Crazy to think when they were filming WOMAN HATERS, they did their last engagement with Healy just six weeks before.  Fun to know after watching HORSE’ COLARS they had a week engagement in L.A. starting the next day.  Interesting reading about the various straight men they had on stage as well.  I was never aware of the transition into the name “The Three Stooges” and that they were “Howard, Fine and Howard” for a bit.  Good stuff.

[archiezappa]

I'm hoping to get mine soon. This really looks like one of the most comprehensive books on the Stooges career. A prestigious achievement. Soitenly!