Topic: interesting definitions of stooge

[Shemoeley Fine]

According to several dictionaries,    the origins of stooge is unknown

a subordinate participant in a comic act or dialogue whose function is to carry on repartes in such manner as to enable a principal comedian to make remarks or appear humourous

a subversive agent acting for one government against another

a planted spy, puppet, stool pigeon, informer

anyone who acts as or is the fool or dupe of another, one who slavishly follows another

one who plays a subordinate or complaint role to a principal or for some outside force or influence e.g Charlie McCarthy

B E Nelson states  "the editor driven into exile and the hoax of a newspaper perpetrated with the help of a stooge"

A J Leibling defines it  "some boy would play to him in order that this masterstroke of wit should be demonstrated"

stooge (verb)
to act as a stooge, a comedian who stooged before his act, a congressman who stooged for oil and mineral interests,
to patrol or cruise in slow or routine flight, usually used with around e.g stooging around over the sea in all weathers


a PSA submitted by a stooge of The Stooges,  Shemoeley Fine,  El Fino

[Giff me dat fill-em!]

Here's a definition I picked up off of one of my many Three Stooges calendars hanging around the house:

During a 1939 trip to Ireland, the group changed their name to the Three “Hooges” because in the vernacular of the day, to “stooge” meant to have sexual intercourse.

[Pilsner Panther]

Here's a definition I picked up off of one of my many Three Stooges calendars hanging around the house:

During a 1939 trip to Ireland, the group changed their name to the Three “Hooges” because in the vernacular of the day, to “stooge” meant to have sexual intercourse.

Now, there's a Stooges trivia bit I'd never heard! I've also never heard of that definition of "stooge," even though I've read a lot of Irish novels (yes, I actually did get all the way through "Ulysses").

[Giff me dat fill-em!]

And yet, Pils, with today's vernacular abounding, having our boys being called "The Three F***s", in an odd way, doesn't sound too far from natural.

[BeAStooge]

Here's a definition I picked up off of one of my many Three Stooges calendars hanging around the house:

During a 1939 trip to Ireland, the group changed their name to the Three “Hooges” because in the vernacular of the day, to “stooge” meant to have sexual intercourse.

Moe wrote in Moe Howard & The Three Stooges that the owner of Dublin's Royal Theater billed them as 'the Hooges' on the theater marquee for the above-mentioned reason, during their June 26 - July 2 engagement at that theater.

But recent research seems to write that off as another tale.

Several years ago, UK Stooges fan Norman Langton traced the Stooges' 1939 tour of the British Isles, researching all the available newspaper and trade paper documentation he could find.  In the Dublin advertisments and newspaper reviews for the Stooges' show, they were specifically billed as "The Three Stooges."  There is no mention of 'Hooges;' at that time it was probably a localized slang in Dublin, but not enough that newspapers or publicists seemed to care.

A two-part article of Norman Langton's research highlights was published in The Three Stooges Journal #s 105 and 106 (part 2 has the Dublin account)...
http://threestooges.net/journal.php?action=view&id=105
http://threestooges.net/journal.php?action=view&id=106

'Stooge' does indeed have the sexual connotation in UK slang, and while the Irish theater owner may have expressed his concerns to Moe, it does not appear that the concern was actually realized into a billing revision.  It's possible the Royal billed them as 'Hooges' on the marquee, but I think it's unlikely since newspaper accounts make no reference to it.

HOWEVER...

'Stooge' was UK mainstream slang in the 1950s and early 1960s.  Enough that Fox changed the title of its 1961 feature, for British distribution, to SNOW WHITE & THE THREE CLOWNS.  But 'vernaculars' change... and "shag" became the British word-of-choice for the swinging '60s.

Fox's 1961 title change is the only billing change I've seen documented as a UK 'stooge' issue.


[attachment deleted by admin]

[Pilsner Panther]

As always, your knowledge floors me, Brent. I have a theory about this temporary name change: if "stooge" had sexual connotations mainly in England, then that would have been more common in the speech of Northern Ireland (Ulster), which was (and remains) under British control. So, you might expect a poster to read "Hooges" in the North, but maybe not in Dublin or anywhere south of there. On the map, you can see that only the yellow counties are the North (they should have been orange, but never mind).

As you get away from the urban areas of the country, the language gets more heavily accented and has a somewhat different vocabulary than standard English; there are even still some rural places where Gaelic is the first language and English the second. 

What do I think I am, an etyomologist? 

Oh, and I think it's hilarious that the "Snow White and the Three Clowns" poster still says that it stars Carol Heiss and the Three Stooges! That's Irish civil service for you— the censors had probably just returned from a three-Guinness lunch...

 

[attachment deleted by admin]

[BeAStooge]

I have a theory about this temporary name change: if "stooge" had sexual connotations mainly in England, then that would have been more common in the speech of Northern Ireland (Ulster), which was (and remains) under British control. So, you might expect a poster to read "Hooges" in the North, but maybe not in Dublin or anywhere south of there. On the map, you can see that only the yellow counties are the North (they should have been orange, but never mind).

As you get away from the urban areas of the country, the language gets more heavily accented and has a somewhat different vocabulary than standard English— there are even still some rural places where Gaelic is the first language and English the second. 

That answers a lot of questions.  In the paragraph prior to the 'Hooges' comment, Moe mentions that their week-long appearance in Dublin was during a Northern march, to martyr graves in Dublin.  That would explain the theater manager's comment/(concern?) to Moe.

But, Langton's research documentation shows that there was no billing change.  The Three Stooges performed as 'The Three Stooges' at Dublin's Royal Theater.

... the censors had probably just returned from a three-Guinness lunch

Grin and beer it.