The Stooges

The 3 Stooges started out in Vaudeville in the 1930s as Ted Healy and his Stooges, but moved into movies, first at MGM, then to Columbia. Their short films were wildly popular, and although shorts fell out of favor in general, the Stooges kept the Columbia short film department open long after other studios had given up on them.

There were actually 5 Stooges in the movies. When the act started, Moe (Moe Howard), Shemp (Moe’s brother Sam Howard) and Larry (Larry Fine) were the original 3 Stooges. Shemp left the act due to Ted Healy’s actions. Shemp was replaced by another Howard brother, Curly (Curly Howard). In 1946 Curly suffered a stroke, and appeared as a cameo in only one movie after that. Shemp returned to the act in 1947, and remained a Stooge until he died of a heart attrack in 1955. Nevertheless, he appeared in 4 more films, using archive footage made before his death. What a trooper! In 1956 the fifth Stooge, Joe Besser, joined the group. Besser’s character was not Stooge-like, and the newer films made in 1956-1957 were not as popular.

The 3 Stooges were fired by Columbia in December of 1957. Nevertheless, there were enough films “in the can” that the last 3 Stooges film was released in 1959. The Stooges were out on the street, and Columbia/Screen Gems sold the rights to the shorts to TV. Because of the huge number of shorts made between 1932 and 1959, the Stooges appeared on TV every day, often several times a day.

Moe and Larry became hugely popular as live performers, touring the country and making personal appearances. Because Joe Besser couldn’t travel, Moe hired the sixth Stooge, Curly Joe (Joe DeRita), who looked and acted a lot like Curly. From 1959 to 1965 the 3 Stooges made several full-length feature films, including “The 3 Stooges Meet Hercules” and “The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze”. There was also a 3 Stooges animated show, using the voices of Moe, Larry and Curly Joe.

The Kits

These are 3 distinct kits, each selling for a MSRP of $18.99. If for some reason you hate Larry, you can buy the other 2 kits and make do. The 3 Stooges offered are from the heyday of the short films, 1932 to 1946.

The instructions are very good, with a very helpful step by step assembly sequence which relates to the exploded drawing. I painted the subassemblies as I worked, using some putty and scraping a few seams. I did quite a bit of brush painting on these models, so they took a little longer than the standard military equipment/aircraft I normally build. There was no flash on the parts, and the places where the trees connect to the part needed only a little attention with a knife.

I painted the “safari” clothing, arms, legs, hands and faces with an airbrush, then as I moved on, I did the detail work with a standard brush. Moe and Larry’s white shirts, the ties on all 3 Stooges, and the socks were all brush work. Note that I departed from the painting instructions on Moe’s socks. First of all, I used a different color. Second, look at the painting instruction, then look at the box art. Ooooohkaaaay!

If that’s the worst thing you can say about the fit, finish, molding, detail or instructions, you’re in clover.

I did the painting of the torches and Larry’s “fire pot” a little differently. I painted the fire red and yellow on the inside of the clear parts, then assembled the parts. I painted the copper for the pot and the gold for the torches using Testors ® paints through the airbrush.

The only assembly problem happened during this portion of the project. Larry is holding the large fire pot in both hands. The hands have bulges and the urn has dimples which match the bulges. The hands fit fairly tightly into the sleeves, I had already glued the arms to the torso, but was able to turn the right hand to match the dimple in the pot. When I tried the same thing with the left hand, I ripped his arm off. Fix the arm with CA and recognize that sometimes things don’t fit perfectly.

Overall Evaluation

Highly Recommended. The kits go together well, there aren’t any show-stopper problems, the faces look like Moe, Curly and Larry, and they’re a hoot to pose once they’re assembled.

Caption for the final picture (with the Polar Lights Giant Insect)
Moe: Hey, quit poking me you pinhead!
Larry: I never did nothin’!
Curly: Nyuk, nyuk, who you callin’ a pinhead? You know I’m a numbskull!