I received one of those 50 classic DVD movie sets for Father's Day, and I didn't have time to watch them until my vacation last week. It turned out there were four Stooges shorts. If you don't know, my entire family is female; I have my wife Brenda, my 13-year-old daughter Sarah, my 16-year-old cat Velvet, my six-year-old dog Kiki, and two fish, Wanda and Alan (don't ask.)

My wife told me years ago that the Stooges were a "guy thing"; women just don't get them. She grew up with two brothers who made her watch them when they were on tv, so that's where she got her opinion. My bro and I watched them when we were young, but I hadn't really watched any shorts for at least 30 years.

I started by playing the 1936 "Disorder in the Court" with the original lineup of Larry, Moe and Curly, for Sarah (Brenda was indisposed.)
It only took a few minutes before she was smiling and then laughing out loud. By the time they were shooting the "tarantula", Sarah was roaring.

Brenda came out when I started playing the 1947 "Malice in the Palace" with Shemp replacing Curly. Brenda was laughing so hard, I thought she was having a heart attack. When I checked and found that she was actually OK, she informed me that "maybe" she was wrong about the Stooges.

We also watched "Brideless Groom" and "Sing a Song of Six Pants", which have their admirers but I feel aren't quite up to the first two. Anybody have anything to share about these guys. You can count Curly Joe, if you want, since he was basically in all the feature films.

P.S. Remember, I'm a high-class film buff/student/historian who believes in this very-serious art form. Let's try to keep the discussion on a high-brow level. (Right.)

I am also a huge Stooge fan. They remind me of when I used to stay up late at my grandparent's house and watch them. Content never bothers me, but it is nice to see good classic comedy that doesn't involve sex, feces or cursing. I am really looking forward to showing these to my kids someday (if we ever have any). I hope that they will appreciate them as much as I do.

Have you seen the new Three Stooges DVD sets? They have them in color now. I guess it is to drag a bigger crowd in to enjoy them, but I think it takes away from the experience. I don't know, maybe I'm just sentimental.

My all-time favorite Stooges flick is Cookoo Cavaliers (1940). The boys think they've bought a saloon when actually they've purchased a salon.

I don't own much Stooges on dvd or vhs. I can never find decent quality prints (no wonder they sell so cheap). Plus, I see more latter day Stooges offered than not. Sorry, no Joe DeRita or Besser here. Shemp's okay sometimes but "soitenly" nothin' beats the original Curly Howard. Nyuk nyuk nyuk!

one of the best classic comedies. .