Marx brothers, or the Three Stooges?

[Temporal Renegade]

Ah, the age-old debate, that has plagued us for decades:
who are the masters of brotherly comedy, the Brothers Marx, or the Brothers Howard (with assists from various non-relations, of course).

[Temporal Renegade]

Can't leave out the others now, can we?

[shemp]

The correct answer is obvious. Anyone getting it wrong gets a pie in the face!

[kedo1981]

This issue deserves serous scientific investigation.
One would need at least 10 videos of each trio’s best work, 2 large pizzas with the works, beer, big bag O weed; I’m set how bout you?

[BTox]

Three Stooges of course. It's not even close!

[RSLancastr]

The Marx brothers by miles.

[a_unique_person]

The intellectuals always preferred the Marx brothers, the proles the Stooges.

Maybe you shold do a poll, along the lines of

My IQ is 150 and above, and I prefer the Marx Brothers.
My IQ is 50 and below, and I prefer the Stooges.

[Zep]

Do I HAVE to choose?

What about (d) None of the above?

[Tricky]

Originally posted by a_unique_person
The intellectuals always preferred the Marx brothers, the proles the Stooges.

Maybe you shold do a poll, along the lines of

My IQ is 150 and above, and I prefer the Marx Brothers.
My IQ is 50 and below, and I prefer the Stooges.
Actually, I think the breakdown is more along the lines of:

Age 15 and below - Three Stooges
Age 21 and above - Marx Brothers
(with an even mix in the 16-20 zone)

[shemp]

Originally posted by Tricky

Actually, I think the breakdown is more along the lines of:

Age 15 and below - Three Stooges
Age 21 and above - Marx Brothers
(with an even mix in the 16-20 zone)

********e! There is no age preference, nor IQ preference either! The Stooges' popularity crosses all lines.

The Marx Brothers made 13 feature-length films, of which it is generally agreed that 8 were good and 5 were stinkers. However, The Three Stooges made 190 short films and 7 feature length films (not counting their early efforts with Ted Healy, where they were mostly relegated to minor roles). The vast majority of these films were very funny, with the exception of those made in the Joe Besser era.

The Marx Brothers' popularity pretty much spanned the 1930's and then died out. The Three Stooges are still very popular today. The choice is clear: STOOGES!

[Mark]

Why choose? It'd be like choosing between chalk and cheese. I love 'em both.

[luvtinayothers]

There's a big difference between the Three Stooges and the Marx Bros.

The Marx Brothers are funny.

[Psi Baba]

The real burning question is why don't women like the Three Stooges? (Not many like the Marx Brothers either,for that matter). Or do they?

[kittynh]

Well, I LOVE teh Marx brothers. But when I'm with my brothers you'd better believe we all love to watch the Stooges!

Seriously, what was childhood without trying to recreate one of their mirthful playful "poke the eyes out, bop on the head, fingers up the nose, make the WHHHOOOPPPPPPWWWHHHOOPPPWHOOPPP noise" sessions?

I used to be really good at the old imitating a bull before going into combat with my brothers...

America, who says we don't have any culture!

[Ove]

********e! There is no age preference, nor IQ preference either! The Stooges' popularity crosses all lines.

No it doesn't. The stooges are virtually unknown outside USA whilst the Marx brothers are known world wide. I have never seen a Stooges film and it isn't because i don't want to, they've simply not been shown over her but i have known Marx Brothers since childhood and their movies are easily available and shown regularily on TV.

[a_unique_person]

Originally posted by Ove


No it doesn't. The stooges are virtually unknown outside USA whilst the Marx brothers are known world wide. I have never seen a Stooges film and it isn't because i don't want to, they've simply not been shown over her but i have known Marx Brothers since childhood and their movies are easily available and shown regularily on TV.

They were popular in Australia. They are flogging DVDs of their old shows in the shop just around the corner. If I have learned anything about the German sense of humour, I would guess they are popular there too.

[The Central Scrutinizer]

Originally posted by Temporal Renegade
Ah, the age-old debate, that has plagued us for decades:
who are the masters of brotherly comedy, the Brothers Marx, or the Brothers Howard (with assists from various non-relations, of course).

It's really apples and oranges - they were essentially in two different mediums - full length films vs 16 minute shorts.

Personally, I have always been a HUGE Stooges fan. The only people who don't like them are chicks and gay males.

[RSLancastr]

Originally posted by The Central Scrutinizer
The only people who don't like them are chicks and gay males. And straight men with taste.

Once you've seen one Stooges short, you've seen them all.

[Temporal Renegade]

Originally posted by Psi Baba
The real burning question is why don't women like the Three Stooges? (Not many like the Marx Brothers either,for that matter). Or do they?

Actually, my S.O. does like them; she just has to be in the right frame of mind for them.
Now if I could only get her to watch StarGate SG-1...

[BPSCG]

Originally posted by Psi Baba
The real burning question is why don't women like the Three Stooges?
There was a sitcom a coupla years ago called "Love and War" with Jay Thomas (guy who played Carla's goalie boyfriend Eddie LeBeq on "Cheers") and Susan Dey. One episode they're both sick in bed with the Martian Death Flu or something and he's driving her nuts channel surfing. But then he finally hits the channel where the first words are "NYUK NYUK NYUK", and he starts laughing helplessly.

Meanwhile, she's sitting there looking totally baffled. See, she's trying to reason why this should be so funny:

"I don't understand this. Moe keeps hitting Larry and Curly. But they keep hanging out with him. What strange power does he have over them...?"

[SteveW]

"Can you sleep on your stomach with those big buttons on your pajamas" is infinitly superior to "Nyuk Nyuk"

[BTox]

Originally posted by The Central Scrutinizer


Personally, I have always been a HUGE Stooges fan. The only people who don't like them are chicks and gay males.

Amen!

[DrMatt]

Originally posted by RSLancastr
And straight men with taste.

Once you've seen one Stooges short, you've seen them all.

They weren't very tall, true.
What about duos?
Abbott and Costello, Laurel and Hardy, Ball and Arnez...
In a curious sort of way, Griffith and Knots worked as a team too, though each had a brilliant stand-up career before they were sanitized onto television together... their stand-up solo stuff wayyyyy outshines their TV pairing, though.

[DrMatt]

Harpo actually played his own harp, that counts for points in my book--whereas Curly suffered his own concussions on the set... I guess that's good for points too.

[Peach Jr.]

Harpo wasn't the only musician in the bunch. I remember Chico playing a mean piano solo in one or two movies.

I don't understand why you can't like both. I do. The Stooges hold some good late-night-in-college memories for me. The Marx Brothers are just plain laugh-out-loud funny. Plus my dad's a Marx Brothers fan.

[BTox]

Originally posted by DrMatt
Harpo actually played his own harp, that counts for points in my book--whereas Curly suffered his own concussions on the set... I guess that's good for points too.

Larry could play the violin.. :p

[Mark]

Originally posted by BTox


Larry could play the violin.. :p

And Moe could get some quite musical sounds from thumping on Curly's head. N'Yuck, n'yuck!

[boooeee]

Originally posted by Shemp
The correct answer is obvious. Anyone getting it wrong gets a pie in the face!

I couldn't agree more.

Do you prefer Boston Cream or Lemon Meringue?

[Temporal Renegade]

Actually, I think Harpo said it best:
"........................................."

I think we can all learn something from that...

[luvtinayothers]

Originally posted by Peach Jr.
Harpo wasn't the only musician in the bunch. I remember Chico playing a mean piano solo in one or two movies.



One or two???? He played the piano in all of them!

[Lemastre]

Half of whatever slight humor a Stooges feature might exhibit was provided by the sound-effects department.

[Peach Jr.]

Originally posted by luvtinayothers


One or two???? He played the piano in all of them!

I thought he did, but was afraid to say so...it's been a while since I've seen more than one or two of their movies (usually it's A Night at the Opera and Duck Soup). ;)

[jj]

Who's on first?:wink8:

[Ove]

Harpo actually played his own harp, that counts for points in my book

Actually in one movie he plays on a smashed piano and in another he plays on some indian weaving thingy but you are right he was an incredibly gifted musician. You can really se him changing expression completely when he plays and NO he WASN'T mute.

Chico was a good Piano player and he had some funny tricks with his right hand you'll see in most movies. After the movies he had his own band and toured a lot, unforutnately he was an incuable gambler and died totally broke.

An often overlooked fact is that Groucho was a really good singer. I dare anybody to try "Lydia the tatooed Lady" an do it as well as he did.

Musicality has a lot to do with timing and there is no duobt that the fact that they all were gifted musicians also contributed to their comedy (that also relies heavily on timing).

Who's on first?

I don't know?

HE'S ON THIRD

:dl: :dl: :dl:

[Zep]

No no no.

Hoose on first.
Watts on second.
Third base - Ideno.

Let's get it right.

And why does shemp have a picture of Moe as his avatar?? Is that supposed to be funny? Some sort of in-crowd intellectual joke?

[Zep]

Hope I'm forgiven the forum rules by quoting in full, but this is one of the best bits of American humour of any time.
Abbott: Alright, now whaddya want?
Costello: Now look, I'm the head of the sports department. I gotta know the baseball players' names. Do you know the guys' names?
Abbott: Oh sure.
Costello: So you go ahead and tell me some of their names.
Abbott: Well, I'll introduce you to the boys. You know sometimes nowadays they give ballplayers peculiar names.
Costello: You mean funny names.
Abbott: Nicknames, pet names, like Dizzy Dean -
Costello: His brother Daffy -
Abbott: Daffy Dean -
Costello: And their cousin!
Abbott: Who's that?
Costello: Goofy!
Abbott: Goofy, huh? Now let's see. We have on the bags - we have Who's on first, What's on second, I Don't Know's on third.
Costello: That's what I wanna find out.
Abbott: I say Who's on first, What's on second, I Don't Know's on third -
Costello: You know the fellows' names?
Abbott: Certainly!
Costello: Well then who's on first?
Abbott: Yes!
Costello: I mean the fellow's name!
Abbott: Who!
Costello: The guy on first!
Abbott: Who!
Costello: The first baseman!
Abbott: Who!
Costello: The guy playing first!
Abbott: Who is on first!
Costello: Now whaddya askin' me for?
Abbott: I'm telling you Who is on first.
Costello: Well, I'm asking YOU who's on first!
Abbott: That's the man's name.
Costello: That's who's name?
Abbott: Yes.
Costello: Well go ahead and tell me.
Abbott: Who.
Costello: The guy on first.
Abbott: Who!
Costello: The first baseman.
Abbott: Who is on first!
Costello: Have you got a contract with the first baseman?
Abbott: Absolutely.
Costello: Who signs the contract?
Abbott: Well, naturally!
Costello: When you pay off the first baseman every month, who gets the money?
Abbott: Every dollar. Why not? The man's entitled to it.
Costello: Who is?
Abbott: Yes. Sometimes his wife comes down and collects it.
Costello: Who's wife?
Abbott: Yes.
Costello: All I'm tryin' to find out is what's the guy's name on first base.
Abbott: Oh, no - wait a minute, don't switch 'em around. What is on second base.
Costello: I'm not askin' you who's on second.
Abbott: Who is on first.
Costello: I don't know.
Abbott: He's on third - now we're not talkin' 'bout him.
Costello: Now, how did I get on third base?
Abbott: You mentioned his name!
Costello: If I mentioned the third baseman's name, who did I say is playing third?
Abbott: No - Who's playing first.
Costello: Never mind first - I wanna know what's the guy's name on third.
Abbott: No - What's on second.
Costello: I'm not askin' you who's on second.
Abbott: Who's on first.
Costello: I don't know.
Abbott: He's on third.
Costello: Aaah! Would you please stay on third base and don't go off it?
Abbott: What was it you wanted?
Costello: Now who's playin' third base?
Abbott: Now why do you insist on putting Who on third base?
Costello: Why? Who am I putting over there?
Abbott: Yes. But we don't want him there.
Costello: What's the guy's name on third base?
Abbott: What belongs on second.
Costello: I'm not askin' you who's on second.
Abbott: Who's on first.
Costello: I don't know.
Abbott & Costello: THIRD BASE!
Costello: You got an outfield?
Abbott: Oh yes!
Costello: The left fielder's name?
Abbott: Why.
Costello: I don't know, I just thought I'd ask you.
Abbott: Well, I just thought I'd tell you.
Costello: Alright, then tell me who's playin' left field.
Abbott: Who is playing fir-
Costello: STAY OUTTA THE INFIELD! I wanna know what's the left fielder's name.
Abbott: What's on second.
Costello: I'm not askin' you who's on second.
Abbott: Who's on first.
Costello: I don't know.
Abbott & Costello: THIRD BASE!
Costello: The left fielder's name?
Abbott: Why.
Costello: Because!
Abbott: Oh, he's center field.
Costello: Look, you gotta pitcher on this team?
Abbott: Now wouldn't this be a fine team without a pitcher.
Costello: The pitcher's name.
Abbott: Tomorrow.
Costello: You don't wanna tell me today?
Abbott: I'm tellin' you now.
Costello: Then go ahead.
Abbott: Tomorrow.
Costello: What time?
Abbott: What time what?
Costello: What time tomorrow are you going to tell me who's pitching?
Abbott: Now listen. Who is not pitching. Who is on fir-
Costello: I'll break your arm if you say Who's on first. I wanna know what's the pitcher's name.
Abbott: What's on second.
Costello: I don't know.
Abbott & Costello: THIRD BASE!
Costello: You got a catcher?
Abbott: Oh, absolutely.
Costello: The catcher's name.
Abbott: Today.
Costello: Today. And Tomorrow's pitching.
Abbott: Now you've got it.
Costello: All we've got is a couple of days on the team.
Abbott: Well, I can't help that.
Costello: Well, I'm a catcher too.
Abbott: I know that.
Costello: Now suppose that I'm catching, Tomorrow's pitching on my team and their heavy hitter gets up.
Abbott: Yes.
Costello: Tomorrow throws the ball. The batter bunts the ball. When he bunts the ball, me being a good catcher, I wanna throw the guy out at first base. So I pick up the ball and throw it to who?
Abbott: Now that's the first thing you've said right.
Costello: I don't even know what I'm talkin' about!
Abbott: Well, that's all you have to do.
Costello: Is to throw the ball to first base.
Abbott: Yes.
Costello: Now who's got it?
Abbott: Naturally!
Costello: If I throw the ball to first base, somebody's gotta catch it. Now who caught it?
Abbott: Naturally!
Costello: Who caught it?
Abbott: Naturally.
Costello: Who?
Abbott: Naturally!
Costello: Naturally.
Abbott: Yes.
Costello: So I pick up the ball and I throw it to Naturally.
Abbott: NO, NO, NO! You throw the ball to first base and Who gets it?
Costello: Naturally.
Abbott: That's right. There we go.
Costello: So I pick up the ball and I throw it to Naturally.
Abbott: You don't!
Costello: I throw it to who?
Abbott: Naturally.
Costello: THAT'S WHAT I'M SAYING!
Abbott: You're not saying it that way.
Costello: I said I throw the ball to Naturally.
Abbott: You don't - you throw the ball to Who?
Costello: Naturally!
Abbott: Well, say that!
Costello: THAT'S WHAT I'M SAYING! I throw the ball to who?
Abbott: Naturally.
Costello: Ask me.
Abbott: You throw the ball to Who?
Costello: Naturally.
Abbott: That's it.
Costello: SAME AS YOU!! I throw the ball to first base and who gets it?
Abbott: Naturally!
Costello: Who has it?
Abbott: Naturally!
Costello: HE BETTER HAVE IT! I throw the ball to first base. Whoever it is grabs the ball, so the guy runs to second. Who picks up the ball and throws it to What, What throws it to I Don't Know, I Don't Know throws it back to Tomorrow - triple play.
Abbott: Yes.
Costello: Another guy gets up - it's a long fly ball to Because. Why? I don't know. He's on third and I don't give a darn!
Abbott: What was that?
Costello: I said I don't give a darn!
Abbott: Oh, that's our shortstop.

[Ove]

Thank you, i start laughing loud everytime i hear (or read) that.

:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:
:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

[Temporal Renegade]

Originally posted by Ove
[B]

Actually in one movie he plays on a smashed piano and in another he plays on some indian weaving thingy but you are right he was an incredibly gifted musician. You can really se him changing expression completely when he plays and NO he WASN'T mute.

Chico was a good Piano player and he had some funny tricks with his right hand you'll see in most movies. After the movies he had his own band and toured a lot, unforutnately he was an incuable gambler and died totally broke.

An often overlooked fact is that Groucho was a really good singer. I dare anybody to try "Lydia the tatooed Lady" an do it as well as he did.

Musicality has a lot to do with timing and there is no duobt that the fact that they all were gifted musicians also contributed to their comedy (that also relies heavily on timing).



Plus, Harpo's wig was also red, NOT blonde.
The things ya learn when ya least expect it...

[ceptimus]

Where's Zeppo?

[a_unique_person]

This is the kind of thread that could start to get pretty ugly....

[Ove]

Where's Zeppo?

He actually played the "nice young man" in a couple of their movies and was quite a good singer too. ;)

This is the kind of thread that could start to get pretty ugly....

Yea and i'm drunk, tomorrow i'll be sober but you....... Wait, that was WC. :D

[DrMatt]

Originally posted by a_unique_person
This is the kind of thread that could start to get pretty ugly....

One or the other! Make up your mind!

[The Central Scrutinizer]

Originally posted by Zep
No no no.

Hoose on first.
Watts on second.
Third base - Ideno.

Let's get it right.

And why does shemp have a picture of Moe as his avatar?? Is that supposed to be funny? Some sort of in-crowd intellectual joke?

He doesn't. That's Shemp.

[fishbob]

Zep, Zep, Zep Zep Zep - you can't tell Shemp from Moe? The cultural honor of American males is now sullied, perhaps forever. I weep. I hang my head in shame.

[a_unique_person]

Actually, I've heard rumours Shemp is thinking of changing his name to JoeBesser. See if I'm not right.

[fhios]

Originally posted by shemp


********e! There is no age preference, nor IQ preference either! The Stooges' popularity crosses all lines.

I dunno. Even when I was a kid, I didn't like the stooges.

The Marx Brothers made 13 feature-length films, of which it is generally agreed that 8 were good and 5 were stinkers.

The only "stinker" I can think of is Night in Casablanca, and that still manages to be a presentably little comedy. It just doesn't seem like much cause we end up expecting a lot out of the Marxs. Which are your other stinkers?

However, The Three Stooges made 190 short films...

Using exactly the same sight-gags in each. Also: number of films produced means nothing. Burt Reynolds has been in God knows how many movies, and he still has no talent. And he actually manages to be in feature films. The Stooges were cranking out shorts to preceed the feature films, and to keep their jobs, they may have merely had to get their film in the can cheaply enough to please the studion heads.

The Marx Brothers' popularity pretty much spanned the 1930's and then died out. The Three Stooges are still very popular today. The choice is clear: STOOGES!

The Marxs aren't popular? "Why, dat's de' most reh-dic-ulous ting I ev'r hoid." outside of my own attempts to write in vernacular, of course.

[fhios]

Originally posted by RSLancastr
And straight men with taste.

Once you've seen one Stooges short, you've seen them all.

Right on, on both counts.

[tim]

Sorry...............who are the Three Stooges? :confused:

[sam catte12]

Marx Brothers...Sorry but pretty much no one outside the USA has ever seen or cared about the Stooges.

It's a bit like calling your baseball competition the "world series"...

Best ever Marx Brothers, "Duck Soup" and"Night at the Opera"

[The Central Scrutinizer]

Originally posted by tim
Sorry...............who are the Three Stooges? :confused:

The Three Stooges (http://www.threestooges.com/)

[Zep]

Originally posted by fishbob
Zep, Zep, Zep Zep Zep - you can't tell Shemp from Moe? The cultural honor of American males is now sullied, perhaps forever. I weep. I hang my head in shame. Ummm, no, I can't tell them apart if that IS Shemp and not Moe. It seems I was labouring under a misapprehension all these years... But I'm a big guy - I can take it when someone tells me I'm wrong! {sob}

And don't feel your American cultural identity is in any way besmirched - no-one much outside Australia has any idea who Norman Gunston or Aunty Jack or Effie are.

Guess I'm having to plump for The Marx Bros instead, having shown my Stooges ignorance.

(So ....... he's not Curly Joe either???)

[shemp]

fhios wrote:

The only "stinker" I can think of is Night in Casablanca, and that still manages to be a presentably little comedy. It just doesn't seem like much cause we end up expecting a lot out of the Marxs. Which are your other stinkers?

Love Happy (http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0041604/) is horrendous. I sat through this piece of crap not once but TWICE and failed to laugh once either time. The Big Store (http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0033388/) has way too many musical routines, and when the Marx Brothers are on camera, they aren't funny. Go West (http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0032536/) is a pathetic piece of trash.

The last good film they made was A Day at the Races. (http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0028772/) Everything after that is a complete waste of time.

[a_unique_person]

So, when are you going to change your name to JoeBesser? I have tipped everyone it is going to be real soon.

[Ove]

Love Happy is horrendous. I sat through this piece of crap not once but TWICE and failed to laugh once either time. The Big Store has way too many musical routines, and when the Marx Brothers are on camera, they aren't funny. Go West is a pathetic piece of trash.

You have a good point but while i don't agree 100% with you you'll notice that theese movies are amongst their last. They made the last movies NOT because they wanted, in fact Groucho didn't really like to make movies anymore, but Chico was hoplessly in debt because of his gambling and the two others made the movies to help him.

It is not an excuse, it's an explanation.;)

[RSLancastr]

Originally posted by shemp
The last good film they made was A Day at the Races. (http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0028772/) Everything after that is a complete waste of time. Possibly.

However, everything after the opening five minutes of the first short the Stooges made was a waste of time.

[shemp]

Originally posted by a_unique_person
So, when are you going to change your name to JoeBesser? I have tipped everyone it is going to be real soon.

Maybe the day you change yours to "Flaming Butthole".

[a_unique_person]

Originally posted by shemp


Maybe the day you change yours to "Flaming Butthole".

Do you know what this will do to my credibility? :mad:

[shemp]

Originally posted by a_unique_person


Do you know what this will do to my credibility? :mad:

What credibility?

[Ove]

Come now Shemp/AU, if you don't watch it this thread will be moved to "Flame Wars".:roll: Let's get back to the topic (Trashing The Stooges :bricks: )

[TillEulenspiegel]

Jeeze thats like asking Picasso or Dali...Bach or Mozart

[UserGoogol]

Moe Curly and Shemp, looked very much alike, save for their distinctive characters. (Curly started shaving his head, IIRC, so people wouldn't get confused.)

Same with the Marx brothers, as made apparent in the "mirror" scene in Duck Soup.

[Jessica Blue]

My IQ is 150 and above, and I prefer the Marx Brothers.
My IQ is 50 and below, and I prefer the Stooges.

Oh...definitely the Marx Bros[ahem]. 'specially Karl...he was SO funny.


[serous mode/]I think the Stooges were 99/% slapstick which wore thin...while the Marx Bros. were slapstick AND had cynical, witty repartee. I've never seen anything by the Stooges that could even come close to Duck Soup.

The Marx Bros. also had the extra bonus of musical talent.



Who are you going to believe, me or your own eyes?
Groucho

[Charlie in Dayton]

There's room for both...Stooges when you're feeling decidedly masculine, and Marx&Co for more intellectual (relatively speaking) moods.
They didn't do much Marx-ism (ooooooh, I made a funny!) on the tube when I was a kinder. It was all Stooges. My exposure to the Marx Brothers could stand to be expanded.

[TomStockholm]

The Marx Brothers for Duck Soup alone.

The perfect merging of great comic talent with a brilliant director, Leo McCarey. (And Margeret Dumont was brought back to be the perfect foil for Groucho).

And the only one of the Brothers films without any harp or piano solos (but a brilliant musical pastiche, "All Gods chillen got guns").

Having said that I love the harp and piano stuff in the other films as well.
The great Jonathan Richman got it right in his song "When Harpo Played his Harp".

"Do you remember what he would do sometimes before he played
Well he'd look up to the sky, and he'd look the angel's way
Harpo, Harpo, when you start
Tears of joy inside my heart
When Harpo played his harp and all was still"

[Mark]

Originally posted by TomStockholm
The Marx Brothers for Duck Soup alone.

The perfect merging of great comic talent with a brilliant director, Leo McCarey. (And Margeret Dumont was brought back to be the perfect foil for Groucho).

And the only one of the Brothers films without any harp or piano solos (but a brilliant musical pastiche, "All Gods chillen got guns").

Having said that I love the harp and piano stuff in the other films as well.
The great Jonathan Richman got it right in his song "When Harpo Played his Harp".

"Do you remember what he would do sometimes before he played
Well he'd look up to the sky, and he'd look the angel's way
Harpo, Harpo, when you start
Tears of joy inside my heart
When Harpo played his harp and all was still"

Ironically, "Duck Soup" was not a hit when it came out (and was quite controversial at the time for its anti-war stance), and cost them their Paramount contract. Clearly one of their best though, despite Leo McCarey's unfortunate decision to not include any solo musical performances by Harpo and Chico.

It was banned in Italy by the Mussolini government.

[TomStockholm]

Originally posted by Mark


Ironically, "Duck Soup" was not a hit when it came out (and was quite controversial at the time for its anti-war stance), and cost them their Paramount contract. Clearly one of their best though, despite Leo McCarey's unfortunate decision to not include any solo musical performances by Harpo and Chico.

It was banned in Italy by the Mussolini government.

It also didn't contain any love interest, in my opinion a great decision by the director.

[Mark]

Originally posted by TomStockholm


It also didn't contain any love interest, in my opinion a great decision by the director.

I agree, although I do think the love interest in "A Night at the Opera" worked pretty well. Compared to the earlier films, anyway.

[shecky]

I grew up loving them both. Marx Bros were common Saturday afternoon/late night fare, the Stooges shorts were broadcast daily for the after school crowd.

I think the Stooge short format definitely helped their proliferation in the pop psyche. Cheap and easy filler, easy on short young attention spans. But their feature length movies stunk. Seems if they could have stretched a typical short out to 70 min. would have ended up worked better than their movies.

I've been introducing my 6 & 8 year old kids to these flix (Marx and Stooge) for the last couple years, and can truthfully say the Marx bros go over much better at my age. Kids like both.

Had the Stooges bothered to use even moderately better dialogue/wit, it might be a closer choice.

[lofgoernost]

I grew up watching the Stooges, and relishing every minute they were on.

As a kid I could never sit through a Marx Bros. film...Harpo freaked me out too much. The other day I was channel-surfing and paused for a minute on Lucille Ball mimicking Harpo; even that freaked me out.

Maybe it's the hair.

[CaptDrakes]

The stooges are funny in short doses, which is good that they were mainly in 16 minute shorts.

The Marx brothers always said things that could make you laugh even after the movie. Some of my favorites are:

Groucho: "I never forget a face, but in your case I'll be glad to make an exception."

Chico: "The garbage man is here."
Groucho: "Well, tell him we don't want any."

Groucho: (as explorer Captain Spaulding, talking about his latest trip to Africa)
"We took some pictures of the native girls but they weren't developed.
But we're going back again in a couple of weeks !"

Chico: "Don't wake him up, he's got insomnia. He's trying to sleep it of."


On You Bet Your Life -
Groucho: "You have ten children?"
Contestant on the show: "Yes, I love my husband very much."
Groucho: "Well, I love my cigar too, but I take it out once in a while."

From Groucho's appearance on The New Bill Cosby Show (1973) :
Bill Cosby: "What do you think of women's rights?"
Groucho: "I like both sides of 'em."

[Patricio Elicer]

Originally posted by Ove
No it doesn't. The stooges are virtually unknown outside USA whilst the Marx brothers are known world wide In Chile it's just the other way around. The Stooges were broadcast in the early years of Chilean TV, that is, in the 60s. And they are broadcast to this day on a daily basis by local and cable TV stations. However, I'm not sure who the Marx Brothers are.

For some reason, the Stooges make me laugh out loud to this day. Also, and this is a revealing fact, they greately caught the attention of my little nephew at the age 4. Despite all the modern animation technology, he was literally stuck at the TV set for hours enjoying those old black & white shorts.

IMO, the Stooges created a completly novel humoristic style, parts of which have been re-invented and taken by later humor performers, like Benny Hill for example.

[a_unique_person]

Originally posted by Patricio Elicer

IMO, the Stooges created a completly novel humoristic style, parts of which have been re-invented and taken by later humor performers, like Benny Hill for example.

Yes, the start of a long and proud tradition.

[Iamme]

I am a Shemp fan, myself. The shorts that had Shemp in them featured more gangster story lines. I loved the one with Ichobod Slip. How Shemp and Ichobod got into a boxing match in that office.

I also liked the short where Shemps uncle Mortimer kicked him out of heaven for a while. Uncle Mortimer threw a fake lightening bolt at him. ROFLAO), and he came down and haunted Moe and Larry.

But there were favorites I had with Curly as well. I loved those high-society parties such as when they showed up as the plumbers, or the exterminators. Or, when they were being refined by a teacher on the proper mannors of eating soup, and a clam would start shooting liquid out at Curly. And the one that led to a pie fight.

And the one with that goofy professor, that led to a clay fight. ROFLMAO. Or, trying to let the water out of the boat. And I loved that one when they were in one of those mideast or southeast countries where they are being chased around by some guy with a turban, and they hide out in a wicker basket, as they are getting a sword plunged in at them.

And the one when they went to Ireland or Scotland to find the missing Link, and were in that castle with those crooks that looked like spooks.

And the one when the crooks wound up at the laundry shop where the stooges worked, and they got one of the crooks in a press, and also some clamping device where they kept turning this submarine style door lock wheel, and it would make that squeek sound, and the guys head started making a nutcracker sound. ROFLMAO.

I always found that I would laugh the loudest, when watching the Stooges, when I was in a room with a sourpuss or two who didn't think it was funny. I'd be tearing up and my stomach would be aching, and they'd look at me like I was an 8 year old kid again, and I'd laugh all the harder. Sort of like if you were to fart in church, during a quiet time. Nothing funnier than that. To see the expression on peoples faces like, "WELL! I NEVER!" LMAO.