Larry, Moe and Curly. No, these aren’t the names of the characters from the Pep Boys automotive chain commercials, they are perhaps the three funniest guys ever to grace the silver screen: The Three Stooges. Long exiled to $1.00 DVD racks, the same eight public domain Stooges shorts have circulated for years. It was nearly impossible to see any Three Stooges shorts from the golden age…and especially with…ok, I’ll say it: the ones with Curly in them. Every real fan of The Three Stooges is a connoisseur, and can appreciate the individual comic talents of Larry Fine, Moe Howard, Shemp Howard and even Curly Joe Derita. But deep in their secret heart it is Curly that really lights their fire.

Curly is magic, bouncing his childlike personality brilliantly off of surly Moe and hapless, wire-haired Larry. His iconic exclamations: “Soitenly!” and weird, self-satisfied laugh “nyuk nyuk nyuk” have become part of American pop culture. In 1946 Curly suffered a massive stroke while filming a Three Stooges short, and his health was never the same after that. There were many adequate and funny replacements into the Stooges act after his retirement, but he really was the standout part of the group and died in 1952 at age 48. It would be wise to take advantage of the shorts released from this “golden age”- the Curly years, - to enjoy the very best of the act.

Columbia Pictures has done a wonderful thing, releasing this collection of Three Stooges shorts, in chronological order, re-mastered from the original negatives.  This collection is Volume Three in the series, covering the Stooges shorts from 1940 to 1942, and The Stooges are in great form. Interesting ones to see are Curly’s personal favorite “A-Plumbing We Will Go” and the anti-Nazi farce “You Nazty Spy”, featuring Moe as the famous and absurdly stylized dictator. Clocking in at approximately 396 minutes, there is a lot of hilarity here to enjoy. You feel like you have gotten your money’s worth.

Though I have loved The Three Stooges since I was a little girl, I’m not sure that children today would have the sophistication to really enjoy the slapstick, or to be able to overlook the painful stereotypes of African Americans that sometimes crop up in the shorts, though they are present in most shorts and films of the time. Then again, what do I know; legend has it that girls don’t usually like The Three Stooges at all. Maybe these releases from their peak years will accept new fans into the fold, and The Three Stooges’ strange brand of comedy will live far into the 21^st century. If nothing else, loyal Three Stooges fans can experience a comic visual timeline, versus the shotgun approach of the shorts that have been available for all these years.