Wednesday, July 31, 2013

When the Three Stooges Visited Lorain - Part 2

This photo and caption appeared on the front page of the Lorain Journal on August 1, 1960
So what were the Three Stooges doing in Lorain at the Palace anyway?

Although their movie career at Columbia Pictures had come to an end in late 1957, their comedy shorts had been made available to TV stations beginning in 1958. Thus a whole new generation of kids were introduced to the Stooges, and they loved them. So the trio experienced a happy comeback.

Courtesy www.threestooges.com
But with both Curly and Shemp gone, and Joe Besser unavailable to travel, Moe and Larry needed a new third stooge. So Moe recruited movie and burlesque comic Joe DeRita, due to his vague resemblance to the original Curly.

He was dubbed "Curly Joe" and would star with Moe and Larry in several popular full-length features.

The "new" Three Stooges also began touring in 1958, and thus ended up in Lorain on July 31, 1960.

The Stooges performed in 4 shows that day, all for the price of 90 cents for an adult and 50 cents for a child.

If anyone out there was lucky enough to catch their show at the Palace, be sure to leave a comment!

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UPDATE
Click here to read about Kevin Conley, who was lucky enough to see the Stooges at the Palace – and have his picture taken with them that day!
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6 comments:

  1. Dorene from OhioJuly 31, 2013 at 8:40 AM

    Oh does this bring back memories of after-school television with my many siblings!!

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  2. KenJuly 31, 2013 at 10:46 AM

    "Curly" Joe DeRita... the most depressing stooge.

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  3. -Alan D HopewellJuly 31, 2013 at 2:21 PM

    I disagree....Joe Besser was the absolute WORST!

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  4. Dan BradyJuly 31, 2013 at 3:13 PM

    I watched a bunch of late era Stooges shorts recently on DVD. The Joe Besser shorts were quite different from the previous entries – sometimes quite pleasant, but just not very funny. They were a lot less violent (Besser had a clause in his contract that he couldn't be hit too much), plus the Stooges looked different (Larry had a normal hairstyle in many of them). Often they played "new" characters and weren't a team at all. At least the features with Curly Joe were a return to their old form and "look." I kinda liked Curly Joe, he had a thankless job to perform, with the inevitable comparison to the real Curly, but he was likable and carved out his own characterization - kind of a bemused innocent.

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  5. UnknownDecember 4, 2015 at 5:42 PM

    Saw them at the Palace.....and we'll worth the 50 cents and a fond memory with my Dad.

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  6. UnknownDecember 4, 2015 at 5:43 PM

    Saw them at the Palace.....and we'll worth the 50 cents and a fond memory with my Dad.

    ReplyDelete