1938

Three Missing Links (1938) starring the Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard)

In Three Missing Links the Three Stooges (Moe, Larry and Curly) are janitors at the ‘Super Terrific Productions’ movie studio, where the director and producer are looking for a leading man for their new jungle picture to star with the beautiful Mirabel Mirabel (played by Jane Hamilton) – but the leading man needs to look like a gorilla.  After destroying the office in an attempt to clean it — Curly’s cleaning of the desk is truly comedy gold — the Three Stooges are fired, only to have the director notice Curly’s resemblance to a gorilla (and Moe and Larry’s resemblance to Neanderthals) and hires them to co-star in the movie.  And soon, they’re all headed off to Africa to start filming!