The Three Stooges – Extreme Rarities – starring Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard, Shemp Howard, Joe Besser, Curly Joe DeRita
In a nutshell, The Three Stooges – Extreme Rarities lives up to its title. There’s a wide range of items on the DVD, some excellent, and some less so. For example, the three segments with the Three Stooges (Moe, Larry and Curly Joe) on the Steve Allen Show are an absolute laugh riot! The first time I’d ever seen these. As I was watching them on a laptop computer in my bedroom, one by one my children wandered in and starting watching, and laughing, alongside. Likewise the segment from the Danny Thomas show (with Moe, Larry and Curly Joe, as well as Tim Conway and Martha Raye) is hilarious, as is the Shemp Howard short film, Heavenly Daze, both in restored black and white and colorized versions.
Some of the other items are not funny, but interesting, such as a rare interview with Larry Fine after his career-ending stroke. Other items that are worth watching include an interview with the Three Stooges (Moe, Larry and Curly Joe) and their wives at a family picnic. Some things that are less interesting are a few newsreel-type items that only have a few seconds of the Stooges on-screen, and (depending on your tastes) the various movie trailers as well. Having said that, The Three Stooges – Extreme Rarities is a wonderful addition to my Three Stooges collection, and I hope that you get as much enjoyment out of it as I and my family do. I rate it a solid 4 clowns out of five.
The Three Stooges : Extreme Rarities includes:
- Hollywood on Parade
- A short with the Stooges and other stars at the time
- Screen Snapshots
- Another short with the Stooges and other stars of the time
- Heavenly Daze
- Colorized 1948 Three Stooges short film, featuring Shemp returning to Earth after his death to rescue Moe and Larry from their evil ways, trying to con people with their new invention, a fountain pen that writes under whipped cream.
- Joe Besser Interview
- Interesting interview about how Joe became a Stooge
- The Stooges on the Steve Allen Show
- Moe, Larry and Curly Joe perform in three separate appearances on The Steve Allen Show – an operating room sketch, the Stooges demonstrating how Hollywood treats stunt men, and the famous “Rajah! Haha?” routine) For me, this is the highlight of the DVD, even more so than Heavenly Daze – and I’m a fan of Shemp Howard.
- Stop! Look! and Laugh! Trailer
- Trailer for a Three Stooges clip movie with Jerry Mahoney and his puppets
- Simoniz Commercial
- The Three Stooges (Moe, Larry, Curly Joe) do a commercial for Simoniz Car Wax
- Snow White and the Three Stooges
- Movie trailer for Snow White and the Three Stooges, one of the Three Stooges oddest feature-length movies
- Danny Thomas Presents Comics
- Live appearance on the Danny Thomas show, with the Three Stooges (Moe, Larry, Curly Joe) try to “go legitimate”
- Star Spangled Salesman
- Promotional short film for The US Treasury department
- Dickies Jeans Commercial
- The Three Stooges (Moe, Larry, Curly Joe) in a short commercial for Dickies Jeans
The bonus features on the DVD include:
- Heavenly Daze in Black and White
- the 1948 short film in its’ original black and white, digitally restored
- Larry Fine Interview
- Rare interview with Larry Fine, made after his career-ending stroke
- Knife of the Party
- Shemp Howard documentary
- Three Stooges Hand Puppets
- The Stooges clown around with hand puppets made in their likenesses. Very short.
- Three Stooges on Stage with Curly
- home movie footage of the Three Stooges (Moe, Larry, Curly)
- Gentlemaniacs
- clips of Ted Healy’s other stooges, after they attempted to split off from Healy, becoming unsuccessful Stooge impersonators
- Celebrity Charity Baseball Game
- The Three Stooges go to Wrigley Field
- On Stage with Curly Joe
- rare home movie clips
- Three Stooges Arthritis Commercial
- There’s nothing funny about Arthritis … but the Three Stooges manage it anyway
- Strictly for Laughs
- clips from a pilot for a TV talk show
- Four for Texas
- Not the movie (where the Three Stooges have a small appearance), but the movie trailer
- On The Go
- TV show appearance with Jack Linkletter