The Three Stooges have been entertaining fans with their riotous brand of eye-gouging, face slapping, and head bopping insanity for nearly 100 years! Now, CINEMUSEUM LLC and KIT PARKER FILMS offer fans of the Amalgamated Morons a chance to revisit the Golden Age of Stoogery with this new 3-Disc collection of archival rarities. Whether you’re a lifelong Stoogephile, or just a casual knucklehead, you are sure to find something to love about this comprehensive tribute to America’s most beloved madcaps: Moe, Larry, Curly, Shemp, Joe, and Curly Joe – The Three Stooges!
Over 8 hours of material, including unreleased outtakes, color home movies, rare television appearances and commercials, theatrical trailers, unseen archival interview footage, forgotten audio recordings from live stooge appearances, family photo galleries, and much more new-to-home-video fun!
For thoughts on Stooge-O-Rama: The Men Behind The Mayhem and Even More Mayhem, please check out our discussion on The Video Attic:
Video Quality
The Blu-Ray set of Stooge-O-Rama: The Men Behind The Mayhem and Even More Mayhem puts a spotlight on the documentary Stooges: The Men Behind The Mayhem along with an array of archival supplemental material. The main documentary feature was produced on 480p standard definition and has been upconverted to 1080p high definition courtesy of Kit Parker Films and CineMuseum. Since this was never intended to be held to the scrutiny of high definition, the presentation might not be as pinpoint precise as you might be accustomed to but it features this work in the most beautiful manner possible.
This is a surprisingly great looking transfer that eliminates nearly all of the jitter and flicker that you might expect from an upconvert of this source. When you consider the limitations at play, it is impressive how great everything looks. There does not appear to be any issues with compression artifacts or any other such digital anomalies. The track does show off some detail in the clothing of the interview subjects and in the facial features. Colors are as lovely as the original format will allow. This presentation showcases the material in the most favorable manner that could possibly be expected.
Audio Quality
The new Blu-Ray set is presented with an LPCM 2.0 track which suits the material perfectly well. The words of the subjects are the main aspect of these works, and they mostly come through quite well since they are captured in a stable environment. This material is not wildly ambitious with the sound, but everything holds up well enough. There are minor sound issues due to the source material, but the most important thing is that the track remains faithful to the intention of the creative team. These works sound as good as they possibly can in this Blu-Ray collection. There are no subtitles provided on this release.
Special Features
Disc One (Stooges: The Men Behind The Mayhem)
- Introduction: A minute-long new introduction from Curly Howard’s real-life grandson, Bradley Server.
- Extended Interviews: A collection of unused material is provided here which has some great anecdotes fans will not want to miss.
-
- Lyla Fine Budnick (12:06)
-
- Nate Budnick (16:55)
-
- Billy West (2:56)
-
- Lola Jensen (1:43)
-
- Unaired Commercial Bumps (1992) (1:05)
- Photo Galleries: This provides galleries for Lyla Fine’s Personal Scrapbook and Stooge Memorabilia.
Disc Two (Stooges Lost and Found)
- Fox Movietone News Outtakes with Moe & Shemp (Aug 6, 1929): A nearly seven-minute piece from a community pool.
- Stooge Home Movies – Snippets of the Stooges at Work and Play (1920s-1960s): A six-minute collection of vintage home movies.
- Everybody Likes Music (March 9, 1934) – Rare Shemp Howard Van Beuren Short: A 20-minute short in which an all-out war is avoided thanks to the efforts of detective Shemp Howard and his partner.
- Surprise, Surprise (October 31, 1937) – Lost Theatrical Featurette: A two-minute promotional featurette with the Three Stooges is provided.
- Ed Wynn Camel Comedy Caravan TV Kinescope (March 11, 1950): A 30-minute episode of the classic series is provided with special guests The Three Stooges.
- Andy Wade’s California Home Movies (July 1956): An eight-minute collection of home movies are provided.
- On The Go (April 15, 1960) TV Interview: A 19-minute interview piece with The Three Stooges and their family members.
- Strictly For Laffs (July 1, 1962) – TV Pilot: A 22-minute pilot in which various famous comedians gather together for a roundtable discussion.
- Star Spangled Salesman (Feb 9, 1968) Government PSA: An 18-minute piece in which various famous funny people such as Carl Reiner, Carol Burnett and (of course) The Three Stooges come together for a special to boost the sales of bonds.
- Kook’s Tour Outtakes (Dec 7, 1969): An 11-minute series of outtakes of the Stooges out in nature.
- Joe Derita Interview (1976): A six-minute interview with one of the lesser known Stooges.
- The Funniest Guys In The World Documentary Outtake Reel (1983): A 28-minute piece with a very young Leonard Maltin setting up a series of unused interviews from the documentary.
- Mousie Garner Live at the Three Stooges Convention (June 1994): A 16-minute appearance from Garner who makes quite an impression with fans on stage at this convention.
Disc Three (The Men Behind The Mayhem – And Even More Mayhem)
- Commercial Stooges: A collection of short Stooge-related promos
-
- Instant Simonize (March 15, 1960) (1:06)
-
- Don Lamond Spot – KTTV TV-11 Los Angeles (1961) (1:05)
-
- Mr. Poplolly – Cartoonerville Trolley Promo WJZ TV-13 Baltimore (Circa 1961) (0:23)
-
- Dickie’s Work Clothes (March 31, 1969) 60 Second Spot (0:59)
-
- Dickie’s Work Clothes (March 31, 1969) 30 Second Spot (0:28)
-
- Stroke of Luck Book (Nov 1, 1973) 60 Second Spot (1:04)
-
- Three Stooges Tee-Shirt (June 1, 1974) – Partial (0:49)
- Movie Trailers and Coming Attractions:
-
- Turn Back The Clock (Aug 25, 1933)
-
- Dancing Lady (Nov 24, 1933)
-
- Hollywood Party (May 24, 1934)
-
- Time Out For Rhythm (June 5, 1941)
-
- Gold Raiders (Sept 14, 1951)
-
- The Three Stooges Laff-A-Rama (1950s)
-
- Have Rocket, Will Travel (Aug 1, 1959)
-
- Three Stooges Fun-O-Rama (Sep 1, 1959)
-
- Stop! Look! and Laugh! (July 27, 1960)
-
- Snow White and the Three Stooges 1 – B&W (June 12, 1961)
-
- Snow White and the Three Stooges 2 – Color (June 12, 1961)
-
- The Three Stooges Meet Hercules 1 (Jan 26, 1962)
-
- The Three Stooges Meet Hercules 2 (Jan 26, 1962)
-
- The Three Stooges In Orbit (July 4, 1962)
-
- The Three Stooges Go Around The World In A Daze (Aug 21, 1963)
-
- 4 For Texas (Dec 25, 1963)
-
- The Outlaws Is Coming (Jan 14, 1965)
-
- The Outlaws Is Coming Radio Trailer (Jan 14, 1965)
- Archival Audio
-
- Fiddler’s Three – Moe, Larry & Shemp Song Rehearsal From Moe’s Personal 78RPM (1948)
-
- WBAL-AM Baltimore – Brent Gunts Interviews Moe, Larry & Shemp (April 6, 1950)
-
- WERS-FM Boston, Audio 66 – Ron Barry, AKA Ron Klugman, Interviews Moe Howard (Nov 30, 1964)
-
- Headshop – KBSC-TV 52, Los Angeles, Moe Howard with Elliot Mintz – Audio Excerpts (Jan 27, 1972)
-
- WOHO-AM Toledo -Ken R. Deutsch with Moe Howard (November 1972)
-
- WVSC Radio – Moe Howard at Salem College In Salem, West Virginia (March 2, 1973)
-
- Larry Fine Interview – Illinois State University, Bloomington, Illinois (Circa 1973-74)
-
- Larry Fine Q&A with Jeff and Greg Lenburg at Loara High School – Anaheim, CA (March 2, 1974)
-
- Moe Howard at State University of New York, Buffalo (Sep 24, 1974)
-
- WFAA-AM Dallas – Ed Busch with Moe Howard & Larry Fine (May 1975 Replay of Sep 27, 1974 Broadcast)
-
- Rich Gallo Calls Stooge’s Director Ed Bernds (Circa 1985)
-
- Rich Gallo Calls Joe Besser (1987)
-
- Rich Gallo Visits Actor Emil Sitka (April 1987-August 1988)
-
- Chris Seguin with Moe’s Daughter Joan Howard Maurer (May 26, 2009) – Surviving Excerpts
- Bonus Features
-
- No Census, No Feeling – Shwartzy and Pagana Meet Curly G: A seven-minute modern take on a Three Stooges short.
-
- Curly G Meets Shemp’s Great Granddaughter Chandler Isaac: An eight-minute piece in which the great granddaughter of Shemp interviews various people at a convention.
- For More Fun
-
- Stooge O-Rama Credits: A minute-long acknowledgement of the people who worked on this set.
-
- Shokus Video Commercial: A minute-long commercial is provided here.
-
- Curly G YouTube: A minute-long commercial for the YouTube channel of Curly Howard’s real-life grandson, Bradley Server.
Final Thoughts
Stooge-O-Rama: The Men Behind The Mayhem and Even More Mayhem is a collection which gives you a great overview of The Three Stooges before offering up a treasure chest of rarities that true fans will eat up. Having the documentary in such great quality is exciting, but the sheer amount and variety of archival material is what will make you head spin. Kit Parker Films and CineMuseum have released a three-disc set that sports a solid A/V presentation and a host of special features that greatly enhance the experience. For those who really want to dive deep into these comedy legends, you will more than get your money’s worth. Recommended
Stooge-O-Rama: The Men Behind The Mayhem and Even More Mayhem will be available to purchase on Blu-Ray and DVD on July 11, 2023.
Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.
Disclaimer: Kit Parker Films and CineMuseum have supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.