Curly's Best Moments From 1945-46?

[Steve]

I just watched an excerpt from the Three Stooges short from December 1946, Three Little Pirates, and Curly's decline is evident. His speech isn't as fast and he comes off more like one of the post-Shemp Curly "replacements." I have to wonder if I want his decline in my DVD collection. Curly's diminished power is sad to see. But I would like to be swayed towards getting Volume 5 & 6, so if anyone would care to list off Curly's best moments from his "declining" period, I'd be interested in reading them.

[Lunkhead]

Steve, unfortunately you will notice Curly's decline in pretty much all the shorts after IDIOTS DELUXE. It's still Curly though and he tried his best despite his growing health problems. I try to remember that when watching these and still manage to enjoy many of them. However, I think the hardest one to watch is HALF-WITS HOLIDAY. He just looks so sick and knowing he suffered the stroke on that set which ended his career is very sad. Moe and Larry carried on with a great pie-fight at the end, which is amazing because of how they both must have felt. Some of that pie-fight resurfaces in a later Shemp short - PEST MAN WINS. When I was a kid, I had no idea what happened to Curly, but always loved that pie-fight.

As I said, I still find some of these shorts funny with scenes like the machine-gun wielding gorilla in A BIRD IN THE HEAD. Plus, Moe and Larry have funny bits in all of them. As for Curly's best during this time, I'd have to go with MICRO-PHONIES. His performance as Senorita Cucaracha is hilarious! I also think he does quite well in THREE LITTLE PIRATES with the knife throwing bit and Maharaja routine.

If the DVD releases continue with 3 years each, then Set 5 would be '46 - '48 which will include some of Shemp's great, early shorts. I keep praying that they'll see this through and we'll get everything, including the Bessers. To have all 190 on quality DVD has long been many a stooge fan's dream.

[Steve]

I figured that Curly would be his usual, energetic self in 1943-44, but 1945 is gonna be tough. Lately, I've been giving the subject of Curly's health a lot of thought--it bothers me that he died so young, and at such a time (1952; I had no idea until recently!) that he didn't live to know that he was idolized by generations of fans.

[Lunkhead]

Yes, it is terribly sad. The one good thing that happened to him during that time was marrying his 4th wife, Valerie. They were very happy together and he became a father again. It is such a shame he couldn't have recovered and lived longer with his new family.

[Steve]

I've ordered Volume Four. I figure a diminished Curly is better than no Curly at all and besides that, Amazon has Volume One on sale for a mere $13.99, so I'm getting that for my dad, who'll appreciate it.

[Lunkhead]

That's cool. He'll certainly love it. BTW, I also just ordered Volume 4. To push it over $25.00 for Super Saver Free Shipping, I also ordered Garfield: Holiday Celebrations (Garfield's Halloween Adventure / Garfield's Thanksgiving / A Garfield Christmas) for $6.99.