Moe Howard played the none-too-bright bully in nearly 200 short films for Columbia Pictures. First Moe, Larry, and Shemp, later Moe, Larry, and Curly, the act was incredibly successful in the 1930s and '40s, and while the performers did well, the studio did even better. The Stooges also performed live when they weren't cranking out studio shorts. There were feature films, too, including The Outlaws Is Coming in 1965, co-starring future Batman Adam West.
The three men had a combined gift for physical comedy that others tried to emulate, but couldn't ever quite match. Sometimes it came with a price. The studio was trying to make the short two-reel films as inexpensively as possible, so stunt doubles weren't always in the budget. All of the men had performed live and knew how to take a fall or throw a punch without landing it. For all the times Moe appeared to be poking someone in the eyes, he never actually missed and caused damage, though he admitted he came close a few times. In his autobiography, I Stooged to Conquer, he wrote, "As rough a character as I seemed to be in pictures, and as tough as I came across, I was hurt in our films more often than either Larry or Curly or any other member of the cast." Props might go wrong; set pieces break; a move was mis-timed. Over the years, Moe suffered a fractured ankle, cracked ribs, concussions, and more — all to make the public laugh. Hysterically.
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