Saturday, October 3, 2009

Today's Video Link

Among some fans of the Three Stooges, it is almost blasphemy to say you liked Shemp...and if you dare utter a loving word about Joe Besser, someone will want to poke you in the eyes and run a saw across your scalp. To these folks, Curly was the only Third Stooge and his replacements were forever guilty of the unpardonable sin of not being Curly. But I really liked Shemp and I think one of the reasons most of the films featuring Shemp weren't as wonderful was because of their budgets and scripts...not because of which guy was appearing alongside Larry and Moe. Across the long history of the Stooges' Columbia shorts, the budgets just got leaner and leaner, and there was less spent on location shoots and stunts and a greater reliance on one-set quickies with stock footage. The whole market for short comedies was in steady decline and their films would probably have gotten worse and worse even if Curly had been in them.

I'll even risk bodily harm by saying that Joe Besser was just about the best thing that could have happened to the act. By the time he replaced Shemp, the films had very little to offer in terms of production values and new ideas, and Moe and Larry were getting kinda tired. Besser, with his infectious energy, was a nice shot of adrenalin for a dying franchise. He pretty much carried every film he was in — and given how cheap and repetitive they were, that amounted to a lot of heavy lifting. He was a very funny man, as he proved both with the Stooges and in his many appearances apart from them.

Here's a nice little profile of Joe...

• Posted at 10:38 PM · LINK

Recommended Reading

Fred Kaplan on whether or not a nuclear treaty with Iran is possible. Or desirable.

• Posted at 8:40 PM · LINK

Mid-Ohio-Con Report

I moan a lot here about airlines but I have to tell ya: The two flights we took to get here Friday ("here" being Columbus, Ohio) couldn't have gone much smoother. I still don't like the fight-for-your-seat policy at Southwest Airlines but the planes both took off on time, both landed early and both were staffed with pleasant, helpful folks. What's more, our luggage even showed up where and when it was supposed to show up. Can't do much better than that.

Carolyn and I flew in with our friends Gregg Berger, Len Wein and Marv Wolfman and today, we spent a fun day at Mid-Ohio-Con. I did three panels, signed a mess o' comics and answered a lot of questions, some of which weren't even about Jack Kirby. I'll write more of the con when I'm not about to go off to dinner but I did get to chat with Herb Trimpe, Joe Rubinstein, Dick Ayers, Joe Jusko, Billy Tucci, Thom Zahler, Tony Isabella, Bob Ingersoll, Gary Friedrich, Maggie Thompson, Brian Kane, Ron Frenz, Fred Hembeck and I know I'm forgetting a lot of names. I'll get them tomorrow. The Mongolian barbecue awaits!

• Posted at 4:22 PM · LINK