Did you ever wonder what a Three Stooges short would be like without Moe or Larry? Probably not but if by some chance you did, here's a possible answer. This is the 1946 comedy short, Mr. Noisy. Its star, Shemp Howard, was making comedy shorts for the same studio — Columbia — with a lot of the same people who worked on Stooges comedies. Shemp, as you may know, was an original member of the Stooges troupe back when they worked with Ted Healy. Shemp quit the act and was replaced by Curly…and I'm assuming everyone knows that Moe, Shemp and Curly were all brothers? Right.
In 1946, ill health forced Curly to quit the act so Shemp rejoined it. He made three more solo shorts after Mr. Noisy and was thereafter a Stooge until his death in 1955. As I've said before here, I think he was underrated. If the Stooges films with him weren't as good as the ones with Curly, that wasn't Shemp's fault. He's the best thing in them and he's pretty funny in Mr. Noisy…