Topic: Moe & Larry's haircuts in the Besser shorts

[Dog Hambone]

Forgive me please if this has been asked already, but I have a question after recently watching the later shorts with Joe Besser. I searched for something on this but couldn't find anything. In some of them, Moe & Shemp have short slicked back hair, like they wore when they were off camera. They have the old haircuts in a lot of them, particularly when continuity was needed with reused footage, but what prompted Moe to go without the bangs & Larry to go without the porcupine hair? Were they just trying something different on film? Did they feel like they were getting too old for the comedic looking haircuts? Is there an official explanation?

[Shemp_Diesel]

The story I've always heard is that it was Joe Besser's idea for Moe & Larry to go without their traditional stooge hairstyles. The idea being that the stooges should look more like gentlemen, if you can believe that & it was a sign to some fans that Moe & Larry didn't care anymore since they never would've done it during the Curly or Shemp eras.

[shemps#1]

Yeah, I think Moe said it was Besser's idea during one of his Mike Douglas appearances if I'm not mistaken. I think the reasoning also had something to do with their advancing ages.

[TXShemp]

This may be an un-Stoogefanish comment, but lets face it. Joe Besser was not the best choice. These were 16 of the worst shorts. I liked Joe DeRita, and it would have been him in these shorts instead of Besser had he been available.

[xraffle]

The story I've always heard is that it was Joe Besser's idea for Moe & Larry to go without their traditional stooge hairstyles. The idea being that the stooges should look more like gentlemen, if you can believe that & it was a sign to some fans that Moe & Larry didn't care anymore since they never would've done it during the Curly or Shemp eras.

Gentlemen? Who came in? (looks behind)

Seriously, what was Besser thinking? The whole point of the stooges having these hairstyles is to make them look silly. It's part of their comedy. If it wasn't, Curly wouldn't have been required to shave his head.

[TXShemp]

Besser was no Stooge. Period. I'm not exactly sure what he was, but I know for sure he did not fit in this trio.

[shemps#1]

Oh goodie, another "Besser was not a Stooge" type. 

[Boid Brain]

Oh goodie, another "Besser was not a Stooge" type.  

Well, he was 10 times better than DeRita, but Curly was 10 times better than him.

You know a comedian that WOULD have been Stoogeworthy after Shemp?

Buddy Hacket. Imagine! I have read that he was heavily considered by the studio, but was not chosen. I cannot substantiate this, but I have read or heard it before. I gotta figure that he was in his 20's in 1950....a little to young for the now near geezer Moe and Larry.

[7stooges]

Well, he was 10 times better than DeRita, but Curly was 10 times better than him.

You know a comedian that WOULD have been Stoogeworthy after Shemp?

Buddy Hacket. Imagine! I have read that he was heavily considered by the studio, but was not chosen. I cannot substantiate this, but I have read or heard it before. I gotta figure that he was in his 20's in 1950....a little to young for the now near geezer Moe and Larry.

The "Hacket as a Stooge" idea was apparently a story Buddy Hackett told once. He also stated that he turned down the offer to become a Stooge because of the violence. From what Jules White said, this story was probably a lie.

I also heard another story that Moe was considering Mantan Moreland as a Stooge. I'm not sure if this was true or not.

After Besser left, Larry considered Paul "Mousie" Garner as a replacement; the boys tried him out, but had to let him go. Moe later stated in an interview that Garner was "completely unacceptable".

As for the haircuts in the Besser shorts, I think this had to do with how times had been changing in the comedy field during this period. After the 1930s, very few newer comics dressed like clowns. Instead, they dressed like normal people. This included Abbott and Costello, Bob Hope, and (in his earlier films) Red Skelton. Besser probably went along with this idea.

[TXShemp]

Now that I think about it, I have heard the rumor about Buddy Hackett. He was on the Dick Van Dyke show...? He didn't look that young to me, but I don't know any background on him. I don't recall reading any opinions from Moe on Mousie Garner. I had the opportunity to meet him at the '94 convention. He did a one-man piano show during the banquet. This is all I have ever actually seen of his work, but my family and I thought he was really funny.

[Dog Hambone]

Besser was no Stooge. Period. I'm not exactly sure what he was, but I know for sure he did not fit in this trio.

When I was young, I too didn't like the Joe Besser shorts much. But I have a better appreciation for him after seeing all of his shorts in Volume 8 of the Stooges collection.

To be fair, he had a couple of hard acts to follow. He has a distinctly different style. And he had an unenviable disadvantage in that many of his shorts were re-do's of earlier shorts that featured Curly or Shemp, sometimes with virtually the same script. I think anyone could have looked bad given those circumstances. The all original Besser shorts are not bad at all. Try buying Volume 8 & watching all the Besser shorts (well, you can skip SWEET & HOT) and watching them for what they are, not for what might have been.    

  

[xraffle]

The all original Besser shorts are not bad at all. Try buying Volume 8 & watching all the Besser shorts (well, you can skip SWEET & HOT) and watching them for what they are, not for what might have been.

Agreed! After buying Volume 8 and watching it, I give Besser more credit than I ever did before.

Sometimes I wonder, if there were no Curly, Shemp or DeRita and it was only Moe, Larry and Joe from the beginning until the end, would people still hate on Besser? Now remember! I'm now putting you in a world where Curly, Shemp and DeRita do not exist. From the 1930s to the 1970s, it's all Moe, Larry, and Joe.

[JazzBill]

Now that I think about it, I have heard the rumor about Buddy Hackett. He was on the Dick Van Dyke show...? He didn't look that young to me, but I don't know any background on him. I don't recall reading any opinions from Moe on Mousie Garner. I had the opportunity to meet him at the '94 convention. He did a one-man piano show during the banquet. This is all I have ever actually seen of his work, but my family and I thought he was really funny.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Morey Amsterdam played Buddy on The Dick Van Dyke Show.

[TXShemp]

Thats right. I was confusing Buddy's.

[Desmond Of The Outer Sanctorum]

Agreed! After buying Volume 8 and watching it, I give Besser more credit than I ever did before.

Sometimes I wonder, if there were no Curly, Shemp or DeRita and it was only Moe, Larry and Joe from the beginning until the end, would people still hate on Besser? Now remember! I'm now putting you in a world where Curly, Shemp and DeRita do not exist. From the 1930s to the 1970s, it's all Moe, Larry, and Joe.

No, I don't think people would be hating on Besser. But I don't think the Stooges would be quite as popular either.

Anyway, I agree that Joe doesn't get enough credit. He had so many disadvantages beyond his control -- like the budget cuts that had already affected Shemp shorts -- that to bash him is just pointless. At least he tried, and he didn't claim to be better than he was. Many of his era's scripts wouldn't have been much better with Curly or Shemp instead.

He definitely had his weaknesses as a Stooge. But if more scripts had used his strengths as well as A MERRY MIX UP did, his era might be assessed a little differently now.

[Jamison]

Joe Besser played the building superintendent on "The Joey Bishop Show" in the 60s. He was 10 times funnier there than in any Stooge film.

[horwitz-halfwits]

The story I've always heard is that it was Joe Besser's idea for Moe & Larry to go without their traditional stooge hairstyles. The idea being that the stooges should look more like gentlemen, if you can believe that & it was a sign to some fans that Moe & Larry didn't care anymore since they never would've done it during the Curly or Shemp eras.

Ok, I never watched any Besser films, but I sense that he was trying to change Moe and Larry's styles there. In my opinion, that was totally uncalled for. You can never change the stooges! Not even a slightest movement or cut of the hair! I also agree w/ xraffle and everything that he said. What's the point in trying to change the way Moe and Larry look? Same thing is true w/ Curly's style.