By Greg Lenburg
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| Joe (center) shines with Moe and Larry in A Merry Mix Up (1957). |
For six decades, comic Joe Besser tickled our funny bones in vaudeville, radio, movies, Broadway, television, and even Saturday morning cartoons. His comic genius was undeniable, spanning a variety of entertainment mediums. Yet, his tenure as the third stooge remains one of the most debated in the storied history of The Three Stooges and, despite a tremendous career that preceded it, it is his best remembered role today.
When Shemp Howard, the beloved third stooge, passed away suddenly in November 1955, Columbia Pictures faced a dilemma. With four shorts remaining to be produced for 1956, the studio opted, rather than cast a replacement, to remake four Shemp Stooges shorts from the late 1940s featuring stock footage from those films and new footage of mainstay Stooges Moe Howard and Larry Fine with a double (known today as the Fake Shemp). But by 1957, it was clear that if The Three Stooges were to continue, they needed a new third stooge. And, for the first time in their long career, Moe and Larry were faced with hiring an outsider, someone who didn't know the act like Curly and Shemp did.
Enter Joe Besser.
