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. Enter Joe Besser.
