The Three Stooges: The Triumphs and Tragedies of the Most Popular Comedy Team of All Time

By Jeff Forrester and Tom Forrester

Did Stooge favorites Curly, Shemp and Larry suffer cerebral hemorrhages as a result of being repeatedly hit on the head? What role did the Stooges' creator Ted Healy play in the mysterious death of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0971580103
• ISBN13: 9780971580107
• Release Date: November 2004
• Publisher: Donaldson Books
• Length: 200 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 11.3" x 0.5" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

A Fun Fest for any Stooge Fan

This turns out to be the most accurate story of the 3 Stooges saga ever printed. A behind the scenes biography of the greatest comedy team of all time. Of particular interest is the fascinating story of how the Stooges were created by the great Ted Healy. For years other books have dismissed Healy as a footnote in Stooge history but here we find the real story of how Healy invented Stooge comedy and gave Moe, Larry, Curly and Shemp their big break in show business. Without Ted Healy there would be no Stooges. Just as fascinating is how the Stooges were developed at Columbia Pictures, by the likes of Jules White, Del Lord, Charley Chase and Edward Bernds, into Comedy Legends. The 3 Stooges are the only old time comedians that keep getting more popular as time goes on.

Eat, Drink and Beat Larry!

I am not a particularly devoted fan of the Three Stooges, but I am a big collector of Hollywood histories and Broadway biographies in general. I recently received this book as a gift, and admittedly was somewhat underwhelmed. But once I started reading it, I literally could not put this book down! Surprisingly, The Three Stooges: The Triumphs and Tragedies of The Most Popular Comedy Team of All Time (Donaldson Books) is one of the best entertainment biographies I have ever read. In their fifth and latest release about what could be this country's all-time favorite comedy team, the Forrester brothers have successfully integrated their in-depth research skills, captivating photographic image collection and "just-the-facts-ma'am" journalistic writing style into a topnotch expose on Curly, Moe and Larry -- as well as the 15 other men who made up the Three Stooges. The birth and the death of a comedy team (and everything else in between) is carefully outlined andpainstakingly detailed by the authors in this fact-filled, fun and intimate look at the rather complicated story of all 18 men who became a Stooge for the act's creator, and long-forgotten funnyman, Ted Healy. The Three Stooges are the only classic comedians who have successfully moved from the early days of vaudeville to virtual reality and beyond while becoming more popular with each passing year. Undoubtedly the Three Stooges were comedic geniuses and are finally being recognized as America's Sultans of Slapstick, and this book documents every step of their triumphant, and sometimes tragic, rise to superstardom. Beside being a compelling read, the huge collection of hundreds of vintage visuals and candid Stooge photos included throughout the text makes this book well worth the purchase price.I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys entertainment and to everyone who could use a good laugh or even a good cry. Stooge fan or not you'd have to be some kind of Knucklehead to pass up your chance to read this great new book!

five stars for three stooges

Hunting for THE book definitive biography of the Three Stooges? Well, the Forrester Brother's book is 'fine for hunting'. Packed with outstanding photos and written with a lively style, "Triumphs and Tragedies" is a must have for all fans of the Three Stooges.

SOITENLY the DEFINITIVE book on the Stooges -- PERIOD!!!

Some say there were funnier comedy teams than The Three Stooges but the comedy team many women love to hate is undisputedly the most successful comedy team in moviehistory. Their films STILL pack `em in at revivals, Stooge conventions brim with Curly imitators and each year yet more books are published on America's favorite knuckleheads (American's LEAST favorite knuckleheads can be found in Congress). But the question is: with ALL of the countless hours on t.v. devoted to the Stooges, ALL of the videos and DVDs on them, ALL of the books and documentaries can you learn anything NEW from a book -- especially if the book was penned by writers whowrote four other books on Stooges? The answer is a RESOUNDING YES. This is the DEFINITIVE The Three Stooges book, chock full of fascinating NEW INFORMATION on their lives, personalities, and even the "unknown" stage Stooges who performed into the 70s. As if that isn't enough, the authors convincingly suggest that rough-stuff comedy contributed to at least three of the Stooges' strokes, and that the Stooges' vaudevillian creator Ted Healy may have been beaten to death by a Hollywood star and a gangland bigwig. Stooges fans will go nuts (as if they aren't already) over the superb collection of photos and illustrations, many of them never before published. Plus, this account brims with great new candid quotes from the Stooges and their associates. And, unlike some other Stooges books, this one is a ABSOLUTE MUST addition to the library of ANYONE interested comedy and comedy history -- since gives the best account yet of the step-by-step evolution of the Stooges' comedy. There are countless new facts, twists, and explanations in this book. Here are just a few of the new revelations I learned. I read how:--Stooges founder Ted Healy was the FIRST comedian to play comedy off someone else (now a staple of comedy). Healy, one of the show biz's greatest performers, was on the verge of becoming a major movie star when he died (the authors suggest he was murdered and it may have been covered up). When Healy died, his wise-guy, smart aleck movie persona was taken over by a young comedian named Bob Hope.--Curly, Shemp, Larry, Joe Besser (the most unloved Stooge) all suffered strokes...and being on the receiving end of the Stooges rough brand of comedy may be a key reason why. --Shemp was one of the first Stooges, but even when he stepped out of the act and Curly took his place he played a key behind the scenes role (read what he did).--Replacing Curly was always difficult since Curly was pure-vaudeville....and by the time he left the act, after a stroke while filming a Stooges comedy, vaudeville was dead. The book wonderfully accounts the searches for Curly replacements -- and the other stage versions of the Stooges, based on the Health vaudeville act. --Moe believed that SEVERAL comedy teams (the book names them) lifted parts of Curley's stage persona to propel themselves to fam

The Best Book Ever Written About The Three Stooges

I have read every book available about The Three Stooges, and this is by far the best ever written on the subject. Fascinating, captivating, sometimes-shocking, and extremely well-researched text describes not only what it was like to be in on the inception of the team with Ted Healy in vaudeville, but also addresses Healy's untimely death/murder, the team's rocky road to solo success in radio and film, and eventual meteoric rise to super stardom in television and contemporary home entertainment. I was also amazed to discover that there were 18 different men to play the role of one of the "Three" Stooges throughout the team's lengthy career in showbusiness (most fans think there were only 6). This is also the most lavishly illustrated Stooge book ever, jammed-packed with rare photos of the Stooges both in and out of character, as well as posters, programs and newspaper clippings from throughout the team's entire career. I ordered my copy at stoogebook.com, where the book comes autographed by the authors (Stooge historians Jeff Forrester and Tom Forrester), editor Joe Wallison, and 92-year-old surviving vaudeville Stooge, Mousie Garner. If you're a Stooge fan, you can also visit the stoogebook.com website and get your name printed in the book's Fandom Honor Roll section like I did. This is the fifth Stooge book by the Forrester Brothers, and it is by far the best in the series. I strongly recommend this book to any Stooge fan, as well as anyone interested in Hollywood history and comedy in general.