St. Louis Jews have had a long love affair with the Three Stooges. First, not counting Joe DeRita, they are all Jews, and Joe Besser is from St. Louis, and his family still lives here.

A month after its debut in 1959, KPLR TV began running Three Stooges comedy shorts as part of an after-school cartoon show. Then in the 1980s, they became a staple on Saturday nights. There is now a generation of 45-year-old and plussers who wax nostalgic for the Stooges, and I’m at the top of the list.

The Three Stooges have been making us laugh with their unique and sometimes painful brand of slapstick comedy since 1922. They made their mark in short subjects, television syndication, and full-length feature films, but like anything great, they faded due to changing times and technology.

Starting this week, please join us in enjoying a weekly clip from the fellas. Welcome to Your Stooges Clip Of The Week.

Micro-Phonies was the eighty-seventh Columbia Pictures short subject starring the Three Stooges.

Release date

Plot

Curly is mistaken for a woman after he dressed in drag pretending to sing her song. He soon finds himself hired to sing at a party. That night they run into Signor Spumoni, who knows that there fakes, and Alice who wants to win a job as a singer on her own to impress her father. With Alice’s help, the boy might be able to finish the masquerade, although not if Spumoni has anything to say about it.

Cast

• Moe Howard as Moe
• Larry Fine as Larry
• Curly Howard as Curly
• Christine McIntyre as Alice Andrews

Clip