Come Laugh at The Three Stooges On Big Screen at Alex Theatre

Jenny Lester

Post-Thanksgiving blues got you down? The 17th Annual Three Stooges Big Screen Event on November 29 may be just the cure. Come laugh off that extra piece of pumpkin pie at the Alex Theatre in Glendale, where the Three Stooges marathon is traditionally held the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Five films will be featured in this year’s festivities, screened once in the afternoon and then once again in the evening. The 2014 program, denominated “Three Slaps and Yer Out,” will focus on Stooges and Sports, and include films with all original members of the group (Larry, Moe, Curly, and Shemp.) The two and half hours of slapstick will be rounded off by a bonus 1946 Shemp short, “Mr. Noisy.”

Every year, classic film buffs, comedy enthusiasts, and Three Stooges fanatics alike, gather to pay homage to the classic comedy trio. Descendants and friends of the Stooges themselves can usually be found in the audience partaking in this tribute to the insurmountable body of work that is the Stooges’ legacy. The marathon presents the perfect storm of well loved classic shorts and rarely-seen or newly uncovered 35mm films.

For almost forty years, different incarnations of the comedy trio enjoyed major successes across every medium from variety shows to major motion pictures. After leaving the original Vaudeville setup, “Ted Healy and his stooges,” the Stooges went on tour. Moe (Moses Harry Horwitz), Larry (Larry Fine), and Shemp (Shemp Howard) were all members of the original act. After Shemp’s departure, Moe and Larry enlisted Moe’s younger brother, Curly (Jerry Howard) to take over. Curly was with The Stooges until the early fifties when he began suffering from major health problems, and older brother Shemp returned. The marathon celebrates the combined film collection of both incarnations of the group.

The Alex Theatre has been nestled in the heart of Glendale since 1925, when it opened as a vaudeville circuit stop. For the next sixty years, the Alex Theatre operated primarily as a movie house for first-run blockbusters and red-carpet screening events. After its closure in 1991, The Alex Theatre underwent a 6.5 million rehabilitation and reopened in 1993 as a multimedia entertainment center. The Alex is now rented and used for all kinds of entertainment events, and offers consistent programming by resident companies such as The Glendale Pops, Los Angeles Ballet, and, of course, the Three Stooges Marathon host organization, The Alex Film Society. Don’t miss this fun and lighthearted Los Angeles holiday season tradition.

The 17th Annual Three Stooges Big Screen Event at the Alex Theatre in Glendale is playing twice on Nov. 29. Tickets are available here.