From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

As I've mentioned before, my brother and I have been having the
world's slowest Three Stooges marathon. For the past 12 years We've
been watching each of their Columbia shorts on its 80th anniversary.

This Saturday it will be time to watch Beer Barrel Polecats. It's
unusual in that in that episode they get locked up for 40 years.
So for exactly half the time since the episode.

So they would have been released from prison in January 1986, just in
time to watch the Challenger disaster. (In real life, all three of
the Stooges were already long dead by then.)

It's hard to believe that the Challenger disaster was 40 years ago,
almost halfway back to WWII. And even harder to believe that the end
of WWII is closer to the end of the Civil War than to the present.
Time marches on.

Another bit of weird chronology is that later this month it will be
longer since the JFK assassination than the JFK assassination was after
the McKinley assassination. So it will be a new record time since a US president was assassinated.
--
Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.
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From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

On 1/8/26 10:41 AM, Keith F. Lynch wrote:

As I've mentioned before, my brother and I have been having the
world's slowest Three Stooges marathon. For the past 12 years We've
been watching each of their Columbia shorts on its 80th anniversary.

This Saturday it will be time to watch Beer Barrel Polecats. It's
unusual in that in that episode they get locked up for 40 years.
So for exactly half the time since the episode.

What did they do to get a 40-year sentence?
--
Gary McGath http://www.mcgath.com
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From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

Gary McGath <garym@mcgath.com> wrote:

What did they do to get a 40-year sentence?

That wasn't explained, except that it involved making beer.

Much of the footage was recycled from an earlier short, in which they
were in a different jail for a different reason.
--
Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.
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From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

Keith F. Lynch <kfl@KeithLynch.net> wrote:

That wasn't explained, except that it involved making beer.

I should have mentioned that it can be viewed online for free
on YouTube.

Unfortunately, we live in a world where people are often locked up for
decades for no good reason. I recently heard about someone right here
in Virginia named Keith -- Keith Harward -- who was released from
prison after 33 years, after he was finally proven innocent. He was
convicted by bogus bite-mark and hypnotic evidence, and exonerated
by DNA evidence. The DNA evidence proved that the actual culprit
committed more crimes while Harward was in prison.
--
Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.
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From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

Gary McGath <garym@mcgath.com> wrote:

On 1/8/26 10:41 AM, Keith F. Lynch wrote:

As I've mentioned before, my brother and I have been having the
world's slowest Three Stooges marathon. For the past 12 years We've
been watching each of their Columbia shorts on its 80th anniversary.

This Saturday it will be time to watch Beer Barrel Polecats. It's
unusual in that in that episode they get locked up for 40 years.
So for exactly half the time since the episode.

What did they do to get a 40-year sentence?

Mr Cribblecoblis only got thirty days or thirty dollars for making liquor without a license in Man on the Flying Trapeze.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
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From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

On Thu, 8 Jan 2026 15:41:18 -0000 (UTC), Keith F. Lynch wrote:

As I've mentioned before, my brother and I have been having the
world's slowest Three Stooges marathon. For the past 12 years We've
been watching each of their Columbia shorts on its 80th anniversary.

Trivia question: how many Three Stooges were there?

A: There were in fact 6.
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From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

Lawrence D Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

Trivia question: how many Three Stooges were there?

A: There were in fact 6.

True. But there were only three at any one time. Except for "Hold
That Lion," which featured four of them.

If you include the recent Farrelly Brothers Three Stooges movie, add
six more, three playing the Stooges as children and three more playing
the Stooges as adults.
--
Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.
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From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

On 1/13/26 7:01 PM, Keith F. Lynch wrote:

If you include the recent Farrelly Brothers Three Stooges movie, add
six more, three playing the Stooges as children and three more playing
the Stooges as adults.

Unless they billed themselves as the new Stooges, rather than just
playing them in a movie, I wouldn't count them.
--
Gary McGath http://www.mcgath.com
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From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.fandom

Gary McGath <garym@mcgath.com> wrote:

Unless they billed themselves as the new Stooges, rather than just
playing them in a movie, I wouldn't count them.

It depends on exactly what question you're answering. How many people
played the Stooges? How many people were credited? How many were
announced? For instance Joe Palma played Shemp, but was never
credited. Emil Sitka was credited as a replacement Stooge, but never
played as one.

There was also the fact that the Stooges usually, but not always,
portrayed themselves.
--
Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.
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