The Three Stooges

The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy act of the mid–20th century, best known for their numerous Columbia short subject films that are still syndicated on television. Their hallmark was physical farce and slapstick. In films, the Stooges were commonly known by their first names of "Moe, Larry, and Curly", or as "Moe, Larry, and Shemp" (among other lineups, depending on the particular film). There were six active stooges, five of whom performed in the shorts. Moe and Larry were always present, until the final years of the ensemble's run of more than forty years.

The act began as part of a mid-1920s vaudeville comedy act, billed as Ted Healy and his Stooges, consisting of Healy, Moe Howard, his brother Shemp Howard, and Larry Fine. The four made one feature film, Soup to Nuts, before Shemp left to pursue a solo career. He was replaced by his younger brother, Jerome (Curly Howard), in 1932. Two years later, the trio left Healy and signed on to appear in their own short subjects for Columbia, now billed as "The Three Stooges".

Fred Toones

Fred "Snowflake" Toones (January 5, 1906 – February 13, 1962) was an African American film actor comedian of the early sound era.

Career

Because of the sheer number of movies in which he appeared, Toones is one of the most prolific character faces in B-Westerns and cliffhangers. He appeared in over 200 films between 1928 and 1951; and between 1936 and 1947, Toones worked under contract for Republic Pictures, appearing in about 40 of its films.

His standard characterization was that of a middle-aged "colored" man with a high-pitched voice and childlike demeanor. Like ‘Curly’ Howard and Tommy ‘Tiny’ Lister, who followed the tradition of using an antonymous nickname as both their professional name and character name, "Snowflake" was the distinct stage name by which Toones was best known, and he used this name as his credit as early as his third film, 1931’s Shanghaied Love. Likewise, in Shanghaied Love and over 35 other films, “Snowflake” was also Toones’ character name.

Toones acted in films such as Mississippi (1935), Hawk of the Wilderness (1938), and Daredevils of the Red Circle (1939) with Bruce Bennett and in many "B" westerns such as The Lawless Nineties (1936) with John Wayne. He also appeared in dozens of two-reelers such as Columbia's Woman Haters (1934) and Sock-a-Bye Baby (1942) with the Three Stooges, and had a bit role in Laurel and Hardy's classic feature Way Out West (1937). Toones is also a familiar face in four Preston Sturges comedies: 20th Century (1934), Remember the Night (1940), Christmas in July (1940) and The Palm Beach Story (1942).

Wrecker

Wrecker, The Wrecker or Wrecking may refer to:

In music

In literature

In film and television

Range Busters

The Range Busters were a film series of 24 Westerns of the adventures of a trio of cowboys, many filmed at the Corriganville Movie Ranch, produced by George W. Weeks and distributed by Monogram Pictures. The series used Home on the Range as its theme song with each film featuring the heroes waving goodbye and promising to return in another adventure.

Production

Ray "Crash" Corrigan had previously made 24 films in Republic Pictures The Three Mesquiteers series. When he and ventriloquist Max Terhune who had made 21 films in the series both had disputes over money with Republic, Corrigan went to producer George W. Weeks with the idea of a similar series that would be distributed by Monogram Pictures and filmed at the movie ranch with Western sets owned by Corrigan, the Corriganville Movie Ranch in the Simi Hills of the Simi Valley. Corrigan said in an interview that he received 50% of the profits of the series.

For a third member of the trio (or third and a half if you include Terhune's dummy Elmer) Monogram chose singing cowboy John "Dusty" King who had the lead in Monogram's The Gentleman from Arizona.

Frankie Darro

Frankie Darro (December 22, 1917 – December 25, 1976) was an American actor and later in his career a stuntman. He began his career as a child actor in silent films, progressed to lead roles and co-starring roles in adventure, western, dramatic, and comedy films, and later became a character actor and voice-over artist. He is known for his role as Lampwick, the unlucky boy turned into a donkey in Walt Disney's 2nd animated feature, Pinocchio, which was originally released in February 1940.

Early life

Frankie Darro was born on Saturday, December 22, 1917 in Chicago, Illinois as Frank Johnson, Jr. His parents, Frank Johnson, Sr. and his wife Ada were known as The Flying Johnsons, a flying circus act with the Sells Floto Circus; it was a profession that his father attempted to train him in, and he cured Frankie's fear of heights by having him walk on a length of wire, and then gradually raised the height of it until his son had mastered the trick.

In 1922, while the circus was in California, his parents divorced; and their circus act ended with their marriage. The growing film industry, however, found a use for a small child who could do his own stunts and the young Johnson, renamed "Frankie Darro", appeared in his first film at the age of six.