Are you ready for... the Baby Stooges??

[Jon Cooke]

Ok, we've seen Baby Looney Tunes, Flintstone Kids, Baby Felix, and even Baby Pink Panther, Baby Popeye, and Baby Magoo... none of those could prepare me for this.

Scroll down and see the horror that is... the Three Baby Stooges:
http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/jeff_lange/archive/2006/08/30/5478.aspx

Also, take a peek at the Marvel Babies AND Bozo's Clown Babies. :eek:

[J. J. Hunsecker]

That can't be real. IT JUST CAN'T BE!!

[cpdavison]

I can hear their Moms now: "You boys be careful or you'll poke an eye out!"

Oh, and be carefull of baby's soft spot!

[Dell Comics Fan]

Ok, we've seen Baby Looney Tunes, Flintstone Kids, Baby Felix, and even Baby Pink Panther, Baby Popeye, and Baby Magoo... none of those could prepare me for this.

Scroll down and see the horror that is... the Three Baby Stooges:
http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/jeff_lange/archive/2006/08/30/5478.aspx

Also, take a peek at the Marvel Babies AND Bozo's Clown Babies. :eek:

When will this madness end?? Never mind ... I'll just change the channel. Oh,
rats! They're on EVERY channel!!

:eek:

[Larry T]

Just when I thought no idea could be ridiculous enough.... :(

There's some serious crack going around these Hollywood producer's circles.....

[Sogturtle]

Ya know I DO have to wonder what Moe Howard's daughter and grandson think of this idea... :p :D ;)

Annnnnd on the other hand (or paw:p )... I actually LIKE the demented idea of Baby Marvel Heroes:D THAT in and of itself is a FUNNIER idea than all the other "Baby" ideas thought up in the last twenty years!!! Sitting pondering them wiping each other out in the cribs, Baby-Wolverine slicing and dicing on Baby-Hulk (gruesome or greensome, eh?:p ). Baby-Spiderwoman (Spidertot???) pondering baby-pyramids flying thru the air:D. While the original Cobweb Kid (ooooops too much Inferior Five;) ;)), I mean Baby-Spiderman has sooooo entangled HIMSELF in his webs that he can't EVER get changed out of his dirty supercostume!! :eek:

Now THAT'S entertainment!!! (Even fit for kids!!):tweety:

[frizfrelengfan]

AAAAAAARRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHH!

[jazzman78]

What no baby betty boop, bimbo or koko or clown with baby max fleischer drawing out of the baby inkwell.

[wundermild]

April 1st really comes late this year.

WW (who's awaiting Baby Flip the Tadpole any minute now)

[Cartman]

Well now I've seen everything! [pulls gun out and shoots self in head]

[Jon Cooke]

What no baby betty boop, bimbo or koko or clown with baby max fleischer drawing out of the baby inkwell.

Too late (http://www.ekmpowershop.com/ekmps/shops/booptique/index.asp?function=DISPLAYCAT&catid=14) ... King Features has been marketing a "Baby Boop" for a few years now. No Baby Bimbo or Koko (as far as I know), but I have seen a Baby Pudgy.

[David Gerstein]

I've seen Baby Koko. But he's more funny peculiar than funny ha-ha.

What's most interesting about the Baby Stooges and Bozo's Clown Babies is the amateur quality of the artwork on the characters and the cheap graphic design on the promotional posters. One can immediately tell that we're seeing marketing franchises run unimaginatively by companies that are past their peak.
Interestingly, the Baby Stooges idea began in the 1980s with Jeffrey Scott, head scriptwriter on Muppet Babies and grandson of Moe Howard. At the time, the project was to be called "Wee Stooges." But not all of the Stooges' estates were willing to sign onto the project, apparently leading to some legal trouble.
It's interesting that the estates couldn't agree on that project, but apparently agree on this one—amateurish and ill-fated as it looks.

On another track... Baby Pudgy? Isn't he already a baby?

[nickramer]

I am 95% sure that most of these project will not be seeing the light of day, other than this convention since there were similer ideas last year.

Also, if Jim Henson was still alive, I'm pretty sure he'll tell the other competiters(sic) to stop copying his projects and stick with somthing original.

[Shemp]

It's interesting that the estates couldn't agree on that project, but apparently agree on this one—amateurish and ill-fated as it looks.


C3 is controlled by DeRitas' heirs, two stepsons, Earl & Bob Benjamin.

Although C3 is, on paper, a 3-way partnership of Howard/Fine/DeRita, the DeRita family took 2/3 control in 1994 when it secured the Howard family's management proxy... fallout of the settlement agreement, after Moe's family lost a jury civil trial in the "DeRita & Fine vs. Howard" lawsuit of 1993.

Moe's family has had no say in C3 activities for the past 12 years; neither Shemp's or Curly's families have ever been part of the company.

Whatever you may think of Baby Stooges, the Benjamin brothers make final approval on all Three Stooges licensing agreements, and credit/blame goes to them.

[Sogturtle]

C3 is controlled by DeRitas' heirs, two stepsons, Earl & Bob Benjamin.

Although C3 is, on paper, a 3-way partnership of Howard/Fine/DeRita, the DeRita family took 2/3 control in 1994 when it secured the Howard family's management proxy... fallout of the settlement agreement, after Moe's family lost a jury civil trial in the "DeRita & Fine vs. Howard" lawsuit of 1993.

Moe's family has had no say in C3 activities for the past 12 years; neither Shemp's or Curly's families have ever been part of the company.

Whatever you may think of Baby Stooges, the Benjamin brothers make final approval on all Three Stooges licensing agreements, and credit/blame goes to them.

Shemp~

Now THAT'S interesting!! :) And here I was blaming poor Norman Maurer for such strange notions;).

The family of the man who was in the Stooge features of the Sixties and in the cartoons ends up in effective control for new ideas and licensing...
Very strange that Curly's daughter wasn't somehow brought into the whole picture.

[Shemp]

And here I was blaming poor Norman Maurer for such strange notions



Norm Maurer died Nov. 23, 1986...
http://www.threestooges.net/journal.php?action=view&id=41



Very strange that Curly's daughter wasn't somehow brought into the whole picture.


In the early 1960s, Joe DeRita made compensation to Curly's older daughter Marilyn, and her mother Elaine (Curly's 2nd wife), for the right to the "Curly" name. Since then, the DeRita family has claimed ownership of the "Curly" trademark, whether it's the likeness of Curly Howard or Curly Joe DeRita.

However, Curly had a younger daughter Janie, who was orphaned in the mid-1950s and raised by relatives on the east coast. There has been some question as to whether Janie and her heirs maintain some rights to "Curly." Recent inquiries on the matter seem to generate a mountain of litigation threats from the DeRita heirs (the two Benjamin brothers are lawyers, and as the controlling management of C3, they engage themselves as C3's legal counsel; nice work if you can get it).

Shemp's family has clear ownership of Shemp's trademark rights, but their attempt(s) to enforce that right have met serious, lengthy and nasty litigations from C3 since 1998.

[Sogturtle]

Norm Maurer died Nov. 23, 1986...

In the early 1960s, Joe DeRita made compensation to Curly's older daughter Marilyn, and her mother Elaine (Curly's 2nd wife), for the right to the "Curly" name. Since then, the DeRita family has claimed ownership of the "Curly" trademark, whether it's the likeness of Curly Howard or Curly Joe DeRita.

However, Curly had a younger daughter Janie, who was orphaned in the mid-1950s and raised by relatives on the east coast. There has been some question as to whether Janie and her heirs maintain some rights to "Curly." Recent inquiries on the matter seem to generate a mountain of litigation threats from the DeRita heirs (the two Benjamin brothers are lawyers, and as the controlling management of C3, they engage themselves as C3's legal counsel; nice work if you can get it).

Shemp's family has clear ownership of Shemp's trademark rights, but their attempt(s) to enforce that right have met serious, lengthy and nasty litigations from C3 since 1998.

Shemp~

1986, Wow, I REALLY am going to have to quit blaming Norman Maurer for these lousy, hare-brained ideas:D:p

And yeah, it was Curly's younger daughter Janie who I was referring to (couldn't even remember the other)... It WOULD make a fascinating court case to determine whether the biological child of Curly's SECOND wife wouldn't have SOME degree of ownership/control over his name and likeness. No doubt the Benjamin brothers are more than a little worred that they'd lose either the case or on appeal, hence the mountain of threats of suing...

Ifffff Janie et al and the Shemp estate had the money or resources and could join forces then who knows, they just might end up winning in court and firmly reesablish a "Howard" control of the Stooges.

[The Silver Fox]

to be hoest i think this project may not fly.
Do to the fact that many of the Little version
of series have not lasted.
for the exception of Muppet babies and it
ended soon after Henson's passing.

I think this could be a rumer that may be out
to bring interst to a complete Stooges DVD
set (orginal and toon) if they can get enough talk about
it.

[Shemp]

I think this could be a rumer that may be out
to bring interst to a complete Stooges DVD
set (orginal and toon) if they can get enough talk about
it.


C3 is the "brains" behind Baby Stooges. C3 has no involvement in Sony's future (or past) DVDs of the Stooges' Columbia short subjects and features; I'm confident that Sony plans to keep it that way.

C3 went to the expense of renting a booth at the Javitz Center, to launch a new licensing property like Baby Stooges, for one reason... generate more cash for their core business of licensing the Stooges' names and likenesses on t-shirts, ties, magnets, posters, mousepads, postcards, calendars, coffee mugs, etc., etc., etc.

[ohmahaaha]

C3 is the "brains" behind Baby Stooges. C3 has no involvement in Sony's future (or past) DVDs of the Stooges' Columbia short subjects and features; I'm confident that Sony plans to keep it that way.

C3 went to the expense of renting a booth at the Javitz Center, to launch a new licensing property like Baby Stooges, for one reason... generate more cash for their core business of licensing the Stooges' names and likenesses on t-shirts, ties, magnets, posters, mousepads, postcards, calendars, coffee mugs, etc., etc., etc.
Hey Shemp, what are the chances that we will ever see the full Three Stooges library restored and released to DVD, in your opinion?? Lord knows if this Baby Stooges crap makes it to the airwaves, we're going to NEED the original to erase the Baby stuff from our brains.

[Shemp]

what are the chances that we will ever see the full Three Stooges library restored and released to DVD, in your opinion??

News of box sets of the Columbia shorts leaked about two months ago on The Home Theater Forum *. Reportedly to start sometime in the Summer or Fall of 2007, each set will cover two years, and contain bonus features; no information on the timeframe between sets.

This is still "insider" news, although subsequently verified by other sources within Sony circles... BUT, an official studio announcement is at least six months away, if this stays on track.

* http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/showpost.php?p=2871615&postcount=60

[gilligan fanati]

Hahaha that is just crazy

[Greg Method]

I'm waiting for the Marx Babies and Lil' Laurel and Hardy myself.

[Cartman]

I'm waiting for the Marx Babies and Lil' Laurel and Hardy myself.
It would be pretty funny (and controversial) to see Baby Groucho with a cigar.:D

[J. J. Hunsecker]

It would be pretty funny (and controversial) to see Baby Groucho with a cigar.:D
Standards and Practices will most likely replace the cigar with a pacifier.

[Larry T]

Standards and Practices will most likely replace the cigar with a pacifier.

Or a marketable product of similar nature :rolleyes:

[JPox]

Are the Stooge Babies going to be pummeling on each other? What kind of caring name for babies is that anyway?
Are the Marvel Babies going to seriously hurt innocent bystanders with their powers, come on, they're only babies....

Let's not forget Jungle Cubs from our list of past "baby toons".

Check out this cartoon I posted:
http://jedaniels-adventures.blogspot.com/2006/08/animated-creativity-1991.html

[MarkTheShark]

In the early 1960s, Joe DeRita made compensation to Curly's older daughter Marilyn, and her mother Elaine (Curly's 2nd wife), for the right to the "Curly" name. Since then, the DeRita family has claimed ownership of the "Curly" trademark, whether it's the likeness of Curly Howard or Curly Joe DeRita.

However, Curly had a younger daughter Janie, who was orphaned in the mid-1950s and raised by relatives on the east coast. There has been some question as to whether Janie and her heirs maintain some rights to "Curly." Recent inquiries on the matter seem to generate a mountain of litigation threats from the DeRita heirs (the two Benjamin brothers are lawyers, and as the controlling management of C3, they engage themselves as C3's legal counsel; nice work if you can get it).

Shemp's family has clear ownership of Shemp's trademark rights, but their attempt(s) to enforce that right have met serious, lengthy and nasty litigations from C3 since 1998.

I have heard that stuff before, regarding Joe De Rita's securing the rights to the name and likeness of the "Curly character," hence Curly-Joe.

However, Elaine and Jerry (Curly) Howard were divorced in the early 1940s, and Jerry (Curly) married twice after that; his widow was Valerie Newman. I wonder how Elaine, "two wives ago," would have figured into the equation. (I believe Valerie died in the early 1960s.)

In the book "The Three Stooges: From Amalgamated Morons To American Icons," a letter is quoted from Moe to Curly, shortly after Curly retired from the Stooges, which was intended to serve as a legal document. Moe Howard always had signed all the Stooges' contracts and had made legal agreements with the other Stooges such that Moe made all business decisions, selecting any replacement Stooges as needed, etc. (Though for film purposes, Columbia obviously had final approval.) The letter, as quoted in the book, has Curly signing the rights to his name and likeness for any merchandise purposes, etc., over to Moe, with Moe having the right to assign those rights to others as deemed necessary, "in perpetuity." In the same letter, Moe makes reference to brother Shemp agreeing to "temporarily" step in for Curly until he is well enough to return to work (of course, Curly died in 1952 and Shemp died in 1955).

Could be that at some point, Moe signed the Curly "character" rights over to DeRita. At any rate, for legal purposes, C3 is calling all the shots now.

I notice that in the official, licensed DVDs of the 1965 "New 3 Stooges" series, the distributor name is spliced out of the credits. Sometimes the credit said "Heritage Productions" and sometimes it said "TV III." The cartoons are said to be a "Normandy-TV III" production (Normandy being Norman Maurer's company). I wonder if this "TV III" is a precursor (or division) of "Comedy 3," which I don't think anyone publicly had ever heard of until after DeRita's passing in 1993.

Norman Maurer did create the "Three Robonic Stooges" for Hanna-Barbera, which first appeared on "The Skatebirds," and later spun off on their own show. I never watched "The Skatebirds" until I saw a rerun on Cartoon Network many years later. The cartoons had new title cards for the "Three Robonic Stooges" spin-off show. Originally they were "The Robonic Stooges" with no "Three." Segments from "Clue Club" also appeared on "The Skatebirds," under the new series title "Woofer And Whimper, Dog Detectives." Those cartoons also aired as the middle segment of "The Three Robonic Stooges." Norman Maurer did the early Three Stooges comic books with partner Joe Kubert. The first two issues featured Curly, the rest featured Shemp. When some of them were reprinted in the 1980s, an artist had to go in and replace Shemp's image with Curly's image, because Norman Maurer Productions did not have licensing rights to the Shemp "character."

[cpdavison]

Hey - this thread took an unexpected turn for the better! Thanks for all the stooge info, shemp, Mark et al! We knuckleheads appreciate it! :)

Craig D.

[ohmahaaha]

News of box sets of the Columbia shorts leaked about two months ago on The Home Theater Forum *. Reportedly to start sometime in the Summer or Fall of 2007, each set will cover two years, and contain bonus features; no information on the timeframe between sets.

This is still "insider" news, although subsequently verified by other sources within Sony circles... BUT, an official studio announcement is at least six months away, if this stays on track.

* http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/showpost.php?p=2871615&postcount=60
OH MY GOD .... I may have to hold my head down to keep from passing out ... Shemp, this is AWESOME NEWS and will be a dream come true if it happens, and happens "right" if you know what I mean ... you just made my week!!

[ohmahaaha]

And oh yeah ... actually, haven't we already seen the Baby Stooges in that one Shemp "remake" where they re-used footage from "The Ghost Talks," and Moe, Larry & Shemp were made up as babies??? And even earlier than that when they played babies at the very end of "Self Made Maids??" I think those two times were enough (and better by far than this new thing could hope to be)!!! SOITENLY!!!

[Bobby Bickert]

Also, sometime in the 1980's, there was a "Marvin" comic strip that had baby Stooges at Marvin's new daycare. (Marvin: "Something tells me the IQ standards aren't too high at this daycare.")

[wackyoverkhaki]

Yikes. :eek: Well I be done seen 'bout everything.:buzzy: What's next...baby Marx Bros.?

[ohmahaaha]

Yikes. :eek: Well I be done seen 'bout everything.:buzzy: What's next...baby Marx Bros.?
Well, not in England - Baby Groucho's cigar would cause too much of an uproar.