Many years of research have failed to turn up documentation for Moe Howard's early film appearances at the Vitagraph Studio in Brooklyn NY, 1909 - 1910. The films and studio records no longer exist.
1980s research by film historian Richard Finegan revealed a reference to FISH HOOKEY (1910) as another possible Vitagraph Studio comedy with Moe Howard (The Three Stooges Journal # 51 Fall 1989). Unfortunately, to date, no additional documentation has turned up.
From the Summer of 1929 (exact date uncertain), discovered in the early 1990s in the USC Film Archives, this is five minutes of raw footage filmed by Fox for a newsreel, featuring brothers Moe and Shemp Howard. Whether it was eventually used in a newsreel, and the library title and release date of that supposed film, are unknown.
A public service annoucement made in support of President Franklin Roosevelt's National Recovery Administration, urging employers to hire. Moe appears as an exterminator, whom Jimmy Durante urges to hire more men.
Fictional show biz saga of the Hackett family, covering three generations. Turn-of-the-century vaudeville headliners Lulu and Ted Hackett bring their young son Ted Jr. into the act, and watch him become the star as vaudeville matures into an American entertainment tradition. The act graduates to Broadway and young Ted's rise to fame is spectacular... and so is his downfall. Lulu and Ted are left to raise their young grandson Ted III, and try to keep him from falling into his father's bad habits when Hollywood beckons.
Moe and Curly Howard cameo as Dutch-accented stage clowns of dubious character (virtually unrecognizable in full clown makeup), who mug a drunken Ted Jr. for his bankroll.
During the warden's three-month absence, his daughter Miss Deering (Dorothy Appleby) has turned Paradise Prison into a "paradise," a luxury hotel with all the amenities, and the guards do all the work. As Miss Deering and her secretary tour the prison, there are a series of sight gags involving various prisoners. Among them, registering at Paradise's front desk we meet Joe Pantz (Moe Howard), an axe murderer who has transferred from Leavenworth.
That night there is a show in the Prison Auditorium with dinner and music. Moe enters with Jerry "Curly" Howard, who is wearing a toupee, and the two work a hair tonic scheme among the other prisoners; this scene was reworked for Moe, Larry Fine and Joe DeRita in SNOW WHITE AND THE THREE STOOGES (1961). The festivities end with gunshots and a vase-throwing melee among the prisoners.
Space Master X-7, a satellite probe for exploring the possibility of life in space, returns to Earth. In his laboratory, Dr. Pommer (Paul Frees) discovers that it picked up a space-borne fungus that rapidly expands and feeds on carbon-based matter, human or otherwise. His ex-wife, Laura Greeling, visits Pommer over a custody argument about their son, and inadvertantly becomes a carrier of the microscopic lifeform. Pommer is killed by the alien growth, and a government coverup leaves his ex-wife to mistakenly assume that she is a suspect in his death. Government authorities are now in a race to find her before she can start a widespread epidemic.
Moe Howard has a small role as a cab driver who comes in contact with Laura.
Collegian bandleader Tom Harper meets and falls in love with Gay Sheridan, angering her longtime suitor, wealthy Carter Breed III (Tom Laughlin). Carter is determined to break up the romance, and promises to use his family's contacts to book top musical acts for the school's senior prom. A year-old recording by Tom's band unexpectedly hits the Billboard charts, and when Breed's promises fall flat, Harper steps in.
Short order cook Charlie Yuckapuck (Morey Amsterdam) and his waitress best friend Annie (Rose Marie) are fired from the Daredevil Diner after one too many disasters at the expense of owner Mr. Travis (Richard Deacon). The two friends head for Updyke College, to help former waitress Magda Anders run the bookstore she inherited from her uncle. On their trail are spies from the Socialist Republic of Klobayashi who have mistaken Charlie for his double, the missing cosmonaut Yasha Nudnick. Yasha has defected, with plans to turn himself over to U.S. officials at Updyke's international science exposition. Klobayashi spy leader Mr. Big orders his staff to retrieve the space secrets in Nudnick's head, by torture if necessary.
Moe Howard guest stars as Mr. Raines, a lawyer, sporting his trademark sugar-bowl haircut.
An evil magician has the power to transfer souls from one body to another. He has lived for over a thousand years by mastering this skill, and will bring the dead back to life... for a price. Fred Saunders loses his wife in a car accident, and becomes obsessed with bringing her back to life. After trying several spiritualists who are discovered to be fakes, Fred encounters Dr. Death who promises to find a new soul to reanimate Mrs. Saunder's body. Once Fred sees that the doctor's method requires the murder of a "donating" soul, he terminates the contract. But Dr. Death refuses to accept failure, and with his mute henchman Thor (Leon Askin), begins a murder spree to find a soul that Mrs. Saunders' corpse will accept... eventually discovering Saunders' new girlfriend.
Moe appears as an audience volunteer at one of Dr. Death's reincarnation ceremonies.
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