That must have been great to see.
It was interesting for a couple of reasons. First, they were really old, as they should have been. Remember that a lot of the Stooges episodes we were most familiar with were filmed when the boys were in their late 30s. By the time I saw them, they were well into their 60s. The contrast was startling for a kid who saw them as timeless.
Also, there was a Stooge resurgence at the time and, as I hinted in this hardly serious blog, parents were concerned about what their kids were picking up from all the slapstick violence. Moe made a point, at the end of the show, to tell us that we should not try any of this stuff at home, particularly the eye-poking. "Even I miss sometimes." After that I'd watch the movies differently, to see exactly what he did (he aimed just above the eyes). I'm not sure it took much of the fun out of watching the Stooges, but it was a good reminder that what was funny on screen was a bad thing in real life.
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