Cartoons lost episodes

Three stooges - Dead dunderheads

When the original Three Stooges aired in 1930, it was obviously going to be a big hit. It aired in almost every movie theater (Three Stooges were only aired in movie theaters for the first few years) across the country. Three Stooges had begun to air on television, and had multiple spinoffs (Including "The Three Stooges, with Moe, Joe, and Larry," or "The Three Stooges, with Moe, Shemp, and Larry"), but everyone's favorite was probably the Three Stooges with Curly Howard. Opinions began to change when almost every Three Stooges fan was revealed to one of the most shocking episode yet.

It was 1947, and the episode "Half-Wits Holiday" was about to come to theaters. This episode marked the end of the Moe, Larry and Curly era, as Curly had suffered a major stroke on set. Surprisingly, the episode only aired in two or three theaters in the US, and only a few people had attended the screenings for it. On the fourth day of its release, the film aired at a small suburban neighborhood shopping center.

The shopping center had a theater with the latest films of the generation. According to police, only three or four individuals had arrived in the theater to watch a simple screening of what they thought would be "Half-Wits Holiday". It was later revealed that it was much more than that.

The episode started off normally as any regular episode would; the title frame slowly faded into view and remained on screen for a good minute. This is when things began to go awry; the title frame began to shake violently, then disappeared all together. Viewers were showed a white screen for a good five minutes, and reported, "Quite a ruckus, possibly a struggle of an individual."

An alternate title frame slowly faded into view, and was simply labeled:

"THE THREE STOOGES".

In a similar font, except without the faces of the main actors and the music playing in the background. The title frame faded out, and the name of the episode was widely printed across the screen. The words read, "DED DUNDERHEDS," for a split second, then abruptly transferred to, "DEAD DUNDERHEADS," then simply just to "DEAD". The screen quickly transferred to the actual episode.

A camera faced a room with no furniture, with the exception of some tarp on the ground and a ladder in the background. It apparently looked as if a room was being remodeled. A man dressed up as Moe waddles onto the screen reluctantly, wearing a cheap bullcut wig that looked like as if it was about to fall off. A tag is clearly seen in the back of the wig, whether it was for entertainment purposes or not. The man had a worried look in his face, his eyes darting around the room nervously, his fingers constantly fidgeting. He appeared to be waiting for someone to come on screen.

Small murmurs are heard in the background, and after about thirty seconds, a so-called "Curly" is apparently pushed onscreen. "Curly" was an overweight man with a black eye and multiple cuts on his cheeks and scalp. His mouth was slanted in a downward position, and he too looked nervous. He told Moe to go check the flooring on the other side of the room in an unprofessional way; quietly with a couple of words slurred. Moe shuffles off camera, and as soon as he leaves the sight of the camera, a so called "Larry" walks onto the screen.

This had to be the worse of the two; it was a female with her hair messily cut and styled to represent the original Larry from the original Stooges. During lines she would occasionally sob or mispronounce a word or two. Curly tells her that he needs to fix the roof and points to the ladder. By now, tears are clearly visible streaming down Larry's face as she hesitates to walk over to the ladder. She finally seems to build up enough courage to climb up a few steps on the ladder and pretends to work on the roof with a wrench.

Curly then bends down and pulls out a toolbox. He reveals that he has multiple sharp, dangerous tools with him and lays them out on the tarp. For a few minutes, everything seems too normal. Around the three minute mark, Moe walks onto the screen, stares at the ladder that Larry is working on, and heaves a sigh. He slowly walks by the ladder as the camera zooms in on his feet.