So, I just turned on the TV and caught the last ten minutes
of The Three Stooges in Orbit (1962),
a film I hadn’t seen since I was a kid. And in that brief span, several elements
immediately jumped out as closely presaging subsequent films—to the point that
I wondered more than just fancifully if this predictably insipid film filled
with recycled jokes and made on the cheap for a very over-the-hill comedy troupe
could actually have been the source of certain concepts used in later, higher-profile works.
Look at the propeller-powered flying submarine stolen by the
Martians (above). Is this not practically a real-life, full-scale model of the Beatles’
yellow submarine depicted in the 1968 animated feature film? The Three Stooges in Orbit predated Yellow Submarine by six years—yet looking at the similarities in concept and design, it’s not hard to suppose
that the director of the Beatles’ film, George Dunning, was a Three Stooges fan
who caught their movie upon its theatrical release,* perhaps even screening it
privately six years later for the crew of animators to give them a definitive sense of the artistic
style he wanted.
* In 1962, Beatlemania hadn’t yet swept England, so Dunning, a Canadian expatriate who had yet to become associated with the Beatles, likely was walking around
London with little to do and thus had plenty of free time to see the new Three
Stooges film.
Moments later in the film, Professor Danforth, played by long-time
quasi-Stooge, Emil Sitka, displays an animated television segment of the Stooges
dancing to stock, early 60s pop music. This is perhaps even stronger
proof that George Dunning and his crew lifted ideas from this Three Stooges film.
As you can see, that’s impressively sophisticated animation for 1962—and it
appears very much the progenitor to the dazzling animation of Yellow Submarine. Granted, the Stooges
weren’t as limber as the girl dancing to “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” but
their particular brand of fat, elderly elegance must have made a lasting
impression on Dunning.
Okay, this weakest incarnation of the Three Stooges is no “Fab Four,” but consider the cumulative work of Moe, Larry, Curly, and the criminally underrated Shemp—that’s
a four as fab as John, Paul, George, and Ringo, for sure.†
† Continuing the numbers game, the Three Stooges and the
Beatles each counted six participating members among their ranks: the
aforementioned four in each group, plus, of course, latter-day Stooges Joe Besser and Curly
Joe DeRita as well as Beatles’ castoffs Stuart Sutcliffe and Pete Best.
Furthermore, the Three Stooges went into widespread television
syndication in 1958, introducing them to a new generation—the Beatles’
generation. With the future Beatles all in their highly impressionable teens at
that time, it’s a good bet the lads watched and enjoyed the Stooges’ tomfoolery—especially
the angry, young man of the fledgling group, John Lennon, who probably would
have appreciated them most. I can easily see the Stooges’ violent tendencies
having rubbed off on the volatile Lennon. (The Three Stooges was actually removed from syndication for a time in the 1960s when mothers complained that their children were emulating the Stooges’ dangerous antics.) Now, I’m not saying that a few
episodes of Moe bullying Larry, Curly, and Shemp led to Lennon kicking original
bassist, Stuart Sutcliffe, in the head—as has occasionally been alleged in the
cause of Sutcliffe’s untimely death—but I am
saying that an irate John likely was not above rapidly fluttering his hand in front of
Sutcliffe’s entranced gaze, then snapping it down briskly, causing Sutcliffe’s
head to do the same. Whether that
facilitated Sutcliffe’s fatal cerebral hemorrhage, no one will ever know—but it sure looks like a lot of stress on the brain…
Having presented all of this evidence, it cannot be
overlooked that any discussion concerning the Three Stooges’ influence on the
Beatles begins with the fact that Moe was wearing a Beatles’ haircut before any
of the lads were born; thus, the Fab Four owe their most defining physical
characteristic to Moe Howard.
But I’m not positing that The Three Stooges in Orbit was a creative well from which only the
Beatles drew ideas. Far from it. Though meant to look comic, the Martians in
this film actually appear disturbingly grotesque—even more so when the viewer
subconsciously realizes that they strongly resemble the horrifying Grendel in
the 2007 CGI version of Beowulf—or
rather, that Grendel strongly resembles them.
One wouldn’t think that the creators of a faithful and brutally explicit retelling
of a violent Dark Age tale would look to a Three Stooges film for creative
inspiration, but compare the Martians’ distended skulls, heavy eyebrow ridges,
and lacertilian digits to Grendel and try to deny a connection…
And as game-changing as was the granddaddy of all science fiction films, Star Wars, it’s glaringly obvious from where in his movie-going youth George Lucas later pilfered the concept of the Empire’s ultimate weapon, the Death Star...
(Images from The Three Stooges in Orbit copyright Columbia Pictures; images from Yellow Submarine copyright United Artists; image from Beowulf copyright Paramount Pictures.)
