Have Rocket -- Will Travel

How well I remember the long lines at the box office for Have Rocket, Will Travel. Harry Cohn may have died a year before, but his successors at Columbia Pictures realized they had a gold mine on their hands when those old Three Stooges shorts were gaining a new generation of fans of which your's truly was one of them at the age of 11. The lines were comparable to those for a new Harry Potter film, I kid you not.

The Three Stooges had their half hour comedy show with Officer Joe Bolton on WPIX Channel 11 in New York and other similar venues throughout the country. So with only two Stooges still on this mortal coil (Joe Besser was never really a Stooge), the search was on to find a third one to fit in with Moe Howard and Larry Fine.

Character actor Curly Joe DeRita was hired to pinch hit for the late Curly Howard. Movie audiences if they had noticed would have also seen him in 1959 as a treacherous hangman in the Gregory Peck western, The Bravados, but here he simply steps in as a kinder, gentler, and somewhat less zany version of Curly.

Looking back, Have Rocket, Will Travel borrows quite liberally from the Abbott&Costello film, Abbott&Costello Go To Mars. The same premise happens, three nincompoops instead of two accidentally get launched into space and head for Venus where they establish interplanetary relations.

The film does not have the Stooge zaniness, there could only be on Curly. But Joe DeRita is not the only problem. Moe and Larry had aged and the physical comedy they did in their younger days, just isn't present any more.

For the kids back then it was satisfying enough, but Have Rocket, Will Travel just doesn't measure up to the Three Stooges in their prime.

The Three Stooges had about the longest run of any act in the Short Subject field. As an act on their own (after Ted Healy),their career went from 1934 ("WOMAN HATERS") to 1958, when the last of the 2 reelers featuring Joe Besser as the third Stooge was released. It was just about then that COLUMBIA PICTURES decided to release their backlog to Television.After all, the Stooges were now out dated, has beens.Curly and Shemp Howard, who both gave so much energy to the act, were both now gone.

Well, the shorts made it to local TV stations, and kids who had never heard of finger pokes and tearing out of tonsils rapidly became their greatest fans. Everyone was watching. All of a sudden, The Stooges were a hot item. Personal appearances,comic books, records, bubble gum cards and all sorts of other merchandising appeared on the scene.

Ironically, the Stooges got no financial rewards for their old Columbia Shorts being shown on TV. But if it weren't for their timely release, none of the rest would be possible.

Naturally, there would be more motion pictures, but the short subject field was really nothing by now. So, it was decided that "the boys" would go into feature films. The first, HAVE ROCKET WILL TAVEL was produced and played the neighborhood shows in 1959, in the Autumn I think.

Well, when we saw the advertisements on TV, we (there were 5 of us Ryan Kids)let out a cheer. It was at our neighborhood theater, and it was Saturday. We went to the Matinée that day. Well, it was us and every other kid in the neighborhood at the Ogden Theater that day. The Stooges' comeback was in full swing now.

As a Stooges'picture,it was both familiar and different. They had been in features before, but not as the starring act. They went through the sci-fi story well enough. The story did incorporate a lot of schtick from their old 2 reeler days. The 3rd Stooge was now veteran Burlesque Comic Joe DeRita (nicknamed 'Curly Joe') who bore some general resemblance to Curly Howard, who of course died in 1952. The story had a sort of romantic sub-plot between two of the professors at the space institute. (the female character called 'Dr. Ingrid', played by Anna Lisa a Scandanavian actress who looked sort of like a 'road show' Ingrid Bergman. They even had a short musical interlude, using a forgettable song.Oh well,at least it gave us a good time to slip out to the lobby and get some popcorn.

When we left the show that Saturday, we were a little disappointed with Have Rocket Will Travel (the title a spoof of a popular western TV series of that day). Just about every kid thought that it could have been better.But, on the other hand, it was a new Stooges picture, and that was truly good news.

Perhaps the greatest irony of this "comeback" film was that it is the first Stooges film that was made for the juvenile trade. Even though it was those kids who were responsible for the Stooges' resurgence, their previous movies were made for general audience viewing.

The Stooges were Blessed with "New Life" after Their Catalog of Columbia Shorts (20 min) were Shown on TV in the 1950's and Baby Boomer Kids became Three Stooges Fanatics, to the Dismay of Worried Mothers and Nannies across the Nation, Fearing the "Monkey See - Monkey Do" Nature of Children.

There was No Shortage of Outcries and Protests from Parents and Other "Censorship" Types. Eye Poking and other Outrageously Violent Slapstick, like a Saw Across the Skull, was Typical and Routine for a Stooges Short and the Grown-Ups were Appalled.

But that's exactly why Moe, Larry, Curly, and later Shemp, were so Loved by the Youngins. They were like a Real-Life Version of the also Immensely Popular Cartoons, also finding "New Life" on TV. This brings Us to the Late Life Feature Films of "The Three Stooges".

Well Past Their Prime, and with Curly and Shemp Gone, the Stooges were asked to Cash In on Their Popularity and the Boys Needed the Money. So this Enterprising Series of Entertaining, but far from Their Best Work, Feature Films Resulted.

Financially Successful, the Films were Mild, Toned-Down Fluff and Fans went more to Pay Homage to Their TV Friends, and didn't Expect Greatness. It was a Mutual Admiration Event by both "The Three Stooges" and Their Adoring Public.

Overall, this was the First in the Movie Series and has its Moments. Ironically, but maybe not, the Best Stuff in the Film seem to be the Recycled Gags from the Two-Reelers. The other Stuff here is Forced, sometimes Amusing, but it's the Classic Routines that Highlight. Every once and while there is a New Surprisingly Funny Thing, like when Moe says to Larry and Curly Joe..."You're knuckleheads...All three of ya.".

Have Rocket, Will Travel (1959)

** (out of 4)

Mildly amusing comedy has The Three Stooges (Moe, Larry, Curley-Joe) accidentally setting off in a rocket and going to outer space. Once there they land on an unknown planet where they encounter a talking unicorn and an electronic creature. This was the Stooges big comeback after having been written off and pretty much overlooked. The trio had their shorts showing up on television where they gained new fans in the form of kids so this film was quickly released with the kiddies in mind. There's really no reason to compare this set of Stooges to the early Columbia shorts because it's obvious this film was made for a different group of people. Most of the comedy in terms of violence is watered down and a lot of the jokes are more slapstick than anything else. This film was certainly better than I thought it would be but it's still not quite what I'd consider a good film. There are a fair number of laughs scattered throughout with one of the best coming during a long sequence where the boys are trying to create fuel to make the rocket go. Larry ends up drinking the toxic fumes, mistaking it for coffee and the pay off here is quite nice. Moe and Larry were certainly getting up their in years and couldn't really do any of the more physical stuff but they're still pretty good here. Joe DeRita certainly isn't Curly but he manages to get a few smiles. A lot of comedians, including Abbott and Costello, were testing their jokes in space and I don't think too many of them ever really worked. The jokes here are certainly aimed at children and while a few of them work there's just not enough to carry the 76-minute running time.

After having a batch of their old short films with Curly Howard released to TV in the late 1950s, the Three Stooges were back in demand and Columbia Pictures finally gave Moe Howard and Larry Fine the opportunity they always wanted for all the years they were making shorts--the chance to star in feature length films.

Joining Moe & Larry as the new 3rd stooge was show-business veteran Joe Derita, nicknamed Curly-Joe--presumably because of his somewhat physical resemblance to Curly Howard.

And the thing you might notice with this new stooge lineup is that these are not the stooges of old back when they were in their prime with Curly and Shemp. In fact, these stooges are old & maybe with old age came a softer approach. Whether or not that's a good thing is a matter of personal taste, I suppose--although I would point out the problem with the majority of the Derita era was the softer approach & how the stooges seemed to have gotten pegged during this point in their careers as being just "Children's entertainers."

Definitely, the cutesy talking unicorn angle of this movie seemed expressly aimed at pleasing the younger kids in the crowd--although if you're like me, you know that when the stooges were in their prime, their act with Curly and Shemp was hardly cute and whimsical. Indeed, during those days, a little petty larceny by the stooges was considered a good thing.

Who knows what the stooges could have done if they had been given the chance to make features during the 1930s, 40s, or 50s, but "Have Rocket" was not exactly the greatest vehicle they made, but it does have its moments.

5 stars