The Stoogeum

Today I went to a museum filled with Three Stooges memorabilia. It is located in Ambler, Pennsylvania and is open once a month for free. Details can be found at its website.

They don't allow you to take pictures inside the museum, which is the only reason why I'm not posting hundreds of photos here.

At the main entrance were some touch screen monitors. One was a simple trivia game, while the others provided timelines and rare photos of team. There is a small room where they sell merchandise and another area where they sell memberships to the fanclub, something that they boast is one of the oldest in the country. It's at least 35 years old, since it dates back to when Moe and Larry were still alive.

The first room beyond this area has several photos, some toys altered to look like the Stooges, and a couple Three Stooges games. The pinball game is basic but includes several Stooge sound effects, and the game, subtitled "Brides is Brides", is a weird take on Food Fight. (I had a vague recollection of it until recently when I downloaded it for MAME. It's honestly forgettable.) Both games are free to play. Next to some of the pictures of the team is a script for "Soup to Nuts" written by Rube Goldberg himself. I wanted to get my greasy hands on that one.

Behind that area is three manniquens dressed as the Stooges as they appeared in Idle Roomers. They point to a room with a wall covered with newspaper comics making references to the group.

The basement is probably the highlight of the museum. When you enter it you see several authentic posters advertising their shorts. It's an impressive collection in itself. To the right you'll see lots of official Three Stooges merchandise over the years. I actually had a couple of the items, including the Commodore 64 computer game, Stooge lottery tickets, and Stooge golf balls. There was one wall covered with official Three Stooges comics made while the group was still alive.

To the left (from the entrance) you had several trinkets that once belonged to the Stooges themselves. Stuff like a check written by Moe, drivers licenses belonging to Curly Joe, and a big suitcase that belonged to Joe Besser. In a back room they had several props saved by Curly Joe himself from their movies. I can honestly say that I saw the helicopter/tank/submarine hybrid from The Three Stooges in Orbit. Towards the exit was a slot machine that wasn't working that day.

In the basement there were several monitors playing classic Curly shorts. I got to see the later half of In the Sweet Pie and Pie that contains their best pie fight.

Upstairs there was a small gallery. It contained several pictures of the stooges drawn or painted by fans, as well as a few actual frames from their two cartoons, The New Three Stooges and The Robonic Stooges.

One room I almost missed was a theater. It had 85 seats that were almost all taken at the time. The short playing was the same one played in the basement. Behing the theater was a small gallery dedicated entirely to Shemp. It mostly focused on his career after he left the group and before he returned. I wish they would put his solo shorts on a DVD at some point.

Before we left I got a tshirt with Moe, Larry, and Curly dressed as professors (I work at a college so it seemed appropriate) and I got a book that someone wrote about Vernon Dent. Outside I had my picture taken in front of the sign above with a volunteer who was dressed as Moe dressed as Santa.

I would say that I can now die in peace, but that would be a lie. Coming back with a wife and a new generation of Stooge fans is my destiny.