I am a great fan of the Three Stooges. Their earliest films
were made in the 1930s, and most of the characters they played were working
class men struggling to make a living and occasionally interacting with the
wealthy in ridiculous ways. In an era when Hollywood answered the Great
Depression with glamorous movie stars and movies like “Gold Diggers of 1933”
(the opening song is “We’re
in the Money”; the film is well-worth watching for the Busby Berkeley dance
choreography), the Three Stooges must have provided a hilarious satirical
depiction of ordinary life for the average moviegoer.
Not long ago I purchased a DVD set of all their short films
from 1934-1942. Watching them in order over a period of a couple of months, it
occurred to me that you could teach a class on the Great Depression using the
Three Stooges as the foundation. Because they often portray workmen, the
Stooges are often in people’s homes, particularly kitchens, and I was struck by
the difference in kitchen appliances over the course of these few years. In one
of their famous films, “An Ache in Every Stake” (1941) they are ice
deliverymen; even in 1941 people still had iceboxes. The ovens start out
looking like modified woodstoves. By the last film of 1942, “Sock-a-Bye Baby”
they are in a kitchen with an electric refrigerator and fancy gas stove, and the
kitchen looks gleamingly modern.
There are also references to the New Deal, including a visit
to the Oval Office where the Stooges thank President Roosevelt.
