Emil Sitka, long time foil of
The Three Stooges, was the only actor to work with all four sets of Stooges and actually
became a Stooge in the 1970s replacing Larry Fine.
He appeared in three burlesque Western comedies with Shemp Howard as
the third stooge: Merry Mavericks, 1951, The Tooth Will Out, 1951, and Shot
in the Frontier, 1954.
Sitka's next Western encounter with the Stooges was the 1965 feature
film, The Outlaws is Coming! with Curly-Joe De Rita. In it, Sitka remarkably
played three roles: the newspaper editor who sends the Stooges out West to save the
buffalo; the son of the Indian chief who wants to burn the Stooges at the stake; and the
cavalry colonel who arrives too late... since the Stooges have already saved the West.
Sitka was set to make his debut as a Stooge with Moe and Curly-Joe in
the 1975 Western spoof, Blazing Stewardesses, starring Yvonne De Carlo, Bob
Livingston and Don "Red" Barry. During production of the film, Moe Howard died,
and the Stooges were replaced by the Ritz Brothers. |
