Celebration of the Three Stooges Visiting Johnson City 60 Years Ago

October 25, 2007 marks the 60th anniversary of a monumental event in Three Stooges and Johnson City history. On this day, the Three Stooges visited the Tennessee Theater (146 or 148 West Main Street). This was a year and a half after the Curly's stroke. The members of the Stooges at the time were Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and original Stooge Shemp Howard. The announcement of the performance was in the Johnson City Press-Chronicle a number of times.


Johnson City Press-Chronicle, October 25, 1947
Notice the admission price: children 30 cents and adults 60 cents.

SHORTS OF THE ERA

This show was a month and a half after the release of "Brideless Groom" (Internet Movie Database website), which is now in the public domain. It was only 5 days before the release of "Sing a Song of Six Pants" (Internet Movie Database website), which is also in the public domain. These two Columbia Studios "shorts" are available on Youtube. Here are some images from these shorts from Three Stooges Online Filmography:


Brideless Groom

Sing a Song of Six Pants

THE TENNESSEE THEATER



The Tennessee Theater (late 1960s/early 1970s?)


The location of the Tennessee Theater today (October 2, 2007)
The Tennessee Theater was located where the Johnson City Greyhound Bus Station is today (with street address 137 West Market Street). Quoting from Bob Cox's article Old-Time Music: Johnson City Played a Huge Role in Its Development: "In the spring of 1924, the Deluxe Theatre at 148 West Main Street was a beautiful new vaudeville complex with its massive thirty-foot stage, twelve dressing rooms, elaborately decorated balcony, eight guest boxes, and 1250 plush seats... The theatre edifice would later carry such names as the Capital Theatre, the Tennessee Theatre, and finally the Capri Theatre before being razed in 1985.''

REFERENCES
  1. The address of the Tennessee Theater from Bob Cox's Yesteryear article A Visit To The Liberty Theatre: "To Be Continued... At This Theatre Next Week" is reported as 146 West Main Street.
  2. The Tennessee Theater photo is from JohnsonsDepot.com.
  3. Additional information on the Tennessee Theater from Cinema Treasures' Capri Theater website. This site reports the address as 148 West Main Street.
  4. Three Stooges Online Filmography.
  5. The background image is from The Three Stooges Collectors Showcase.
  6. Three Stooges logo from ThreeStooges.com.
  7. The 1947 Stooges personal appearance was brought to my attention from a photograph on page 122 of Images of America, Johnson City by Sonya A. Haskins, Charleston: Arcadia Publishing, 2005.

Return to Bob Gardner's webpage.

Last revised October 2, 2007.