Roaming through the crowd, playfully harassing passersby and participating in various events were two sets of hired Stooge impersonators. David Knight, a heavy, bald 49-year-old construction worker from Rochester, N.Y., was a Curly without a calling until the Stooges heirs got down to business.
"For about 15 years I was a solo Stooge, and then I teamed up with Comedy III, and here we go, 'Whoo-whoo-whoo! Why, soitenly! Nyuk-Nyuk! I'm not as dumb as you look!' " Knight said.
Willard Morgan showed up at an audition last week at Planet Hollywood to film the event for a documentary. Instead, the frizzy-haired filmmaker walked off with the Larry role. Despite the fact that he had only two days to prepare his character, he showed keen insight into the man many agree was the most enigmatic of the Stooges.
"He was the reactive one," Morgan said. "I think he was dealt a difficult hand, and through the study of Eastern religions, he rose above it. I think he is the highest evolved of the Stooges."
The fans here said the Three Stooges would always be a part of their lives, but Steve Blakeman of Downey could say this literally. In addition to the usual houseful of posters, souvenirs and other Stoogeabilia that most people here boast of, the Curly-esque Blakeman sports a potato-sized tattoo of his three idols on his left bicep.
"A lot of people have noticed," he said. "I haven't seen another one like that even here. And that's what I wanted--something nobody else had."
Another fan, Luis Rial, came from Buenos Aires. He said he's been a fan of los Tres Ciflados since he was 4.
"I collect every bit of memorabilia I can get," he said. "Magazine, newspaper clippings--you name it, I have it."
Rial's wife had entered him in a
TV fantasy-vacation game show in Argentina, and the program flew him here. She stayed behind. Not surprisingly, although convention-goers ranged from toddlers to the very old, Stooge worship seemed to be a predominantly male endeavor.
A few industry heavies dropped by the convention, including director John Landis with his 13-year-old son. "I think the Three Stooges influenced everyone's career, not just mine," he said, citing "There's Something About Mary," as the latest example of the still-pervasive Stooge influence in Hollywood. "I don't think anyone has produced as much material as they have."
