Moe

HAVILAH, Calif. -- St. James and LaDonna Davis raised Moe the chimpanzee as their son. That was the word they used to describe him, and that was how they treated him -- like a hairy, rambunctious child who was a pampered member of the family. They taught him to wear clothes, to take showers, to use the toilet and to watch TV in their West Covina home. They had their picture taken in bed with him.

There is an appealing nyuk, nyuk nostalgic spirit to"The Three Stooges. "To fully appreciate this paean to slapstick and silly nonsense simply requires that cynicism be temporarily shelved and the thinking side of the brain shut down. Starring Sean Hayes, Will Sasso and Chris Diamantopoulos as Larry, Curly and Moe, this affectionate update is a love letter to the Stooges from the filmmaking Farrelly brothers, Peter and Bobby. Though they may be best known for the R-rated "There's Something About Mary," there is a Stooge streak a mile long running through their work - the bumbling misfits with a heart of gold in their first film, "Dumb & Dumber," for starters.

More than a year after the diagnosis, Maureen Bryant had grown accustomed to making excuses for her husband. When Stu stood behind a tattooed woman in line at Panda Express, and said loudly, "Wow, that's a lot of tattoos," Moe stepped between him and the woman and apologized. When he repeatedly wandered into the house that was being built down the street - despite the "No Trespassing" sign and the fence - she explained to the owner that he was just curious. Possibly the most embarrassing episode occurred when they were coming home from dinner, and she dashed into a mini-mart at a marina in Oxnard to buy milk.

More than a year after the diagnosis, Maureen Bryant had grown accustomed to making excuses for her husband. When Stu stood behind a tattooed woman in line at Panda Express, and said loudly, "Wow, that's a lot of tattoos," Moe stepped between him and the woman and apologized. When he repeatedly wandered into the house that was being built down the street - despite the "No Trespassing" sign and the fence - she explained to the owner that he was just curious. Possibly the most embarrassing episode occurred when they were coming home from dinner, and she dashed into a mini-mart at a marina in Oxnard to buy milk.

Sounds like Kirk Gibson was expecting something along the lines of Tinker to Evers to Chance, and instead got Larry to Moe to Curly. Welcome to the Dodgers, Kirk. BRUCE PRESTON Placentia

In response to "Jewish Group Upset With Spike Lee," Aug. 6: For the majority of people who saw "Mo' Better Blues," there was no way to realize that the characters Moe and Josh Flatbush were supposed to be Jewish. When I hear the name Moe, it doesn't make me think that person is of Jewish descent. The first thing that comes to mind is one of the Three Stooges. As far as the name Josh is concerned, it has been given to Anglos, Asians and blacks. CLIFTON CLAY Alta Loma

Re "At ABBA, Go Left to SpongeBob," Sept. 24 Good article on the dearth of names for landscapes on Mars. May I suggest Larry, Moe and Curly. And George. STEVE KNIGHT Rosemead

A U.S. congressman says "lesbian spear chuckers" and the Orange County Republican Party's Ethics Committee "condemns" his primary opponent? I'd wondered what became of Larry, Moe and Curly. MIKE KAPOWICH Corona del Mar

Published March 19: Sounds like Kirk Gibson was expecting something along the lines of Tinker to Evers to Chance, and instead got Larry to Moe to Curly. Welcome to the Dodgers, Kirk. BRUCE PRESTON Placentia

I don't think that Councilman Ernani Bernardi's reference to Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas as "curly" (Part A, Aug. 13) was racist at all but merely a reflection of the public's perception of our City Council. Now that Ernani has "Curly" identified, which ones are "Moe" and "Larry"? ARLO L. DUNDAS, San Pedro

Manny, Moe & Jack are going private: Aftermarket auto parts chain Pep Boys is selling itself to Los Angeles investment firm Gores Group for $791 million in cash. Expansion-minded Pep Boys executives say the total enterprise value of the deal is about $1 billion. The $15-per-share price reflects a 24% premium on Pep Boys' Friday closing price of $12.08. Philadelphia-based Pep Boys, which has benefitted from a trend of drivers holding on to their existing cars rather than buying new ones, watched its stock jump 23% to nearly $15 during midday trading Monday.

Would Homer Simpson sell his house to Moe Szyslak, Apu, Chief Wiggum or Comic Book Guy? Dan Castellaneta , the voice of Homer on "The Simpsons," has done just that, selling to Hank Azaria , who voices those characters and more on the 22-season-and-counting animated sitcom. Castellaneta and his wife, television writer Deb Lacusta , sold their Pacific Palisades home of five years for $5.5 million. Azaria is downsizing from a 9,000-square-foot home in Bel Air with seven bedrooms and 10 bathrooms that he sold earlier this month for $11,065,000.

Hank Azaria, 47, drops the funny accents to play a guy who looks suspiciously like himself in the new NBC comedy "Free Agents," based on the British series of the same name. Kathryn Hahn costars as his character's coworker and the other half of an on-again, off-again couple. How did this come about? Who went after whom? [Executive producers] John Enbom, Karey Burke and Todd Holland said, "Do you want to do this?" I was very on the fence because of the schedule — it's a very rough job. Half-hour one-camera shows, if you're the lead in it?

Stooges film: MGM says it has lined up recent Oscar winner Sean Penn to play Larry in a Farrelly brothers movie about the Three Stooges. The roles of Curly and Moe haven't been cast yet, but Jim Carrey is reported to be in negotiations.

Kevin O'Keefe has a thing or two to say about the average citizen. The average American can name all Three Stooges but not all three branches of the federal government. He lives within three miles of a McDonald's, he has no ambition to be famous and he prefers whole milk to other kinds. And O'Keefe, author of "The Average American: The Extraordinary Search for the Nation's Most Ordinary Citizen," is just warming up.

More couch potato than jungle swinger, Moe the chimp used to relax by watching animal shows at home on TV rather than romping through rain forests. That's why his owners were frantic Monday to find the 42-year-old chimpanzee raised in captivity who apparently disappeared from a refuge into San Bernardino County's mountains. A West Covina celebrity for decades, Moe is said to have been rescued from Tanzanian poachers in 1967 by St. James Davis.

Stooges film: MGM says it has lined up recent Oscar winner Sean Penn to play Larry in a Farrelly brothers movie about the Three Stooges. The roles of Curly and Moe haven't been cast yet, but Jim Carrey is reported to be in negotiations.

Golly! With Hugh Downs, Gregory Peck, Lily Tomlin and Johnny Carson endorsing Mars exploration, nothing can stop us now ("The Red-Hot Planet" by Paul Ciotti, Sept. 15). If only Moe, Larry and Curly were alive to lend their support to space exploration . . . alas. DAVID KOLPACOFF El Cajon

A well-known chimp named Moe -- whose owner was brutally attacked by two other chimapanzees held in captivity -- is missing from the wildlife facility where he lived, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said Saturday. "I have a chimp missing. I don't know if he escaped or not," said Tom Betty, a supervisor with the department. Moe was believed to have escaped from the Jungle Exotics center, a wild animal rental business that caters to the movie and television industry.

It was a circus under the sky where future fitness gurus formed human pyramids and amateur acrobats sailed through the air in front of thousands of spectators. The unofficial ringmaster of the impromptu shows at Santa Monica's Muscle Beach from the 1930s through the 1950s was Deforrest "Moe" Most, a gymnast who had a talent for persuading teenagers and tourists -- and the occasional celebrity -- that they too could join in.