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The Stairs
from the "An Ache in Every Stake" episode - 1941
Does this flight of stairs look unusually
familiar to you? It should. These stairs are seen in the beginning
of the "An Ache in Every Stake" episode when the Stooges
are attempting to bring a block of ice to an impatient customer
standing atop the stairs. The boys are furiously trying their hardest
to get the ice up to the top of the stairs without having the ice
melt before they can get it there. The stairs also serve as an escape
route for the boys later in the film when things heat up.
The steps are located in Los Angeles,
CA. between 2257 and 2258 Fair Oak View Terrace, in the dead-end
"cul-de-sac" of the street. This is in the Silverlake
area of Los Angeles.
Get the full "An
Ache in Every Stake" synopsis and film details in the filmography
HERE.
It was recently discovered by Jim Pauley
(a long-time Three Stooges fan) that the stairs were still in existence
today over 60 years from the filming of the "An Ache in Every
Stake" short. Pauley did a story on the stairs which was published
in a Three Stooges Fan Club Newsletter. Even though I've requested
the story a couple of times, unfortunately, I have yet to see it.
Hopefully I'll get my hands on it someday. The story itself probably
provides even more valuable information on this awesome landmark.
The stairs themselves remain one of the
most intriguing and perhaps one of the few remaining landmarks from
the Three Stooges era that are almost un-changed. This story has peaked
the interests of a few die-hard fans living in the L.A. area and I
have received a few e-mails from fans who embarked on their own little
research field trips. The results are below:
An
aerial photo of the cul-de-sac and stairs today (click to see larger
image)
Dan, a true Stooge fan, sends
these amazing aerial photos of the site today (taken March 2004).
You'll notice when comparing the aerial to the other photos Dan sent,
there isn't much difference in the landmark some 60+ years later.
Totally Cool!!!
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photos from the new colorized DVD short film "An Ache in
Every Stake"> |
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(click
on any of the thumbnails to see a larger image) |
Christopher over at Hollywood
Blvd. "The Virtual Tour" notified me that he was also out
there recently and took some beautiful color photographs of the site.
Christopher was out there researching many historical Hollywood sites
for his web site. Since a similar flight of stairs (in the same area
of Cali) was seen and used in "The Music Box" by Laurel and
Hardy, he was technically knocking out two birds with one stone. Christopher
was kind enough to offer his photos for a tribute here at StoogeWord.
So, without further adieu, Enjoy the photos of the stairway from "An
Ache in Every Stake."
Looking
up the stairs from Street Level.
Halfway
up, Whew! No wonder Curly was winded...
Halfway
up (looking back down)
Standing
at the landing at the top looking back down
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PHOTO
FACTOIDS:
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These
very recent photographs were taken in December of 2002.
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images courtesy Christopher @ Hollywood Blvd. "The Virtual
Tour"
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Chris'
Notes about the photos above:
Originally,
there was a tall "Dead End" sign to the left of the stairs in
the street level photo, which I removed. You can however, still
see its shadow across the steps. I didn't want to tamper with
the famous steps in trying to remove it, so I left the shadow
in the picture un-retouched. There are 147 steps altogether. That's
16 more than Laurel and Hardys steps!
All
pictures are original, taken by me. But you can credit them to
Hollywood Boulevard - The Virtual Tour.
The
pictures were taken with my Sony DSC-S70 3.3 megapixel digital
camera, and originally edited by me using Paint Shop Pro 7.
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READ
ABOUT OTHER THREE STOOGE'S LANDMARKS
The
"Larry Fine" Mural in Philly | The
"Hollywood Walk of Fame" Star | The
Gravesite Tours
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