"Jingle Bells" - Part 73 - Knuckleheads!

We switch back to the world of kiddie records for this version of "Jingle Bells" recorded by the veteran slapstick team the Three Stooges for Golden Records in 1959:

That's an interesting little number, as is the flipside:

I think those two tracks were first released in 1959 as part of these multi-song EPs, then paired as a single in 1960 (see top image):

It can be really hard to keep Golden Records releases straight, however, as they were always repackaging and rereleasing their recordings over and over, as was the case with all the kiddie labels.

I notice that "Jingle Bells" was titled "Jingle Bells Drag" on the EPs with the "Drag" dropped for the single. I'm guessing the title was a takeoff on "Jingle Bell Rock," which had been first released just a couple of years before. Otherwise, I don't get the joke!

I think the two tracks from the single in question, "Wreck the Halls with Boughs of Holly/Jingle Bells," are the strongest Christmas tracks from the boys, relatively speaking, as they deconstruct traditional songs and create little audio dramas, whereas the other recordings are more like the Stooges croaking their way through novelty songs that had already been recorded in vastly superior versions. 

As far as any musical talent goes, I think Larry does the heavy lifting vocally, but that's not surprising as Larry Fine had played the violin professionally.

 The Three Stooges were at an interesting career point at the time if these recordings. Moe Howard and Larry Fine had been working together for 30-ish years and currently had Curly Joe DeRita in the third Stooge spot.

The act had a recent resurgence in popularity from their old shorts being shown on TV and finding a new audience of children. But the Stooges didn't make any money for residuals on the shorts, so they needed to find new projects, including kiddie records!

A couple of things I'll throw in from when I was a kid around the schoolyard: A lot of kids thought Curly and Curly Joe were the same guy and one of the Stooges was a "Stooger!"