Talk:Three Dark Horses

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Able Lamb Stewer[edit]

What on earth is this name a burlesque of?? Or is it just generally strange? Which is not impossible for a Stooges film, of course. 213.205.240.114 (talk) 14:05, 25 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Ham and eggs was a populist movement, but certain of its supporters had a Nazi taint. One founder, radio personality Robert Noble, was in sympathy with Hitler, and was arrested by the F.B.I. in 1942. Also a co-defendant in the Great Sedition Trial of 1944. Only look:

https://law.justia.com/cases/california/court-of-appeal/2d/68/853.html

Although this was not typical of the movement, it would have made Jews look at it suspiciously. I think ‘Able Lamb Stewer’ was meant to be a Jewish counter to ‘Hammond Egger’(ham, of course, not being kosher). Anyone growing up Jewish, like the Stooges, would be familiar with ‘cholent’, a stew made for the sabbath. Cholent is uniquely Jewish. It was created because Jewish law does not permit cooking on Shabbat/sabbath. To adhere to this prohibition, Jewish cooks began to create meat and bean stews in heavy pots that would slowly simmer inside a low-heat oven overnight. They would prepare the stew on Friday before sundown, cook it partially, and place it into the oven to continue cooking throughout the night. That way, there would be no need to kindle a fire or light a stove during the hours of Shabbat; they would simply remove the stew from the oven at mealtime and it would be fully cooked and ready to serve. Beef or lamb may be used, so long as it is kosher.

So, why this particular reference? This is speculation, but gag writers have all kinds of strange ideas go through their heads. It happens that the Sephardic version of cholent is known as hamin.

Hamin/Hamim/Chamim/Chamin comes from the Hebrew word “hot”. Popular throughout Israel, hamin is often made with chicken rather than red meat and usually contains eggs. It is also spiced more exotically than Eastern European cholent.

Perhaps - some writer, maybe even a stooge, heard ‘ham and eggs’ and thought “ham and...oh, hamin! That stew I always got on Saturday, or that’s what the old folks down our street always called cholent. So, the other guy will be ‘lamb stewer’”. Then Abel was added, a biblical name.

The weird poster picture of him in the film is meant to show Stewer is different. He does not look Jewish-different, though - none of the Stooges crew would have had any truck with anti-Semitism. Instead he is a weird combo of a man and a lamb. Maybe symbolic of the fact that the range of features in the faith of Judaism is a little different than the range of features found in other groups in the same area. Though handsome, rather than grotesque like this - but that’s comedy.

Maybe some backing for some of this can be found in a Hollywood memoir, or something. Then, anything accurate can be put in the article. 2A00:23C7:E284:CF00:949C:A23B:B4DA:D1CD (talk) 16:31, 25 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Ingenious - and the Noble case is really shocking. A speculation I have is that it refers to the Democratic candidate for that year, Adlai Stevenson. Adlai= Able Lamb, Stevenson=Stewer. Also, Stewer sounds kind of like the real name ‘Stewart’, which makes the pun sound less forced. That picture, though, looks like nothing on earth, certainly not Stevenson. The picture does not appear in the article, but Google search Images for ‘Able Lamb Stewer’ and see. Maybe the pic can be put in the article? However, your ideas could easily be true. Who knows with these maniacs? :) 213.205.240.185 (talk) 13:46, 26 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]