From my collection: More Stooges fun: Greta Thyssen, Diana Darrin & Arline Hunter

Greta Thyssen (nee Grethe Thygesen and Miss Denmark of 1951) became the very last of the starlets that would grace Columbia's short subject comedy factory, appearing opposite Moe, Larry and Joe in Quiz Whizz, Pies and Guys, and Sappy Bullfighters, all filmed in mere days right before the short subject department was closed in 1957 and released 1958-'59. Greta, of course, was Denmark's answer to Marilyn Monroe and did indeed double for the latter in Bus Stop (1956), in which she also had a one line bit in a Phoenix street scene with Don Murray. Thyssen's final feature film was the Florida-lensed Cotton Pickin' Chickenpickers (1967), a title, and indeed narrative, that pretty much tells the story of Greta's less than stellar screen career.

A bit higher up the food-chain screen-wise, but not too far up, Diana Darrin was also a singer and enjoyed a career that lasted until the early 1970s and included films with Jack Nicholson and James Caan. In the Stooges' Outer Space Jitters (1957) Darrin was one of the electrifying (literally) girls from Planet Sunev, which, a title helpfully explains was Venus spelled backwards.

Another of the Sunev beauties was Arline Hunter, a famous stripper and the August 1954 Playboy centerfold. Miss Hunter was often mistaken for Marilyn Monroe, notably in a little indiscretion suggestively entitled Apple Knockers and Coke (!), which was long credited to Marilyn herself. Hunter later appeared with the similar Mamie Van Doren in one of the era's great exploitation comedies, Sex Kittens Go to College (1960).

From my collection: More Stooges & Connie Cezon

Speaking of Stooges gals, we shall of course not forget the lustrous Miss Connie Cezon (often listed on credits as "Cezan," but she was born Consuelo Cezon), whose resemblance to Bette Davis led to her appearing as Davis' double in the identical twin melodrama Dead Ringer (1964). The Pasadena Playhouse alumni also did her fair share of b-girls, e.g. in Bruno Ve Sota's The Female Jungle (1956), and she enjoyed a recurring role as Perry Mason's switchboard operator, Gertie, in the original 1950s Tv series. But it was as a foil for the 3 Stooges that she will be remembered, notably dating all three, simultaneously, in Corny Casanovas (1952), for monetary gain of course. This is the short where she famously greet each Stooge with an insincere "I knew you were coming so I baked a cake." Does she end up wearing said cake? Have you ever seen a Stooge short? The entire gag was repeated in the "remake," Rusty Romeos (1957), where Cezon, a tiny bit heavier, re-filmed the scenes featuring the late Shemp Howard's replacement, Joe Besser, but the new footage was inserted nearly seamlessly and few were the wiser. Connie Cezon, who hailed from Oakland, CA (born 1925) died from complications of breast cancer in 2004. In her later years she ran a boarding house for cats, Kitty's Kastle. The photo top right is from the 1946 Academy Players guide and is perhaps the earliest professional portrait in existence.

From my collection: Vanda Dupre

We all know and love French-born starlet Vanda Dupre from the latter-day 3 Stooges comedy Fifi Blows Her Top (1958), where, in the title-role, she plays Joe Besser's wartime beloved. But that was actually about it for Vanda who the very same year that Columbia released the short married future character star Jack Warden, in Las Vegas and with comedian Red Buttons as best man. They had a son together, Christopher, and although the couple reportedly separated in the 1970s, Vanda was still legally Mrs. Warden when Jack died in 2006. Along with her Danish-born contemporary Greta Thyssen, Vanda Dupre (born 1931) remains one of the very few Stooge starlets still alive as of this writing.