For eight decades, audiences have delighted in the eye-gouging,
hair-pulling comic mayhem of The Three Stooges. Their story, however,
is much more than slapstick comedy. This is the untold truth of The Three Stooges.
As detailed by Mark and Ellen Scordato in The Three Stooges,
Samuel "Shemp" Horwitz and younger brother Moses "Moe" Horwitz got their start on the stage as a
comedy duo called Howard and Howard in 1915. Initially, the brothers were unsuccessful,
and the act broke up when Shemp was drafted into the Army. Shemp's military service,
however, was short-lived, and he was soon back on stage with Moe.
In 1922, Shemp and Moe joined comedian Ted Healy's act. Healy,
already a successful performer, was a purveyor of broad, somewhat suggestive humor. Brought on
as foils for Healy's physical comedy, Moe and Shemp were big hits with Healy's audiences.
Healy brought comedian-musician Louis Feinberg into his act in 1925. Feinberg,
better known by his stage name Larry Fine, completed the original lineup.
Ted Healy and His Stooges broke into film in 1930 in the 20th Century Fox comedy Soup to Nuts.
The now-Howard brothers and Fine made such an impression that they were offered a movie deal of
their own. Healy, fearing the end of his career, convinced Fox to rescind The Stooges' contract.
When the trio found out about Healy's actions, they angrily struck out on their own.
The Stooges briefly rejoined Healy, but, in 1932, Shemp bowed out after a financial dispute.
"I can't take it anymore. I quit! See? I quit! And what are you going to do about it?"
Moe brought in younger brother Jerome "Curly" Horwitz as his replacement,
cementing the classic Stooges lineup. After appearing in several MGM films,
The Three Stooges left Healy for good in 1934 when they signed with Columbia Pictures.
After parting ways with Ted Healy,
"first stooge" Moe Howard became the de facto leader of The Three Stooges.
"Who threw those pies?"
According to Three Stooges director Edward Bernds, Moe was in charge both on and offscreen.
Bernds told Jeffrey Forrester, author of The Stooge Chronicles,
"Believe it or not, in real life it was very much like it was in the pictures. Moe was the boss,
the brains of the outfit. [...] Moe was really a sensitive, touchy guy,
compared to the others. And his feelings were easily hurt, too."
“Heh heh heh heh. Moe is their leader.”
“Whoopoopoop!” “Why you!”
“Hey!”
According to The Stoogephile Trivia Book, Moe Howard was also a shrewd
businessman who wisely invested his show business earnings in real estate.
Among his holdings were an apartment building, a drugstore, and a furniture
store called the Howard Furniture Company located in Burbank, California.
Larry Fine, the perpetually put-upon, wiry-haired middle Stooge, was born on October 5, 1902,
in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As documented in Mark and Ellen Scordato's The Three Stooges,
Larry's father, Joseph Feinberg, emigrated to the United States from Russia to escape
anti-Semitism. After arriving in the U.S., Joseph married Fannie Lieberman.
Larry was the first of their three children and a born entertainer. At age 2, Larry would
dance in the family's jewelry shop to entertain his relatives. When Larry was just 4 years old,
he severely burned his arm with acid, after which he took up the violin as rehabilitation.
Larry had none of Moe Howard's business acumen. Entertainment was his sole interest. As a young
man, Larry made a half-hearted attempt to join the family's jewelry business,
but his penchant for clowning around often got in the way of his work.
Eventually, Larry's father paid him $100 and two weeks' salary to quit.
Larry took the money and embarked on a career as a vaudeville comic and musician.
According to The Three Stooges, Curly nearly missed his opportunity to become a Stooge
because he was too handsome. His thick, wavy hair and distinguished mustache just didn't fit
with Moe's bowlcut and Larry's unkempt mane. Determined to make an impression on Healy,
Curly shaved his head. The youngest Howard's plan worked, and he was welcomed into the act as Curly.
Arguably the most popular of The Three Stooges,
Curly has been alternately described as "shy and reserved," and "the life of the party" offscreen.
Including his first marriage, which was annulled, in 1947.
Following his 1941 divorce from Elaine Ackerman, Curly sank into depression and turned to food
and alcohol for relief. Soon, his deteriorating lifestyle began to affect his work. Nevertheless,
Curly married and divorced again. His union with Marion Buchsbaum lasted under a year.
While shooting Half-Wit's Holiday in 1946, Curly suffered a debilitating stroke that necessitated
his retirement from comedy. He would make one final cameo appearance alongside the Stooges in
1947's Hold That Lion. Having suffered several more strokes, Curly was hospitalized for the
last year of his life. Jerome "Curly" Howard died on January 18, 1952, at the age of 48.
The third of five brothers, Shemp Howard was born on March 17, 1895, in Brooklyn,
New York. His nickname came from his mother's heavily accented pronunciation of Sam, which,
to his brothers, sounded like "Shemp." In his 1977 autobiography, Moe Howard and The Three Stooges,
Moe lovingly remembered his older brother as a mischievous troublemaker, writing
"Shemp [...] was an impossible crybaby, a stocking and pants destroyer,
a general creator of disturbances. When chore time came, he would develop a stomach-ache,
a headache, a toothache, or any old ache that would get him out of his share of work."
Despite Shemp's tough onscreen persona, he suffered from crippling phobias. Fearful of
water, dogs, heights, and cars, wife Babe Howard described him as, quote, "afraid of everything."
"Moe! Moe! What is that?"
During World War II, Babe would often return home from her rounds as an air raid warden to find
Shemp cowering behind the piano. Friend and fellow comic Mousie Garner recalled in the A&E
documentary, Stooges: The Men Behind the Mayhem,
"He was scared to death of his own shadow,
walking down the street. He was always looking back to see if anyone was following him."
As Larry Fine, Moe Howard, and Curly Howard rose to fame as The Three Stooges in the 1930s and
'40s, former Stooge Shemp Howard was enjoying his own successful career as a comic actor, appearing
in many popular comic shorts series and feature films. Shemp's post-Ted Healy solo work included
the Joe Palooka boxing comedies and his own series of shorts. In the early 1940s, Shemp appeared with
the classic comedy team of Abbott and Costello in the films In the Navy and Hold that Ghost.
When Curly was forced into retirement in 1946 on account of his deteriorating health,
Moe knew he had to act quickly to save the team as well as his and Larry's livelihoods.
The choice was clear — Shemp had to come back. Despite his own successful comedy career,
Shemp reluctantly returned to The Three Stooges, knowing that without him, Moe and Larry's act
was over. The price of Shemp's loyalty was a 50% pay cut and much of his independence.
Although Moe had hoped that Curly's exit would be temporary, his health worsened.
Shemp stayed with The Three Stooges from 1946 until his death from a heart attack in 1955.
Replacing the late Shemp for a handful of shorts in the late 1950s was comedian Joe Besser.
In 1957, Columbia closed their short-film division, ending The Stooges' long run
at the studio. From there, Besser ultimately declined an offer to make personal appearances
with Larry and Moe, in order to care for his wife who had suffered a heart attack.
In 1958, The Three Stooges experienced a revival when Columbia syndicated their short comedies to
television, and a new generation of children made The Three Stooges an after school habit.
Despite their newfound popularity on the small screen, The Stooges
ultimately struggled to make inroads into TV.
The Stooges first attempted to break into TV in October 1949, with a pilot for a proposed
weekly series titled Jerks of All Trades. Produced for ABC Television by Phil Berle,
brother of comedy legend Milton Berle, it featured Larry Fine, Moe Howard,
and Shemp Howard as "bumbling interior decorators" who wreck their wealthy client's home. However,
the never-broadcasted show was shelved due to a contract stipulation that prevented
The Stooges from performing in a TV show that competed with their Columbia shorts.
The Three Stooges attempted to launch another TV series in 1960 with Three Stooges Scrapbook.
Shot in color, the show failed to generate network interest. However,
some footage from the pilot was re-processed in black and white
and incorporated the 1962 Stooges feature, The Three Stooges in Orbit.
In 1969, the Stooges completed a pilot titled Kook's Tour.
The premise of the show found The Stooges retired from performing and
traveling across the country pointing out the beauty of America's outdoors.
Soon after completing Kook's Tour, Larry suffered a stroke, and plans for the series were canceled.
Following Joe Besser's exit in 1958, Moe Howard and Larry Fine invited comedian Joe DeRita to
join The Three Stooges. A vaudeville veteran, DeRita grew up in a show business family, having
performed alongside his mother and sister as the DeRita Sisters and Junior beginning at age 10.
As documented in The Three Stooges, DeRita began working in the movies in the 1940s,
appearing in features for Warner Brothers, MGM,
and Paramount, as well as in his own series of shorts for Columbia Pictures.
DeRita's first outing as a Stooge was a disastrous appearance at a
Holiday Inn in Bakersfield, California, in October 1958.
Audience reaction to this new incarnation of The Stooges was overwhelmingly negative.
However, the release of the Stooges' shorts on TV quickly reversed the troupe's fortunes. Hoping to
appeal to the Stooges' new fans, DeRita shaved his head and adopted the persona of "Curly-Joe."
With his passing resemblance to fan favorite Stooge, Curly Howard,
DeRita found his niche in the act. Throughout the late 1950s and 1960s,
DeRita appeared onscreen with The Stooges in six feature length films,
in the animated series The New Three Stooges, and in two unsold TV pilots. With the blessing
of Moe Howard, DeRita formed his own comedy troupe called The New Three Stooges in the early 1970s.
Recruiting former Stooges stuntman Frank Mitchell and Ted Healy alumnus Mousie Garner, the trio
made just a few personal appearances before breaking up due to DeRita's failing eyesight.
Although Curly-Joe DeRita's headstone reads "The Last Stooge," the final member of the legendary
comedy troupe was actually actor Emil Sitka. Sitka was a featured player in the Stooges' shorts
throughout the 1940s and '50s. Appearing in such fan favorites as Brideless Groom and Gents in a
Jam, Sitka was a versatile character comedian who at times managed to upstage The Stooges with his
onstage antics. Longtime Three Stooges producer Jules White told author Jeffrey Forrester,
"Emil was very good. He could play anything. It's not easy to be able to play a gangster in
one shot, and a governor in the next. (and) he could do it. And he did it very well."
According to Three Stooges writer Elwood Ullman, Sitka's comedic skills made him one of just a
few supporting players for whom the writing staff would create specific characters. Sitka
made his first appearance in 1946's Half-Wits Holiday, the last short featuring Curly Howard,
and continued to work with The Stooges at Columbia throughout the 1960s. Following Larry Fine's exit
from The Three Stooges in the 1970s, Moe Howard invited Sitka to become a full-fledged Stooge.
In 1975, Sitka was scheduled to star with Howard and Joe DeRita in an all new Stooges feature film.
Sadly, the project was canceled because of
Moe's declining health and subsequent death from lung cancer the same year.
In the 80 years since their first Columbia short, The Three Stooges have become an indelible part
of the American pop culture landscape. Although Stooge-ah-mania has had its peaks and valleys,
the comedy team remains popular into the 21st century, with new fans discovering
their classic shorts via TV and streaming video every year. Images of Larry, Moe,
and Curly grace merchandise ranging from T-shirts and phone cases to a line of premium coffee.
The Three Stooges even have their own museum. Located in Ambler, Pennsylvania, The Stoogeum is
a vast repository of Stooge memorabilia containing original props, costumes, and personal effects
belonging to The Stooges. Dedicated to preserving the legacy of The Three Stooges, The Stoogeum
is also headquarters of The Three Stooges Fan Club, which boasts 2,000 members across the globe.
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