Three Stooges Timeline

• 1925- The Stooges form Vaudeville act Ted Healy and his Stooges along with performer Ted Healy.
• 1932- Shemp leaves act, Curly joins.
• 1934- The Three Stooges begin making their famous shorts.
• 1946- Curly suffers stroke and is forced to leave the act. Shemp is brought in as a replacement.
• 1952- Curly's health declines until his death.
• 1955- Shemp dies of a heart attack; the Stooges reuse old footage and use a stand in to complete more shorts as per demand in their contracts.
• 1956- Joe Besser is brought into the group.
• 1957- Columbia shuts down their shorts department, ending the Stooges run.
• 1959- After renewed popularity because of television, the Stooges embark on a personal appearance tour; Joe withdraws from the act to stay with his ailing wife. Curly-Joe DeRita is brought in as a replacement.
• 1959-1965- the Stooges make a series of popular feature films, and a successful animated televison series.
• 1970- Larry suffers a stroke ending his career.
• 1975- Larry suffer another stroke and dies. Later that year, Moe dies of lung cancer.
• 1988- Joe Besser dies.
• 1993- Curly-Joe DeRita dies.

The Stooges Today

The Stooges' popularity continues even today. It seems like a holiday isn't really a holiday without a Stooges marathon on somewhere. Many of today's media even contains Stooge references.

The Farrelly brother are even making a Three Stooges Movie set for release in 2009. Instead of being a bio movie, the movie will be much like the old Stooge shorts, but set in present day.

The Three Stooges legacy seems to live on forever.

Curly Joe DeRita

Curly Joe DeRita was born Joseph Wardell in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on July 12, 1909. His father was a stage technician, and his mother was a professional stage dancer, and the three of them would often act on stage together during his early childhood. After taking his mother's maiden name DeRita, Curly Joe joined the Burlesque circuit during the 1920s. During World War 2, DeRita joined the USO and performed throughout Britain and France.

After Joe Besser left the act, Moe, who was familiar with DeRita's work, asked him to join. DeRita accepted and became the first non-Jewish member of the Stooges. Because of DeRita's resmblance to both Curly Howard and Joe Besser, he was renamed Curly Joe.

Because Columbia had shut down the shorts departments, the Stooges began making feature films. In the 60s the Stooges appeared in an animated series, and shot a live action pilot called Kook's Tour. In 1970, the Stooges ended when Larry suffered a stroke. Years later, Curly Joe attempted to form a new Three Stooges with two new actors replacing Larry and Moe, but the act failed and Curly Joe retired.

Curly Joe died on July 3, 1993.

(photo from http://www.arcadovelho.com.br/Seriados/Patetas/3patetas_curlyjoe.jpeg)

Joe Besser

Joe Besser was born in St. Louis, MI on August 12, 1907. Joe was interested in show business at a young age, and particularly liked Howard Thurston's magic act. Whe Joe was twelve, he was allowed to be an audience plant in Thurston's act. Joe was so excited, that night he snuck onto Thurston's train and wasn't found untill the next day, when the train was in Detroit. Thurston told Joe parents, and began training Joe as his assistant. After Joe messed up a trick due to his nerves, he was only assigned comedic roles.

In 1932, Joe met and married Ernestine Dora Kretschmer. The two became neighbors and friends of Lou Costello. Joe would then appear in the Abbot and Costello film Africa Screams, which also had an appearance from Shemp. Joe and Shemp then became friends.

After Shemp died from a heart attack in 1955, Harry Cohn hired Joe to join. Joe didn't imitae Curly or Shemp, instead using the whiny character that he had developed over the years. He even had a clause in his contract that prohibited him from being hit too much. In 1957, Columbia shut down the two-reel comedy department. Moe and Larry wanted to tour with a live act, but Joe declined, wanting to stay with his wife after her heart attack in November of 1957.

Joe soon returned to televison and films, but was dismayed to see that fans only recognized him for his stint with the Stooges. Joe died of heart failure on March 1, 1988.

(photo from http://www.stoogeworld.com/_Biographies/joeport.jpg)

Shemp Howard

Shemp, real name Samuel, was born in Brooklyn, New York on March 4, 1895. He got the nickname Shemp from his mother, her thick Lithuanian accent made the name Sam sound like Shemp. After Moe went into show business in 1910, Shemp followed and they, along with Ted Healy, formed the vaudeville act Ted Healy and his Stooges. In 1925, Shemp married Gertrude Frank, and in 1926 had a son, Morton. In 1932 Shemp, fed up with Healy, left the act and pursued a solo career.

Shemp's solo career was a success. He appeared alongside Fatty Arbucle, W.C. Fields, Abbot and Costello, Lon Chaney Jr., and even had a small part in a John Wayne movie in 1942. In 1946, Curly suffered a stroke, and Shemp reluctantly joined in to replace his brother. Shemp's placement was temporary until Curly could recover, but Curly's condition worsened and Shemp's placement became permanent.

In 1952, Shemp suffered a minor stroke, but was otherwise unaffected. Then on November 22, 1955, Shemp died of a heart attack.

According to the Stooges contract, they agreed on making eight shorts for 1956, but had only made four. To complete the remaining four episodes, they reused old footage and filmed new scenes using a double, who was only seen from the back.

(photo from www.nndb.com/people/974/000047833/)

Curly Howard

Curly was born Jerome Lester Horwitz on October 22, 1903 in Batch Beach (a summer resort in Brooklyn), New York. He was the youngest of five brothers and was given the nickname "Babe." When Curly was 12, he accidently shot himself in the leg with a rifle, but was so scared of surgery, never got it fixed; because of this, he had a limp for the rest of his life. When Curly was with the Stooges, he developed an exaggerated walk in order to cover up the limp on filim.

Curly, more interested in music and comedy, never graduated from school. He would often watch his brothers Moe and Shemp perform with Ted Healy on stage. Curly would hang out backstage and cater to the performers. It wasn't until 1928, that Curly finally got his break on stage as a comedy musical conductor for the Orville Knapp Band.

After Shemp left the act in 1932, Moe suggested Curly fill in as a replacement. Healy felt that Curly, with his long hair and mustache, was not Stooge material. Curly left and came back a few minutes later bald and clean shaven, and became "Curly."

After the Stooge's popularity grew from their comedic shorts, Curly began to drink, smoke, and over eat, feeling that his shaved head took away his sex appeal. Curly also struggled with his finances, usually spending his money on wine, food, women, homes, cars, and dogs, almost to the point of poverty. Moe ended up handling all of Curly's finances.

On June 7, 1937, Curly married Elaine Ackerman and had a daughter, Marilyn in 1938, but in 1940 the couple divorced. In 1945, Curly suffered a mild stroke and was diagnosed woth hypertension, a retinal hemorrhage, and obesity. Also that year, Curly met and married Marion Buxbaum, with Moe urging, hoping that marriage would improve his health. Friends and family however, felt that Marion was using Curly for his money, and three months later the two seperated.

In 1946, Curly's condition was worsening; his voice becomming hoarse and was having trouble remembering his lines. The Columbian Pictures boss Harry Cohn refused to give Curly time off, so he worked through it. On May 6, 1946, Curly suffered a massive stroke during the filming of the Stooge Short Half Wits Holiday. Curly was forced to leave the Stooges until he recuperated, with Shemp filling in for him.

While Curly was recovering he met Valerie Newman, and the two were married on July 31, 1947. They had a daughter, Janie, in 1948. In 1949, Curly suffered another massive stroke that left him partialy paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair. On January 18, 1952, Curly died of a massive cerebral hemorrhage.

(photo from www.allposters.com/-sp/Curly-Posters_i847563_.htm)

Some of my favorite Stooge sites

Here are some of my favorite sites about the Three Stooges that you should have a look at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3_Stooges -Wikipedia is a great site where you can find information on almost anything. The 3 Stooges section has some great information you can't find anywhere else.

http://www.threestooges.net/index.php - This site has information on every Stooge short. You get a plot synopsis, cast and crew details, and more.

http://www.threestooges.com/ - The official Three Stooges website. Offers bios, sounds, pictures, and a club you can join.

These were 3 (an appropriate number I think ;) ) of my favorite Stooge websites.

Larry Fine

Larry Fine, real name Louis Fineberg, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on October 5, 1902. His father and mother (Joseph Feinberg and Fanny Lieberman) owned a watch repair and jewlery shop. When Larry was a child, he mistook some of his father's acid, which was used to test whether or not gold was real, for a drink. He had the bottle to his mouth when his father noticed and slapped the bottle from Larry's hand, spilling acid onto the child's arm. To help rehabilitate his arm, Larry began taking violin lessons, a talent that was used in many stooge shorts (when the stooges were shown playing fiddles on screen, only Larry was actually playing, the others were just acting). In order to further strengthen his arm. Larry took up boxing. He fought and won one professional fight, but his father was opposed to his fighting in public, and forced him to stop.

Larry adapted the name Larry Fine and played the violin on vauldville. In 1925 he met Ted Healy and Moe Howard and joined their act. In the Stooge shorts, Larry stayed in the background and provided the voice of reason, often times reacting more than acting, but offscreen Larry was described as a social butterfly. Larry and his wife, Mabel, loved parties and every Christmas they would throw a big midnight dinner.

Unfortunatly, Larry's care free attitude also carried over to finances. Larry was a terrible businessman and would often spend his money as soon as he got it, either by gambling at the horse track or in high stake card games. Larry would also lend money to family and friends in need and never ask to be repaid. Because of Larry's laid back attitude and his wife's dislike for houswork, Larry and his family lived in hotels, first in the President Hotel in Atlantic City, then the Knickerbocker Hotel in Hollywood, before finally buying a house in Los Angeles, California in the late 1940s. Larry and his wife had two kids, Phyllis and John.

On November 16, 1961 John died in a car crash. Six years later, Mabel died of a heart attack on May 30, 1967. In 1970, the Stooges began work on a television pilots titled Kook's Tour. During filming Larry suffered a stroke that paralyzed the left side of his body, ending his career. Larry was confined to a wheelchair and, like Curly, suffered additonal strokes before his death on January 24, 1975.

Larry's famous hairstyle came from his first meeting with Ted Healy. Larry had just wet his hair in a basin and as the two talked, it began to try oddly. Healy saw the hair style and told Larry to keep it that way.

(photo from http://www.answers.com/topic/larry-fine-actor)

Moe Howard

Moe Howard, real name Moses Horwitz, was born on June 19, 1897 in Brooklyn, New York. He was the fourth of fuve brothers. Moe excelled in school where he discovered his ability to quickly memorize anything. However, Moe soon developed an interest in acting and his school work suffered. He began skipping school in order to go to the theater. Moe graduated from public school, but dropped out of high school after only two months. To appease his parent's, Moe enrolled in a class in electric shop, but quit after a few months to pursue a career in acting.

He started by running errands for free at Vitagraph Studios in Midwood, Brooklyn and was rewarded with bit parts in movies being made there. However a fire in 1910 destroyed most of the footage Moe was in. It wasn't untill 1921 that he caught his big break. Moe joined his friend Lee Nash, who was in business with Ted Healy, in a vaudeville routine. In 1923, Moe spotted his older brother Shemp (Samuel Horwitz) in the audience and yelled at him from the stage. The two began to heckle each other, much to the delight of the audience. Healy then hired Shemp as a part of the act. In 1925, Healy hired Larry Fine to complete the act.

On June 7th, 1925 Moe married Helen Schonberger, one of Harry Houdini's cousins. The next year, Helen wanted Moe to quit acting because she was pregnant and wanted Moe closer to home. Moe tried to earn a living outside of show business, but was unsuccessful and returned to Healy.

After the Stooge's departure from Healy, Moe became the leader of the Stooges, and invested his money from his career wisely. Moe's personality in the shorts was the exact opposite of his normal personality; in real life Moe was quiet, loving, and generous to his friends and family.

On May 4th, 1975 Moe died of lung cancer. His wife died of a heart attack in October of the same year. They had two children, Joan, born in 1927, and Paul, born in 1935.

Moe's famous hair style:

Moe got his famus bowl cut as a child. When he was younger, his mother refused to let him cut it, making him grow it to his shoulders so she could curl it. One day, after beeing fed up with the teasing from his classmates, Moe snuck off to his parents shed and, with a friend, put a mixing bowl over his head and cut the hair around it, resulting in his famous bowl cut. Afterwords, Moe, afraid of getting in trouble by his parents, hid under the house for several hours, causing a mass panic. When Moe finally came out from under the house his mother was so releived to see him, she didn't get mad about the haircut and let him keep it.

(photo from http://www.nndb.com/people/972/000047831/)

Top 10 Most Painful Stooge Hits

The Three Stooges were known for their physical comedy. With all the different slaps and strikes, the Stooges have been hit in a variety of ways. I will list the top 10 most painful Stooge hits, weapons not included.

10. The basic slap
The simplest and one of the most embarrassing hits, the slap can come at any time. Moe's favorite thing to dish out, the slap shows up throughout any Stooge short.

9. The stomach punch-head hit combo
The hit that has a follow-up, the hit starts as a simple stomach hit, but when the victim doubled over in pain, the attack brings their fist up to hit the victim in the head.

8. The self ear pull
Although technically more embarrassing than painful, the attack starts with the attacker ordering the victim to grag their own ear. Once the victim has a firm grasp on their ear, the attacker grabs the victim's arm and roughly pulls in the direction they are going, forcing the victim to pull themself by their own ear.

7. The nose pull
When the Moe wants a Stooges to come along and the other Stooge refuses, Moe will often use the nose pull. The attacker jams a finger into each of the victim's nostrals, and violently pulls them along.

6. The triple slap
Although another attack that is more embarrassing than painful, this attack is not actually used by the Stooges themselves, but usually by an uptight guest at a party the Stooges have crashed. After a verbal yelling by the guest, the guest reaches back and slaps in one huge motion hitting all three of the Stooges.

5. The around the world bop
The attacker hold out a fist and asks the victim if they see it. The victim then slaps down at the fist to get it away and the attacker uses the momentum to carry the fist in a full circle to bring down on top of the victim's head.

4. The selp around the world bop
Often used by the victim following an around the world bop, the victim holds their fist out in an attemp to do the same that the attack did to them. After the previous attack slaps the fist away, the victim's hand goes in the circular motion, but instead of hitting the other person, hits themself on the head. Just as painful as #5, but with the added embarrassment of hitting yourself.

3. The hair pull
The only attack that Curly is immune from, the hair pull takes the #3 spot. The attacker grabs the victim's hair and pulls, resulting in a handful of hair to be torn out.

2. The double-clap slap
The atacker claps their hand across the victim's face, and with the momentum carrying the attacker's hand through, bring the hand back to slap the face again with the back of the hands.

1. The eye gauge
The victim takes two fingers (most of the time two fingers the attack has the victim pick out) and violently stabs them into the victim's eyes. As the only hit that can actually cause the victim to go blind, I had to put it at the top of the list.

So there you have it, my top 10 most painful Stooge hits. Agree or disagree? Feel free to post your own top 10 or comments below.

The Stooges' Revival and End

The Stooges' careers seemed to be over, but in 1959 The Three Stooges shorts were syndicated by Columbia to be shown on television. The Stooges had found a new audience, amd were soon back in demand. Moe and Larry prepared for a personal appearance tour, but Joe's wife suffered a heart attack, and he withdrew from the Stooges. Moe then signed Joe DeRita as a replacement. To differenciate himself from the previous Joe, DeRita shaved his head and, because of his resemblance to Curly, was dubbed Curly-Joe.

The Stooges' went on to make feature length films from 1959 to 1965, and became one of the most popular and highest paid live act in the 60s. The stooges also appeared in 41 short comedy skits and provided voices for the animated show The New Three Stooges; the live action skits were shown before and after the short animated episodes. In 1969 the Stooges shot a pilot for a show called Kook's Tour, a "travelogue-sitcom" that had the Stooges traveling around the world. Unfortunatly, Larry suffered a stroke that ended his career and the t.v. show.

On December 1974, Larry suffered another stroke and after a month in a coma, died on January 24, 1975. Although devastated by Larry's death, Moe decided to continue on with the Stooges. Longtime regular in the Stooges' shorts Emil Sitka was asked to replace Larry and, before Larry's death asked for his permission to replace him. After Larry gave his consent, Emil joined on as the next Stooge. Several movie roles were considered, but Moe died of lung cancer on May 4, 1975. With Moe gone, the idea of having the Stooges without a Howard seemed wrong, and the Three Stooges were no more.

Even though the Three Stooges are no more, their popularity continues to live on today. Their effects on entertainment can been seen everywhere.

(picture from http://excite.imdb.com/gallery/mptv/1207/Mptv/1207/5268_0013.jpg.html?hint=nm0004310)

The Stooges' Take Off

The same year that the Stooges parted with Healy, they signed on to appear in two-reel comedy shorts for Columbia Pictures. After their first short Woman Haters, the Stooges signed a contract for $7,500 per film, to be divided among the three of them. Columbia Pictures Studio head Harry Cohn would wait untill the last minute to renew their contracts, so the Stooges, too scared for their jobs, never asked for a raise. The Stooges appeared in 190 film shorts and five features under their contract with Columbia. The Stooges made occasional appearances in feature films, but were known for their shorts.

Columbia offered theater owners an entire program of two-reel comedies, but the Stooges were the most popular.

Curly suffered a stroke on May 6th, 1946. Needing another Stooge, Moe went to Shemp to fill the role. Shemp had a successful solo career at the time, but realized that Moe's and Larry's careers would be over without the Stooges, and reluctantly agreed to fill in for Curly temporarily untill Curly was well enough to return. Unfortunatly Curly died on January 18th, 1952. With Shemp, the Stooges appeared in 73 more shorts.

Three years after Curly's death, Shemp died from a sudden heart attack on November 22nd, 1955. Using archived footage of Shemp and a stand-in, the Stooges released four more shorts. Joe Besser replaced Shemp in 1956, but had a clause in his contract preventing him from being hit too hard. But at that time, the market for shorts had reached an all-time low, and Columbia Pictures opted not to renew the Stooges' contract. The Stooges's careers seemed to be over, but with the rise of television, the Stooges would soon experience a rebirth.

(picture from www.three-stooges.com/)

Rise of the Stooges

The Three Stooges started in 1925 as part of the vaudeville act known as Ted Healy and His Stooges. In the act, lead comedian, Healy, would attempt to sing or tell jokes while his assistants (Lawrence "Larry" Fine, Harry Moses "Moe" Howard, and Samuel "Shemp" Howard), would keep "interrupting" him. Healy would respondwith an act of violence, either physically or verbally.

In 1930, Ted Healy and His Stooges appeared in their first major motion film Soup to Nuts; although the film was not a critical success, the Stooges' performances were considered the highlight, and Fox offered them a contract without Healy. Healy, upset with the studio, told them that the Stooges were his employees and the offer was withdrawn. After the Stooges learned of the reason for the contract withdrawl, left Healy and formed their own act.

In 1932, with Moe now their business manager, Healy reached an agreement with the Stooges, and they rejoined with Healy. Shemp, fed up with Healy abuse, left the act. Down one stooge, Moe decided to bring in his younger brother Jerome "Curly" Howard.

In 1934, the act's contract with MGM expired, and the Stooges finally departed from Healy for good, due to Healy's alcoholism and abuse. What happened next would define the Stooges' careers.

(picture from http://www.dlib.org/dlib/october00/10featured-collection.html)