Stooges bios...
CURLY HOWARD; Jerome Lester Horwitz. Born October 22, 1903. Died January 18, 1952. Curly's parents were Solomon and Jenny Horwitz; Curly was the youngest of 5 brothers, and they called him Babe. Curly's older brothers, Moe and Shemp, worked as stooges in Ted Healy's act. After Shemp left, Curly took his place. At the time, Curly had long, wavy hair-- he shaved his head, and got the moniker "Curley." And so Curly appeared in 97 "Three Stooges" shorts for Columbia Pictures. In May 1946, Curly had a stroke during the filming of "Half-Wits'
… More Holiday" which was released in 1947, and he only returned for a cameo appearance in "Hold That Lion" (1947). Offscreen, Curly, who was quite a ballroom dancer, was married 4 times. Curly had 2 daughters: Marilyn and Janie.
MOE HOWARD; Moses Horwitz. Born June 19, 1897. Died May 4, 1975. Moe's parents were Solomon and Jenny Horwitz; he was the 4th oldest of 5 brothers. In 1922, Moe and his brother Shemp hooked up with Ted Healy; their partnership lasted about 10 years. But in 1934, it was Moe and Curley, along with Larry, who started doing "Three Stooges" shorts for Columbia. Moe would appear in 190 shorts. Offscreen, Moe wasn't like the bossy guy who slapped the others around, his hobbies included reading and playing bridge. In 1925, Moe married Helen Schonberger, who was a cousin of the magician Harry Houdini. Moe had 2 kids: Joan and Paul.
LARRY FINE; Louis Feinberg. Born October 5, 1902. Died January 24, 1975. Larry's parents were Joseph and Fanny Feinberg (née Lieberman). Larry took violin lessons since his childhood; he eventually became a professional violinist, and would play the violin in several Three Stooges shorts, such as fiddling "Pop Goes the Weasel" in "Punch Drunks" (1934). Larry replaced Shemp in Ted Healy's act, and worked with Moe. Larry, Moe and Shemp would also appear on Broadway. In 1934, Moe, Larry and Curly became the Three Stooges and started a long career with Columbia. Larry would appear in all the Three Stooges shorts, and then the Stooges performed before live audiences after that, and did 6 movies. Larry had 2 kids: Johnny and Phyllis.
SHEMP HOWARD; Samuel Horwitz. Born March 17, 1895. Died November 23, 1955. Shemp's parents were Solomon and Jenny Horwitz; he was the oldest of 5 brothers. (2 of the brothers, Jack and Irving, never entered show business.) Shemp and Moe were working in Vaudeville when they met Ted Healy, who was a star and needed some stooges for his act. After a while, Shemp left and struck out on his own; Larry replaced Shemp in Ted Healy's act. Shemp did comedies for Vitaphone, RKO, MGM and Monogram. In 1947, after Curly had a stroke, Shemp replaced him in the Three Stooges shorts for Columbia, starting with # 98, "Fright Night" (1947). Shemp was a Stooge through # 174, "Commotion on the Ocean" which was released in 1956, after his death. Shemp had a son: Morton.
JOE; Joe Besser. Born August 12, 1907. Died March 1, 1988. Joe Besser was a solo comedian in the 1920s and 1930s. In 1940, he picked up Jimmy Little to be his straight man. Joe and Jimmy worked on Broadway and did 3 movies together: "Hey, Rookie" (1944), "Eadie Was a Lady" (1945), and "Talk About a Lady" (1946). Joe Besser appeared on many of the popular radio programs and TV shows of the time. Since Joe was already making comedy shorts for Columbia, he was a natural to replace Shemp in the Three Stooges. Joe was a Stooge from # 175, "Rusty Romeos" (1957) through # 190, "Sappy Bullfighters" (1959). Joe continued to have a successful TV and movie career after his Stooge days.
CURLY JOE; Joe DeRita. Born July 12, 1909. Died July 3, 1993. Joe was in showbiz since childhood, performing on stage, and then starting in the 1920s he was in Burlesque. Joe was in about a dozen movies in the 1940s and 1950s. Joe had also appeared on many TV shows, and worked for Columbia doing shorts. In 1958, Columbia stopped making short films; Moe and Larry hooked up with Joe, and started doing personal appearances all over the country, and did 6 movies together, from 1959-1965.
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