biography
| biography:
| Comedy trio. Originally the Horwitz (later Howard) brothers, Samuel (b.1895), Moses (b.1897), and Jerome (Jerry) (b.1911), they were known by their respective nicknames of Shemp, Moe, and Curly (with the bald head). They first played knockabout humour in association with comedy star Ted Healy, who called them The Southern Gentlemen. Moe, Shemp, and Ted's real-life valet, Ken Lackey, comprised the original trio of Stooges. (Curly, then only 19 years old, was considered the ‘baby’ of the group and his mother refused to let him travel far from home). Lackey left in 1928 and various replacements were tried until another vaudeville comic, Larry Fine (originally Feinberg, with the wild wavy hair) joined Moe and Shemp. The trio appeared with Healy in the feature-length film Soup to Nuts in 1930, marking the big-screen debut of the Stooges. Shemp then left to pursue his own career and was replaced by Curly. They then parted from Healy, and as Larry, Curly and Moe they made 191 short films and 13 feature films for Columbia, all characterized by anarchic knockabout humour, with sound effects perfectly synchronized with their blows. There were further personnel changes: Shemp returned, replacing Curly (d.1952), and in turn was replaced by Joe Besser. There was less interest in the act during the early 1950s, but when several of their films were released for television towards the end of the decade, they once again became acclaimed. Joe de Rita (b.1909) replaced Joe Besser as the new Curly, and the new trio appeared in the successful burlesque Have Rocket, Will Travel (1959), followed by Snow White and the Three Stooges (1961). In their final form, billed as Larry, Moe, and Curly Joe, they made 12 features before their retirement. Moe and Larry died in 1975, and Joe de Rita in 1993. |
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