History
The Stooges got their name and their start in a vaudeville act called
Ted Healy and his Stooges . Brothers Moses (Moe) and Shmuel
Howard (Shemp ) (original last name Horowitz) were later joined by
Larry Fine (real name Louis Feinberg). Shemp left for a career in
film (notably as trainer Knobby Walsh in the 'Joe Palooka' films), and
brother Curly Howard (real name Jerome, called "Babe" by family
members) took his place. Moe was throughout their career the heart and
soul of the troupe, acting as both their main creative force and
business manager. His daughter Joan (nee Maurer) is today the owner of
the Three Stooges.
The original Three Stooges split from Healy and went on to star in
nearly two hundred theatrical short films in the 30s , 40s
and 50s , the longest such series in film history. Curly
suffered a stroke in 1946 and Shemp returned to the trio. Shemp
died of a heart attack in 1956 and Joe Besser was the fifth
Stooge from 1956-1958. Besser did not want to travel and had a clause in
his contract specifically prohibiting him from being hit, and so was not
a good third member, and Columbia Pictures finally pulled the plug on
the series of shorts, which had become unprofitable. At this point it
seemed that the career of the Three Stooges was over. Columbia released
the entire series to television syndication and suddenly a whole new
generation of fans rediscovered them. Moe took advantage of their
renewed popularity by signing up Curly Joe DeRita as the third
member. They went on to make a number of successful full-length feature
films over the next decade before age finally caught up with them. Their
last project, "Kook's Tour"(1970 ), was a sort of travelogue made
for TV, but was never released though available today on video. Moe also
had a minor career as a non-Stooge, appearing in a few movies during the
1960s .
Larry died in early 1975. After his death, it was decided that long time
Stooge short actor Emil Sitka would replace Larry, and be dubbed "The
Middle Stooge". However, Moe passed on a few months later, and the
general opinion was that The Three Stooges cannot continue without any
of Howard family involved.
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