The Three Stooges
Posted: December 22nd, 2019, 6:32 pm
The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970. In 1934 Moe, Larry, and Curly signed a long-term contract with Columbia Pictures and rechristened themselves the Three Stooges. During the next 24 years the team appeared in nearly 200 short subjects and a handful of feature films for Columbia. They never received a raise in that time from their original annual salary of $60,000 (split three ways), although their contract allowed them to make personal appearances for 13 weeks each year, which proved much more lucrative.
The team made 97 short comedies during the “Curly years” (1934–46). In 1946, Curly was felled by a major stroke that rendered him incapacitated, and he was forced to retire. Shemp joined the Stooges in 1946 and stayed with them until his death in 1955 from a heart attack. After Shemp’s death, he was replaced in the act by Joe Besser, and he stayed with the team through the filming of their final Columbia short in 1958, after which he quit the act to care for his ailing wife.
Moe and Larry seriously considered retirement after Besser’s departure, but, within a year, the Stooges underwent a massive revival in popularity because of television showings of their old films. They added burlesque comic Joe DeRita (nicknamed “Curly Joe”) to the act and starred in several popular feature-length films from 1959 to 1965, the best among them being The Three Stooges Meet Hercules (1962) and Around the World in a Daze (1963). They began their last film, the low-budget comedy travelogue Kook’s Tour, in 1970. During its filming, Larry suffered a stroke; footage from the never-completed film was released years later on home video.
Larry Fine died in 1975 from complications of a stroke. Moe Howard died of lung cancer in 1975 he was a heavy smoker for much of his adult life. Curly Howard died of a stroke in 1952. Shemp Howard died of a heart attack in 1955. Joe Besser died of heart failure in 1988 and Joe DeRita died of pneumonia in 1983.
The team made 97 short comedies during the “Curly years” (1934–46). In 1946, Curly was felled by a major stroke that rendered him incapacitated, and he was forced to retire. Shemp joined the Stooges in 1946 and stayed with them until his death in 1955 from a heart attack. After Shemp’s death, he was replaced in the act by Joe Besser, and he stayed with the team through the filming of their final Columbia short in 1958, after which he quit the act to care for his ailing wife.
Moe and Larry seriously considered retirement after Besser’s departure, but, within a year, the Stooges underwent a massive revival in popularity because of television showings of their old films. They added burlesque comic Joe DeRita (nicknamed “Curly Joe”) to the act and starred in several popular feature-length films from 1959 to 1965, the best among them being The Three Stooges Meet Hercules (1962) and Around the World in a Daze (1963). They began their last film, the low-budget comedy travelogue Kook’s Tour, in 1970. During its filming, Larry suffered a stroke; footage from the never-completed film was released years later on home video.
Larry Fine died in 1975 from complications of a stroke. Moe Howard died of lung cancer in 1975 he was a heavy smoker for much of his adult life. Curly Howard died of a stroke in 1952. Shemp Howard died of a heart attack in 1955. Joe Besser died of heart failure in 1988 and Joe DeRita died of pneumonia in 1983.
