Before his career as the short, frizzy-haired member of the zany Three Stooges slapstick comedy team, Larry Fine was a professional Violinist and a Professional Boxer! His pals were the Howard brothers: Moe, Curly, and Shemp, who occasionally replaced Curly in the trio. That's all...
I did not know that about Larry. They were mandatory watching when I was a kid. Fast-forward to when I would watch my neighbor's two boys when Mom & Dad had Date Night, and the kids had some 3 Stooges dvds. -They played one and we laughed our butts off. -They played a second one and we giggled. -They played a 3rd one and we looked at each other and said "This is stupid." -Then we played Mouse Trap. Some things really need commercials in order break it up into digestible bits. That being said: Moe, Larry, CHEESE! Moe, Larry, CHEESE! Woowoowoowoowoowoowoowoo!!! [spins on floor] Niagara Falls!! Slowly I turned... Inch-by-inch. Step-by-step.
Curly Howard (born Jerome Lester Horwitz), was in vaudeville. It fascinates me to see how many in show business of that era (and later) were kids of Russian Jewish immigrants or (in Curly, Moe and Shemp's case) Lithuanian Jews. Larry Fine (Feinberg) was the only one who was not a brother to the rest, but he, too was born of Russian Jewish immigrants. Married 4 times: -2 marriages lasted less than a year -One marriage a little over 3 years -One marriage a little over 4 years (ended with his death) Not necessarily his fault, he got pressured to "settle down." According to Wiki the guy was a real animal lover, picking up strays and taking them from town to town while the act was on the road, trying to find them homes along the way. Had a couple of strokes, ended up in a sanitarium, died at 48.
There was Curly and then Curly Joe later on. Was he a Howard or even related? I remember one episode starring Moe, Larry and Curly where Shemp had a short cameo. They were on a bus or something. I suppose it was the only episode with all three brothers.
Here's what the web says: Joe DeRita (birth name Wardell) was Curly Joe. Curly version 1.0 had died in 1952. Shemp died in 1955 (at which point the Stooges has been with Columbia for 21 years!) An actor named Joe Besser took Shemp's place in 1956, but quit soon thereafter. DeRita came on the scene afterwards, initially wearing his hair like Shemp, then a crew cut, then going bald. By this time Moe & Larry were in their late 50s/early 60s and getting too old for violent slapstick, plus the PTA called on them to tone it down (moms ruin everything), so episodes with the new Curly Joe were more low-key than those with his predecessor. In an interview later on, DeRita said he never cared for the Stooges' humor. He never thought their slapstick to be funny. He was a big Laurel & Hardy fan.
This is a good compilation of short clips -about 24 mins long.. The Three Stooges All Funny Moments 1937-1939 It has the scene where Curly shoots a hole in the boat bottom and water starts spouting up. Larry then shoots another hole in the bottom to let the water out. Hilarious stuff. Not all their humor was slapstick. There were some very funny jokes.
Judge: Order in the court. Curly: Order? I'll have a ham sandwich. Judge: Hold your tongue. Curly: Not tongue. Ham.
I wonder how Curly felt with all that gunfire. He had that exaggerated slapstick limp to cover the real one he got from shooting himself in the leg as a kid while cleaning a rifle. Surgery may have fixed it, but he declined to go under the knife. I recall laughing my butt off as a kid watching this stuff. Having 2 younger brothers, I understand why the PTA moms asked to have the stuff toned down, but they did nothing to stop all those reruns. I had no idea I was watching pre-WW2 stuff that was 20-25 years old.
I'm delighted that I had so many well-informed responses from youse guys! Just about all the great comedians/ entertainers were of Russian Jewish descent: Al Jolson Eddie Cantor Jack Benny Sid Caesar Groucho Marx (& brothers) Milton Berle Henny Youngman Rodney Dangerfield And lotsa others! Hal Pollner (I had a Hungarian Jewish grandmother, so I guess I'm 1/4 Jewish?) Semi-Kosher Hal
Good point. Makes we wonder about birth order... Shemp Howard: Born 1895 Moe Howard: Born 1897 Larry Fine: Born 1902 Curly Howard: Born 1903 So Shemp was the eldest, but Moe was older than the other 2 core Stooges (even though Larry wasn't "family.") Hmmmm....
Looking at some these old clips I'm struck by how well they did their sets and special effects. These weren't cheap productions.