In desperation, Healy made a failed attempt to salvage his act by hiring replacement Stooges. It proved anything but a joyful reunion. This left the Stooges a man down. Healy was scathing. With all the foresight and perception that comes with drinking Wild Turkey for breakfast, he took one look at the future Curly Howard, the most beloved of all the Stooges, and dismissed him as not funny.
Admittedly, Jerry did not much resemble his iconic alter ego at that point, sporting long red hair and a handlebar moustache. This earned him a huge laugh from the crowd vaudeville audiences were obviously a push-over , and one of the most gifted comic performers of the 20th century had officially arrived. The contract was not renewed, and in Healy and his Stooges finally went their separate ways. Not only was he prone to violent, drunken rages, he was apt to do some very dumb things indeed.
Already several sheets to the wind when he arrived at the Trocadero on the Sunset Strip, Healy lost no time in mixing things up with another famously belligerent drunk, character actor Wallace Beery, who was drinking at the bar with DiCicco.
Healy suggested they take things outside. They duly did, and Beery and DiCicco proceeded to beat Healy to a pulp.
The beating was so savage, in fact, that the following day Healy fell into a coma and died. Mayer deployed his infamous fixers Eddie Mannix and Howard Strickling to protect Beery, one of his top stars, by covering up the incident. MGM story editor Samuel Marx confirmed this in an interview shortly before his death in And by then, they had quite another ruthless sociopath to contend with. They were on the brink of their greatest success and had honed their act into the classic Stooge mode that defines them to this day.
The internal mechanism of The Three Stooges is deceptively simple. Moe, with his gravelly voice, permanent scowl and menacing helmet of bowl-cut hair, was the leader, invariably the under-boss entreated with overseeing whatever hopelessly doomed endeavour the Stooges found themselves pursuing and whatever it was, you can bet it involved heavy objects and the potential for maximum mayhem; plumbing, not surprisingly, was a favourite Stooge profession.
Moe actually had his brother Shemp to thank for his signature move. Once, during a card game, Shemp became so convinced that Larry was cheating him he leapt up and poked him in both eyes.
Moe made a note of it and duly incorporated it into the act. An easygoing simpleton, Larry was the essential, non-threatening intermediary, and he brought a special genius to the role. Even given the quick-fire production schedule for shorts, the Stooges were extraordinarily prolific during their Columbia years, churning out film after film of, more often than not, admirable quality in terms of writing, direction and production values, given they were shot in a mere four or five days.
And their films were hugely popular, often getting a more positive response than the features they were designed to accompany. Naturally, their talent, industriousness and lucrative bankability were rewarded with all the bounteous largesse for which Harry Cohn was justly famous.
Although the legend that in the 23 years they spent at Columbia the Stooges never received a payrise is untrue, it is rooted in reality. Playing his customary dual role of ruthless businessman and enthusiastic sadist, Cohn kept the Stooges on a one-year contract throughout their career at the studio, forcing them to re-negotiate their employment every 12 months, browbeating them into signing for a pittance with warnings that the shorts department was in financial trouble.
Keeping its biggest stars in the dark as to their true value was a deliberate ploy to ensure they worked cheap. For one, they were terrified of Cohn and his Mob connections, as were a good many people in Hollywood.
As working-class guys, fearful of losing their livelihood, they were happy to take what they were given. Playing a human punchbag day in, day out for years, enduring constant blows to the head — most of which, according to Moe Howard, were every bit as real as they looked — brought on a series of minor cerebral haemorrhages that slowed him down to the point that he was unable to make personal appearances. He was abrasive and consumed copious amounts of alcohol.
Shemp left the act to pursue a solo career because he was fed up with Healy. Moe suggested his younger brother, Jerry, could fill the spot. Jerry shaved his long red hair, adopted the name Curly and helped take the Stooges to a new level.
For the next twelve years, they produced wildly successful comedy shorts. Moe asked Shemp to rejoin the group while Curly recovered.
It turned out to be a permanent change. Curly never regained his former strength and animated personality. Half-Wits Holiday was not his final appearance in a Stooge film, however. He played a sleeping passenger on a train who the Stooges mistook for someone else. It's a memorable last appearance by many people's favorite Stooge. Curly filmed another cameo as a chef in the short Malice in the Palace — but the footage was cut from the final film.
He passed away in All Rights Reserved. Welcome to MeTV! Find your local MeTV station. Where to watch. See when your favorite shows are on. See schedule. Personalize MeTV. Free sign-up. Shop your favorite shows in the MeTV Store. Shop Now. The Everett Collection. See More. The Three Stooges. Related Programming News. Trivia Movies. Are you sure you want to delete this comment? Cancel Delete. Sign up with: Google Facebook Twitter Email. The original members were the brothers Moe and Shemp Howard and Fine.
Shemp was replaced by his younger brother Jerome Curly and recalled in when Jerome had a stroke. He was replaced after his death in by Joe Besser, then by DeRita in Their output included shorts and films such as Snow White and the Three Stooges Fine died in , Moe Howard in and DeRita in poverty in The Howard heirs, his daughter Joan Maurer and grandson Jeffrey Scott, subsequently declared bankruptcy and sought an appeal.
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