The Three Stooges

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

The act began in 1922 as part of a vaudeville comedy act consisting originally of Ted Healy and Moe Howard. Over time, they were joined by Moe's brother, Shemp Howard, and then Larry Fine. The troupe became known as "Ted Healy and His Stooges" ("stooges" being a show-business term for on-stage assistants). The foursome appeared in one feature film, Soup to Nuts, before Shemp left to pursue a solo career. He was replaced by his and Moe's younger brother, Jerome "Curly" Howard, in 1932. Two years later, after appearing in several movies, the trio left Healy and signed on to appear in their own short-subject comedies for Columbia Pictures, now billed as "The Three Stooges". From 1934 to 1946, Moe, Larry, and Curly starred in more than 90 short comedies for Columbia. Curly suffered a debilitating stroke in May 1946. Shemp returned, reconstituting the original lineup, until his death of a heart attack on November 22, 1955, three years and ten months after Curly's death of a cerebral hemorrhage. Film actor Joe Palma stood in (shot from behind to obscure his face) to complete four Shemp-era shorts under contract. The procedure of disguising one actor as another outside of stunt shots became known as the "fake Shemp". Columbia contract player Joe Besser joined as the third Stooge for two years (1956–1958), departing in 1958 to nurse his ill wife after Columbia terminated its shorts division. The studio then released all the shorts via Screen Gems, Columbia's television studio and distribution unit. Screen Gems then syndicated the shorts to television, whereupon the Stooges became one of the most popular comedy acts of the early 1960s. Comic actor Joe DeRita became "Curly Joe" in 1958, replacing Besser for a new series of full-length theatrical films. With intense television exposure in the United States, the act regained momentum throughout the 1960s as popular kids' fare, until Larry's paralyzing stroke in the midst of filming a pilot for a Three Stooges TV series in January 1970. He died in January 1975 after a further series of strokes. Attempts were made in 1970 and 1975 to revive the act with longtime supporting actor Emil Sitka in Fine's role, but they were each cut short—the first by a movie deal falling through and Moe's wife persuading him to retire, the second by Moe's death.

Reader's Guide

The Three Stooges are significant for their long-running series of short-subject comedies at Columbia Pictures, which became a staple of American popular culture. Their physical and slapstick style influenced generations of comedians. The act's longevity, spanning from 1922 until 1970, and its adaptation to changing media—from vaudeville to film to television—demonstrate its broad appeal. The syndication of their shorts by Screen Gems made them one of the most popular comedy acts of the early 1960s, introducing them to a new generation of fans. Their legacy includes the term 'fake Shemp', coined from the practice of disguising an actor as another to complete films after a Stooge's death. Despite the passing of all original members, the Stooges' work remains widely recognized and continues to be distributed.

Did You Know?

• The term 'fake Shemp' originated from the practice of disguising actor Joe Palma as Shemp Howard (shot from behind to obscure his face) to complete four Shemp-era shorts after Shemp's death.
• Curly Howard shaved his head on the spot after Ted Healy said he didn't look funny, and when he said 'Boy, do I look girly,' Healy heard 'Curly' and the name stuck.
• Columbia Pictures president Harry Cohn kept the Stooges unaware of their popularity for 23 years, telling them 'the market for comedy shorts is dying out' and renewing their contract at the last moment each year.
• The Stooges never asked for or received a salary increase during their entire 23-year tenure at Columbia Pictures.
• Screen Gems syndicated the Stooges' shorts to television, making them one of the most popular comedy acts of the early 1960s.

From Brooklyn's Quietest Boy to a Shaved-Head Legend

As the baby of the family, his brothers nicknamed him "Babe," a label that stuck for life. The name "Curly" came later, when his older brother Shemp married a woman also called "Babe" and the household needed a way to tell the two apart. A quiet, untroubled child who rarely gave his parents cause for worry, young Jerome was a mediocre student but a standout on the school basketball court. He never finished high school, instead drifting through odd jobs while shadowing his idolized older brothers Moe and Shemp, who performed as heckling assistants in vaudevillian Ted Healy's act. At thirteen, a careless moment with a rifle left a bullet lodged in his left ankle; Moe rushed him to the hospital, and though he survived, the wound left a permanently thinner leg and a slight limp that Curly never corrected out of fear of surgery.

A Voice, a Walk, and an Indestructible Skull

Curly's screen persona was built on a foundation of vocal quirks and physical absurdity that no acting school could have taught. His high-pitched voice, punctuated by odd exclamations like "nyuk-nyuk-nyuk" and "woo-woo-woo," became instantly recognizable, as did his non-rhotic dialect that turned "certainly" into "soitenly" and "circumstance" into "soikemstance." He even barked like a dog for laughs. Physically, Curly was an athlete and ballroom dancer who channeled that energy into slapstick: falling and pivoting on a shoulder to "walk" in circles, or taking a hammer blow to the skull and shrugging with his trademark "Oh, look!" as the tool shattered while his head remained unscathed. Directors frequently simply rolled the camera and let him improvise, trusting his instinct.

Shaving the Head, Splitting from Healy, and Signing with Columbia

Healy, unimpressed by the Knapp routine and put off by Jerry's thick chestnut hair and waxed mustache, demanded a "real comedian." Jerry left the room, came back with his head shaved, and Moe and Larry immediately riffed a "Curly" versus "girlie" joke that won Healy over. Freed from that arrangement, the trio rebranded as The Three Stooges and signed with Columbia Pictures for two-reel shorts. Their third entry, Men in Black, earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Short Subject, and Columbia raised their pay from a mere hundred dollars a week to two thousand five hundred per picture, making them the studio's top short-subject draw.

The Stroke, the Silence, and a Legacy That Outlived the Man

By the mid-1940s, Curly Howard was widely regarded as the most popular and instantly recognizable member of the Stooges, his childlike charm and natural comedic gift a particular magnet for young audiences. The damage was far from temporary. Over the following years he endured serious health complications and suffered several additional strokes, his body steadily failing. In one of the few interviews he ever gave, Curly lamented the head of hair he had to shave away to become the character audiences loved, a small personal cost for a persona that would outlive him by decades. Though he never received formal acting training, his instinct for timing, improvisation, and physical storytelling left a mark on American comedy that no amount of studio polish could replicate.