Original subtitles

(projector whirring) (beep blipping)

(bright orchestral music)

(seat thudding)

(Moe laughing)

(bright orchestral music)

- A tarantula!

Woo!

- Hey, you're in a court, not in the woods, Tarzan.

(hand smacking)

(hat thumping)

(hand smacking)

- I'm a victim of circumstance.

(hand smacking) - Eh, who you hittin'?

(fingers poking) - Oh!

- Get goin'. - Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk, nyuk.

(hand smacking) Oh!

(tongue thwacking)

- Whoa!

(Shemp laughing)

- Look, where you goin' with the water?

- Oh, my tent's on fire!

(water splashing)

- How's that, eh? - Eh, come on.

- Hey! - What's the matter with you?

(Curly blowing)

- That was for onesies.

- Well, here's twosies. - Oh! Oh!

- [Larry and Shemp] Mmmm, nuh. (hands thudding)

(thumbs poking) - Oh!

(bright orchestral music)

(playful lighthearted music)

- [Paul] Almost everyone is familiar with

the screen characters of Curly, Moe and Larry,

and most people know Shemp, Joe Besser and Curly Joe.

These six men formed the world's most loved comedy team,

the Three Stooges,

but Moe wasn't always the leader of the group.

In fact, when they first started,

the boys were almost interchangeable.

The development of their screen characters

was a slow process of evolution that took

many years of refinement.

(hand smacking)

- Do that again.

Do that again. (hand smacking)

- It took it extra. - He's wrong.

- Well, this is the way, isn't it?

(hand smacking)

- [Paul] In the beginning, the Stooges worked

for a brilliant vaudeville comedian who essentially

created the concept of stooges.

Ted Healy was born Charles Ernest Lea Nash

on October 1st, 1896 in Kaufman, Texas.

He moved to New York with his parents and grew up

planning to pursue a career in business,

but was bitten by the showbiz bug early on.

He changed his name to Ted Healy and eventually found

his niche on Broadway where he was performing

with his first wife Betty Brown.

During the winter of 1922,

they were appearing at the Prospect Theater in Brooklyn,

where Ted had a visit from a boyhood pal.

It was this chance meeting that would forever alter

the course of Ted's life and the history of film comedy.

That friend was Moe Howard,

born Moses Horwitz on June 19th, 1897

in Bensonhurst, New York.

The Horwitz family was a large one,

like many families of the time,

and Jenny and Solomon had four boys:

Jack, Irving, Sam who became Shemp,

and Moe who was the youngest,

although that changed six years later

with the birth of Jerome, whom you might know as Curly.

Moe was always fascinated by the theater,

and as a young boy he spent most of his time

at the local playhouses.

He would watch the same show several times

and concentrate on just one performer,

a practice which served him well

when he entered show business himself.

- [Moe] I was in many, many films from 1908 to 1911.

I must have been in 40 or 50 films.

I honed my way into the studio by

asking if they wanted me to go for sandwiches.

- [Paul] In 1914, Moe ran away from home

to get an acting job on a showboat in Jackson, Mississippi.

After working there for two seasons, Moe returned home,

and several months later, he and his older brother Shemp

started a new act called Howard and Howard.

They worked the vaudeville circuits achieving

moderate success until the winter of 1922,

when Moe discovered that his old friend Ted Healy

was headlining at the Prospect Theater.

According to Moe, this meeting was essentially

the birth of the Stooges.

- Well, there's controversy as to who were

the first Stooges.

I think everybody sort of agrees that Ted Healy

was the number one Stooge.

And he was a big vaudeville/burlesque-type comedian

who was very popular in his day,

and he was boyhood friends with Shemp and Moe Howard

growing up in the same neighborhood.

If you listen to Moe and his family,

they sort of think Moe was the first Stooge.

If you listen to Shemp and his people,

he was the first Stooge.

What it seems like in the early years,

there were various Stooges floating in and out of the act.

As one got married and had children,

he left for a little while,

another person would come by and replace him.

But, basically, it was Ted, Moe and Shemp, some combination.

They picked up Larry after seeing him in a show in Chicago.

- [Paul] Enter Louis Feinberg, better known as Larry Fine.

- Larry was born on October the 5th, 1902.

He was born in Philadelphia and the address

was 606 South Third Street.

At that time my father had a jewelry store at that address,

and my parents lived in an apartment above the store.

- [Paul] Larry was the first of four children.

He was followed by Morris, Philip,

who died of influenza in 1919,

and the last, his sister, Lyla.

- Jewelers used acid to test gold.

And so my father had a bottle with the acid in it.

I don't remember what kind of acid it was,

but Larry as a little boy was curious,

like other little boys, and he put his hand up

and he pulled this acid down and it burned

the right over here on his arm.

He had this very bad acid burn,

and he could not use his left hand.

He was left-handed.

So the doctors suggested

learning to play the violin

actually as an exercise to practice using the hand.

So they didn't know what else to get a youngster

of his age to do to use the hand.

That's how he began playing the violin.

- [Paul] Music would influence the rest of Larry's life.

- He was always an outgoing child.

He was always an outgoing person as he grew up.

He was active in school,

but more in the sense that he was a musician.

Larry was studying to be a concert violinist.

He played the violin in the school orchestra

even when he was in elementary school,

and he was an excellent violinist.

So most of his early years were spent studying the violin,

but he had a need to be funny.

This was within, it was born in him, I guess you'd say.

(whistle tooting) (violin tuning)

(clapper clacking)

(foot stomping)

(bright vaudeville music)

(frantic vaudeville music)

(bow thudding)

(cello thudding)

(frantic vaudeville music)

- A tarantula!

(Moe screaming)

- Get it away from me!

- Woob, woob, woob, woob, woob!

(gavel pounding) - Ow!

(hand smacking) What's the matter with you?

(gun firing)

I killed it!

- Oh! - What's the matter with you?

- A field mouse!

Stand back, it's liable to bite ya!

- Tarantula?

Shot five holes in a divot.

(hand smacking) Get outta here. Go on!

- [Paul] Larry also loved sports.

He tried boxing under the name Kid Roth,

but his parents disapproved and he quickly

returned to the theater.

He worked in dozens of small shows

and eventually teamed with his sweetheart Mabel Haney

and her sister Loretta for a singing and dancing act

which they called the Haney Sisters and Fine.

But in 1925, Larry was working as an MC

at Fred Mann's Rainbo Gardens in Chicago

when he received a once-in-a-lifetime offer.

- Ted Healy was working in Chicago

with Shemp and Moe Howard, who were his Stooges.

I don't recall which one of them.

I think it was Shemp who went to see the show.

And he came back and told Ted I saw someone

that I think would fit into our act very well.

- [Moe] So Healy said would you like to be

one of the Stooges?

Make three out of the two, you know?

And he said, yes, I'd love that.

He says, okay, I'll give you $90 a week.

Fine, he said, I'll give you an extra 10

if you throw that fiddle away.

- [Paul] In that same year of 1925,

Moe married Helen Schonberger.

And shortly afterwards, Shemp married Gertrude Frank,

whose nickname was Babe.

The four boys worked the vaudeville circuit

until Ted and Shemp left to join a Broadway show

called "A Night in Spain."

During this period, Larry married Mabel Haney,

and eventually he and Moe rejoined Ted and Shemp

in the Broadway show 'A Night in Venice,"

which became a hit.

This paved the way for better bookings,

and eventually an appearance at the prestigious

Palace Theatre on Broadway.

A talent scout from Fox Studios hired them

for Rube Goldberg's feature "Soup To Nuts".

Healy was making over $1,000 a week

while the Stooges' salary remained at the usual $100.

- See, these Stooges were my father's employees,

and they came as an act and he was the one

that was paid and he paid them.

And this caused a lot of friction,

especially with Moe because he was a better businessman

than probably any one of the other four were.

- [Paul] They didn't care for the pay inequity,

but in their eyes it was a shot at the big time.

Unfortunately, the film only received lukewarm reviews,

but the Stooges received high praise for their performance.

Fox Studio heads noticed the great reviews for the boys

and offered them a solo contract,

but when Ted caught wind of the deal,

he immediately went to the Fox brass and forced them

to withdraw the offer.

In his eyes, they were breaking up his act,

and after all, they were his employees.

So when the Stooges learned that the deal was off,

they decided to strike out on their own.

- Three boys left Ted Healy because they were offered

more money in the (indistinct) circuit.

How much, I don't know.

So he needed three replacements.

They couldn't use the name of Healy Stooges,

of The Three Stooges.

So they call himself Howard, Fine & Howard.

Shemp, Moe and Larry.

Now, Ted's got a new audition of Stooges.

Now I never saw that type of comedy before,

where you hit each other, poke your eyes.

I never saw that.

And I never saw their act till I got an audition.

I went to my audition and I went up to say hello to Ted.

He gave me a bang in the head you never saw in your life,

and I got so mad.

I jumped on him, bit his ear, grabbed his nose,

hit him back.

He says, you're hired. Get in the corner. (laughing)

You know why he did that?

Get the reaction from ya.

It was a whole thing.

- [Paul] Ted had his new Stooges performing

material that was identical to what Moe,

Larry and Shemp had done.

(men shouting in foreign language)

(hand smacking)

- What are ya? A wiseguy?

- Let me at 'em!

(dramatic orchestral music)

- Wait a minute!

Let me see ya make a hard fist.

(hand thwacking)

Let me see you make a hard fist.

(fist thwacking)

(bright orchestral music)

Wait a minute!

Pay me the $50,000.

I'll foreclose this mortgage, you mouse!

- I won't pay it! (hand smacking)

- Pay me the $50,000 and I'll foreclose

this mortgage, you mouse!

- I won't pay it! (hand smacking)

- Don't get excited. It's in the mortgage.

Pay me the 50,000 or I'll foreclose!

- I won't pay it! (hand smacking)

- For goodness sakes, pay the money!

- So he was good to work for.

When he was not drinking, boy.

He was a college graduate, you know?

Went to college, Ted did.

And he always was a good actor,

but he developed to be a great personality.

He was the closest thing as far as telling jokes,

but as far as personality,

the closest thing I ever seen to Jolson.

- See, he was the first person that ever played

comedy off of somebody else.

Up to his point in time, comedy was always a Charlie Chaplin

or Harold Lloyd type thing where some guy was funny

and he was the whole show.

And he played off somebody else with the Stooges.

- When I was first with Ted Healy,

I used to go to bed at night and I saw hands.

I saw those hands and fingers (chuckling)

when in my sleep.

That's all I saw at rehearsals.

Whacking and banging and all them.

You know the first joke I ever did with Ted Healy?

He said, what time is it? I said, one o'clock.

He went bong. I said I'm glad it ain't 12.

You know, that was the first joke I did. (laughing)

- [Paul] Ted was touring with his new Stooges,

but Howard, Fine & Howard were creating

comedy of their own.

- Supposedly, Shemp came up with the eye poke

poke during a card game in which he was,

Larry beat him or something and he was mad,

and he just hauled off and poked him right in eye.

And Moe thought it was so funny that he fell out

of his chair laughing and said that's gonna stay in the act.

And that was probably one of the few things

that the Stooges actually invented themselves.

All the other things, the pie fights and the slapping

and all that had been done for many years before.

- [Paul] Even though Ted had his new Stooges,

the chemistry just wasn't the same,

and he continued to press the original Stooges

into returning.

- I think the reason he hired us for the Three Stooges,

it was for revenge for the three guys to see that

they can be replaced.

Not saying we were as good, which I don't think we were,

but that was his mind that he knew we weren't as good.

And finally,

thank God.

We went up to Ted and says, Ted,

we like to do our own act.

He didn't fire us.

And about two weeks later,

we were rehearsing a walk down Broadway

and I see Ted with the three guys.

- [Paul] On a promise to avoid drinking,

Ted won the Stooges back.

But again, change was waiting in the wings.

Shemp decided he wanted to leave the Healy act for good.

- Apparently his wife did not like Ted Healy,

and there's some various stories floating around

of some pranks that Healy pulled that Shemp and his wife

didn't take too kindly to.

And eventually, Shemp just went out on his own.

He had a very successful career on his own,

but I don't think he made the kind of money

that the Stooges ultimately made at Columbia.

- [Moe] In 1932, Shemp got the opportunity to play

the character Knobby in Joe Palooka pictures on the coast.

And it seemed like a great opportunity for Shemp.

And he was reluctant about leaving.

He said, well, what are you gonna do for a third man?

I said, Shemp, don't worry about that.

Grab your opportunity and we'll get

the kid brother Curly in.

And Curly was working with a band

called Orville Knapp and his band.

He was a comedy guest conductor, and he got a big laugh.

So we got in touch with Curly and he said,

give the man two week's notice.

Come on, you're gonna join with us.

Of course, Shemp had the long hair, you know.

He used to push it back over his ears

and Larry had the wild hair, I had the bangs.

And he had brown, wavy hair and a mustache.

Wax-tipped mustache.

And he said, don't worry about how I'll wear my hair.

I'll be back here on a half hour.

And he was, and he wore a cap.

When he took the cap off, he was as bald as a cue ball.

Looked like a naked eggplant.

- [Paul] So Babe was rechristened Curly.

It took a while, but when he hit his stride,

Curly became the most loved and the best known Stooge.

In 1933, Ted Healy and the boys signed a film contract

with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

The boys had finally hit the big time.

(bright orchestral music)

In their one year at MGM,

they appeared in six feature pictures with big stars

like Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, even Laurel and Hardy.

And they also starred in a series of five

two-reel short subjects,

some of which were written as wraparounds

for elaborate MGM dance numbers that were filmed,

but never used.

They even filmed two of their shorts in a special format.

- They did a couple shorts that were in a experimental,

I think it's called a two-strip Technicolor,

and I'm not a real technical guy,

but it was a very early form of Technicolor

that they were experimenting with.

And it's kind of lousy looking color,

but it's color, and it's from 1933.

It's very unusual.

- [Paul] The feature films and short subjects

were well received by the public,

but the Stooges' relationship with Ted once again

began to deteriorate.

- Their complaint was two things.

One that he drank too much, and two,

that he didn't give them enough money,

and I think the latter was really the problem.

- I think primarily because A, of his drinking,

and B, because of the inequity in the pay scale.

The Stooges were getting a lot of the laughs,

but they weren't getting any of the money.

And I think they felt that they could be

just as good without him and make a lot more money.

And they had to deal with a lot of his stuff.

He was drunk a lot of the time.

And ultimately, they just decided to go on their own.

- [Paul] So Ted stayed with MGM and the boys

set out as a trio.

It was decided that Moe would handle the business affairs,

essentially stepping into the Healy role.

- Offscreen he was very much like what he was like onscreen.

Not that he was mean and nasty,

but he was clearly the leader of the group.

He was probably the one who made most

of the financial decisions and arranged a lot

of the bookings and things like that,

and decided what was best for the team.

It seemed like he was the one who had the biggest say.

- [Paul] Moe landed a one film deal

at Columbia Pictures, and if the results were favorable,

the studio would offer them a long-term contract.

So the boys co-starred with Marjorie White

in a 20-minute rhyming short subject called "Woman Haters."

As soon as they finished, they began writing a treatment

for another comedy called "A Symphony of Punches,"

which they presented to the studio heads

who were so impressed that the boys were given

a seven-year contract with yearly options.

"A Symphony of Punches" was retitled "Punch Drunks"

and became their second short, but more importantly,

Howard, Fine & Howard finally received the billing

that would stay with them forever.

They became The Three Stooges.

- [Moe] We did nine films a year.

And we had under the contract,

we did those in 40 weeks.

We had 12 weeks off in which we did personal appearances.

- [Paul] The Stooges evolved into

very specific characters.

- The whole Larry impersonation that I do is,

it's a product of watching the Stooges for so many years,

so many times, having everything memorized perfectly.

And one day there was just nothing left to like about them.

There was no more surprises.

You knew it so well.

So I began to watch it in a different way.

I would just turn on the TV and I would just watch

one thing and one thing only.

I would pay no attention to Moe and Curly,

because that's where usually the attention was.

They'd get into a fight and Moe would do a number on Curly.

Meanwhile, no one ever can say that they watched

what Larry was doing all this time.

And I began to look at the faces he made

and the things that he said.

Like when Moe was beating on Curly,

you were just watching them.

But if you took the time to look at the other side

of the screen, you'd see.

You know, and I began watching that.

And then I began paying attention to his voice,

and I realized that how much Larry was like

the Keith Richard of the Stooges.

You know what I mean?

It's like without, without Larry,

they wouldn't have had any kind of relationship.

It would just be here all the time

and nothing like setting little blazes here and there.

Like when Moe would climb a ladder and you knew

he was gonna fall and break his ass.

But the one little thing Larry would say

before it all happened and you knew it was gonna happen,

he'd go, "Be careful, Moe."

You know, and it just, to me, that was bedlam.

That was like the thing that lit the comic fuse.

- [Moe] Larry with the bushy hair.

He was, you see, he couldn't talk tough to me

because that would the wrong thing to do.

Get a belt in my mouth anyhow if he did.

And Curly was just that simp, you know?

He was just big enough and strong enough

that anything I said or did, he could break me in half,

but his only retaliation was, "Ooh!"

Every time I went on a personal appearance in the theater,

every time I smacked Curly, somebody in the audience

would holler, "Hit him back, Curly, hit him back."

And they throw Carmellos at me and everything else.

You know, if we were going through a scene

and he'd forget his words for a moment, you know,

rather than get stoned or pale and stop,

you never knew what he was gonna do.

On one occasion he'd go down to the floor

and spin around like a top till he remembered

what he had to say.

- [Paul] Curly's wild expressions

and childlike mannerisms made him the favorite Stooge,

but off-camera he could be very private and shy.

He was born on October 22nd, 1903,

six years younger than his brother Moe.

- My father thought a lot of Moe.

And in some ways, Moe was maybe a surrogate father.

My father was the baby of the family.

There were five boys.

Moe was not the oldest, but he was the oldest,

of course he was older than my father.

And I feel that well, Moe gave him the nickname Babe.

And there was a special bond, that there was a special bond.

- [Paul] When Curly was 13, he accidentally shot

himself in the ankle while hunting,

and he nearly bled to death.

It was Moe who rushed him to the hospital, saving his life.

However, the injury left Curly with a noticeable limp,

and this would trouble him throughout his career.

When Curly was with his brothers or his close friends,

he became the life of the party.

He sang, danced and played instruments.

But if his gang wasn't around,

he felt uncomfortable and would simply turn inward.

When he became a star, he started to overindulge himself.

- I saw him at a couple of clubs in New York,

and he danced every dance.

And between dances, he was drinkin'.

Never stopped.

He lived the life of three men.

- Curly was always slipping money to me. (chuckling)

That was his way of treating me well.

He'd always slip a quarter to me.

Here kid, go buy something, you know?

Or he'd go out with me and buy me something.

He was always doing that to me.

- He probably apparently had a very sad lifestyle,

sort of a lonely person.

Loved dogs.

Every time he went on the road and came home,

he came home with a new dog.

But his personal life was somewhat sad

in that he was remarried four times

and never seemed to find the right girl.

- Curly was nothin'. He just disappeared.

He was, he was really shy.

He would blush when you would talk to him.

I don't think he said one word to me out of script.

I mean, when we weren't on camera.

He said his dialogue and whatever he had to say and do,

and the minute they said cut, he disappeared.

- [Paul] Although his private life was troubled,

his work with Moe and Larry was unparalleled.

- He seemed to be the center of interest.

I mean, it all, they all worked together.

But to me, I think he was the most delightful

of the way he looked and just make you laugh.

But I think Moe and Larry, they were,

they just worked like teamwork.

I mean, it was, it wasn't guesswork with them.

It was, they practiced,

they knew exactly what they were doing,

and it came across.

- They didn't do any writing.

Usually they were, they had writers that wrote

the scripts for them,

but there was a lot of leeway in the scripts.

Not that everything they did was ad-libbed,

but there might be a part where it just would say

Stooges do their thing.

And then a few minutes of mayhem would ensue

with, you know, hit, with all this stuff.

So there was some room for them to maneuver,

and I'm sure they had such a working relationship

with the producers and directors that if something

just wasn't coming out right,

they changed it around to make it funny.

- Take off your hat.

Now raise your right hand.

Now place your left hand here.

- Take off your hat.

- Raise your right hand.

Now put your left hand here.

- Please take off your hat.

- Raise your right hand.

- Hmm.

- Now put your left hand here.

- Will you please take off your hat?

- Raise your right hand!

- Hmm!

- Now put your left hand here.

- Take off your hat!

- Raise your right hand.

Will you get rid of that hat?

- Raise your right hand.

- Raise your right hand!

Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth,

the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

- Huh?

- Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth,

the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

- Are you trying to gimme the double talk?

- Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth,

the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

- Why don't you answer him?

- He's talkin' pig Latin.

I don't know what he's saying.

- He's asking you if you swear-

- No, but I know all the words.

- [Paul] The Stooges rough house style of comedy

often left them open to injury.

- Moe was supposed to be a paper hanger,

I think at the time, and he was up on the,

on the wood with planks and everything else.

And it's supposed to break in a certain way

and he was supposed to fall in a certain way,

and it fell the wrong way and he broke his ribs.

I forget which picture it was in,

and they cut right there,

and he was out for about a week or so,

and then they brought it back in again.

But when you saw the thing when he fell,

you could see the face that he made

that he really cracked his ribs.

You could see if you look for it.

- According to Lyla Budnick,

Larry's face was calloused on the one side

where Moe slapped him.

His left cheek was always raw and calloused

because Moe was slapping him with the right hand

across his left cheek.

- His little jaw was like the back of your heel.

That's how tough it was.

You could hit Larry across the jaw

and I don't think he would ever felt it.

He was that calloused from constantly being hit.

You know, it was nothin' but constantly day after day,

day after day being hit.

But he was used to it.

- [Paul] In December of 1937, Moe, Larry and Curly

were on their way to an appearance in Boston

when they received word that their old friend

and partner Ted Healy had died.

- There's a lot of controversy over the way he died.

He was supposedly involved in a bar room brawl.

The circumstances surrounding the brawl

and who were the participants in the brawl

are still subject of conjecture to this day.

But after this brawl, he supposedly went back

to his hotel room and was found dead there the next day.

And it was only maybe three, four days after

the birth of his first child,

so it was very sad set of circumstances.

- Ted is not what they think he is, what they write about.

He was a nice man.

Only bad thing, he was a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

When he drank he was Mr. Hyde.

It's too bad.

We lost a great, great talent when he died

at the age of 41.

He was, I don't care. He was a genius.

Wasn't for him, there wouldn't be no Stooges.

- And he would drag me on the stage,

force me to sing (chuckling) onstage.

And he was, I was never more than a foot away

from him when we were on the road.

And of course, when he died,

I was heartbroken 'cause I loved him dearly.

- And they had a stormy relationship,

but they were boyhood friends with him.

You know, they, I think they,

there was always a place in their hearts for him.

They liked them. They were friends with him.

But he just went a little too far.

And you know, there was, they really had no choice

but to leave him.

When they found out he passed away,

I think they were truly upset.

And they were, they were shocked, obviously number one.

But I think they really, they were very upset

because although they did have a stormy relationship,

they had known him for a long time

and they were friends with him.

- I've thought about many times the fact

that he's the one that started it all.

And without him there would've been no Stooges.

And the fact that he was celebrating my birth,

which caused his death, of course, is highly unusual.

It's very strange.

- [Paul] Three Stooges comedies often incorporated

contemporary events into the plots.

During World War II, they were one of the first teams

to parody Hitler in their two shorts

"You Nasty Spy" and "I'll Never Heil Again."

Curly, Moe and Larry were Jewish,

and these films reflected a political statement

as well as a personal one.

- Well, he was quite upset about it, naturally.

I mean, anyone who cared about people was upset,

and then you have to remember, we're Jewish.

And so the war in Germany and what went on in Germany

before the war with Hitler and all

was extremely upsetting to all of us.

I think when he was younger,

when he wasn't one of the Stooges

and he was playing in vaudeville

in the little acts in small towns,

he was given a hard time in some small towns

where they put 'em in bathrooms to dress

or they wouldn't let 'em go outside and dress

in the backyard or something.

Or get that little Jew outta here.

But you, listen, you hear that today.

So it's not, it doesn't surprise you.

The only difference is that 50 or 60 years ago,

you kept your mouth shut.

Today you don't.

- [Paul] The Stooge comedies were more popular

than ever, but Curly's health was beginning to deteriorate.

- Curly hadn't been well.

None of us realized just what was wrong with him.

We know now that he'd had a couple of slight strokes.

And

"Three Little Pirates" was some time after

he'd had those strokes,

but he,

from time to time, he became almost his old self.

And in "Three Little Pirates,"

he was in my opinion, excellent.

He had recovered.

We had high hopes that he would be perfectly all right,

but as we now know, he wasn't.

And on the very next picture, he folded up.

He had a stroke that disabled him.

- [Paul] The stress of Curly's personal life

began to take an obvious toll.

He had been married four times, drank too much,

suffered from high blood pressure

and was rapidly gaining weight.

In May of 1946, Curly's hard living caught up with him

and he suffered a paralyzing stroke on the set

of "Halfwits Holiday" and he was forced to retire

from the act.

Moe hoped that after some rest,

Curly would be able to return.

So in the meantime, he convinced his older brother Shemp

to rejoin the group.

- Well, he fit right into the act because he had been

the original third Stooge,

so there was no problem in that sense.

From this, from the general public standpoint,

I know today people think that he was a weak replacement

for Curly, but those are the people that don't know

he was the original Stooge.

I think a lot of people also think Shemp

was trying to imitate Curly,

and he was really not in any way.

He just did his own thing,

which was nothing really like what Curly did.

And I think the people that really don't know

the history of it are the ones that really

don't like Shemp all that much.

The real fans understand that Shemp was perhaps

the leader of the Stooges at the beginning.

And when he came back to replace Curly,

he fit in perfectly with the boys.

- [Paul] Columbia was hesitant to use Shemp

because of his close resemblance to Moe,

but ultimately the Stooges won the point.

Shemp's experience made him the obvious choice.

- [Gary] He was in 100 or more films on his own

between '33, '34 and '46.

During that 13-year period,

he was probably in 90 or 100 films on his own.

He had his own series of which he was the star at Columbia,

where there were several, it was the Shemp Howard series.

And there were, he was the head stooge

and the other people were the knuckleheads.

- [Paul] Shemp Howard had been born Samuel Horwitz

on March 17th, 1895.

According to Moe, their mother had a very thick accent.

And when she called out for her son Sam,

it came out sounding like Shem.

When his brothers took to calling him Shemp, the name stuck.

- Shemp was the most darling man I've ever known.

He also was kind to me as a child

because you have to remember the original group

was Larry, Moe and Shemp.

- He knocked me out when he was serious.

That's when he was scared to death of his own shadow.

Walked down the street, looked.

He's always looking back, see was anybody following him.

And he'd go in the hotel room,

he'd lock the doors and put chairs by it

so nobody'd get in, lock the windows.

Always waking up see if anybody's there.

You know, oh, he's scared.

That type of guy, nervous.

That's why he's always walking around that way.

What the hell is this? (chuckling)

He was that way, you know?

That was his character.

- [Paul] Off camera, he was a warm, loving,

laid back family man, and he preferred to spend his time

playing with his son Mort or watching the fights.

But on screen, he had a character that was

wild and unpredictable.

- Mmm, mmm.

Mmm.

(Shemp laughing)

Mmm.

(iron sizzling) Oh!

Oh! Oh!

Mmm!

(Shemp grunting)

Oh!

(ironing board thudding) (Shemp screaming)

Oh! Oh! Oh!

Oh! Oh!

Mmm.

You double crosser!

(ironing board thudding)

Oh!

Oh!

(door slamming)

Oh! Oh!

Oh!

(Shemp grunting)

Wiseguy! This time I'll close ya.

(broom thudding) Oh, no!

I'm sorry, Moe.

- Uh, think nothin' of it.

- Oh, gee. Thanks.

- You're welcome. (broom handle thwacking)

- Ooh!

Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!

- [Paul] In 1947, Curly was still partially paralyzed,

but feeling better.

He made a small cameo appearance with a full head of hair

in the short "Hold That Lion."

It was the only time that the three Howard brothers

appeared on screen together, but according to Larry,

Curly was set to make another appearance

in the 1949 short "Malice in the Palace."

The scene was shot, but wasn't used in the final print.

His health was still fragile,

but during this time Curly finally found

what he was looking for.

On July 31st, 1947, he married a beautiful young woman

named Valerie Newman.

They had a baby girl named Janie,

and for the first time in his life, Curly was truly content.

- They got married in 1947 and he died in 1952.

They had a good marriage,

and they seemed to have a lot of good times together.

Unfortunately, into the marriage that he got

strokes and became sick after I was born.

She would want him at home as much as possible,

but he wasn't from my viewpoint or what my mother expressed,

at least in parts of the marriage,

an invalid or anything like this.

He, at this time in his life,

enjoyed a family and seemed to have a certain peace

and contentment, and he found his niche of being

the family man, which is probably

what he wasn't in an earlier period in his life.

I don't remember stories, but I remember

bottom lines and what my father meant to my mother.

And to me that what she expressed was that

he was deeper than a comedy clown.

That not only was he a genius in his own,

but he had a lot more depth

than a lot of people realized,

and he took his job seriously.

He loved an audience,

but he worked at making it look effortless.

I think he found something he loved

and he felt good about doing it,

and he found something that brought him happiness.

One of the things that my mother told me was

he told her, I hope Janie in life does what makes her happy,

'cause I have found what makes me happy.

And that is the most important thing in the world to do,

what makes you happy.

I think the worst part is that he didn't live long enough

that I could have known him as an adult

and asked the questions that I would like to know

as an adult about how he felt about different things.

But it feels good, and I'm very proud of my heritage.

And I think the older you get, the more family means to you.

- [Paul] Curly had several more strokes,

and on January 18th, 1952, Curly Howard,

brother, father and Stooge, died.

Although distraught over Curly's passing,

Moe, Larry and Shemp continued to make two-reel comedies.

They even found time for live television.

- Gotta get rid of these executives!

They're absolutely driving me crazy!

I've gotta get rid of them. (sandbag whistling)

(sandbag thudding)

(audience laughing)

That's a sandbag.

That's dangerous, you know that?

That, that could kill someone.

(audience laughing)

Oh!

May I be forgiven for the thought

which is running right through my...

(audience laughing)

Oh, gentleman?

- [Stooges] Yes?

(man laughing)

- I mean, now that you're here from the heat and all,

would you do something for my audience?

Would you sing? Would you sing?

- Oh, we'd love to. - We'd love to.

- Two a day.

- Yeah, yeah. - You take the baritone.

♪ Ah, ah, ah ♪

(Stooges murmuring)

♪ Ah, ah, ah ♪

(Stooges murmuring)

- Boys, here. Wait, look, boys.

Look, see, just stand here.

Stand right around the ink well here,

just, just like that.

Now wait a minute.

Now you don't have to strike a note.

Would you play some executive music, please?

(bright orchestral music)

♪ When you wore a tulip ♪

♪ A sweet, yellow tulip ♪

♪ And I wore a big, red rose ♪

♪ When you caressed me ♪

♪ 'Twas then Heaven blessed me ♪

♪ What a blessing, no one knows ♪

(sandbag whistling)

(sandbag thudding)

♪ Down where the blue grass grow ♪

♪ Your lips were sweeter than julep ♪

♪ When you wore a tulip ♪

♪ And I wore a big, red rose ♪

♪ I met her in a garden in an old Kentucky town ♪

♪ The moon was shining down ♪

- No, no, no!

Don't dance out of this position, boys.

Just sing like that.

(audience laughing)

♪ When you wore a tulip ♪

♪ A sweet yellow tulip ♪

(sandbag whistling)

(sandbag thudding)

(audience laughing)

♪ What a blessing, no one knows ♪

♪ You made life cheerie ♪

♪ When you called me dearie ♪

♪ 'Twas down where the blue grass grow ♪

♪ Your lips were sweeter than julep ♪

♪ When you wore a tulip ♪

♪ And I wore a big, red rose ♪

♪ I met her in the garden in an old Kentucky town ♪

♪ The moon was shining down ♪

♪ She wore a gingham gown ♪

♪ I kissed her as I placed a yellow tulip in her hair ♪

♪ Upon my coat you pinned a rose so rare ♪

♪ And you wore a tulip ♪

♪ A sweet, yellow tulip ♪

♪ And I wore a big, red rose ♪

♪ When you caressed me ♪

♪ 'Twas then Heaven blessed me ♪

♪ What a blessing, no one knows ♪

♪ You made life cheerie ♪

♪ When you call me dearie ♪

♪ Was down where the blue grass grow ♪

(sandbag whistling)

(sandbag thudding) (audience laughing)

(bright orchestral music)

- For many years they were the top-grossing

short subject series in Hollywood.

And they won the Laurel awards

and these other awards every year that were given

by the theater owners to the top-grossing film.

So they brought in a lot of money for Columbia

over the years.

(bright orchestral music)

- [Paul] Unfortunately, the major studios were

slowly beginning to phase out short subjects.

Less time and effort went into the scripts and production,

and as a result, the end product was sometimes inferior.

Moe was hoping he could get Columbia to put the Stooges

into another feature picture,

but before anything could be planned,

fate struck another crushing blow.

On November 23rd, 1955,

Shemp was coming home from an evening at the fights.

- The other guys in the car started smelling

something burning and Shemp's head had slumped down

on his chest and the cigar was burning

his lapel or something.

They looked back and he was dead.

- [Paul] Shemp had a massive heart attack

and died instantly.

Moe was grief-stricken.

He had lost two of his brothers in a three-year period

and seriously considered disbanding the act,

but both he and Larry were still under contract to Columbia.

- They made four more shorts with Joe Palma

doubling for Shemp.

And by shooting him from the rear and having him

hunch over 'cause he was a little too tall,

they were sort of able to pull it off,

but they did what they had to do.

Like I said, they were professionals.

They were from the show must go on school.

And they went on without missing a beat.

- [Paul] Moe thought about continuing the act

as the Two Stooges, but studio heads dismissed the idea.

He had to find another third Stooge.

Joe Besser was born on August 12th, 1907.

He was popular in his own right,

having worked with stars like Olson and Johnson

and Abbott and Costello,

and even had his own series of films at Columbia,

so Moe approached him and he agreed to be a Stooge.

- [Joe] Moe and Larry, they were the best.

I enjoyed every minute of it with them.

In fact, I'll show you how wonderful they were.

I never liked to be hit with anything.

And Larry used to say to me, don't worry, Joe, I'll take it.

Now that's the kind of guys they were.

- During '56 and '57, he made 16 shorts with the Stooges,

which were then shown during the '57-'58 season.

In fact, one of 'em I think even went into '59.

But at that point, Columbia decided that they were

gonna close their shorts department.

After 24-year run, the Stooges were sort of outta work.

- A lot of people don't know that even though

they were successful with their movie career,

they never made any money.

In all the years that they worked at Columbia Studios,

they never got a raise.

From day one until the last day that they worked,

they made the same salary.

- Supposedly they were just denied entrance to the lot.

I mean, they came back to pick some things up

and they told 'em, you don't have a contract here,

get outta here.

They didn't have any kind of farewell party for them.

They were denied access to the parking lot and everything,

which is sort of sad after a 24-year association.

Very heartless, but they decided, well,

we'll go on tour because that's the way they had

made all their money in the past anyway

was going on tour.

But Besser's wife was ill and he didn't want to

travel around the country and leave her,

so they were forced to come up with somebody else,

and they came up with Joe DeRita.

They tried him out and he worked out.

He became Curly Joe.

Sort of 'cause he looked like Curly and his name was Joe,

so I guess they figured, well, we already had Curly,

we already had Joe, we'll call you Curly Joe,

and the name stuck.

- [Paul] Joe DeRita was born Joseph Wordell

on July 12th, 1909 in Philadelphia.

Like Joe Besser, DeRita had been a star

in vaudeville and burlesque,

so he was prepared for the rigors of touring.

- [Gary] They spent 12, 16, 20 weeks a year on the road

doing personal appearance tours.

And they would do three, four, five shows a day.

And that's really where they made

the most of their money.

- [Lyla] They did an act that hadn't changed

in 35 or 40 years.

I knew every line of the show.

- Joe was a very charitable person.

Wanna tell you something about Joe.

Larry had a big Lincoln.

See, the corporation paid for their cars.

Now, Larry had a big Lincoln, Moe liked sports car.

He had a Porsche.

And Joe would get maybe a Dodge or a Chevy station wagon.

And everybody would wonder why.

And I knew why. He told me why.

They used to trade in every two years,

and he would buy the station wagon back.

He had a sister in Baltimore and she was not of any means.

And he would buy the station wagon back from the trade-in

because he took care of that station wagon.

I mean took care of it.

And gave it to his sister every two years.

That's the kind of person Joe was.

I know he took care of his mother.

Very charitable man, very charitable.

In fact, to give you ideas of Joe,

they would send me for different things,

for food or something.

I'd say now I'm going out to get a sandwich.

Anybody want anything?

This one say yes, this one say something.

And Joe would say, write it down, Nate,

and I'll pay at the end of the week.

'Cause Joe took care of the checks and everything.

At the end of the week, whatever I spent,

he'd say how much you spend?

I said $36 and 10 cents. I had it all itemized.

He said, it can't be that much, Nate.

It's gotta be more than that.

He says that include a tip that you give the people,

you know, when you buy somethin'?

I said, yeah, Joe was everything included.

Nate, it can't be $36.

You must be mistaken.

You forgot to write something down.

Write out a check for $50. Here's $50.

- [Paul] In 1958, Columbia Pictures released

78 of the old Curly two-reelers to television,

and within one year's time,

their popularity soared to new heights.

- None of them were really aware of it.

When they came to Pittsburgh

on their last, you know,

the reoccurrence of the popularity after television,

they got off the train 'cause they came by train

at that time.

I think it was 1959.

And they saw all these people at the station,

and they wondered who the VIP was on the train,

not realizing the crowds were for them.

They had absolutely no idea of how popular they were.

- [Paul] Joe DeRita brought his own comic style

to the act.

- [Gary] And obviously he had big shoes to fill,

but he was a veteran performer, too.

It wasn't like he was just a nobody.

He wasn't perhaps as well known as Joe Besser was

at the time when Besser came in.

- Most everything was discussed with Larry and Moe,

where they would take something,

or do something or anything.

Not one person made the decision.

Then after Joe joined him, Joe was like a junior partner.

Let's put it that way.

And Larry, after a couple years said to Moe, this I know.

Let's make him an even partner.

I don't know what the partnership was at that time.

Maybe it was 40, 40, and 20.

So Moe says, why?

We been for years this way, you know?

Why should he get part of the good amount?

Then Larry says, look, between 20 and 33%

is not that much difference, Moe,

and it'll make him feel like he's part of us,

like 'cause he feels like he's a nothin',

he's a drag owner. Let's make him feel.

And that's what they did. They made him an even partner.

Larry forced it all on Moe because I told ya,

Moe was thrifty.

But I didn't say cheap. He was thrifty.

- Outside of their working relationship,

it was not really

a close friendship

because they spend so much time together

in their working relationship that they each

went their separate ways with their families.

They got together on big occasions,

but they each had their own families

and they didn't spend that much time at home,

so that when they were at home,

they wanted to spend as much time as they could

with their families.

So they did not socialize

on a day-to-day basis.

- Joe DeRita was a very funny guy.

Nobody realizes his sense of humor.

And Joe would like once in a while, say to me,

hey, Nate, it's very quiet.

Let's jazz up the place.

I said, what do you wanna do, Joe?

And Joe and I were very friendly.

He said, let's play cards together.

He says, we'll play Gin.

You make some dumb moves and I'll make some dumb moves,

an you'll see what'll happen.

So I'm playing Gin and Larry's looking over my shoulder,

and I'll make a dumb move.

Oh, what a stupid move you made, you know?

I did it purposely.

And then Moe would go over to Joe's hand and look at his.

Joe, do you know how to play Gin?

You really know how to play?

I don't think you know how to play Gin.

So Larry would say, let me take your hand.

I'll show you how to play.

And I would go look at him. Moe would take Joe's hand.

And then the two of them would start fighting each other.

There would be plenty paying for pennies.

One, two, and three, Knock Rummy or Gin

or anything like that.

And they would argue like hell.

Joe and I would stray in the other room and laugh like hell.

He says, we started somethin'. (laughing)

- [Paul] The boys were back on top,

and the studio that had fired them in 1957

wanted them back, this time for a starring

feature picture called "Have Rocket, Will Travel."

- [Announcer] Extra!

Scientists establish visual communication

with rocket in flight!

History is being made on the probing grounds

of the National Space Foundation,

as scientists prepare for the ultimate

total triumph over space.

Within a matter of moments you will, for the first time,

see the interior of a space rocket in flight.

Here's the countdown.

Five, four, three, two, one.

Blast off!

And now the wonders of electronic science enable us

to see the interior of the rocket.

Oh no! What's this?

Oh my! Not them.

Yes, it's the Three Stooges who are making history,

all right, but laugh history,

in their first full length feature motion picture

"Have Rocket, Will Travel."

- They're throwing things at us!

- Duck!

Try to contact earth.

- Ah!

- Quiet! Oh, oh, oh, oh!

(Stooges yelping)

(lighthearted playful music)

- No change in their course, huh?

- None.

They can't control it.

The ship's on an automatic course to the planet Venus.

- We got contact.

Take that down, quick.

(morse code beeping)

What's it say?

- Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep.

(hand smacking) - Get outta here.

- Hey, the television's on.

- [Announcer] You heard about the Sputnik and the Mutnik.

Well, here comes the Laughnik,

a movie that's a Three Stooge pilot on a three stage rocket.

- We're landing!

- [Announcer] For the first time,

the world's craziest comedians are really out of this world.

- Admit it.

♪ We did it ♪

♪ Have rocket ♪

♪ Will travel in space ♪

(teleporter whirring)

- [Automobile] You are expected. Enter.

- A talkin' automobile.

- [Automobile] I am waiting.

- I am Larry.

- I am Moe.

- And I am Curly Joe.

Take us to your leader.

(lightning booming)

- Look!

- They're the spitting image of us, ain't they?

- Well, they look pretty good for robots.

- [Curly Joe] They made Moe real ugly, didn't they, Larry?

- I don't know. I think he's uglier in person.

(fists thwacking)

- [Announcer] Don't miss this hilarious mixture

of missiles and mirth as the Three Stooges blast off

in the biggest comedy bonanza in years.

(sweeping orchestral music)

- [Paul] The Stooges did several more features

between 1960 and 1969,

and their last film for Columbia was

"The Outlaws Is Coming."

- "The Outlaws Is Coming." (laughing)

What a wonderful experience.

I think we did that in

1964 or '65, I'm not sure.

Our first meeting at the Columbia ranch,

one morning, quite early.

And I went into makeup and got on my Western duds

and came out in the street,

and I saw Larry Fine sitting in a chair.

And I think his wife was

yelling at him about something.

And (laughing) then actually the guys

were very serious off camera, their demeanors.

They were really very serious artists in their own way.

And I was impressed with

how quiet they were

in respect to their screen persona.

I thought Moe basically

in talking to him here and there

while we were filming was a kind man,

and serious,

almost professorial in a way.

Larry was a warm

sort of person,

and always had a word for somebody

and would always spend time.

Joe DeRita was Curly at that time,

and he was more gregarious

and I think outgoing and communicative.

I enjoyed all of them,

but I suppose I spent more time

talking with Joe

because he seemed to wanna talk a little more

than the others.

There were a number of silly, bizarre, wacko things

that happened while we were filming

"The Outlaws Is Coming."

As guest villains,

we had disc jockeys

from all around the country,

and Norman Marr and the Stooges figured

that that would help promote the movie

if they put the disc jockeys in the pictures,

villains, gave 'em roles.

And so, you can imagine with maybe

20 radio jocks

all competing for attention, it was kind of silly and fun.

And I think the funniest little incident

with the picture that I remember,

the main thrust of the plot was that we were trying

to save the buffalo,

and I was the young lawyer from Boston,

and I had the same interests

and that's how we got together.

But anyway, so we spent the movie trying to

save the buffalo.

The wrap party at the end of the movie,

Moe says, "Okay, everyone's invited to my place

in Bel Air for a buffalo barbecue."

And that sort of typifies

these three restless nights.

I never really spent much time with him away from the set.

People don't do that often in Hollywood.

You're doing a series and you spend 18 hours

a day with people and you just kinda wanna

get away from 'em.

I think it's probably more helpful that way.

I wanted to go home with the Stooges every night,

but they wouldn't let me. (laughing)

- [Paul] In 1969, Moe, Larry and Curly Joe

started work on a self-produced comedy travel log series

called "Kook's Tour."

During the last few days of filming the pilot,

Larry suffered a major stroke, which forced him to retire.

- They were able to patch together a one-hour version

of the pilot, which nothing ever happened with,

but that was really the end of the Stooges as we know it.

- And once he was able to

really handle himself,

he was able to speak pretty well again,

'cause in the beginning he could not talk.

He decided he wanted to go live at

the Screen Actor's Guild country house.

And he applied to go into that.

That's in Woodland Hills.

It's a magnificent place.

And he moved into that, and he lived there

for the last six years of his life.

- There were a lot of other people that were

in the motion picture home too that he got friendly with,

and he'd befriended other people in Hollywood.

Ed Asner, the guy from the "Mary Tyler Moore Show,"

and couple other people.

Ted Knight, also from that show.

I know that they played shuffleboard together

and stuff like that.

- [Paul] It was obvious that Larry couldn't continue,

so Moe and Curly Joe contacted their old friend

character actor Emil Sitka to assume the role

of the middle Stooge.

- They had played with the idea,

and Sitka was supposedly even hired and signed,

signed, sealed and delivered to work on a picture,

but things fell through, and that group that would've been

Moe, Sitka as the Larry role,

and Joe DeRita has the third Stooge never materialized

as a group on film.

- Moe started to work as a solo.

He gave interviews, lectured at colleges,

and made dozens of TV appearances.

And even though Larry was still partially paralyzed,

he too was able to appear on local talk shows.

He seemed to be doing well when he suffered a second stroke,

which further slurred his speech.

Two months later, he had a massive stroke,

which put him in a coma.

Larry died two weeks later on January 24th, 1975.

Moe was heartbroken over the news

of his old friend's passing,

but continued to work, even though he developed lung cancer.

- They were trying to work on a film as late as '74

with Sitka again, but apparently Sitka kept getting a call.

You know, we're gonna film next week,

we're gonna film next week,

we're gonna film next week,

and then Moe died and that was the end of it.

- Moe died May 4th, 1975, just four months after Larry.

Moe's passing brought an end to the world's

longest running comedy act.

Joe Besser continued to work in TV and films

and take care of his wife Erna until his death

on March 1st, 1988.

Joe DeRita retired from show business

and lived happily in North Hollywood with his wife Jean

until he passed away on July 3rd, 1993.

The Stooges are gone, but their legacy of comic mayhem

will make us laugh for generations.

- To me, the Stooges weren't based on any kind of reality.

As a kid I even knew that.

I liked seeing people get hit in the head with hammers.

- Then he smacks 'em on the head like that.

- Oh!

- But I've also been able to create

original characters based on the Larry voice,

like for cartoons like "Ren and Stimpy,"

where Stimpy the cat is,

his voice is very much based on Larry Fine,

except it's all jazzed up.

- I think the Stooges will be popular long after

we are all gone because

they are poking fun at life.

- You know, there are some shows that have that effect.

Make people laugh and smile and hit each other.

I don't know. (chuckling)

- Soitenly!

- [Man] Would you play some executive music, please?

(bright orchestral music)

♪ When you wore a tulip ♪

♪ A sweet, yellow tulip ♪

♪ And I wore a big, red rose ♪

♪ When you caressed me ♪

♪ It was then heaven blessed me ♪

♪ What a blessing, no one knows ♪

♪ You made life cheerie ♪

♪ When you called me dearie ♪

♪ It was down where the blue grass grows ♪

♪ Your lips were sweeter than julep ♪

♪ When you wore a tulip ♪

♪ And I wore a big, red rose ♪

♪ I met her in a garden in an old Kentucky town ♪

♪ The moon was shining down ♪

- [Man] You! No! No!

Don't dance out of this position, boys.

Just sing like that.

♪ When you wore a tulip ♪

♪ A sweet, yellow tulip ♪

(sandbag whistling)

(sandbag thudding)

(audience laughing)

♪ 'Twas then Heaven blessed me ♪

♪ What a blessing, no one knows ♪

♪ You made life cheerie ♪

♪ When you called me dearie ♪

- [Curly] Wah-wah-wah-wah-wah-wah-wah.