Curly Howard: Difference between revisions

Curly Howard, real name Jerome Lester Horwitz (October 22, 1903 – January 18, 1952), was one of the Three Stooges, along with brother Moe Howard and Larry Fine. He is well known for his high-pitched voice, laugh (commonly rendered as "Nyuk! Nyuk! Nyuk!"), and yell (commonly rendered as "Woo! Woo! Woo!").

Curly was born in Bath Beach, a summer resort in a section of Brooklyn, New York. He was the fifth and youngest of the five Horwitz brothers. Because he was youngest, his brothers called Curly "Babe" to tease him. The nickname stuck with him all his life.

When Curly was twelve, he shot himself in the ankle while playing with a rifle. He suffered a slight limp afterwards, and was so frightened of surgery that he never got it fixed. While with the Stooges, he developed his famous exaggerated walk to mask the limp on screen.

Sometime in his late teens, Curly married a young girl, whose name remains a mystery to this day. His mother, Jennie Horwitz, was against the idea of Curly's marrying at such a young age and had the marriage annulled.

Only a fair student, Curly never graduated from high school. He was more interested in musicals and comedy and would watch his brothers Shemp Howard and Moe perform as stooges in Ted Healy's vaudeville act. Curly liked to hang around backstage and get sandwiches for all of the performers in the show, though he never participated in any of the routines.

In 1928, Curly's break onto the stage was as a comedy musical conductor for the Orville Knapp Band. Moe later recalled that Curly's performances usually overshadowed those of the band.

In 1930, Ted Healy and the Stooges (now with Larry Fine) appeared in their first feature film, Soup to Nuts. Shemp left the act in 1931 for a career in feature films and Moe suggested Curly fill the role of the third stooge. Ted took one look at Curly and, with his long black locks and facial hair, stated he was not a character like Moe and Larry, so Curly left the room and returned moments later with a shaved head and face. The character of Curly was born and he joined the act in 1932.

In 1934, the Stooges split with Ted Healy, because of his alcoholism and abrasiveness, and renamed their act the Three Stooges. The same year, they signed on to appear in two-reel comedy short subjects for Columbia Pictures at just a few hundred dollars a week. The Stooges went on to star in 190 film short subjects over the next twenty-three years, the longest such series in history.

Success, however, destroyed Curly. He began to drink heavily, feeling that his shaven head robbed him of his sex appeal. Curly wore a hat in public to confirm an image of masculinity, saying he felt like a little kid with his hair shaved off.

Curly also had difficulties managing his finances, often spending his money on wine, food, women, homes, cars, and dogs (he was "mad about dogs"). Since income from his successful career was carelessly spent, Curly was often left near the poverty level. Moe eventually handled all of Curly's affairs, helped him manage his money, and even completed his income tax returns.

On June 7, 1937, he married Elaine Ackerman, who gave birth to Curly's first child, Marilyn, in 1938. In 1940 Elaine filed for divorce. Afterwards, he gained a tremendous amount of weight and his blood pressure soared. In 1945, he was diagnosed as having extreme hypertension, a retinal hemorrhage, and obesity.

Also in 1945, Curly met and married Marion Buxbaum. Moe urged Curly into the marriage, hoping it would improve his health. The marriage, however, was unhappy and friends and family felt Buxbaum was using Curly for his money. After only three months, the couple separated and began a bitter divorce proceeding, ending in July 1946.

On May 6, 1946, Curly suffered a stroke during the filming of his 97th Three Stooges comedy, Half-Wits Holiday (1947). Curly completed every scene, except for the pie-fight scene which occurred at the end of the film. Rumor was, after they finished shooting the scene Moe went backstage to find out why Curly didn't appear in the final setting he found him sitting down having trouble speaking. Shortly thereafter, Curly slumped over his seat and starting shaking furiously. Curly had to leave the team to recuperate from his illness. Curly did make one brief cameo appearance (doing his "Rrrowf! Rrrowf!" routine) in the third film after Shemp returned to the trio, Hold That Lion! (1947), in an effort to boost Curly's morale. It was the only film that contained all three Howard brothers (Moe, Shemp, and Curly)simultaneously (Curly's cameo appearance was recycled in the 1953 remake Booty and the Beast).

Still not fully recovered from his stroke, Curly met a thrice-married widow of thirty-two, Valerie Newman, whom he married on July 31, 1947. A friend later recalled, "Valerie was the only decent thing that happened to Curly and the only one that really cared about him." Although his health worsened after the marriage, Valerie gave birth to a daughter, Curly's second child, Janie.

In 1949, Curly's health took a severe turn for the worse when he suffered his second stroke which left him partially paralysed. He was confined to a wheelchair and was fed boiled rice and apples as part of his diet (doctors believed that reducing his weight would help reduce the risk of having another stroke). As a result, Curly's weight dropped dramatically leaving his body almost resembling a skeleton. His physical and mental condition deteriorated and eventually Curly had to be admitted to a series of nursing homes and hospitals. On January 18, 1952, Curly died at the age of 48.

Though well-known in their heyday, the Three Stooges' height in popularity came when their shorts were broadcast on television starting in 1959, introducing them to a new generation of fans. The shorts are still shown on U.S. television on Spike TV's Stooges Slap-Happy Hour.

Today, Curly is considered by many Stooge fans to be their favorite of the Three Stooges. Even Larry said Curly was his favorite Stooge. In a 1973 interview, Larry recalled, "Personally, I thought Curly was the greatest because he was a natural comedian who had no formal training. Whatever he did he made up on the spur of the moment. When we lost Curly, we took a hit."

In 2000, long-time stooge fan Mel Gibson produced a TV-movie for ABC about the life and careers of the Stooges. (In an interview promoting the film, Gibson revealed that Curly was his favorite stooge.[1]) In the film, Curly was played by Michael Chiklis.

• His name sometimes appeared as "Curley" on marquees.

• He never made a public or on-camera appearance out of character, which means he never used his real voice anywhere.

• Curly's movements were said to have inspired Disney animators for some of the choreography in the mushroom dance in Fantasia.

• Curly purchased a house from child star Sabu and later sold it to Joan Leslie. Curly also bought a lot next door to Moe Howard's palatial home on Toluca Lake, expecting to build on it, but never did. It was eventually sold to film director Raoul Walsh.

• The 1984 song "The Curly Shuffle," recorded by Jump N'The Saddle Band, expressed admiration for the Stooges and included several Curly imitations in the chorus.

• The cartoon character Jabberjaw is based heavily on Curly, including an imitation of Curly's voice, his "woo-woo" sound when alarmed, and the famous "nyuk-nyuk" laugh.

• Doctor Zoidberg from the Futurama TV show makes Curly's trademark "Woo, woo, woo" sound when running away from trouble (sometimes after squirting ink).

• Curly: An Illustrated Biography of the Superstooge; by Joan Howard Maurer [2] (Citadel Press, 1988).
• Moe Howard and the Three Stooges; by Moe Howard [3], (Citadel Press, 1977).
• The Complete Three Stooges: The Official Filmography and Three Stooges Companion; by Jon Solomon [4], (Comedy III Productions, Inc., 2002).
• The Three Stooges Scrapbook; by Jeff Lenburg, Joan Howard Maurer, Greg Lenburg [5](Citadel Press, 1994).
• The Three Stooges: An Illustrated History, From Amalgamated Morons to American Icons; by Michael Fleming [6](Broadway Publishing, 2002).
• One Fine Stooge: A Frizzy Life in Pictures; by Steve Cox and Jim Terry [7], (Cumberland House Publishing, 2006).

• Biography of Curly from the official Three Stooges Website
• Biography of Curly on Stoogeworld.com
• Curly Howard at IMDb
• Curly Howard at the Internet Broadway Database