He did NOT bad-mouth the Stooges. He said he didn't particularly like their type of comedy, but he always said, "Moe and Larry were the best". That is not really bad-mouthing.
He was actually the third stooge that I remember the most Mostly because I had two of the movies on vhs that I’d play over and over And he was the third stooge in most or all of the movies made in the 60s
@@UnlicensedOkie DeRita was the only 3rd Stooge (not counting TV reruns of the classic shorts) in everything they produced -- feature films, TV cartoon segments, audio records, comic books, TV commercials, talk shows, live appearance tours -- from 1958 to 1970.
@@UnlicensedOkie If he didn't like the work, the scripts, or the other Stooges, or vice-versa, or anything to do with it at all, the pay or whatever, on the background of such an allegedly negative & cynical attitude as expressed here, he would never have worked with them so steadily for 12 years straight. Looks like the only 'bad-mouthing' to be found over here is against Curly Joe himself by whomever thought up the title of this video. Btw, as a Stooge devotee for 60 years now, I'm probably one of a very small minority of fans whose favorite Stooge has always been LARRY!
Correction: Jerome "Curly" Howard was the BABY of the three Howard brothers who played Stooges. Shemp was born in 1895, Moe in 1897, and Curly in 1903.
I don’t get it. So WHEN did Joe Derita badmouth the stooges? You give a history of the group but never evidence of badmouthing. I’ve never heard of that before.
@@kabbey30 Well Shemp was very good also, I mean I think he's right there with Curly, as a kid I didn't think so, but years later I thought about it more and he was pretty funny in his own way.
Yes I agree shemp was talented.i read that Lou costello knew that with shemps expert comic timing he could steal a movie.i read that when costello found out that shemp was going to be in a movie with him and Abbott costello would have shemps part cut down so he would not steal the movie from Abbott and costello.i saw Africa screams when I was 14 years old.shemp played a similar role a few years before in a blondie movie.
@@CurlysGrandson Fields at a local bar : "Was I in here last night and did I spend a twenty dollar bill?" bartender Shemp "Yeah". Fields : "What a load off my mind, I thought I lost it". BTW - he did a film with Olsen and Johnson and Shemp stole the show.
@@CurlysGrandson hi Bradley, cool you are here, your youtube channel is great, I recently subscribed and I like the three stooges, your grandfather Curly Howard is a legend, your great uncle Moe Howard along with Larry Fine are icons, Joe Derita and Joe Besser did a good job and I love your great uncle Shemp Howard so much, he was amazing. I wish there was an impersonation of Shemp on your channel, I've seen it with Curly, Moe, Larry and Curly G and they're awesome, but I miss Shemp, who knows, maybe he'll appear on your channel too, it would be fantastic. Bradley Server was a pleasure to see you here and I wish you much success.
Sorry wrong. Shemp (Samuel) was the third oldest Of the Horowitz brothers. Then Moses (moe) and Jerome (Curly) was the baby. You should take your own advice.
Not one single piece of evidence that Curly Joe said anything disparaging about the time he spent as part of the Three Stooges...I don't think that is right to create content on a subject that you can't offer proof of said content.....This then just becomes click bait...F.V. I always thought you had higher standards than this.
“ NOT SO HARRRRRD “ !! Remember that from Curly Joe ?? That guy always annoyed me . Anytime the stooges came on , as soon as I realized that Curly or Shemp were not in the episode, I turned it off . The original 2 ( Shemp and Curly ) were one of a kind . That’s the Three Stooges !! On a side note - I had no idea that Shemp was before Curly . I always thought the original 3 were Moe Larry and Curly . Definitely my favorite out of all . Happy Thanksgiving 🦃
@@nashvillecop1 Amen to that !! That was the biggest mistake of the Stooge franchise. It would of been better with just Moe and Larry by themselves. I know that must of been really trying to find a replacement of Shemp and Curly…. But this guy ??? What were they thinking 🤔
True! I wonder who that was and when they lived and died. There is a great shot within an episode called the Lion's Mane (?) in which Moe, Larry, and a newly-returned Shemp are gathered around a sleeping Curly (after his stroke and almost unrecognizable due to the hair he let grow on his face) giving us our only glimpse of all four of the three stooges simultaneously in one frame.
@@griffruby8756 The short was Hold that Lion. The fake Shemp was Joe Palma who was Shemp's double. Joe Palma was born in 1905 and died in 1994 (after Joe DeRita died in 1993).
@@griffruby8756 Go to youtube and type in "Fake Shemp" a couple videos explain and show the shorts. Moe and Larry owed Columbia a few more shorts on their contract and they had to improvise--- and improvise they did.
My own preference is Jerry/Curly but it is easy to understand why someone might like Shemp better. I think that is probably boils down to whether or not one likes Curly's manic style.
Curly Joe was not in any of the Columbia shorts The Three Stooges made from 1934 to 1957. Joe DeRita came on the scene after Joe Besser quit the Three Stooges to do _The Joey Bishop Show._ Joe DeRita appeared with the Stooges in a few full length movies in the 60s. He also appeared with them in _It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World._
@@tictactoejoe MeTV is the best channel on freevee. I just wish they had more episodes of _Dragnet._ It's on at five thirty am and six am but they only have like 30 episodes and keep playing the same ones.
Columbia thought a white man smacking a black man wouldn't have been taken well. They may have been right, but Mantan was funnier than both Joe Besser and Joe DeRita in their stooge roles and I think it would have brought new life to the team - Larry Wolff
Shemp was in "Private Buckaroo" with the Andrews Sisters and "Pittsburgh" with Marlene Dietrich, John Wayne and Randolph Scott. He also starred in his own short films before he replaced Curly in the "Stooges" shorts.
@@RabbiKolakowski Only one full-length fillm with Healy, Moe, and Larry ("Soup to Nuts", 1930) but he had a busy 14-year solo career before he rejoined the Stooges after Curly's stroke.
@@RJFPme he was in a few I think. Africa Screams was interesting because it also had Abbott and Costello regular Joe Besser who later replaced Shemp in the Stooges.
WIKI: Paul Albert "Mousie" Garner (July 31, 1909 - August 8, 2004) Mousie Garner and the Three Stooges Stage star Ted Healy worked with three rowdy stooges (showbiz slang for "assistants"): Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Shemp Howard (and later Curly Howard). When Howard, Fine, and Howard chose to work on their own, first in 1930 and later in 1934 as "The Three Stooges", Healy promptly replaced them with three new stooges. Mousie Garner worked alongside his cousin, Jack Wolf (father of Warner Wolf) and Richard "Dick" Hakins between 1922 and 1936.[1] Mousie Garner continued working on stage and on screen with Dick Hakins, and either his cousin Jack Wolf or Wolf's replacement, Sammy Wolfe, in a musical comedy trio known as The Gentlemaniacs (aka: Garner, Wolf [or Wolfe] and Hakins) throughout the 1920s and '30s. The Gentlemaniacs starred in several feature films and short subjects including After the Show (1929), Swing It, Professor (1937), The Hit Parade (1937), Murder With Reservations (1938) and Radio and Relatives (1940). Garner, however, almost became one of the Three Stooges for two occasions. According to Garner's autobiography, after Shemp Howard died suddenly in November 1955, Moe Howard and Larry Fine wanted Garner to join them in 1956, but Garner was then under contract to Spike Jones as a musical comedian with Jones's band, the City Slickers. Despite Moe Howard pleading his case to Jones personally, Jones would not release Garner; Joe Besser would eventually replace Shemp in 1956.[1] The claim in Garner's autobiography can not be accepted as a whole truth since a similar story can be found in Moe's autobiography, but with Joe DeRita as the protagonist instead of Garner and Harold Minsky instead of Jones.[4] After Besser quit the act in 1958, Larry suggested Garner again as a potential replacement and he and Moe would later rehearse with Garner. However, based on his tryout performance, Moe later remarked that Garner was "completely unacceptable" to the act. Joe DeRita would instead become the "third stooge" in October 1958. Nevertheless, in the early 1970s, DeRita, with Moe's blessing, would invite Garner and Frank Mitchell to join the "New Three Stooges" act, filling in for the ailing Larry and Moe, respectively.[5]
Shemp actually left the act in 1932 because he was sick and tired of his boss, Ted Healy's, heavy drinking and cruel practical jokes that he played on him, so he left to go solo, and was replaced with Curly.
Shemp also had what would have been diagnosed today as bipolar disorder. Ted Healy's "teasing, " was hard for him to take. All the Howards suffered from clinic depression, as verified by family members. It's ironic; the Stooges are remembered for the comic geniuses they were, but unless you're a Stooges fan, no one remembers Ted Healy!
@@debrahubbard763considering all the physical abuse that The 3 Stooges had to endure, it’s amazing that they ended up “only bipolar”. Anyone else would’ve “gone totally postal” and got locked up in a padded cell. Half of Larry’s face was calloused from all the slaps he had to endure during his career. In “Brideless Groom” (1947), Christine McIntyre was required to slap Shemp. But being such a sweet lady, she only gave him a light slap. So shemp told her to hit him hard, telling her that one take with a hard slap would be less painful than doing that same take over and over again. So she let him have it and knocked him across the room.
@@debrahubbard763 Healy was allegedly beaten so severely by actor Wally Beery and two mobbed up Hollywood producers, Albert Brocolli and Pat DiCicco, in the parking lot of the Trocadero in December of 1937 that he later died from inflicted wounds. It is possible / likely, however that Healy's death was the direct result of his habitual and copious consumption of alcohol.
I'm a fan of The Three Stooges output from 1934 to 1957. I just watched their first short "The Woman Haters" a few days ago. I'm not a fan of the movies they made in the 1960s with Curly Joe. I know *everybody* loves the original Curly but Shemp is my favorite Stooge.
Woman Haters and Half Wits Holiday are the two shorts I like the least. Idle Roomers was one of my all time favorites; too bad Duke York, the actor who played the Goon went too soon.
In the late 1970s while attending a comicon style convention in Anaheim, CA, I saw Joe Derita sitting with a group of fans, telling stories. I was in awe, actually seeing a Stooge in person, and started listening to what they were talking about. He spotted me, stopped his story, and snarled, "What the hell are you looking at?" I was so shocked I didn't know what to say, and just walked away. That's what he was like in person. While I have always been proud to say that I actually saw a Stooge in person, it wasn't exactly a pleasant experience.
@@markcampbell7554 Believe me - I've been a dealer at many comic conventions and some of these "celebrities" are assholes. Adam West was one and Bernie Kopel (the guy who played the doctor on Love Boat). If you really want to hear the stories...let me know.
I was there, too, and spent most of the day talking with Joe. I'll bet he meant that as a joke, as he was very pleasant to me and a few of my friends. He was very intelligent and articulate and highly opinionated.
Too bad Curly had health issues. I was born in 1953 and I know he died in 1952. More importantly, in 1952 television was in its infancy and not as big as it is today not counting the DVD and internet. Regrettably, he never got to see his impact on the future as he died young. Great, he was in the short with the lion as he appeared with two brothers. Warm regards to you and it is great to remember Curly's legacy. Question and small point, I see they spelled his name with an e and sometimes without, I assume no real significance?
I wasn't fond of Curly Joe DeRita. As non-family replacement went, I liked Joe Besser, now I know why, he was a kind man with a kind heart. Curly Howard will always be a fan favorite, but I always liked Shemp. He had a cute, childlike quality about him. Thankful for all their comedy. It still holds up today.
Curly Joe and Joe Besser were terrible as the 3rd stooge. They never fit the dynamic, Joe was too effeminate and just plain not funny and Curly Joe was too old
* @@joshuapeele9679 ~> Although much maligned those Moe, Larry & Curly-Joe feature films were Saturday matinee theatrical successes with the kiddy audiences! ☺
CJ had a funny look and was the right height, but not enough in the way of energy or personality. The others had at least a couple, if not many signature quirks.
Moe intended to continue the act after Larry's stroke and with Larry's blessing brought in long time Stooges foil Emil Sitka to take Larry's place as Larry's brother Harry, but Moe's own health problems prevented them from appearing on film. Only a few publicity photos of this incarnation of the Stooges (Moe, Emil as Harry, and Curly Joe) exist. Also, after Shemp's death, Joe DeRita was considered as a replacement at that time. However, he was unable to join due to commitments he had at that time, and Columbia wanted an actor who was already contracted to the studio, which is why Joe Besser replaced Shemp.
@@markdavis9148 God...I love that scene. It's one of the damn BEST...and the telephone booth scene where they are forcing Shemp to call all his old girlfriends. Brilliant. Nothing like the Stooges... Don't forget to gargle with some old razor blades....
Junior_Rocky: Oh noooo! Joe Besser was a genius in his own right. Compare his quirky antics to Curly Joe Derita who just took up space. Curly Joe may have been a nice guy, but that doesn't qualify him as a True Stooge!
Joe DeRita never said anything bad about the Three Stooges at all. In my humble opinion he was truly funny both as a stooge and as a solo performer during his years in burlesque. I like him a lot.
@@7karlheinz yes derita did say in a three stooges movie when you saw a pie on the table you knew what would happen with that pie.but in a laurel and hardy movie when you saw a pie on the table you did not know what would happen to that pie.
I never watch any stooge episodes unless curly is in them. I never warmed up to besser or derita. Shemp was ok, but curly was meant to fill that 3rd position
My first encounter with the Stooges was their cartoons, so Curly Joe was actually the first of the "third" stooges that I saw.. Later when they began showing them on the UHF channels, the first shorts I happen to catch were with Shemp, and I loved him. My Dad told us there was an earlier stooge named "Curly" and then we started seeing the shorts with him. I, like many fans, did not care for Joe Besser's antics as much, but some of them were still tolerable.
My story is similar. When I was a kid, the Besser films were in theaters. I knew NOTHING about the two guys who came before him! Naturally, when TV started showing the Curly and Shemp films, I saw them as the imposters. Weird, I know....
@@comedyshorts2 Whenever Rich Koz in Chicago would show Besser shorts on Stooge-a-Palooza he got hate mail for it. You have to see the 1949 Abbott & Costello movie Africa Screams Joe Besser and Shemp Howard were in it. I always preferred Derita over Besser.
@@comedyshorts2 Besser was the worst, because he didn't even try to tailor his comedy to fit the Stooges' act. He just kept doing the same unfunny crap he did on "Abbott and Costello" and elsewhere.
@@CurlysGrandson Yes he was. The contrast of bossy authority of Moe with the child naivety of Curly and the everyman Larry was an ideal combination. BTW I sent some sharpened pictures you may like.
The Three Stooges were a favorite in our house in the 50, 60’s. My older brother was such a fan of Curley Joe, he would always slap his face from the top of his head down to the face making that crazy sound and then would get down on the ground and spin like Curley Joe. Good memories!
@@FactsVerse That's a hard call to make. All their shorts were off the charts hilarious. But my favorite was Hoi Polloi. I can only imagine how impossibly difficult it would have been to try to make the stooges into high society types. That scenario was one with endless comedic possibilities. Just a treasure to watch over and over again. Heil to The Three Stooges as eternal and immortal kings of comedy !!
The classic Three Stooges for me will always be Moe, Larry and Curly Howard. I also include Shemp in the classics as well. I never did warm up to either Joe Besser or Joe DeRita.
I personally can give a pass to Joe Besser, at least he tried to not copy Curly or Shemp, the big problem is he was a great commedian in his own right but he wasn't a good Stooge because the slapstick role wasn't for him. And he quit after few shorts when people noticed he didn't work.
I think Besser got a raw deal. He was never really given a chance to carve his own niche because Jules White, the main producer of the latter Stooge shorts, kept retreading Curly and Shemp shorts with Joe haphazardly shoehorned in. When they finally started making new stories for the boys, it was too little too late. The plots came off as absurd, sweaty, and cumbersome.
@@randysmith9841 Oh, I really agree. Watching him in any movie or TV program just makes me cringe. It's amazing how long a career Besser had when he was so unfunny.
I loved watching the Three Stooges as a kid and still do. In 1960 I saw them perform in person at an outdoor water show called Aquarama 1960. Curly Joe was the third stooge.I could always tell the difference between Curly and Curly Joe. I still love watching The Three Stooges.
I love the Stooges till this day, but I liked the Shemp era the most, Curly was great but many of those episodes the boys were almost like vaudeville characters/actors, they tried to act too seriously as if they were thespians on a broadway stage, it wasn’t until later they became just funnier and sillier and evolved into the goofballs they portrayed, it was all good but the Shemp era was funnier to me because they didn’t take the acting too seriously IMHO
Shemp did not leave the Three Stooges early on because he wanted to start his own career, he left because he had a falling out with Ted Healy, the creator of the Three Stooges. Shemp didn't care for Healy's excessive drinking and his crass style of managing.
@@SeekingmyFreedom No. Shemp Howard never complained about Moe or Jerome-Curly striking him. There is a lot of misinformation here concerning Joe Derita, Shemp.. Derita never "Bad-Mouthed" the Stooges as Tim reported here; as a matter of fact Derita's widow often told talk show hosts such as Mike Douglas, Dick Cavette..,et al, that Joe had nothing but high praise for the Stooges.
You lost all credibility when you said they brought in Moe & Shemp's older brother Curly to replace Shemp. Jerome "Curly" Howard was the youngest of the Howard brothers. Shemp was the oldest, then Moe, then 2 other brothers that didn't get into show business. Curly aka Babe, was the youngest brother.
You are right in saying that Curly was the youngest, Shemp was older than Moe and Curly, but of all the five brothers the oldest was Irving, the second was Jack, the third was Shemp, the fourth was Moe and the fifth was Curly.
I don't recall Joe DeRita ever saying anything about Moe and Larry, but I will say that the Stooges will definitely be missed. They were the best in slap stick comedy and movies ever.
I spent an afternoon with Joe DeRita in August 1976 and he described his work with the Stooges as a "pleasant business association." He was also a little embarrassed about the fact that his tenure with the Stooges was by far their most profitable. He said, "Curly and Shemp did all the heavy lifting, and then I came in and got all the gravy."
I recall where I was at when I heard that Curly Joe had passed away and the reporter said that Curly Joe thought that his time as a Stooge was some of his fondest memories.
I'm fairly certain Curly Joe was always positive about his time with the Stooges. He just didn't personally find their style of comedy funny. That's why their style changed a bit in the later years. (that, and due to their ages) The slapstick was toned down and it became wittier. The jokes became the dialogue and situations - rather than physical. And I think a lot of that had to do with Curly Joe. Granted, from day 1 the Stooges were always very witty. There's dialogue and written humor and turn-of-phrases in just about every short - from signs to episode names. But under Curly Joe they emphasized it and toned down the violence.
I remember my mother taking my sister and I to a live performance in Seattle around 1959 or 1960. I was extremely disappointed when I realized that Curly Howard wasn’t performing with them, and this hack Curly Joe was on stage instead. Then I cried all the way home when my mom told me Curly Howard had died years before. “…but I just saw him on TV the day before…!”
Yes, I agree with those who say Shemp was the most talented all round actor/comedian of them all. Moe and Larry were wonderful 'types', but did not really branch out (tho' Moe tried). And, by all accounts, Shemp was the most outgoing and friend connected as well. Curly, of course, was a comic genius; one of the greatest of the 20th century. Poor Joe DeRita came along when they were aging, so the slapstick was toned down as much for that as for kids. DeRita was really just a goofy guy, and following 3 very distinctive personalities, he was rather tepid. Perhaps this was why he was a bit bitter later-tho' you really do not give any examples of that here. Even then, he must have been grateful for a pretty good income for at least a decade as the 3ed Stooge.
Born in 1958, I didn't start watching the 3 Stooges until 1965. I enjoyed all of their shorts and I'm watching them every night now, time shifted. I liked that Joe Besser stepped in and by 1968 Curly Joe was the 3rd Stooge in the 3 Stooges Cartoons and intros. Again, keeping the 3 Stooges alive, I was grateful for Joe DaRita. I know Emil Sitka was considered as the 3rd Stooge and I think because I saw him in so many other roles in the 3 Stooges shorts, I couldn't get on board with him being the 3rd Stooge. Besides, that would've left a gap in the supporting cast. He, Bud Jamison and Vernon Dent were so important to the shorts as were Ken McDonald and the myriad of both Male and Female players who were the Foils and the Wives or GFs. Having somebody new was the only way to go. I'm glad they did.
I saw the 3 Stooges (with Joe DeRita) at Steel Pier in Atlantic City, NJ in 1960 at the age of 8. Must have made quite an impression, because 62 years later, at the age of 70, it is still memorable. And the video (Super 8) my mother took of the 4 of us is a prize possession.
When I was five years old in 1960 I was smart enough to know the difference between Curly Howard and Joe DeRita. I’ve seen interviews with Joe DeRita in his later years and I never heard him badmouth the stooges directly. I think the worst thing he may have said was that he didn’t think they were all that funny but that he enjoyed his time working with them.
Joe DeRita was a gentleman. He said the comedy of the stooges was not a favorite of his, but he liked them all personally, respected them as performers, and enjoyed working with them.
Notice that DeRita shaved his head and thus did look a lot like Curly Howard. This, plus the need to distinguish him from the preceding Stooge called Joe, led to him being called Curly Joe.
So where was the bad mouthing? Interesting little mini documentary but misleading title. It seems that curly Joe mimicked both curly and shemp at various points in his career and in both cases using a shaved head and long stringy greasy hair as a prop. Shemp was always my favorite because of the way his hair would mess up after a slap as well as the fact that he was also willing to stand up to moe from time to time
I remember him best in Snow White and the Three Stooges, The Three Stooges meet Hercules, and The Three Stooges Goes Around the World in a Daze. He was my third favorite third stooge next to Curly and Shemp respectively.
@@-oiiio-3993 that was Joe Besser's trademark characterization of himself, though. He was very popular in film, radio and television and carried over that well-known, comedic persona into his own series of two-reel comedies at Columbia (which lead to Jules White bringing him on board with Moe and Larry). Folks may not like Besser as a Stooge, but it would have never worked if White had tried to develop a different character for him.
I saw "The Three Stooges" live in 1963 when they made a personal appearance at our local movie theater for their movie "The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze"! I was 16 & surprised at how short they were & looked older, but otherwise the same! It was great fun to see them in person, but wished that the 'real' Curly could have lived to be there! R.I.P. & Love to "The Three Stooges" et al!
Curly was the youngest Howard brother. Shemp (Samuel) was born in 1895, Moe (Moses) in 1897 and Curly (Jerome) in 1903. The two Joes were both younger than Curly.
shemp was my instant favorite after curlys untimely passing, not once did shemp ever in any way try to be curly or do what curly did, he had a vision of true comedy , i cant say the same on curly joe obviously he was always complaining backstage on the abuse by moe n larry, it was the whole deal joe hah yes they did their own stunts at times a bit rough
It’s obnoxious when people attack the thing that made them “famous” and paid for their house and car. If you hate it so much, give your residual checks to charity.
I grew up on every Stooge except for Joe Besser. I actually thought Curly Joe was Curly as a kid lol. But once I learned they weren't the same I still didn't mind Curly Joe.
Yes I recall when seeing both Snow White and The Three Stooges as well as the Three Stooges meet Hercules how I actual did mistake Curly Joe for Curly.
There isn't a Shemp Shuffle, there isn't a Moe Shuffle, or a Larry Shuffle! Curly Howard is the greatest comedic actor of all time. Yes, there is the Curly Shuffle! Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk, why certainly, lottie dee hottie dee!
I just saw the video for Sitka, thanks! Doesn't matter the line-ups, Moe, Larry, Shemp, Curly, Joe, Curly Joe, Emil, Christine and all the excellent main and supporting crew, made the Stooges great! woo! woo! woo! eeb! eeb! eeb!
Curly Joe wasn't funny and Joe Besser wasn't much better. Moe, Larry, Curly and Shemp are hysterical. God bless them for the endless entertainment they have provided. Thanks for this post; it was mist informative.
I have the complete series on DVD. Having earlier read of Joe Besser having in his contract that he wouldn’t endure the physical abuse that Curly and later Shemp, had to endure, I assumed that Joe Besser, would be totally disappointing. I was surprised at how wrong I was. Maybe he wasn’t the best fit but he was funny. Curly Joe was funny but since he looked so much like Curly, everyone expected him to be just like Curly, forgetting that they weren’t as young as they were when they started with “Women Haters” (1934).
I've always wondered who spoke for the Stooges at the dedication of their Star on the Walk of Fame. From this video I learned it was Joe Besser. He had lost a lot of weight and it was hard to recognize him but he used the same pattern of speech, in my opinion.
I know he was there but sorry to say didn't think much of of him or Joe Besser. Curly Howard was always my favorite with Shemp my 2nd after Shemp Moe and Larry should have called it quits. Just my opinion. Have a great day everyone.
In the seventies I read a book in which Moe stated that Derita, wanting to pursue more serious work, left the Stooges to "make a western". In the truly mean spirited western, The Bravados (1958), Derita has a serious (uncredited) role as a bogus hangman who knifes a sheriff in the back and is then immediately shot to death for his troubles. Hilarious, when one thinks about it. Terrific western, by the way.
@@eugenekozma2697 Although brief, Derita's performance is memorable. There is immediately something "off" about his character that makes us (and Gregory Peck) distrust him.
@@geraldmartin7703 I never saw the movie I must admit.but on RU-vid a few years ago I listened to a radio interview he gave on a Pittsburgh radio station and he said his role in the bravados was his favorite.
GREAT Call Christopher!!👊🍻, Yes...."The Firemen" Cameo!!....Also, My FAV' Flick of All-Time....My Girl & I got the opportunity to watch the SPECIAL/RELEASE RESTORED (& GORGEOUS PRINT!!) "Original CinemaScope: Cut of the Film at the Original Big-Screen Theater House here in our Tranquil So Cal' Beach Town around (20) some Years ago.....So...We Sparked up a Doobie of "The Kill...Kill"...B-4 Going in (& with Only about (15) others in this HUGE GRAND Cinema House in attendance) & even though I'd seen the Movie around (10-12) Times (T.V./Cassette) thru the Years since seeing it as a YOUNGSTER at the Theater in Detroit in (1963-4) w/My Dad, WE (She was a few Years Younger than I & had never seen it, though She had a GREAT Sense of Humor & LOVED to Laugh etc) LAUGHED OUR GUTS OUT from the FIRST Scene of " Smiler Grogan" (The Perfect Jimmy Durante') "Over the Cliff/Bucket Kick" Start to the "Mrs. Marcus" (The Wonderful Ethel Merman) "Banana Peel Bloomers Slip" Brilliant End".....Such a WONDERFUL Life Memory FOREVER!!.....🤣🥰
Many thanks for the enlightening pre-Stooge history of DeRita - I think he added a gentleness to their work plus was good at pratfalls as can be seen with their live TV appearances. (Didn't DeRita try to put the Stooges back into action ?) In defense of Besser - his hyper-energetic and violent slapstick work as "Stinky" the obnoxious man-child was extremely funny on the Abbott and Costello TV series. (Did the great Wallace Beery help liberate the Stooges ?)
The phone booth scene with Shemp and Moe one of the funniest ever. Joe DiRita was a harmless, vaguely funny fill-in. Joe Besser’s effeminate persona was pretty funny.
To say that Curly-Joe "bad-mouthed the Stooges" is dishonest. If he hated working with them, would he have kept doing it for 12 years? Sure, he said that he wasn't really a fan of their brand of comedy. But he always maintained that he enjoyed his time as a Stooge and working with Moe and Larry. That's not bad-mouthing as I understand it.
Did the narrator say Curly was Moe and Shemp's older brother? If so, he was incorrect, as Curly was younger than both of them. Personally, I liked Joe DeRita. He wasn't up to the standards of Curly or Shemp, but I thought he was better than Joe Besser. Like him or not, his days with them were the height of the Stooges' popularity.
I really liked the Three Stooges and so did my parents especially my Dad he always watched them when they were on Television. I liked their "Have Rocket Will Travel" I have it on DVD and have watched it a number of times. I always thought Joe did a great job on the Stooges.He played the part well in my opinion. How he actually felt about the Stooges I didn't know till now!!
@@eugenekozma2697 I fully agree. I feel Joe did a really excellent job on the Three Stooges. He was comic in his role which worked well with how the Three Stooges always were.
I Tried And Tried And Tried To Like Joe De Rita, Over And Over I Gave Every Chance To Give The Benefit Of The Doubt But Joe De Rita Was The Worst Stooge All Due Respects!!!
I'll take Curly Joe over Joe Besser any day. Plus, Curley Howard was the youngest brother and not the older brother of Moe and Shemp as the video states.
In all fairness, Joe DeRita had a very tough act to follow. The reality is that his performance as a Stooge could not hold a candle to that of his predecessor, "The Real" Curley Howard, and the fans were not fooled.
I heard it was Joe Besser who was a difficult, temperamental character when off stage and often refused to do certain scenes. And I heard that JoeDeRita would do the best he could at what he was asked to do.
Joe Besser didn't want to be hit so Larry volunteered to take most of the punishment. Emil Sitka recalled that sometimes Curly Joe would get testy while filming the live action wrap-arounds to the cartoons. Joe DeRita probably fit the Stooges better at this point of the career than Joe Besser would have - Larry Wolff.
Love The Three Stooges to this day. My late husband and I used to go to the Stooge Festival when it came to town every year. Lots of great memories. Thank you! 😊
