Topic: Curly-Joe interview, circa 1987

[ThumpTheShoes]

Ladies and gentlemen, love him or hate him (I think he was great, m'self), for those who have never seen this, I give you... Curly-Joe


[youtube=425,350]LNYa_DW6x7Y[/youtube]


Go here for the rest of the clips:

http://youtube.com/user/slombo


-ThumpTheShoes

[Hammond Eggar]

I came across a three-part interview with Curly-Joe DeRita from, roughly, 1987.  Up-to-now, the only footage like this I had ever seen was of Joe saying hello to the fans in a video played at the 1991 Three Stooges Convention.  I assume this interview is pretty rare.  Enjoy.

Curly-Joe DeRita, Part 1
[youtube=425,350]FMoZoCuLKzA[/youtube]

Curly-Joe DeRita, Part 2
[youtube=425,350]2d3PXIAy4CE[/youtube]

Curly-Joe DeRita, Part 3
[youtube=425,350]TQVY1CGW_j8[/youtube]

[BeAStooge]

I came across a three-part interview with Curly-Joe DeRita from, roughly, 1987.  Up-to-now, the only footage like this I had ever seen was of Joe saying hello to the fans in a video played at the 1991 Three Stooges Convention.  I assume this interview is pretty rare.

A fairly common piece of "rare" footage that's circulated among collectors since the late 1980s (I bought a video of this at the 1989 Three Stooges Convention). Complete, it runs a little short of 40 minutes.

You can read some background information about this interview, on the last page of this site's TV Guest Appearance filmography.

[Hammond Eggar]

A fairly common piece of "rare" footage that's circulated among collectors since the late 1980s (I bought a video of this at the 1989 Three Stooges Convention). Complete, it runs a little short of 40 minutes.

You can read some background information about this interview, on the last page of this site's TV Guest Appearance filmography.

Thanks for the link, BeAStooge.  I was unaware of this footage.  While I've been dedicated in my search for Stooges group work in film and TV, I haven't seen too much solo material, except for the ocassional film appearance from Shemp, Besser and DeRita.  This was rare to me, and, I assume, rare to some of the younger fans who post here.

I searched the database for info on this interview.  I didn't see a listing for a 1987 interview, though.  Whoever posted these clips on Youtube, cited the year as 'circa 1987.'  I did, however, find a listing for "KGO-7 ABC San Francisco."  That interview with Curly-Joe was conducted by Cheryl Jennings, and dated 1988.  The name Cheryl sounds like a lady's name, yet the interviewer in these segments sounds like a male.  Is there any chance that these could be the same interviews?   If not, then what do you know about the segments I posted?

[BeAStooge]

Whoever posted these clips on Youtube, cited the year as 'circa 1987.'  I did, however, find a listing for "KGO-7 ABC San Francisco."  That interview with Curly-Joe was conducted by Cheryl Jennings, and dated 1988.  The name Cheryl sounds like a lady's name, yet the interviewer in these segments sounds like a male.  Is there any chance that these could be the same interviews?   If not, then what do you know about the segments I posted?

Same thing. The footage is 1988. The interviewer was the segment's producer; the on-air reporter was Cheryl Jennings.

[benjilbum]

I was the one who posted the Joe DeRita interview. I had no other information on it at all, but since he says he's 78 "and will be 79 in July", and also that he was born July 12 1909, I just did the math and assumed the interview took place in May of 1987. If this is incorrect, thanks for the updated information. Anyway, it dosen't matter all that much.
I know a lot of you guys don't like Joe, but I think he was great. He was just what they needed at that stage and at that time when they were getting pretty old. If they'd gotten another guy who was a young ball-of-fire like Curly, he wouldn't have meshed with them at that time. Because of their age and because they were aiming at mostly a children's audience at that point, the violence was greatly diminished and they had to have a more laid-back style. Plus if Joe had tried to upstage Moe and Larry by making himself the center of attention, since he was the new kid on the block that wouldn't have worked either. It would have looked like he was trying to take all the credit for their renewed success, after they had spent decades of hard work establishing the act. He had a pleasant and gentle face, voice and personality that appealed to kids, so I think he was about as good as they could have done at that time.  Anyway, he was a big improvement from Besser, who also really wasn't all that bad either. But I fully agree that neither Joe came close to Curly or Shemp. But unfortunately they were gone by that point, and the show must go on. Thanks very much all of you for the feedback.

[Hammond Eggar]

Perhaps the interview was conducted in 1987, and the actual broadcast ocurred in 1988?  Who knows?

[locoboymakesgood]

Hmm.. I didn't know there were that many fabrications in Moe's book. I wonder who's really telling the truth?

[Hammond Eggar]

Hmm.. I didn't know there were that many fabrications in Moe's book. I wonder who's really telling the truth?

Good question.  I wonder, though, if it's really a case of someone's memory not cooperating, as opposed to a person not telling the truth.  Whatever the case, I sure got the impression that Joe wasn't too impressed with the info taken from Moe's book, at least where his part of the story is concerned.

[locoboymakesgood]

Good question.  I wonder, though, if it's really a case of someone's memory not cooperating, as opposed to a person not telling the truth.  Whatever the case, I sure got the impression that Joe wasn't too impressed with the info taken from Moe's book, at least where his part of the story is concerned.

That's what I gathered, but even with age his reactions to Moe's statements were huge.. almost like "That's a downright lie" type of thing.

But everybody has different recollections or viewpoints on events..

[falsealarms]

Sometime memoir type things can be written from the point of how the author wants things to be remembered, as opposed to how they really happened. Not saying that happened in any given book, but it's a concern, probably more now than 30-40 yrs ago.

[benjilbum]

Here's something else... The interviewer asks "Didn't they want you to join at one point, and you couldn't because Minsky wouldn't let you go?" To which Joe replied "No, because they had Curly". In his book Moe was talking about the time after Shemp's death, when they first asked DeRita to join them and he couldn't. Then they settled on Besser  as their next choice. Moe then says that after Besser left, DeRita was then free to join them, and he did.  In the interview Joe thought the time frame being discussed was much earlier, during the Curly years. So that confuses things even more. Joe worked for Minsky for a long time, so I suppose it could have been either way. But he seems to dispute the entire idea of not being able to join because of his being with Minsky, so we're back to square one. He does say an agent got him an audition after Besser left, so that seems to indicate he wasn't in direct contact with Moe at that time, which Moe implies in the book. Of course by the time Moe wrote the book and  in the DeRita interview both were getting very old and their memories could have been distorted on these events.  I guess we'll never know the facts completely. However aside from all this Joe does speak in very high terms about Moe and Larry and his association with them. I like the part where he said they were "easy to get along with" and they had "only one argument during all those years". He did seem like an independent kind of guy and not just a yes-man, so I infer from what he said that the camaraderie they shared was genuine.

[benjilbum]

Happy Thanksgiving all Stoogeaholics. You dudes were correct after all. When I posted that Joe DeRita interview on You Tube I thought it was done in 1987, and that's what I posted along with it. However, I watched it again and Joe alludes to Joe Besser as "that young man who died", and Besser passed on March 1 1988. From that and from what the interviewer says about DeRita's age and upcoming birthday, I infer that the date of the interview was May 1988. I corrected the information on You Tube and thanks for the kind attention.

[benjilbum]

I also have heard that Joe DeRita and Joe Besser never met in person. In the later years after their retirements, fans offered to introduce them but neither was interested. Professional rivalry perhaps? Has anyone else ever heard about this? I don't know if its true or not.

[7stooges]

Anyone willing to re-post this interview? Wouldn't mind seeing it again.

The Besser-DeRita transition has always been confusing, as there seem to be multiple accounts on what went on behind-the-scenes.

Moe once claimed in an interview (ca. early '70s) that Mantan Moreland was actually his initial choice to replace Shemp. In that same discussion, he seemed to regret Besser joining the act. DeRita is not mentioned.

Did Moe and Larry really hold 'auditions' at one point, or was it a case of "I saw so-and-so performing at such-and-such and thought he might make a good Stooge" ? According to the Three Stooges Scrapbook, Larry recommended DeRita to Moe after seeing him perform on stage. The book also states that Mousie Garner was given a 'try out' as a possible replacement for Besser.

Slighty OT, but I've also heard multiple stories on Besser's reasons for leaving the act. It has been implied by some that he left due to an overall dislike for being a Stooge. Either way, during his later years Besser always seemed to regret not sticking with the act, as the Stooges' sudden resurgence in popularity could have allowed him to retire early.

Besser and DeRita actually met a few times. They would see each other while doing their pre-Stooges Columbia shorts, and bumped into each other at least once (at a supermarket, I believe) during their later years. DeRita was to meet Besser again when the Stooges received their star on the Walk of Fame, but had to decline due to his health.

[stoogestats]

I posted the video on youtube Sept 17 2015, enjoy.

[Squirrelbait]

I don't recall exactly where, but I believe I once read that Moe supposedly referred to Joe Besser as a 'Prissy Little Snot'. Anyone know for sure if there's any truth to that?

I've always wondered if Moe and Larry were as fond of Joe B. as he seemed to be of them, especially when he always claimed that being a Stooge was the best time of his career.

[7stooges]

I posted the video on youtube Sept 17 2015, enjoy.

Much obliged!

I don't recall exactly where, but I believe I once read that Moe supposedly referred to Joe Besser as a 'Prissy Little Snot'. Anyone know for sure if there's any truth to that?

I've always wondered if Moe and Larry were as fond of Joe B. as he seemed to be of them, especially when he always claimed that being a Stooge was the best time of his career.

Moe apparently said this in a '70s interview with Michael H. Price. In that same interview, he mentioned wanting Mantan instead of Besser.

“We really should’a made Mantan our next third Stooge.” According to Moe, Besser was “a hired hand, a prissy little snot with a star ego, who made it plain that he considered our stuff a demotion.” I believe this was cited in Price's book "Mantan, the Funyman."

I recall reading somewhere else that the late Larry Fine was once asked if Besser's real reason for leaving the act was that he wanted to continue solo work. While speaking of Joe with fondness, Larry admitted that it was probably true. He mentioned Joe not liking being part of a team, the physical demands, the money, etc.