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When did Curly begin to slip?

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kinderscenen:
I realise that this is sort of a silly question, but I'm sure that every actor in an established role has faced it.  Just how stupid do you have to be to think that the character is the same as the actor?  There was a story that illustrated this in one of the books--a child (old enough to know better) decided to smack Curly on his head with a cane--with the approval of his mother! You do have to wonder about the intelligence of people.....

I don't think I've ever thought of Curly as this "tragic" figure--he liked to live life to the fullest, and whether or not it was the sole cause of his death (I think not) is hard to say. Of course, perhaps he just wasn't "meant" to live as long as his three older brothers.

Sunday

Pilsner Panther:

--- Quote from: kinderscenen link=topic=219.msg1259#msg1259 ---
I don't think I've ever thought of Curly as this "tragic" figure--he liked to live life to the fullest, and whether or not it was the sole cause of his death (I think not) is hard to say. Of course, perhaps he just wasn't "meant" to live as long as his three older brothers.


--- End quote ---

Well, I don't know what your spiritual or religious background is, kinderscenen, but you're expressing a Hindu or Buddhist point of view here. Curly existed because there had to be a Curly to make us all laugh so hard at his inspired antics, just like there had to be a Moe Howard, a Larry Fine, a Shemp Howard, a Buster Keaton, a Charles Chaplin, a Harold Lloyd, a Stan Laurel and Babe Hardy, the Marx Brothers, a Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, a W.C. Fields, and an Ernie Kovacs.

Never mind what's in those all those old books— the Bible included (even if G.W. Bush and his acolytes tell you that that's what you have to believe in), it's the comedians and the musicians and (some) painters and (some) novelists who really got it down. Life as it is, I mean...

The Stooges are right at the top of the list— who ever thought that their totally off-the-wall submarine bit from 1939 would become reality?

But, it just did. Oh, yes indeed...

 [salame] [stooges]

Not that I want to get too metaphysical here, but wouldn't a universe without the Stooges in it feel incomplete, like it was missing something?

"Who threw those pies?"

Bruckman:
I.e., Curly as the "holy goof", as Kerouac would've put it.....

Have to agree w/Rita: there's too much emphasis placed on psychoanalyzing the comedic impulse. I've never bought into the whole concept of the jolly slapstick practitioner using his skills to conceal a broken heart or sense of grievance against an unfair world. Rather, it's their essence to create comedy: I think of Stan Laurel still crafting gags for himself and Babe long after Hardy's demise, just as a way of keeping his own comedy skills honed. Much as I try to attribute certain of Curly's mannerisms to one influence or another, what it often comes down to is: it was just Curly's nature or Platonic essence (I'm an essentialist but not necessarily a Platonist) to do what he did, to woo woo, spin on floors, go "Hmmmm!", etc. What combination of factors coalesced to produce Curly is just too indefinite to sort out, otherwise.

A couple years ago on this site I did a timeline using the shooting dates of the 45-46 Stooge shorts to give some idea of Curly's working schedule the last 2 years he spent as part of the team. In 1946 he did either 7 or 8 shorts back to back between January and the time of his stroke (May), and this after coming off a number of live shows, coping w/a divorce, etc. When I put together the timeline (it was on one of the former threads of this site, no longer extant) I became sadly aware that, in the 6-8 months preceding Curly's stroke he was terribly overworked (filming 8 shorts in a row would be brutal for anyone in great health). I'll muss around a bit and maybe I can reconstruct the research I did then, if Dunrobin promises not to lose the bloody thing again!

kinderscenen:

--- Quote from: Bruckman on January 17, 2005, 04:30:28 PM ---I.e., Curly as the "holy goof", as Kerouac would've put it.....

Much as I try to attribute certain of Curly's mannerisms to one influence or another, what it often comes down to is: it was just Curly's nature or Platonic essence (I'm an essentialist but not necessarily a Platonist) to do what he did, to woo woo, spin on floors, go "Hmmmm!", etc. What combination of factors coalesced to produce Curly is just too indefinite to sort out, otherwise.
--- End quote ---

I seem to recall Moe saying something like that in a Mike Douglas interview, although his exact words were "Well, he was a little mentally slow." This was also pointed out by Dolly Sallin (a relative), but she rather took offense at this, feeling that it described someone who was deficient mentally.


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I became sadly aware that, in the 6-8 months preceding Curly's stroke he was terribly overworked (filming 8 shorts in a row would be brutal for anyone in great health). I'll muss around a bit and maybe I can reconstruct the research I did then, if Dunrobin promises not to lose the bloody thing again!
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I imagine that it was worse during that time period--dietary stuff, ease (??!!) of traveling, etc. weren't like they are today. So that was a factor, along with his divorce, and pressure to "tone down" his wild lifestyle may have given him a bit more worry than he needed. (Ah, my rampant speculation rears its ugly head.... :P)

Either being "Curly" was simpler than we're making it, or it was as difficult as portraying Hamlet.  :D

mrhoward:
there is some fact that  Shemp replaced Curly on live apperances.  In one of the  Stooge books, there is a poster of a show with Shemp, they are promoted as the original Three Stooges. this was in 1944, there is also mention of an East Side KIds flick that came out that same year. It was at The St.Charles Theater in North Carolina

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