Topic: How did Columbia handle the Curly to Shemp change???

[xraffle]

What a terrible thing to have happen! It must have torn poor Jerry apart!  I'm sure it had an effect on his emotions from then on. His mother sure had a hold of him, if you have read the stories in the books. I really do not know the "Curly" book well, but I know there is a part where a psychologist gives insight to Jerry's psyche. I think I might re-read that part today!

I sure can understand the scandal of that back then; things like this can still go on today in some circles. Things like divorce and having children born out of wedlock are not a big deal to a lot of people. My step-brother just had an illegitimate child, and my mother, who is very old-fashioned, is very embarassed.

I forgot her name, but I believe Curly's last wife was very good to him, but unfortunately he still suffered a final stroke and died. I could be wrong on this one, so feel free to punch me in the face, but I think that's what I read.

[locoboymakesgood]

I don't think Curly had any decent marriage. I've read both Mow Howard & The Three Stooges and the Scrapbook, and from what I can gather, he was mainly just a womanizer who had a hard time settling down.

[archiezappa]

I forgot her name, but I believe Curly's last wife was very good to him, but unfortunately he still suffered a final stroke and died. I could be wrong on this one, so feel free to punch me in the face, but I think that's what I read.

I've always understood that Valerie, his fourth wife, was very good to him.  I always wondered about his retirement years, 1947-1952.  I wonder what was going on in his life.  I wonder what he thought about Shemp taking his place.  That's one thing that Curly Howard and Joe Besser have in common.  Both got to see themselves being replaced in the Three Stooges.  Interesting.

[curlysdame]

I don't think Curly had any decent marriage. I've read both Mow Howard & The Three Stooges and the Scrapbook, and from what I can gather, he was mainly just a womanizer who had a hard time settling down.

I think that might be a bit of an exaggeration, his 'mainly being a womanizer.'  I think a lot of that stuff happened in the 40s when he was running around, between marriages.  From what I've read in 'Biography of a Superstooge' (which I know well), Elaine, his second wife was very good to him, too; it was the fact Stooges were really picking up popularity at that time ('37-'40) and the Boys were constantly on the road when they weren't at Columbia.  That, and Elaine and Curly were just too opposite.  She had gone to UCLA, and he never picked up a book.  But, according to her interview, she 'never looked at anyone else.'

His fourth wife, Valerie, was the love of his life; they were inseperable.  Unfortunately, when he did settle down, he wasn't able to enjoy it for very long.  If you own a copy of 'Superstooge' take a look at the pics of him and Val; that was one happy guy.  She just looked like she really cared about him.

[Dr. Belch]

There's a 4 page article on [Julia] in The Three Stooges Journal, issue #76...The info that we know now, it makes perfect sense to me why the Horwitz family...would say Jerry's marriage would've been annuled.  The Horwitz family was very orthodox, and a divorce within the orthodox community back then (and now, too, probably) was definitely frowned upon.

Weren't Jerry and Julia quite young? I'd heard they were barely out of their teens...and I've got a brother myself who married when he and his gal were just teenagers. She dropped a calf only a few months after the wedding, which made a few of the old-kraut Lutherans in my church look down their noses at us. They were together a few years, then they split, and she took the kid...and he's already on wife two though he's barely 25. So, yeah I can relate. I guess Julia either cared about Curly or her own reputation too much to step forth and demand money (not that Curly was ever really rich; between White Fang Cohn's notorious penny-pinching, his zest for life, and his medical bills he must have struggled to stay afloat).

There's just something about show folk who marry multiple times and die young. It's always about wife four they strike gold, then, bam, they die. Curly Howard, Lewis Grizzard and Redd Foxx must have a lot of fun in Heaven, sitting around playing cards and talking about the dozen women they had between them....   

[curlysdame]

Weren't Jerry and Julia quite young? I'd heard they were barely out of their teens...

Actually, Jerry was 26 (born in '03, of course) and Julia was 29 (born in 1900).  For some reason though, Jerry put his age down as 29 and his bride's as 26.  I'd love to see a copy of the marriage license one of these days.  Come to think of it, I wonder if the divorce records have ever been found.  I'm sure they would answer a few more questions.     

...I just caught an error I made.  I had said earlier that the info on Jerry's first marriage was a '4 page article.'  Rather, it's a 'page 4' article.   

[DocWatson]

According to a biography I have of them, Ed Bernds says the Curly to Shemp transition was a smooth one and that there were many press conferences preparing the public for it.

[curlysdame]

According to a biography I have of them, Ed Bernds says the Curly to Shemp transition was a smooth one and that there were many press conferences preparing the public for it.

Which book is it?

[DocWatson]

It's on a DVD called The Three Stooges Story... It was a 1982 interview I do believe...

[Stooges#1]

It's on a DVD called The Three Stooges Story... It was a 1982 interview I do believe...

My brother has that on VHS and infact i borrowed it from him and now its sitting in my room. Is this the one? http://www.amazon.com/Three-Stooges-Story/dp/B00005B1WV/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1218889697&sr=8-1

That is the dvd but the video cassette has the exact same cover.

[DocWatson]

Yeah, that's the one.

[Stooges#1]

^

I'll check it out, thanks. 

[DocWatson]

Sure thing. Glad to help.

[vomit]

I don't think there was any publicity (except maybe in the trade papers); when people went to the show" voila, SHEMP in all his glory.  Shemp rules!