Now that’s one heck of a story! Yikes! Please tell us more about that day.
Okie dokie - here's what I wrote about my first Curly Joe experience for the book Stooges Among Us:Not far from Joe Besser lived the sixth and final Stooge - Joe DeRita, known as Curly Joe. The house - located at 10611 Moorpark Avenue in North Hollywood - was a small, weathered, one-story structure, surrounded by a chain-link fence. The entrance gate was adorned with a number of signs:
NO SOLICITORS
NO AGENTS
NO TRESPASSING
BEWARE OF DOGSMy dad took one look at these warnings and said to me, "For this one, you're on your own."
So I unlatched the gate and cautiously made my way to the front door. My knock was immediately answered by the sound of barking. More accurately, it should be described as
yapping. There must have been several small dogs inside that house, I thought. With all that racket, I was sure someone would come to the door shortly, unless of course no one was at home. Time passed. The dogs continued to bark and still no one came to the door. I glanced at the driveway, saw a car, and surmised that someone
must be there. So I knocked again. This exacerbated the dogs and raised the pitch and tempo of their barks. I waited, but there was still no answer and no evidence of human activity within. I knocked one last time, which riled the dogs to a level that could not be ignored.
And then it happened. Amidst the barking, I detected a low frequency rumbling coming from inside the house. This was exactly the type of sound one would expect if someone of Joe DeRita's dimensions were to hobble to the door.
The door opened about three inches and I heard the words, "What do you want?" directed at me.
Although I had an obscured view of the figure behind the door, I could see part of a chubby face staring at me - and it wasn't a particularly happy face. But it was clear that I was looking directly into the eyes and nose of Joe DeRita.
He asked again, this time a little louder, "What do you
want!"
I found my voice, told him I was a big fan of The Three Stooges, and was honored to meet him. I also told him I had spent the previous afternoon with Larry Fine, after traveling from Philadelphia to see him, and Larry had suggested I stop by DeRita's residence. My statements didn't seem to impress DeRita, but they didn't exactly agitate him either. That was a positive sign.
"I was snoozing," he said.
I could think of nothing to say in response.
He then said, "Let me get you a picture." Telling the barking dogs to calm down - they had been carrying on during most of our exchange - he left. When he returned, he opened the front door fully, and handed me a color publicity shot from
The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze and an autographed 3" by 5" card.
I now had a clear view of DeRita, from head to toe. And he was wearing nothing more than a pair of underpants - boxer shorts to be precise - no shirt, no shoes, and no official pants. I can honestly say that seeing someone with Curly-Joe's physique, in the absence of street clothing, is unnerving. Of course, I didn't want to appear alarmed, as I was the one who woke him up in the first place.
Although I had wanted to come away from the meeting with a photograph of the two of us, I couldn't bring myself to ask him for such a favor. With his protruding bare belly and white underpants in front of me, I doubted he would agree to be photographed.
I apologized for waking him up, thanked him for the publicity picture, and left.
Walking away from his house, I wondered if I'd ever have another opportunity to meet Joe DeRita in the future under conditions more conducive to picture taking. I didn't know the answer, but one thing was certain: I could still hear those dogs barking as I stepped into the car.
