Curly Howard

The off-screen personality of Curly Howard was interestingly the antithesis of his onscreen imagine. An introvert, he used to keep to himself mostly. He was rarely seen socializing with people unless he had been drinking. His drinking increased as his career progressed as he was unable to cope with the stress.

Curly married Elaine Ackerman on June 7, 1937. The next year, Elaine gave birth to a girl, Marilyn, who remained their only child. The couple divorced in June 1940, following which Curly not only gained a lot of weight but also developed hypertension.

He became an incessant alcoholic and was very insecure about his appearance as well. Though he never drank while acting in films or on stage as his brother Moe would never permit it, he spent lots of money on wine, food, women, and cars in the absence of his brother. He was near bankruptcy very often.

Curly Howard was born as Jerome Lester Horwitz on October 22, 1903 in New York City, to Jennie Gorovitz and Solomon Horwitz. He was the youngest of the five sons of his parents. His family was of Lithuanian Jewish descent.

Being the youngest in his family, he was affectionately called “Babe” by his brothers. He later acquired the nickname “Curly.” His full formal Hebrew name was ‘Yehudah Lev ben Shlomo Natan ha Levi.’

He was a quiet child growing up and he rarely caused any trouble for his parents. Though he was a mediocre student in class, he was a talented athlete. He admired his elder brothers and followed in their footsteps by not graduating from school and working odd jobs instead.

He was also a skilled ballroom dancer and singer. Aside from that, Curly grew up with a passion for comedy and acting.

When Curly was only twelve years old, he accidently shot himself in the foot with a loaded rifle. His brother Moe rushed him to the hospital and managed to save him from dying of bleeding. Later, during his time with the Stooges, he developed a famous exaggerated walk to mask the limp on screen.

Curly Howard’s first onstage appearance was in 1928. It was as a comedy musical conductor for the Orville Knapp Band. His brother Moe acknowledged that his performances usually overshadowed those of the band. Meanwhile, Moe and Shemp were also making it big with Ted Healy’s Stooges, a very popular act in those times.

In 1932, Shemp was offered a contract at the Vitaphone Studios in Brooklyn and left the act. Moe then suggested that Curly fill the role of the third stooge in The Stooges. In the beginning Ted Healy was skeptical of Curly as he felt that Curly was far too attractive to have a funny presence on-screen. Thus Curly shaved off his thick hair to acquire a funny appearance.

In 1934, Healy became interested in pursuing his own career with MGM and dissolved the act. Moe, Curly, and Larry Fine renamed the act to ‘The Three Stooges’ and also signed to appear in two-reel comedy short subjects (short films) for Columbia Pictures. The Stooges eventually rose to become the most popular short-subject attraction with Curly mostly playing the significant part in the trio’s work.

Curly’s childlike mannerisms along with his natural flair for comedy made him a hit with the audiences, especially children. His skills in comedy and humor were so exceptional that many times directors let the camera roll freely to let Curly improvise. Jules White in particular, would leave gaps in the Stooges’ scripts in order to let Curly improvise for several minutes altogether.

Throughout the late 1930s and early 1940s, the Stooges enjoyed great success with hits like ‘Punch Drunks’ (1934), ‘A Plumbing Will Go’ (1940), ‘We Want Our Mummy’ (1938) and ‘Cactus Makes Perfect’ (1942).

One of the many short films that Curly Howard appeared in was ‘Saved by the Belle’ which was released in 1939. Directed by Charley Chase, it featured the Stooges as travelling salesmen who are stranded in a fictional South American country named Valeska. Other actors in the film, apart from the Stooges, were LeRoy Mason, Carmen LaRoux, Gino Corrardo, and Vernon Dent.