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Curly Joe DeRita

 
Actor: Curly Joe DeRita
Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Actors
  • Born: Jul 12, 1909 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  • Died: Mar 07, 1993 in Woodland Hills, California
  • Occupation: Actor
  • Active: '40s-'60s, 2000s
  • Major Genres: Comedy, Western
  • Career Highlights: The Outlaws Is Coming, The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze, The Three Stooges in Orbit
  • First Major Screen Credit: High School Hero (1946)

Biography

Joe DeRita, sometimes known as "Curly Joe DeRita," was the last of the six members of the Three Stooges to join that august comedic trio. Born Joseph Wardell in Philadelphia in 1909, he came from a show business family, his mother a dancer and his father a stage hand. DeRita accompanied his parents on tour from the age of seven, and he soon had a dancing act with his sister. He continued working as a single after she married and their parents had retired, and his comedic specialty involved lots of dancing, which would serve him in good stead when he later joined the Three Stooges. He worked in burlesque comedian from the early '20s until 1942, when he went out to California to headline a show. He got a film contract out of the trip, and in 1944 made his screen debut at Warner Bros. in The Doughgirls starring Ann Sheridan. In 1946, following appearances in two more comedy features, DeRita jumped to Columbia Pictures for a series of comedy shorts. He also entertained the troops during World War II, touring with Randolph Scott, a good friend with whom he did a comedy act. After World War II, DeRita returned to the stage and also began working on radio. In 1958, he made his return to movies in his only non-comedic acting role, playing the phony, murderous hangman in Henry King's Western chase-drama The Bravados. He also began showing up on television occasionally in comedy roles on series such as Bachelor Father. That same year, fate would take a hand in his career with the crisis affecting the Three Stooges -- the 30-year-old comedy team had reached an impasse with the decision by Joe Besser, the fat "third" stooge who'd come in to succeed Shemp Howard following the latter's death in 1955, to leave the act. Partners Moe Howard and Larry Fine needed a new partner with none in sight, and that was when Fine happened to go to Las Vegas and caught DeRita's act in a revue called Minsky's Follies of 1958. He was impressed and duly informed Moe Howard, who was similarly enthusiastic after meeting DeRita and testing him in performances at different nightclubs. In October of 1958, Joe DeRita -- christened "Curly Joe" because of his resemblance to the group's most famous member, Curly Howard -- made his debut as a member of the trio. DeRita may have missed the trio's busiest years, but he got in on their most profitable era, appearing as the comically goofy member of the trio in six full-length feature film in which they starred, as well as two more movies, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and Four for Texas, in which the group had bit parts. Beyond that, however, were innumerable personal appearances, lots of merchandising, and television work by the trio, all of which was enough to keep DeRita busy and solvent for the rest of his life. With his goofy physiognomy and dancer's agility, DeRita was the sparkplug for much of the trio's physical comedy during this period, as well as some of its zaniest moments; he had an acrobat's grace, reminiscent of Curly Howard, but also a childlike innocence and good-nature that made younger audience members love him as well as laugh at him -- this was especially true in Have Rocket, Will Travel, the all-important 1959 feature that established the trio in full-length movies. He remained with the Three Stooges until Moe Howard's retirement in the mid-'70s. Such was his relationship with Howard that the oldest surviving Stooge, who controlled the group's name, broke precedent and gave DeRita permission to put together a new, very short-lived group of Three Stooges. That project didn't last, however, and DeRita retired in the 1970s. The youngest of the Three Stooges, he passed away after all of the others, in 1993. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
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Wikipedia: Curly Joe DeRita
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Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
Joe DeRita
Born Joseph Wardell
July 12, 1909(1909-07-12)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died July 3, 1993 (aged 83)
Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Other name(s) Curly-Joe DeRita
Occupation Actor, comedian
Spouse(s) Jean Sullivan (m. 1967–1993) «start: (1967)–end+1: (1994)»"Marriage: Jean Sullivan to Curly Joe DeRita" Location: (linkback:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curly_Joe_DeRita)

Joe DeRita (July 12, 1909 – July 3, 1993), born Joseph Wardell, was an American comedian who is best known as Curly-Joe DeRita, the "sixth" member of the Three Stooges.

DeRita was born into a show-business family in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Wardell's father was a stage technician, his mother a professional stage dancer, and the three often acted on stage together from his early childhood. Taking his mother's maiden name, DeRita (Portuguese)[1], the actor joined the burlesque circuit during the 1920s, gaining fame as a comedian. During World War II, DeRita joined the USO, performing through Britain and France with such celebrities as Bing Crosby and Randolph Scott. He was married briefly sometime in the 1940s to an unknown co-worker.

Contents

Career with The Three Stooges

The Three Stooges (Curly Howard, Larry Fine, and Moe Howard) had been making short comedies for Columbia Pictures since 1934. Curly suffered a stroke in 1946, forcing him to retire; his brother Shemp Howard, the original third Stooge before leaving the act in 1932 for a solo career, only wanted to be a temporary replacement. Joe DeRita was also making short slapstick comedies for Stooges producer-director Jules White at the time. White attempted to recruit Joe DeRita for the Three Stooges, because he wanted "another Curly." However, the strong-willed DeRita refused to change his act or imitate another performer, and White eventually gave up on DeRita. (DeRita's own short-subject contract was not renewed.)[2] DeRita returned to burlesque, and in the 1950s he recorded a risque LP called "Burlesque Uncensored".

Shemp Howard died in 1955, and was succeeded by Joe Besser. Columbia shut down the short-subjects department at the end of 1957, and Besser quit the act. The two remaining Stooges seriously considered retirement. Then Columbia's television subsidiary, Screen Gems, syndicated the Stooges' old comedies to television, and The Three Stooges were suddenly TV superstars.

Now Moe and Larry had many job offers, but they needed a new partner. Larry saw Joe DeRita in a Las Vegas stage engagement, and told Moe that DeRita would be "perfect for the third Stooge." Howard and Fine invited DeRita to join the act, and he readily accepted. Because of his physical resemblance to both Curly and Joe Besser, and to avoid confusion with his predecessors, DeRita was renamed "Curly-Joe" and became the third Stooge in 1958.

The team embarked on a new series of theatrical Three Stooges films, including Have Rocket, Will Travel and Snow White and the Three Stooges. Aimed primarily at children, these films rarely reached the same comedic heights as their shorts. (Moe and Larry's advanced ages, plus pressure from the PTA and other children's advocates, led to the toning-down of the trio's trademark violent slapstick.) While DeRita's physical appearance was reminiscent of the original "Curly," his characterization was milder, and not as manic or surreal. Curly-Joe also showed a bit more backbone, even occasionally talking back to Moe, calling him "buddy boy."

Through the 1960s, DeRita remained a member of the team, participating in animated cartoons (with live-action introductions) and a failed television pilot titled Kook's Tour. However, Larry Fine suffered a paralyzing stroke in 1970, putting all new Stooges-related material on hold. Emil Sitka was named as "the middle stooge", but never got to perform with the team. Before Moe's death in 1975, the Stooges (with Emil Sitka taking on the role as the middle stooge) had planned to film an R-rated movie called The Jet Set (later produced with the surviving members of the Ritz Brothers and released as Blazing Stewardesses).

The Three Stooges, Mark V, promotional picture taken in 1975 (after Larry Fine's death), from left to right, Curly-Joe DeRita, Moe Howard (who died shortly thereafter), and Emil Sitka.

In the 1970s, DeRita attempted to form a truly "new" Three Stooges. He recruited burlesque and vaudeville veterans Mousie Garner and Frank Mitchell to replace Moe and Larry for nightclub engagements, but the act failed and DeRita retired.

Death

On July 3, 1993, DeRita died of pneumonia at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California.[3] He was buried in the Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery in North Hollywood; his epitaph reads "The Last Stooge".

Legacy

Although DeRita enjoyed working with Moe and Larry, and made a good living doing it, he was not a fan of the Stooges' humor. He told an interviewer the following:

“ "I don't think the Stooges were funny. I'm not putting you on, I'm telling the truth — they were physical, but they just didn't have any humor about them. Take, for instance, Laurel and Hardy. I can watch their films and I still laugh at them and maybe I've seen them four or five times before. But when I see that pie or seltzer bottle, I know that it's not just lying around for no reason. It's going to be used for something. I was with the Stooges for 12 years and it was a very pleasant association but I just don't think they were funny.” [4] ”

Popular culture

In the spring of 2000, ABC aired a made-for-television movie about the Stooges, with actor Peter Callan playing the role of Joe DeRita.

References

  1. ^ Distinguished Americans & Canadians of Portuguese Descent
  2. ^ The Three Stooges: The Triumphs and Tragedies of The Most Popular Comedy Team of All Time
  3. ^ Pace, Eric (1993-07-05). "Curly Joe DeRita, 83, Last of the Three Stooges". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1993/07/05/obituaries/curly-joe-derita-83-last-of-the-three-stooges.html. Retrieved 2009-08-07. 
  4. ^ Lenburg, Jeff; Howard Maurer, Joan; Lenburg, Greg; (1982). The Three Stooges Scrapbook, p. 93, Citadel Press. ISBN 0806509465]

External links

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The Three Stooges
Ted Healy · Moe Howard · Larry Fine · Curly Howard · Shemp Howard · Joe Besser · Curly Joe DeRita
Supporting actors
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