Few comedy teams have been as enduringly popular as the Three Stooges. Sadly, the man responsible for shepherding the legacy of Larry, Moe and Curly has passed away: Paul Howard, only son of original Stooge Moe Howard.
Representatives for C3 Entertainment, which owns and licences the Three Stooges brand and content, confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that he passed away this week at age 91.
His Father’s Legacy
As The Hollywood Reporter points out, ever since his father’s death in 1975, Paul Howard has guarded the legacy of his father and the iconic comedy team he led. He is the last remaining offspring of the group, which originally consisted of Moe, his brothers Curly and Shemp, and Larry Fine.
Howard was instrumental in the making of “Hey Moe, Hey Dad!” The nine-part docuseries traced the history of the Three Stooges, featuring “rare archival footage, personal family accounts and interviews with members of the Howard, Fine and DeRita families (Curly Joe DeRita was another member of the Stooges act) and fans including Whoopi Goldberg and Leonard Maltin,” noted THR, advising that the series is available to view on the Three Stooges+ YouTube channel.
Howard also appeared at fan conventions and various Stooge-related events, sharing his memories and insight into the slapstick comedy trio.
Comedy Icons
The Three Stooges first assembled in 1922 as a Vaudeville act, with brothers Moe and Shemp Howard (a.k.a. Moses Horowitz and Samuel Horowitz) teamed up with comedian Ted Healy. They were eventually joined by Larry Fine (Louis Feinberg) and the Three Stooges were born.
After parting ways with Healy, Shemp left and was replaced by their younger brother Jerome Howard, a.k.a Curly. This iteration of the Stooges remains the most iconic, with the trio making more than 200 comedy shorts during a span of 24 years.
When Curly suffered a debilitating stroke in 1946, at the height of the Stooges’ fame, Shemp returned to fill the spot. When Shemp passed away from a sudden heart attack in 1955, he was replaced by Joe Besser, who remained with the group for two years until replaced by Curly Joe DeRita in 1958.
While comedy shorts fell out of vogue, the arrival of television proved to be a shot in the arm for the Stooges when their 1930s and ’40s-era shorts were sold into TV syndication in 1959. That led them to be discovered by a new generation of fans, providing an unexpected resurgence in the Stooges’ popularity.
That iteration — Moe, Larry and Curly Joe — remained intact for more than two decades, making several feature films, including “The Three Stooges Meet Hercules,” and were even featured in a cameo appearance in the 1963 comedy “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.”
When Fine suffered a stroke in 1970, that effectively ended the career of the Three Stooges. Howard passed away in 1975 at age 77, just a few months after Fine’s passing at 72. DeRita passed away in 1993 at age 83.
Only Son of Beloved Comedy Icon Has Passed Away