The Alcoholic Stooge

He was born Jerome Lester Horwitz in 1903, but the world will always forever know him simply as Curly of The Three Stooges. He was probably the public’s favorite of the comedic trio, but more relevant to this site is that he was also the alcoholic stooge. In fact, you can say that alcoholism played a very large role in both the creation and the end of Curly’s comedy career.

The Stooges were created by US vaudevillian Ted Healy as foils and the victims who bore the brunt of his on stage jokes. The trio was made up of the Horowitz brothers who went by the stage names Moe and Curly Howard and long time friend Larry Fine. Mr. Healy was the highest paid comedian of the time, but his miserly manner and alcoholic tendencies eventually caused the Stooges to form their own act and they signed with Columbia Pictures in 1934. Three years later Ted Healy was killed in a bar fight.

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One of the first short features made for Columbia was called Punch Drunks. It has always been one of my favorites, Curly goes crazy in this episode knocking out all in sight whenever he hears the tune Pop Goes the Weasel. Moe and Larry exploit this trait by entering him in boxing matches and hilarity ensues. In reality however, Moe Howard tried to safeguard his little brother who spent every penny he made on wine, women, and song to no avail. Curly’s alcoholic lifestyle led to things you would suspect; broken marriages, severe weight problems, and performance issues that led to a stroke and his early death in 1952.

I can remember coming home from school and watching Moe, Larry, and Curly in the afternoons. I never considered Shemp or the others who periodically seemed to replace Curly as “real” Stooges. Little did I know at the time that Curly’s disease was the reason for his absence, and that later I would also try my best as a teen and adult to drink myself to an early grave (ahhh, sweet innocence). Other comics like John Belushi, Sam Kinison, and Chris Farley also followed the same path and unfortunately suffered the same demise. So here’s a TDA salute to a famous alcoholic and another great comedian stolen from us far before his time by drugs and alcohol.

I couldn’t find a clip of Punch Drunks so I had to settle on another one of my favorites, Uncivil Warriors.