The Three Stooges - Curly.

[Ken]

Curly's real name was Jerome Lester Horwitz, born on October 22, 1903, in Brooklyn, He was the fifth and youngest of the Horwitz sons and weighed eight and a half pounds at birth. Curly- Jerome, to complicate matters, was nicknamed "Babe" by his brother Moe.

As a young man, Curly loved to dance and listen to music, and he became an accomplished ballroom dancer. He would go regularly to the Triangle Ballroom in Brooklyn, where on several occasions he met George Raft, who in the early days of his career was a fine ballroom dancer. Curly also tried his hand at the ukulele, singing along as he strummed. Curly's first love was musicals and comedy.

Moe suggested that his kid brother; Babe (Curly), was available and would make an excellent replacement for Shemp, since he was familiar with the act and asked Curly to join, but under the condition that he shave his head. At the time, Curly sported long, wavy brown hair and a mustache. In an interview; Curly recalled the incident: "I had beautiful wavy hair and a waxed mustache. When I went to see Ted Healy about a job as one of the Stooges, he said, `What can you do?' I said, `I don't know.' He said, `I know what you can do. You can shave off your hair to start with.' Then later on I had to shave off my poor mustache. I had to shave it off right down to the skin."

Success virtually destroyed Curly. He started to drink heavily, feeling that his shaven head robbed him of his sex appeal. Larry Fine once remarked that Curly wore a hat in public to confirm an image of masculinity, since he felt like a little kid with his hair shaved off Curly was also unable to save a cent. When he received his check he'd rush out to spend it on life's pleasures: wine, women, a new house, an automobile or a new dog-Curly was mad about dogs. Since Curly was certainly no businessman, Moe usually handled all of his affairs, helped him manage his money and even made out his income tax returns.

Curly was basically an introvert, barely speaking on the set between takes, the complete antithesis of his insanely hilarious screen character.

Curly's main weakness was women; to paraphrase an old adage, "Curly couldn't live with women, or live without them."

Curly was a pushover for women. If a pretty girl went up to him and gave him a spiel, Curly would marry her. Then she would take his money and run off. It was the same when a real estate agent would come up and say, `I have a house for you,' Curly would sell his current home and buy another one. It seemed as though every two weeks he would have a new girl, a new car, a new house and a new dog."

As much as Curly loved women, they were his downfall. He married three times after his first marriage was annulled.

During the next five years, Curly ate, drank and made merry. He gained a tremendous amount of weight and his blood pressure soared. On January 23, 1945, he entered the Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara where he was diagnosed as having extreme hypertension, a retinal hemorrhage and obesity.

Curly met Marion Buxbaum, a petite blonde woman with a ten-year-old son from a previous marriage. Curly instantly fell in love with her and they were married in New York on October 17, 1945. It was felt that Marion used Curly to her advantage. He spent a fortune on her-everything from fur coats to expensive jewelry. Curly even bought her a new home on Ledge Street in Toluca Lake. She was just after his money.

Curly had very high blood pressure and that marriage to Marion didn't help. It was very aggravating for Curly and a very unhappy time for all concerned

Curly's health started its rapid decline. On May 6,1946, he suffered a stroke during the filming of HalftWits' Holiday (1947). Curly had to leave the team to recuperate from his illness. His condition began to improve and a year later, still not fully recovered from his stroke, Curly met a thrice-married widow of thirty-two who really seemed to care for him-Valerie Newman, whom he married.

Valerie was Curly's fourth wife, a very caring woman who nursed him through those last, awful years. Although his health worsened after the marriage.

In 1949, Curly's health took a severe turn for the worse when he suffered his second in a series of strokes and was rushed to Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Hollywood. Doctors contemplated doing spinal surgery on him since the stroke had left him partially paralyzed. But the final decision was not to operate.

Curly was confined to a wheelchair and doctors put him on a diet of boiled rice and apples. It was hoped that this would bring down his weight and his high blood pressure. As a result of his illness Curly's weight dropped dramatically. As Norman Maurer recalls: "I'll never forget him at this point in his life. His hand would constantly fall off the arm of the wheelchair; either from weakness or the paralysis, and he couldn't get it back on without help."

Curly returned home confined to his bed, where Valerie nursed him. When his health worsened, in February 1951, she made a request for a male nurse to help her. In that same month, Curly was placed in a nursing home, the Colonial House, located in Los Angeles. In March, he suffered another stroke and Moe had to move him, out, due to the fact that the nursing home did not meet state fire codes.

In April of 1951 Curly was moved to North Hollywood Hospital and Sanitarium. In December; the hospital supervisor advised the family that Curly was becoming a problem to the nursing staff due to mental deterioration and that they could no longer care for him. It was suggested that he be placed in a mental hospital, but Moe would not hear of it.

On January 7, 1952, Moe was called from the filming of a Stooges comedy, He Cooked His Goose (1952), to help move Curly again, this time to the Baldy View Sanitarium in San Gabriel. He died 11 days later on January 18, 1952. He was forty-eight years old.

Final resting place photo from www.findagrave.com

Ken.

[TheTallOne]

My favorite Stooge. A shame his life ended the way it did. Michael Chicklis perfectly portrayed him in the Three Stooges movie, a must see for any fan.