Joe DeRita

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Joe DeRita
Curly Joe DeRita in 1962
Born	Joseph Wardell (1909-07-12)July 12, 1909 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	July 3, 1993(1993-07-03) (aged 83) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting place	Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery
Occupations	Actor comedian
Years active	1920–1975
Spouses	Bonnie Brooks ​ ​ (m. 1935; died 1965)​ Jean Sullivan ​ (m. 1967)​
Website	threestooges.net

Joseph Wardell (July 12, 1909 – July 3, 1993), known professionally as Joe DeRita, was an American actor and comedian, who is best known for his stint as a member of The Three Stooges in the persona of Curly Joe DeRita.

DeRita was born into a show-business family in Philadelphia, the son of Florenz (née DeRita) and Frank Wardell, and of French-Canadian and English ancestry.^[1] He was the youngest of 5 brothers. 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, the actor joined the burlesque circuit during the 1920s, gaining fame as a comedian. During World War II, DeRita joined the USO, performing throughout Britain, France, and the Pacific with such celebrities as Bing Crosby and Randolph Scott. In the 1944 comedy film The Doughgirls, about the housing shortage in wartime Washington, D.C., he had an uncredited role as "the Stranger", a bewildered man who repeatedly showed up in scenes looking for a place to sleep.^{[citation needed]}

In 1946, DeRita was hired by Columbia Pictures Short Subjects Division head/director Jules White to star in his own series of comedies. The first effort, Slappily Married, was released under the studio's All-Star Comedy series. The three remaining entries—The Good Bad Egg, Wedlock Deadlock (both 1947) and Jitter Bughouse (1948)—billed DeRita as the headliner. Regarding his Columbia shorts series, DeRita said, "My comedy in those scripts was limited to getting hit on the head with something, then going over to my screen wife to say, 'Honey, don't leave me!' For this kind of comedy material, you could have gotten a busboy to do it and it would have been just as funny."^[1] After his contract with Columbia ended, DeRita returned to burlesque and recorded a risque LP in 1950 called Burlesque Uncensored.^{[citation needed]}

When

It was rumored that Jules White had attempted to recruit DeRita for the Three Stooges in 1955 because he wanted "another Curly", but that strong-willed DeRita had refused to change his act or imitate another performer, and White eventually gave up on him.^{[2][page needed]} DeRita himself debunked the rumor, saying that it "added a romance to the story".^[1] When he first joined the act, shortly after appearing in a dramatic role in the Gregory Peck Western, The Bravados, DeRita wore his hair in a style similar to that of former Stooge Shemp Howard and did so during initial live stage performances. However, with the restored popularity of the Three Stooges shorts on TV featuring Curly Howard, it was suggested that Joe shave his head in order to look more like Curly. At first, DeRita sported a crew cut; this eventually became a fully shaven head. Because of his physical resemblance to both Curly and Joe Besser, and to avoid confusion with his predecessors, DeRita was renamed "Curly Joe".^{[citation needed]}

The team embarked on a new series of six feature-length theatrical Three Stooges films, including Have Rocket, Will Travel (1959), DeRita's on-screen debut with the Stooges, and Snow White and the Three Stooges (1961). These recycled routines and songs from the older films. Moe and Larry's advanced age, as well as pressure from children's advocacy groups, resulted in milder forms of their trademark slapstick. While DeRita's physical appearance was vaguely reminiscent of Curly, his characterization was different.^{[citation needed]}

DeRita remained a member of the team through the 1960s, participating in a full workload of television appearances and commercials, a multiyear movie contract, and

On August 30, 1983, the Three Stooges received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Joe Besser was the only Stooge to show up at the ceremony because of DeRita's illness; Stooges longtime supporting player Emil Sitka spoke for him. Besser later fell ill and died from heart failure on March 1, 1988, at age 80.^{[citation needed]}

DeRita was married twice. His first marriage was to a chorus girl named Bonnie Brooks, born Esther M. Hartenstine. They were married from July 13, 1935, until her death on September 6, 1965; they had no children.^[3][1] DeRita married his second wife, Jean Sullivan, the following year on December 28.^[4]

DeRita was the only member of the Stooges who was not Jewish.^{[citation needed]}

DeRita died of pneumonia on July 3, 1993, nine days before his 84th birthday. He was residing at the

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

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.^[5]

On April 24, 2000, ABC aired a television movie about the Stooges, with actor Peter Callan playing DeRita.^[6]

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Joe DeRita.

• Joe DeRita at
  IMDb
• Joe DeRita at the TCM Movie Database