Curly vs. Curley!
C Rhodes
I was irc chatting on the Undernet server last night and I was
(embarrasingly) rudely corrected by someone who claimed that they are
not even a Stooge fan.
This person said that Curley is NOT spelled Curly, but Curley. So I
ran to my video shorts and sure enough! Right there in black and
white, it said "Moe, Larry, Curley". But I've seen other people in
this newsgroup also spell it Curly. And also, someone from this web
page who invited me to their web page also had it spelled incorrectly
on their web page. So its a common mistake, I guess......
"Ahhhhh, shadddup, my dog and I knew that" I told him. He was a
comedy genius regardless of how you spell his name. : )
John Patrick Riley
It's not really a mistake. I don't know about the exact dates (someone
with a reference book handy will) but the "Curley" spelling was used on
the early shorts in the 30's. At some point, it was switched to "Curly".
I think by the WWII shorts, he was already "Curly". -John
StoogeMore
C Rhodes wrote:
>
> I was irc chatting on the Undernet server last night and I was
> (embarrasingly) rudely corrected by someone who claimed that they are
> not even a Stooge fan.
>
> This person said that Curley is NOT spelled Curly, but Curley. So I
> ran to my video shorts and sure enough! Right there in black and
> white, it said "Moe, Larry, Curley". But I've seen other people in
> this newsgroup also spell it Curly. And also, someone from this web
> page who invited me to their web page also had it spelled incorrectly
> on their web page. So its a common mistake, I guess......
>
> "Ahhhhh, shadddup, my dog and I knew that" I told him. He was a
> comedy genius regardless of how you spell his name. : )
The proper spelling according to the Stooges Heirs and the 3 Stooges
Scrapbook is Curly without the E.
Moe
--
StoogeMore
http://www.advotec.com/stooges
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Given away Daily
planetx
Jerry Howard's screen character was spelled CURLEY with an "E" in the
title cards for the first 14 Columbia 3 Stooges films. The spelling HAD
to be changed in "DISORDER IN THE COURT" because Curly's name was seen
spelled ON SCREEN within the film. I would prefer to think CURLEY is
the proper spelling, and the titles were changed only to follow some
prop-man's error . . . but Larry Fine told me in 1973 that the earlier
spelling was in fact in error.
(note that this film is also the only public domain Curly film.)
planetx
Hal Erickson
planetx <pla...@aa.net> wrote:
>Jerry Howard's screen character was spelled CURLEY with an "E" in the
>title cards for the first 14 Columbia 3 Stooges films. The spelling HAD
>to be changed in "DISORDER IN THE COURT" because Curly's name was seen
>spelled ON SCREEN within the film. I would prefer to think CURLEY is
>the proper spelling, and the titles were changed only to follow some
>prop-man's error . . . but Larry Fine told me in 1973 that the earlier
>spelling was in fact in error.
I don't believe that the spelling was changed on the title cards
because of the interior spelling of "Curly" in DISORDER IN THE COURT.
Every few years, Columbia would change the design of its short-subject
credit titles. From 1934 to 1936, the films would begin with the old
"sparkler lady" studio logo, then a separate title card billing the
star (Stooges, Andy Clyde, Harry Langdon etc.), illustrated with a
photo of that star. The next title would consist of the name of the
short, a brief list of supporting actors (sometimes), and the
copyright date. The final title contained the production
credits--director, screenwriter, et. al.
This was changed in mid-1936, around the same time that Columbia
streamlined and modernized its "torch lady" logo. The films now opened
with three credit titles, rather than four: The studio logo was
followed by a topheavy title-card consisting of the name and photo of
the star, the title of the film, the supporting cast (again sometimes)
and the copyright date; this, again was followed by a separate
production-credits card.
In late 1939, the title design changed again. There was no separate
"torch lady": the studio logo was incorporated in the opening titles,
at the left-hand side of the screen. Except for the Stooge comedies,
in which the stars were given their own separate title card (with
photo), each short was introduced with only two titles: The first
included the name of the star (minus photo), the title of the film,
the supporitng cast (once again, sometimes) and the copyright date;
this again was followed by the production credits. So far as I know,
the first Columbia short to adopt this slimmed-down title design was
ANDY CLYDE GETS SPRING CHICKEN: the first Stooges short to do so was
YOU NAZTY SPY.
The next title-design change occured in mid-1945. This was the year
that the familiar "Komos mask" design was adopted, with the laughing
Greek comedy mask at the upper left-hand corner of the screen, casting
a diagonal shadow across the background of the titles. Once again,
most of the Columbia comedians were billed on the same card as the
title (e.g.: "Hugh Herbert in GET ALONG LITTLE ZOMBIE"), which also
included the supporting cast and copyright; this again was followed by
a separate production-credit title. Only the Three Stooges and Harry
Von Zell rated a separate "starring" title card and photograph.
Curiously, Columbia downplayed its participation in these shorts:
There was no "Columbia Pictures Corporation presents", and the only
mention of the studio was in the copyright. Nor did the "torch lady"
logo appear in these shorts, not even at the end of the film. In 1949,
the "Columbia Pictures Corporation presents" was restored, but the
torch lady remained absent.
The Komos-mask titles remained in effect until Columbia stopped
distributing 2-reelers in 1959. Rare exceptions included the two
Stooge 3-D comedies (SPOOKS, PARDON MY BACKFIRE), and the one-shot
comedies starring the Mischief Makers (a 1954 ripoff of Our Gang,
whose sole vehicle was KIDS WILL BE KIDS) and Muriel Landers (TRICKY
CHICKS, 1957).
To make a long story short (too late), I believe that Columbia
mispelled Curly's name when the studio composed its first 2-reeler
credit titles in 1934, and rectified the error only when it changed
the title design two years later.
--Hal E.
JimNeibaur
It was Curley in the Columbia shorts until 1936, then it was shown as Curly.
Jim
Bernie Hogya
In article <6ba1ul$1...@newsops.execpc.com>, hl...@execpc.com (Hal Erickson)
wrote:
> To make a long story short (too late), I believe that Columbia
> mispelled Curly's name when the studio composed its first 2-reeler
> credit titles in 1934, and rectified the error only when it changed
> the title design two years later.
>
"CURLY" is also how he always signed his name.
Bernie
JRS
It is spelled both ways in the credits. I believe the early stooges were
Curley and the later ones were Curly.
Jerry
C Rhodes wrote in message
<4BD56F6DB6A84271.8F0185EE...@library-proxy.airnews.ne
t>...
Jim Kluth
all references in Moe Howard & the 3 Stooges AND the 3Stooges Scrapbook
show the spelling CURLY... C Rhodes (act...@airmail.net) wrote:
: I was irc chatting on the Undernet server last night and I was
planetx
Jerry Howard's screen character was spelled CURLEY with an "E" in the
title cards for the first 14 Columbia 3 Stooges films. The spelling HAD
to be changed in "DISORDER IN THE COURT" because Curly's name was seen
spelled ON SCREEN within the film. I would prefer to think CURLEY is
the proper spelling, and the titles were changed only to follow some
prop-man's error . . . but Larry Fine told me in 1973 that the earlier
spelling was in fact in error.
(note that this film is also the only public domain Curly film.)
planetx
ASOMEIII
>: This person said that Curley is NOT spelled Curly, but Curley
As I understood it, Jerome (his real name) was nick-named Curly because of his
CURLY blonde hair.....so how do you spell CURLY?????