Trivia

According to Emil Sitka, when DeRita was brought on board the Stooges, he was more or less an employee, not a full partner. Larry Fine threatened to quit the act unless Moe made him a full partner.

He was the only non-Jewish member of The Three Stooges, he had English and French-Canadian ancestry.

Following his death, he was interred at Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery in North Hollywood, CA. His tombstone reads: "The Last Stooge".

DeRita was called Curly-Joe because he resembled early Stooges member Curly Howard (fat and graceful) and because there had already been a Stooge named "Joe" (Joe Besser).

When Joe Besser left The Three Stooges, Moe Howard made another attempt to bring Joe DeRita into the act. The timing could not have been better; Joe had only a week left on his contract with Minsky. Joe was able to become a member of The Three Stooges (as "Curly Joe") just before they began a series of feature films.

Their final film Kooks Tour has an odd history. Conceived in 1970 as a series of comedy travelogues showing the now retired Stooges hitting the road the production was halted by Larry having a stroke. The unfinished pilot was padded out to sixty minutes with beauty shots of Yellowstone Park then shelved for nearly 10 years. It was finally released for home use on Super 8 but few people were willing to spend $200 to see it.

In addition to his obvious talent, there was a physical reason why he was recruited into The Three Stooges. At 5'4" he was the same height as both Moe Howard and Larry Fine.

When Shemp Howard died in 1955, Moe Howard wanted to recruit him into The Three Stooges. However, he could not join because he was under contract to Harold Minsky, where he was one of their top comics.

His first wife, Esther M. Hartenstine, was a chorus girl from Reading, PA. She was known as Bonnie Brooks. They married in Cuyahoga County, OH.

Last member of The Three Stooges team, of which, over time, there were six members altogether. He was called "Curly-Joe".

Passed away on July 3, 1993, only nine days before what would have been his 84th birthday, on July 12.

Jules White had signed him for four two-reel comedies at Columbia from 1946-48. There were rumors that he was being groomed to be the "third stooge".