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After more than fifty years, descendants of The Three Stooges’ Moe Howard, Shemp Howard, and Curly Howard had their first-ever family reunion. They also shared some of that reunion in several social media posts with photos of the historic get-together.
“Hey Stooge Fans!! Let me know what you think of this!! WHAT A DAY!!!” Curly Howard’s grandson Bradley Server wrote on Facebook. “Yesterday, for the first time ever, Curly’s Family, Moe’s Family and Shemp’s Family — in the form of Me, Curly G, Curly’s youngest grandson, Moe’s Great Granddaughter Tessa Maurer and Shemp’s Great Granddaughter Chandler Isaac—got together to meet face to face and talk family, The Three Stooges, and so much other fun stuff.
“Next time we need Kurt Lamond there to rep Larry’s Family, although at that point we may have a pie fight and all get kicked out. All you Stooge fans go show some love and follow my lovely and wonderful Stooge cousins. They’re truly the BEST!!!”
The “Stooge cousins,” as Server called them, are the descendants of real-life brothers Moe (real name Moses Horwitz), Shemp (Samuel Horwitz) and Curly (Jerome Horwitz). Larry Fine (real name Louis Feinberg) was, along with Moe, a mainstay in the trio, while Joe Besser joined the team after Shemp Howard died at the age of 60 in 1955. Curly Joe DeRita took over the role as the third Stooge when Besser quit to take care of his sick wife in 1958. Shemp was actually one of the original Stooges, but left the group from 1932 to 1946, and was replaced by Curly. He returned to the group in 1946 after Curly had a stroke.
“A new era of Stoogedom!” Moe’s great-granddaughter Tessa Maurer wrote in her own post on Facebook. “It was great to meet more of the family tree alongside our Stooge fairy godmother Andy Pagana who set it all up. Thank you to all the MANY MANY new followers!! I probably won’t be able to respond to all your comments, but I appreciate you all! I’m a writer, artist, and filmmaker, so while I may not be a slapstick comedian, I’m doing my best to uphold the family legacy of entertaining you all, even if in a very different way (warning: my art is kind of dark!). As my late grandmother Joan Howard Maurer once said of her dad, Moe, ‘My dad was always concerned about helping ‘the underdog.’ He would always say how lucky he felt to do what he loved to do and make a living while doing it.’ And I feel the same.”
When asked by fans about the status of Larry Fine’s family, Server responded in a separate Facebook post, “…the big question was, of course, what about Larry?!?! Does Larry have any kin? And the answer is YES! AND BOY DOES HE. Larry has probably the biggest family of all the Stooges, and that includes one of my favorite people Kurt Lamond, Larry’s great grandson – seen in the pic below hanging with me and Chandler! Kurt runs Shop Knuckleheads (for all your Stooge needs) and is a wonderfully fun, funny and generous friend who also joins me on Stooge Talk live from time to time! (Come back soon, Kurty! I miss you.)
“So, YES! Larry has a family! And the Howard family frequently sees the Fine family (a real fine family!), but now we have to get Tessa to meet him and all connect together.”