The Three Stooges were the Howard (Horwitz) brothers, Moses "Moe" (1897-1975), Samuel "Shemp" (1895-1955), and Jerome "Curly" (1903-1952) from Brooklyn along with Larry Fine (Feinberg) (1902-1975) from Philly. They beat each other up in 190 two-reel comedies produced between 1934 and 1958. Boosted by television, the Stooges experienced a revival in the 1960. With several staff changes, the group continued until 1970 when Fine suffered a stroke.
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Originally part of an act called "Ted Healy and His Southern Gentlemen" The Stooges were in and out of vaudeville and movies during the 1920s and early 30s.
The Stooges moved to Columbia in 1934/1935 and remained there until '58, one of the longest collaborations in film history. Columbia in that era was low budget in general, and cheap to the Stooges in particular. Although they made a good living, The Stooges didn't get rich and went for many years without pay raises. Neither the Stooges nor Columbia seemed to realize how popular they were (the big bucks and credits went to feature films).
Curly had a stroke in '46 and never performed again (he died in '52). He was replaced by Shemp who died in '55 and was replaced by Joe Besser (1907-1988) who finished their last Columbia contract. By the late 1950s, both tastes and the movie industry had changed. The Stooges made their career on short films but movies no longer included shorts. In 1958, Columbia got rid of its shorts division, and the Stooges.
However, TV was new and searching for programming. The 190 Three Stooges shorts were perfect material, particularly for afternoon kid-shows. This led to new popularity. The Stooges probably became better known among baby boomers than they had ever been before. The two remaining Stooges moved to cash in on their new popularity. They hired Joe DeRita (1909-1993) to replace Joe Besser, made a series of feature movies from '59 to '65 and appeared in other films such as It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963). They were a popular live act and there was even an animated series (and they appeared in other animated shows, particularly Scooby-Doo). Moe and Larry continued to perform until they were physically incapacitated.