A Legacy of LOVE & LAUGHTER

THE GRANDSON OF THE THREE STOOGES FUNNYMAN SHARES HIS FAMILY HISTORY WITH CLOSER

- Lindsay Hoffman

With his childlike innocence, high-pitched voice and nonsense catchphrases like "nyuk-nyuknyuk!" and "woob-woob-woob!" Curly Howard became the most popular of the Three Stooges among children - including his own grandson. "Curly was definitely my favorite," Bradley Server, who was a fan before he knew they were related, tells Closer.

Family always lay at the heart of the Three Stooges comedy act, which began on the vaudeville circuit as Ted Healy and His Stooges, but saw its peak of popularity between 1934 and 1946 when Columbia Pictures released more than 90 short films starring Moe Howard, his brother Curly and Larry Fine.

Curly, born Jerome Horwitz in Brooklyn, had been a high school basketball star, singer and a ballroom dancer before he was called upon to replace his older brother Shemp Howard in the Stooges act in 1932. "He was extremely close to his brothers," explains Bradley, whose grandmother was Curly's second wife, Elaine Ackerman.