LOS ANGELES : Families of 2 ‘Stooges’ Sue MGM Grand for $1 Million

How did Moe rate the dough? And not Curly Joe?

Heirs of two of the Three Stooges sued the MGM Grand for $1 million Thursday, claiming that the actors’ likenesses were used in hotel and theme park performances without compensation.

Grandchildren of the late Larry Fine and the widow of “Curly Joe” DeRita alleged that they were excluded from a licensing agreement between the hotel and descendants of head stooge Moe Howard.

MGM Grand lawyers had not seen the lawsuit and would not comment on it, said a spokeswoman at the company’s Las Vegas headquarters.

The lawsuit also asks for any profits the hotel has made on the actors’ images. It claims that a March 5, 1993, agreement between the hotel and Moe’s descendants covers use of the names, faces, voices and antics of the entire group.

Plaintiffs are John Joseph Fine Jr., Phyllis Lorraine Miller, Christy Lynn Clark and Kris Cutler, all grandchildren of Fine; and Jean DeRita, widow of Joseph Franklin Wardell, known as “Curly Joe” DeRita.

The Three Stooges began in vaudeville in 1923 as Ted Healy and His Stooges. The trio, which specialized in slapstick roughhousing, included various members over the years, among them Curly, Moe and Shemp Howard, as well as Fine, Joe Besser and DeRita. DeRita joined in 1959, replacing Besser, and appeared in several feature films.