Editing Curly Howard (section)

==Early life==
Curly Howard was born Jerome Lester Horwitz in the [[Bensonhurst, Brooklyn|Bensonhurst]] section of [[Brooklyn, New York]], on October 22, 1903. Of [[Lithuanian Jews|Lithuanian Jewish]] ancestry, he was the youngest of the five sons of Jennie (Gorovitz) and Solomon Horwitz. Because he was the youngest, his brothers called him "Babe" to tease him. The name "Babe" stuck with him all his life. However, when his elder brother Shemp Howard married Gertrude Frank, who was also nicknamed "Babe", the brothers called him "Curly" to avoid confusion.<ref name=moe>{{cite book| last = Howard | first = Moe | author-link = Moe Howard |author2=Joan Howard Maurer |author2-link=Joan Howard Maurer | title = [[Moe Howard and the Three Stooges]] | publisher = Citadel Press| year = 1977| pages = 21–23, 25, 33, 49–50}}</ref> His full formal [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] name was "Yehudah Leib bar Shlomo Natan [[Levite|HaLevi]]".<ref>Curly has a traditional Jewish gravestone with his full formal Hebrew name engraved on it in Hebrew script, directly [[Transliteration|transliterated]] from the Hebrew inscription contained there.</ref>

A quiet child, Howard rarely caused problems for his parents (something in which older brothers Moe and Shemp excelled). He was a mediocre student, but excelled as an athlete on the school [[basketball]] team. He did not graduate high school; instead, he kept himself busy with odd jobs and constantly following his older brothers, whom he idolized. He was also an accomplished ballroom dancer and singer and regularly turned up at the Triangle Ballroom in Queens,<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.newdavesrailpix.com/nyc/htm/bqt273.htm | title=Brooklyn & Queens Transit }}</ref> occasionally bumping into actor [[George Raft]].<ref name="Scrapbook"/>

When Howard was 13, he accidentally shot himself in the left ankle while cleaning a rifle. Moe rushed him to the hospital, saving his life, but the wound resulted in a noticeably thinner left leg and a slight limp. Curly was so afraid of surgery that he never had the limp corrected. While with the Stooges, he developed his famous exaggerated walk to conceal the limp on screen.<ref name="Scrapbook"/>

Howard was interested in music and comedy, and watched his brothers Shemp and Moe perform as stooges in [[Ted Healy]]'s vaudeville act. He also liked to hang around backstage, although he never participated in any of the routines.{{citation needed|date=June 2024}}