Editing Curly Howard (section)

===Decline===
By 1944, Curly Howard's energy began to wane. His performances in films such as ''[[Idle Roomers (1944 film)|Idle Roomers]]'' (1944)  and ''[[Booby Dupes]]'' (1945) present a Curly whose voice was deeper and his actions slower. It is believed that Howard suffered the first of several strokes between the production of ''[[Idiots Deluxe]]'' (October 1944) and ''[[If a Body Meets a Body]]'' (March 1945). Following the completion of the feature-length ''[[Rockin' in the Rockies]]'' (December 1944), he was persuaded by Moe Howard to seek medical attention and was admitted to [[Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital|Cottage Hospital]] in [[Santa Barbara, California]], on January 23, 1945. There, he received diagnoses of severe [[hypertension]], [[retinal hemorrhage]], and [[obesity]], necessitating a period of rest. Consequently, only five short films were released in 1945, a notable reduction from the usual six to eight per year.

Despite Moe Howard's appeals to Harry Cohn to grant his brother an extended leave to recuperate, Cohn refused to disrupt the production schedule of the profitable Stooges shorts.<ref name="Fleming"/> The team was afforded a hiatus of five months between August 1945 and January 1946, during which they undertook a demanding two-month live performance engagement in New York City, performing daily. During this period, Howard met Marion Buxbaum, whom he married on October 17, 1945, after a two-week courtship.<ref name="Scrapbook"/>

Upon returning to Los Angeles in late November 1945, Howard's health had deteriorated significantly. Despite two months of relative rest, the team's 1946 production schedule at Columbia resumed in late January, involving only 24 days of filming between February and early May. Even with an additional eight weeks of leave during this timeframe, Howard's physical and mental state continued to decline.<ref name="Scrapbook"/>

By early 1946, Howard's voice had grown increasingly coarse, and he struggled to recall even the simplest dialogue. He exhibited significant weight loss and pronounced facial lines, reflecting the toll of his deteriorating health.<ref name="Scrapbook"/>