YouTube Gold: The Curly Shuffle

Novelty songs have a long history in the US. Purple People Eaters, Chantilly Lace, Monster Mash - they go on and on.

But one of the greatest was the Curly Shuffle by the Jump N The Saddle Band. Whoever does the vocals does a dead-on impression of Curly Howard of Three Stooges fame.

It’s hard to do justice to Curly Howard. The youngest of three brothers - Moe and Shemp were also Stooges - but Curly was unique in the annals of American entertainment. Love him or hate him, he’s impossible to explain.

A gifted basketball player and ballroom dancer, Howard never intended to go into acting until his brothers recruited him to replace someone in their preceding act.

His directors often turned to him to improvise several minutes in films and he became a popular star in the shorts the Stooges did but his career didn’t last long: he had a massive stroke in 1948 and several finished him off by 1952. He was just just 48.

There was a lot of sadness in Howard’s life but he made, and continues to make, millions of people laugh.