__NOTOC__ Year 1220 (MCCXX) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.

Events

May – St. Francis of Assisi resigns from the leadership of the Franciscan Order.

August 8 – Battle of Lihula: The Estonians defeat the invading Swedes.

November 22 – Frederick II is crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Honorius III.

The Mongols first invade the Abbasid Caliphate; Bukhara and Samarkand are taken.

The Dominican Order is approved by Pope Honorius III.

Conrad of Masovia drives out the heathen Prussians from a Masovian territory of Chelmno Land.

Trial by ordeal is abolished in England.

The German Hohenstaufen dynasty, which had ruled Sicily since 1194, adopts Palermo as its principal seat.

Dordrecht receives city rights, making it the oldest city in the present-day Netherlands.

Ljubljana receives its town rights.

The Islamic lands of Central Asia are overrun by the armies of the Mongol invader Genghis Khan (ca. 1155–1227), who lays waste to many civilizations and creates an empire that stretches from China to the Caspian Sea. However, he fails to destroy the strength of Islam in Central Asia.

The Thai Kingdom of Sukhothai is established.

St Benedict of Nursia was Canonized by the Roman Catholic Church.

Gothic architecture becomes increasingly popular in Europe.

The rebuilding of the Cathedral of Chartres, which had been destroyed by a fire in 1194, is completed.

Rebuilding of Amiens Cathedral begins.

Rebuilding of York Minster begins.

Building of the Salisbury Cathedral begins.

Rebuilding of the city of London begins

Births

April 1 – Emperor Go-Saga of Japan (d. 1272)

November 11 – Alphonse of Toulouse, son of Louis VIII of France (d. 1271)

Thomas Ercildoun, Scottish minstrel (d. 1297)

Alexander Nevsky, Grand Prince of Novgorod and Vladimir

Przemysł I of Poland (d. 1257)

Yaroslav of Russia, Grand Duke of Vladimir

Walter de Burgh, 1st Earl of Ulster (d. 1271)

Deaths

February 17 – Theobald I, Duke of Lorraine

April 15 – Adolf of Altena, Archbishop of Cologne

Michael Choniates, Byzantine writer and ecclesiastic

Farid od-Din Mohammad ebn Ebrahim 'Attar, Persian mystical poet

Saxo Grammaticus, Danish historian (b. 1150)

Henry de Bohun, 1st Earl of Hereford (b. 1176)

Mestwin I of Pomerania

Queen Urraca of Portugal, spouse of King Afonso II of Portugal (b. 1186)

References

Category:1220

Name	Joe DeRita
Birthname	Joseph Wardell
Birth date	July 12, 1909
Birth place	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Death date	July 03, 1993
Death place	Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Othername	Curly Joe DeRita
Occupation	Actor, comedian
Spouse
Website	threestooges.net

Joe DeRita (July 12, 1909 – July 3, 1993), born Joseph Wardell, was an American comedian who is best known as Curly Joe DeRita, the "sixth" member of the Three Stooges.

DeRita was born into a show-business family in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Wardell's father was a stage technician, his mother a professional stage dancer, and the three often acted on stage together from his early childhood. Taking his mother's maiden name, DeRita (Portuguese), the actor joined the burlesque circuit during the 1920s, gaining fame as a comedian. During World War II, DeRita joined the USO, performing through Britain and France with such celebrities as Bing Crosby and Randolph Scott.

Career with The Three Stooges

The Three Stooges (Curly Howard, Larry Fine, and Moe Howard) had been making short comedies for Columbia Pictures since 1934. Curly suffered a stroke in 1946, forcing him to retire; his brother Shemp Howard, the original third Stooge before leaving the act in 1932 for a solo career, only wanted to be a temporary replacement. Joe DeRita was also making short slapstick comedies for Stooges producer-director Jules White at the time. White attempted to recruit Joe DeRita for the Three Stooges, because he wanted "another Curly." However, the strong-willed DeRita refused to change his act or imitate another performer, and White eventually gave up on DeRita (DeRita's own short-subject contract was not renewed.). DeRita returned to burlesque, and in the 1950s he recorded a risque LP called Burlesque Uncensored.

Shemp Howard died in 1955, and was succeeded by Joe Besser. Columbia shut down the short-subjects department at the end of 1957, and Besser quit the act to take care of his ailing wife. The two remaining Stooges seriously considered retirement. Then Columbia's television subsidiary, Screen Gems, syndicated the Stooges' old comedies to television, and The Three Stooges were suddenly television superstars.

Now Moe and Larry had many job offers, but they needed a new partner. Larry saw Joe DeRita in a Las Vegas stage engagement, and told Moe that DeRita would be "perfect for the third Stooge." Howard and Fine invited DeRita to join the act, and he readily accepted. Because of his physical resemblance to both Curly and Joe Besser, and to avoid confusion with his predecessors, DeRita was renamed Curly Joe and became the third Stooge in 1958.

The team embarked on a new series of theatrical Three Stooges films, including Have Rocket, Will Travel and Snow White and the Three Stooges. Aimed primarily at children, these films rarely reached the same comedic heights as their shorts. (Moe and Larry's advanced ages, plus pressure from the PTA and other children's advocates, led to the toning-down of the trio's trademark violent slapstick.) While DeRita's physical appearance was reminiscent of the original "Curly," his characterization was milder, and not as manic or surreal. Curly Joe also showed a bit more backbone, even occasionally talking back to Moe, calling him "buddy boy."

Through the 1960s, DeRita remained a member of the team, participating in animated cartoons (with live-action introductions) and a failed television pilot titled Kook's Tour. However, Larry Fine suffered a paralyzing stroke in 1970, putting all new Stooges-related material on hold. Emil Sitka was named as "the middle stooge", but never got to perform with the team. Before Moe's death in 1975, the Stooges (with Emil Sitka taking on the role as the middle stooge) had planned to film an R-rated movie called The Jet Set (later produced with the surviving members of the Ritz Brothers and released as Blazing Stewardesses).

In the 1970s, DeRita attempted to form a truly "new" Three Stooges. He recruited burlesque and vaudeville veterans Mousie Garner and Frank Mitchell to replace Moe and Larry for nightclub engagements, but the act failed and DeRita retired.

Death

On July 3, 1993, DeRita died of pneumonia at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California, nine days before his 84 birthday. He was buried in the Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery in North Hollywood; his epitaph reads "The Last Stooge".

Legacy

Although DeRita enjoyed working with Moe and Larry, and made a good living doing it, he was not a fan of the Stooges' humor. He told an interviewer the following:

Personal

DeRita was married twice. His first marriage was to a co-worker named Bonnie Brooks. They were married in 1935 and divorced some 30 years later. He remarried in 1967 to Jean Sullivan; they remained together until his death.

Popular culture

In the spring of 2000, ABC aired a made-for-television movie about the Stooges, with actor Peter Callan playing the role of Joe DeRita.

References

External links

Category:Actors from Pennsylvania Category:American film actors Category:American television actors Category:American voice actors Category:American comedians Category:Burials at Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery Category:Deaths from pneumonia Category:Infectious disease deaths in California Category:American people of Portuguese descent Category:People from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Category:The Three Stooges members Category:1909 births Category:1993 deaths