retirement. But Larry saw 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. At first, they had difficulty drawing an audience. But Columbia began releasing their shorts to television through their Screen Gems subsidiary, and their popularity with children put them back on top. It was rumored that Jules White had attempted to recruit DeRita for the Three Stooges in 1955 (and even as early as 1946) because he wanted "another Curly", but that strong-willed DeRita had refused to change his act or imitate another performer, and White eventually gave up on him. DeRita himself debunked the rumor, saying that it "added a romance to the story". When he first joined the act (shortly after appearing in a dramatic role in the Gregory Peck western, The Bravados), DeRita wore his hair in a style similar to that of former Stooge Shemp Howard and did so during initial live stage performances. However, with the restored popularity of the Three Stooges shorts on TV featuring Curly Howard, it was suggested that Joe shave his head in order to look more like Curly. At first, DeRita sported a crew cut; this eventually became a fully shaven head. Because of his physical resemblance to both Curly and Joe Besser, and to avoid confusion with his predecessors, DeRita was renamed "Curly Joe". Theatrical feature films The team embarked on a new series of six feature-length theatrical Three Stooges films, including Have Rocket, Will Travel (1959), DeRita's on-screen debut with the Stooges, and Snow White and the Three Stooges (1961). Aimed primarily at children, these films rarely reached the same comedic heights as their shorts and often recycled routines and songs from the older films. Moe and Larry's ages—Moe was 62 and Larry 57 at the time of the first Curly Joe film—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 vaguely reminiscent of Curly, his characterization was milder and not as manic or surreal. The characterization evolved over time; early sketches featuring Curly Joe (such as a commercial for Simoniz car wax) have him effectively as a third wheel while Moe and Larry divided most of the comedy between themselves, while by the mid-1960s, Larry's role had