Vulture: “A new Shemp bio by Burt Kearns will be published in October"

VULTURE, the entertainment newssite and standalone pop culture website of New York magazine, is featuring a list and appreciation of 25 (Mostly) Essential Three Stooges Shorts, compiled and written by the eminent pop culture journalist Donald Liebenson.

The article, filed under  “Slapstick Studies,” coincides with and announces the Stooges’ “own museum exhibit and streaming channel."

The Hollywood Museum at Hollywood Boulevard and N. Highland Avenue recently unveiled “The Three Stooges 100th Anniversary Exhibit" and C3 Entertainment's Three Stooges+ channel, which is being uploaded to imclude all 190 of the Stooges’ Columbia short films.

Among the “Top 25”cited by Liebenson is Brideless Groom from 1947, one of the first to feature Shemp Howard, who stepped in after the star of the act, his younger brother Curly, was felled by a series of strokes.

Writes Liebenson:

“I know, we’ve been favoring Curly here. For many, Shemp is the Hydrox to Curly’s Oreo, but Shemp, who replaced his brother, has a cult following of his own (a new bio by Burt Kearns will be published in October), and this is one of his best outings.”

Kearns’ latest book, Shemp! The Biography of The Three Stooges’ Shemp Howard, The Face of Film Comedy, will be published by Applause Theatre & Cinema Books on October 1. It is available for pre-order from the publisher and elsewhere.

Find updates at the new book website: SHEMPBOOK.COM.

Zibby’s Bookshop hosts Kearns’s ‘Hollywood Rebel’: Did Marlon Brando make a cameo appearance?

Burt Kearns took his latest book, Marlon Brando: Hollywood Rebel, on the road on the evening of Friday, May 31, with a discussion and signing at Zibby’s, the popular bookstore on Montana Avenue in Santa Monica, California, run by podcaster and publisher Zibby Owens. 

Kearns appeared alongside noted entertainment journalist and critic, author and college professor Ray Richmond (of GoldDerby.com) in a lively talk about Brando's continued influence on western popular culture in the great actor’s centennial year.

Listening to Us, Marlon?

 

In an amusing, and to some, slightly disturbing interruption to the discussion, about fifty minutes into the program, one of the Brando books on display behind the two speakers suddenly fell into Richmond's lap. There was immediate speculation that it may have been the spirit of Marlon Brando listening in. We will leave conclusions up to the reader.

 Marlon Brando: Hollywood Rebel, published by Applause Theatre & Cinema Books on April 2 (and today in the UK), has received many favorable reviews. Kearns has made many podcast, radio and television appearances. 

 

More information can be found at MarlonBrandoBook.com. 

(Thanks to Mike Rizio, Katie Regvall and Charlotte at Zibby’s.)