Columnist ties new Shemp Howard biography to immigration debate!

 

SHEMP!, Burt Kearns' game-changing biography of Three Stooges legend Shemp Howard, has drawn attention and praise from media and readers since its publication this month. A very intersting take comes from James Logue, columnist for the Exponent Telegram newspaper of Clarksburg, West Virgina, in his  reaction to the Washington Post article on the Amazon best-selling book.

Shemp, the unsung Stooge

·       by James Logue FOR THE EXPONENT TELEGRAM

     October 22, 2024

 

Regular readers of this column over the years know that in my annual list of unpopular Halloween costumes I end the list with Shemp.

 

Shemp was the accidental member of The Three Stooges who had to always live in the shadow of his more popular brother, Curly.

 

So I was reading The Washington Post online the other day and noticed a story in the books section that startled me. It reviewed a book on Shemp Howard, the “unsung” member of The Three Stooges.

 

Shemp started out as an original member of The Three Stooges, working with his brother Moe Howard and Larry Fine.

 

So what’s with the name, you ask. Well, he was born Schmuel Horwitz in 1895 to Jewish Lithuanian immigrants. His nickname was Sam but his mother, who had a very thick accent, always called him Shemp.

 

Now think about this for a moment. All you people out there who get your knickers in a knot over immigration, just think that if Mr. and Mrs. Horwitz were not allowed into the United States, we would not have had The Three Stooges.

 

Shemp left the act in the early 1930s to star in his own movies. It was then that Curly took his place and movie history was made.

 

Curly, who remains laugh-out-loud funny almost a century later, was very popular with movie audiences and helped the Stooges make a lot of money for Columbia Pictures.

 

Shemp, in the meantime, was very successful on his own, making his own short features and even doing some dramatic roles.

"All you people out there who get 

your knickers in a knot over immigration, 

just think that if Mr. and Mrs. Horwitz 

were not allowed into the United States, 

we would not have had The Three Stooges.”

 

In 1947, after years of drinking and smoking and dealing with hypertension, Curly suffered a career-ending stroke.

 

Shemp, who was also Curly’s brother, stepped in to keep the Stooges going. He was in a very awkward situation. Curly was the king. Shemp had impossibly large shoes to fill.

 

But even though he was not Curly, he turned out to be just as funny. And the Stooges shorts were as popular as ever.

 

Shemp did 77 short features for the team before he succumbed to a heart attack in 1955. The Stooges went on but they were not the same nor were they as popular as before.

 

The new book is simply called “Shemp,” by Burt Kearns. He said that “of all the great comedy performers of the 20th century, few have been as shortchanged as Shemp.”

 

If you have a chance, go on YouTube and watch Shemp in “Brideless Groom,” one of his best. Curly would be proud.

 

James Logue, who accepts that Shemp is still an unpopular Halloween costume, can be reached at jlogue@theet.com

 

“Fascinating! Fresh perspectives!” Booklist praises Shemp!, Burt Kearns’ biography of the most talented Stooge

Burt Kearns’ latest book, Shemp! The Biography of the Three Stooges, the Face of Film Comedy hits bookstores in October, six months after the publication of his Marlon Brando: Hollywood Rebel. 

Like the Brando book, the volume about the “fourth” member of the famed Three Stooges comedy team has caused some controversy, as readers and critics alike agree that Kearns’ research has literally rewritten Hollywood history, casting a very different light on the veteran comic actor and his rightful place in Hollywood history.

The latest praise comes in the October 15 issue of Booklist,  the publication of the American Library Association:

"Known best for his work as a sometime member of the Three Stooges, along with his younger brother, Moe Howard, and comedian Larry Fine, Shemp Howard also had a considerable career as a performer in live theater (on Broadway and on the road) and a supporting actor in a long list of two-reelers and feature films. Journalist and screenwriter Kearns writes with a fan’s passion, and his account of Shemp’s rise from working-class Bensonhurst in Brooklyn and the lower reaches of vaudeville to Broadway and Hollywood is fascinating. Those interested in vaudeville will enjoy Kearns’ detailed descriptions of sketches performed and reviews of shows on the circuit. Kearns’ chronicling of the evolution of the Three Stooges, from a side act in comedian Ted Healy’s much larger productions, in which they were billed as Ted Healy and His Stooges, to a popular if low-brow act in the movies and on television, offers fresh perspectives on an iconic comedy group. Shemp’s relationship with Moe, who dominated the Stooges on stage and off, was complicated, prompting Shemp’s solo adventures, which will be new to many readers.”   — Jack Helbig

author Burt Kearns

Shemp!, published by Applause Theatre & Cinema Books, is available wherever books are sold and of course online.