Ten Things You Mightn't Have Known About Shemp

To further, if not your appreciation, then your knowledge of Shemp -- the oft marginalized Stooge, I have decided to entrust to you these tidbits of glimpses into the eldest Horwitz Brother.

Shall we shtart at the very first beginning? It is a very good place to shtart, after all. 

1. Why "Shemp?" 

Born Samuel Horwitz in New York City on March 11th 1895, he adopted the moniker "Shemp,"  as his nom de stage on account of his mother's thick Latvik accent. "Sam" came out "Shemp" when she called his name. A momma's boy at heart, perhaps, but charmingly so and possibly in keeping with our second tidbit...

2. Shemp was a bed-wetter. 

Or at least he was for long enough to get out of serving in WWI. This "issue" was discovered very shortly after his being drafted and found him being sent home two weeks thereafter. Some film historians question this as being anything more than a soggy rouse to get out of combat. Personally, I feel it's perfectly in keeping with his character profile, which as we'll soon see, is riddled with phobias. Perhaps his accidents were simply of the happy useful variety.

I have long said that Shemp has layers. Some of those layers were near undoubtedly waterproof plastic and placed under his fitted bed sheets.

3. Shemp Entertained in Blackface.

Along with his little brother and future Boss Stooge, Moe, Shemp donned the infamous Minstrel Show attire in an act dubbed "Howard and Howard: A Study In Black." Such fine vaudevillians they were, they concurrently worked with a rival troupe, sans Blackface.

4. Shemp was the most successful solo Stooge.

The original Stooge lineup was Moe, Larry, and Shemp -- until Shemp had it up to his frazzled bangs with Ted Healy mercilessly taunting him and his many phobias.

When he did strike out on his own, he quickly found work in many Hollywood shorts and feature films. He gigged within Fatty Arbuckle's final turns and appeared in Jimmy Stewart's first screen appearance in a 1934 comedy short. He also had a running gig as Knobby Walsh, Joe Palooka's boxing manager. He also paired with Lon Chaney, Jr, as a somewhat bastardized version of Abbott and Costello in "San Antonio Rose" (1941). Finally, for the sake of briefness, he lent his comedic mugging to Charlie Chan in the Thin Man murder mysteries. 

To threaten that aforementioned briefness, I'll add that Shemp was also capable of serious role-play, as was the case in 1942's "Pittsburgh" in which he shared screen time with Marlene Dietrich and John Wayne.

5. Shemp was a Phobic.

He was afraid of: 

Water - He toted galoshes everywhere, always. 

Heights - & I don't mean high ones. It did not take much.

Driving/riding (in) cars - On account of his witnessing a car wreck as a kid, says Moe. 

Planes too were a no-go - Trains were it, man.

Dogs - Except for his own Collie, Wags.

It's no surprise that he was known to jump at every noise. No telling if said noise had to be actual.

6. Shemp shared the stage with baseball great Honus Wagner.

In 1919, Shemp and Moe appeared in a very rare movie short called "Spring Fever,"  Sadly and like too many silent films, this one has been cuffed by the bandit of all bandits, time.

7. Shemp's "era" as a Stooge is known to have been risque.

With Curly suffering a stroke in '46, Shemp entered back into the Stooge fold and made 70 more films with Moe and Larry. These films constitute the Shemp Era and the trio's offerings became known to be slightly more adult-themed (Shemp and Christine McIntyre had some great chemistry), as well as more heavily banter-driven.

I personally have stated my belief that some of Shemp's work has lost its luster today, because we no longer recognize his naughty envelope pushing as, well, naughty envelop pushing. Think Lenny Bruce -- his act which gained him fame as well as arrest in his own time, would be quite the mainstream performance now. Too, bear in mind far less time has passed since Mr. Bruce's bits, than has since Shemp's.

8. Shemp was voted "The Ugliest Man in Hollywood."

This was a concocted publicity stunt. Still, it must have stung, one would imagine. This puts me in mind of Curly shearing his beloved locks for the purpose of Stoogery -- Babe never really got OK with it. It bugged him always.

"I'm hideous," Shemp told reporters.

9. Shemp's death was as calm as his life wasn't.

On Nov. 23th [22nd, editor] 1955 Shemp played the ponies during the day and attended the prize fights at night. After these good and usual festivities, he was sitting in the back of a car with his cohorts, smoking a cigar and joking. Suddenly, he slumped over -- dead of a cerebral hemorrhage. Out went the light.

For a man ruled by fear, Shemp Howard had an easy go at life's biggest one and the probable metaphysical root of all the others. All accounts stated that he died with a smile on his ugly mug.

10. Fake shemp.

Here's a quirky legacy: Columbia had The Three Stooges on the hook for eight comedy shorts in 1956, but only half were in the can at the untimely time of Shemp's death. To fulfill contractual obligations, Jules White strung together four more shorts by reusing old footage of Shemp and filming new connecting scenes with a stand-in -- long time Stooge character actor Joe Palma, seen mostly from the back. Using this same tact, and it's been used widely, is now officially called "Fake Shemp."

Not. Awkward. Viewing. At. All --
From "Commotion in the Ocean" (1956)
Moe: I wonder what became of that Shemp?
Larry: You know, he went on deck to scout out some food.
Moe: Oh, yeah. That's right.

Oy.