SHEMP! The Biography of the Three Stooges’ Shemp Howard, the Face of Film Comedy, by Burt Kearns. Applause Books, 2024, 280pp. $32.95
On March 11, 1895, a masterclass in American comedy was born in Brooklyn, New York. His name was Samuel Horwitz. You may not know his real name, but you may be familiar with his stage name: Shemp, also known as “the fourth Stooge.” Shemp was continuously upstaged by Moe, Larry, and Curly (“The Three Stooges”), and that may be why Burt Kearns wrote SHEMP! The Biography of the Three Stooges’ Shemp Howard, the Face of Film Comedy. In this definitive biography, Kearns turns a long-delayed spotlight on the man some consider the greatest Stooge, a man who was also deemed “the ugliest actor in Hollywood.”
This moniker may seem cruel, but as Kearns points out, in 1942, “the title of ‘ugliest man’ was actually one that some celebrities sought” (151). It would drum up publicity for the actor’s films and bring him a great deal of attention, especially if he embraced it and used it to his advantage to get more jobs. According to Kearns, Shemp “earned that face” (151) after years of getting slapped around by his co-stars, most especially his real-life brother and Three Stooges business manager Moe (Moses Horwitz). Shemp was in fact proud of his looks and, as it turns out, of his many successes. In his decades-long career, he starred in about 200 short films and feature-length films, primarily as a character actor in bit parts where he was generally the comic relief. Kearns recognizes Shemp’s importance in cinema history and makes a compelling case for him as the most talented entertainer of the team.
Kearns suggests that the reason why Shemp’s talents were and are not as well-documented as they might be is because of Moe, a tyrannical taskmaster who also had a penchant for telling tall tales about himself, his brothers, and Larry Fine (who was not related to the Horwitz clan). A good portion of SHEMP! paints Moe as money-hungry, unempathetic, sociopathic, and arguably murderous: Shemp, Larry, and Curly all died sooner than Moe did, two of them (Curly and Larry) from stroke complications after being struck in the head multiple times in their slapstick career, and one (Shemp) dropping dead in a taxicab from a massive coronary. Moe downplayed the others to feed his own ego, and Kearns sprinkles the book with his hostility toward the head Stooge without deviating from his reverence for Shemp, whom Moe claimed could not swim, feared animals, and wet the bed as a child – none of which appear to have been true.
Moe, Shemp, and Larry in Sing a Song of Six Pants (1947). Public domain image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
According to Kearns, Moe also portrayed Shemp as dumb, which was again far from the truth. Shemp was the true comedian, says the author, the funny one; and to be funny, one has to be smart. “Shemp had a certain charisma and innate flair for comedy” (15). Moe, on the other hand, did terribly in his studies and ended up dropping out of high school to get into show business. At the time, Brooklyn was like a mini-Hollywood, and Moe, at eleven years old, would go down to the American Vitagraph Company to act in the short films that were produced there. As dictatorial as Moe was, his aspirations got him and those around him (including Shemp) in the door and ultimately noticed by celebrities like Ted Healy, known as the King of Vaudeville. Like many film comedians of the time, Shemp’s career started on stage; and he and Moe would play “the stooge” character or “member of the team, often planted in the audience (as some magicians and stage hypnotists do today) to pop up and interrupt the proceedings in an intrusion that turns into a routine” (23). Slapstick would soon follow, and, unlike that of filmic slapstick, the slaps on stage were always real and hard enough to be heard in the back of the theater. However, it was that sort of intensity to sell the bit that would also get them, as well as Curly and Larry (and others), the laughs they needed to become successful at what they did, even if it was detrimental to their physical health. What is apparent in Kearns’s book is that all of the Stooges were committed to their craft, whether on stage, in film, on television, or on radio; even if sick, hurt, or in fact dying, getting the laugh was most important – that and making a living.
Kearns writes lovingly of Shemp’s career, both as a Stooge in vaudeville and as a character actor, but the book makes it a point to speak about his life as an everyday person. He was not two-dimensional; he was a fascinating human being who used his talents admirably. Oftentimes, biographies settle on the person’s career and stay consistent on that track throughout; Kearns, however, maintains a fine balance between what Shemp did and who Shemp was. Early on, Shemp registered for the draft during World War I. Later, in the early 1920s, Shemp and Moe teamed up and were managed by Healy, a belligerent drunk. Eventually, Shemp got tired of being beaten physically and emotionally by Healy and Moe, and having gotten glowing reviews for his stage performances (minor roles in smaller films or the lead in his own short films), decided to make his own way. Shemp was well travelled, hardworking, and good-natured. Working consistently until his death in 1955 at 60, he easily developed relationships, personal and professional, with people like baseball player Honus Wagner and fellow comedian W. C. Fields (whom he starred alongside in The Bank Dick). He was married for thirty years to Gertrude Frank and was the father to one son, Morton. Passionate and devoted, Shemp cared about his audience and his family, and Kearns shows that the feeling was returned.
Date unknown. Editor’s collection.
Over the span of several decades, Shemp worked for a surprisingly varied number of studios and production companies in an era when the signing of contracts to a single studio was standard procedure: Warner Brothers/Vitaphone, Van Beuren Productions, Columbia Pictures, Universal Pictures, 20th Century-Fox, RKO Radio Pictures, Hal Roach Studios, Republic Pictures, and Nasbro Pictures. His career as a bit player was prolific and dynamic because, as Leonard Maltin says (quoted by Kearns), Shemp’s “persona” and “shtick” were always different (234); and his routines and gags were more mature than Curly’s (Jerome Howard), a comedian who primarily stayed in his lane throughout his career as the oafish man-baby of the group. Shemp was purposeful and strategic about his career. He wanted to be an entertainer but refused to be pigeonholed. In essence, Shemp was an artist with a strong presence, perfect timing, and improvisational skills that were utilized in much of his works. Kearns demonstrates how he autonomously crafted the trajectory of his career and succeeded at doing what he wanted to do.
SHEMP! is analytical without being academic; Kearns does not use postmodern theory or cultural studies to get his points across. He makes it easy for his readers, to ensure they learn not only about Shemp but about the work he did. The book includes plot summaries, photographs, drawings, dialogue, interviews, and commentary, fleshing out, and one might argue rehabilitating, the life and work of one of the greats of early American comedic cinema.
