Joe Besser
| Joe Besser | |
|---|---|
Joe Besser
|
|
| Born |
August 12, 1907 St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. |
| Died | March 1, 1988 (aged 80) North Hollywood, California, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Heart failure |
| Occupation | Actor, voice actor, comedian, musician |
| Years active | 1919–1988 |
| Spouse(s) | Erna Kay (m. 1932–88) |
| Website | threestooges.net |
Joe Besser (August 12, 1907 – March 1, 1988) was an American actor, voice actor, comedian and musician, known for his impish humor and wimpy characters. He is best known for his brief stint as a member of the Three Stooges in movie short subjects of 1957–59. He is also remembered for his television roles: Stinky, the spoiled impish bratty overgrown man-child in The Abbott and Costello Show, and Jillson, the maintenance man in The Joey Bishop Show.
Besser was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He was the ninth child of Morris and Fanny Besser, who were Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. He had seven older sisters, and an older brother Manny who was in show business, primarily as an ethnic Jewish comic. From an early age, Joe was fascinated with show business, especially the magic act of Howard Thurston that visited St. Louis annually. When Joe was 12, Thurston allowed him to be an audience plant. Besser was so excited by this, he sneaked into Thurston's train after the St. Louis run of the show was over, and was discovered the next day sleeping on top of the lion's cage in Detroit.
Thurston relented, informed Besser's parents of the situation, and trained him as an assistant. The first act involved pulling a rabbit out of a hat. The trick involved two rabbits, one hidden in a pocket of Thurston's cape. But young Besser was so nervous that he botched badly, pulling out the rabbit from the cape at the same time as the other rabbit was on display, before the trick had been performed. The audience roared with laughter, and Besser from then on was assigned "comic mishap" roles only. Besser was placed by St. Louis juvenile authorities in a "corrective school" (reform school) at age 12.
Besser remained in show business and developed a unique comic character: a whiny, bratty, impish guy who was easily excitable and upset, throwing temper tantrums with little provocation. Besser, with his frequent outbursts of "You crazy, youuuuu!" and "Not so faaaaaast!" or "Not so harrrrd!!" was so original and so outrageously silly that he became a vaudeville headliner, and movie and radio appearances soon followed.
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