Shemp Howard
| Shemp Howard | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Born |
Samuel Horwitz March 11, 1895 Manhattan, New York City, U.S. |
| Died | November 22, 1955 (aged 60) Hollywood, California, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Heart attack |
| Occupation | Comedian, actor |
| Years active | 1923–1955 |
| Known for | The Three Stooges |
| Spouse(s) | Gertrude Frank (m. 1925; his death 1955) |
| Children | 1 |
| Relatives |
Moe Howard (brother) Curly Howard (brother) |
Shemp Howard (born Samuel Horwitz, March 11, 1895 – November 22, 1955) was an American comedian and actor. He was called "Shemp" because "Sam" came out that way in his mother's thick Litvak accent. He is best known today for his role as the third stooge in the Three Stooges, a role he first portrayed at the beginning of the act in the early 1920s (1923–1932) while the act was still associated with Ted Healy and known as "Ted Healy and his Stooges", and again from 1947 until his death in 1955. Between his times with the Stooges, Shemp had a successful film career as a solo comedian.
Shemp was born in Manhattan, New York, and raised in Brooklyn. He was the third-born of the five Horwitz brothers, the sons of their Lithuanian Jewish parents: Solomon Horwitz (1872–1943) and Jennie Horwitz (1870–1939). Moe Howard and Curly Howard were his younger brothers.
Shemp's brother, Moe Howard, started in show business as a youngster, on stage and in films. Eventually, Moe and Shemp tried their hands as minstrel-show-style "blackface" comedians with an act they called "Howard and Howard—A Study In Black". Meanwhile, they also worked for a rival vaudeville circuit at the same time, by appearing without makeup.
By the 1920s, Moe had teamed up with boyhood-friend-turned-vaudeville star Ted Healy in a "roughhouse" act. One day Moe spotted his brother Shemp in the audience, and yelled at him from the stage. Quick-witted Shemp yelled right back, and walked onto the stage. From then on he was part of the act, usually known as "Ted Healy and His Stooges". His original stooges were the Howard brothers, and others came and went during 1925 - 1928, with Larry Fine joining in March 1928. On stage, Healy would sing and tell jokes while his three noisy stooges would get in his way. He would retaliate with physical and verbal abuse. Shemp played a bumbling fireman in the Stooges' first film, Soup to Nuts (1930), the only film in which he plays one of Healy's gang.
After a disagreement with Ted in August 1930, Moe, Larry and Shemp left to launch their own act, "Howard, Fine & Howard," and joined the RKO vaudeville circuit. The three premiered at Los Angeles' Paramount Theatre on August 28, 1930. 1931, they added "Three Lost Soles" to the act's name, and took on Jack Walsh as their straight man. Moe, Larry and Shemp continued until July 1932, when Ted Healy approached them to team up again for the Shuberts' Broadway revue "Passing Show of 1932," and they readily accepted the offer. In spite of any differences, Moe knew that an association with the nationally-known Ted Healy provided opportunities the three comics were not achieving on their own.
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