Shemp Howard
was a gifted physical actor and ad-libber yet his career oddly seemed at times to fly-under-the-radar. A century ago, his onstage life began as the original Stooge for superstar
Ted Healy
, ultimately gracing Broadway. Alongside brother
Moe Howard
with
Larry Fine
- the nucleus of
The Three Stooges
- they appeared in the feature film
Soup to Nuts
. He went solo in 105 movies with stars like
John Wayne
,
James Stewart
W.C. Fields
and
Abbott and Costello
.
Returning to
in place of ailing younger brother Jerome (Curly), Shemp saved the act from prematurely ending but sadly he died at the rather young age of 60 in 1955. A Shemp renaissance has attracted attention from gifted artists including
Drew Friedman
Tristan Yonce
Darin McGowan
, the latter responsible for transporting him to magical cinematic locales like Oz (see photo above).
BearManor Media author and veteran Canadian journalist Geoff Dale probes his fascinating life in this first-ever
book. Foreword by
Geri Howard Greenbaum, Jill Howard Marcus and Sandie Howard Isaac.