Page 6 Classic Images March 2012 Moe Howard and His Stooges “The Most Gentle and Kind Man I Have Ever Met” By Nick Thomas It’s been over 75 years since ing the windup of a career that “Raised by the Stars: Interviews with for a solo career, Moe inherited the The Three Stooges first slapped and produced almost 200 movie shorts 29 Children of Hollywood Actors.” role of head Stooge in 1934, and for poked their way to Hollywood fame. between 1934 and 1959, a whole In addition, we’ll also hear from the next three decades was the self- Although their appeal waned dur- new generation became fans in the actors who recall working with Moe appointed, short-tempered boss of late 1950s when their films aired and the Stooges. the team. across the nation on daytime TV shows for kids. Then, with a wave of One constant throughout the long Off camera, Moe was nothing Stoogemania sweeping the nation, film career of the Three Stooges was like his volatile on-screen character, the boys even broke out of the movie Moe Howard (1897-1975) who first according to those who worked with shorts ghetto and began starring in appeared as a Stooge-type character him. He was a devoted husband of their own feature films. in Soup to Nuts (1930). With his almost 50 years to his wife, Helen, brothers, Curly or Shemp Howard and loving father to children, Paul Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, (or their later replacements, Joe and Joan. Both have early memories Harold Lloyd, and Laurel & Hardy “Joe” Besser and Joe “Curly-Joe” of first seeing their dad perform on were some of the more skilled prac- DeRita), as well as Stooge regular, stage. “I can recall going to see the titioners of the art of film comedy. Larry Fine, Moe would go on to Stooges’ early films, but I preferred For the sheer madcap mayhem of appear in 190 shorts for which the the live performances which were personal injury comedy, however, Stooges are best known. Moe and very exciting for me,” Joan Howard The Three Stooges were in a class Larry later teamed up with Curly-Joe told me. “I have vivid memories by themselves. In this article we for six feature films from 1959-1965. of seeing my father on stage, when will hear from the children of head However, the original leader of the I was around eight, while he was Doing promotional work, the Stooges pose with the famous restaurant Big Boy. Stooge, Moe Howard, in interviews gang was vaudeville comedian Ted doing live shows for vaudeville. He (image courtesy of Nick Thomas) originally printed in my new book, Healy, who dealt out the punishment would sit me in the front row, and to the others. When Healy departed there was a lot of slapping and hit- At Hollywood Wax Museum with wax figures of The Three Stooges. Far left is Gary Owens; far right is Joan Howard; and to her left is her son, Jeffrey Scott. (photo courtesy of Joan Howard) Curly, Larry and Moe gang up on Nita Bieber in Rhythm and Weep (photo provided by Nita Bieber) www.classicimages.com Page 7 ting going on. What really stood any of them behave like their screen over his check book and muttering to normal job for a typical father. It’s out in my mind was that when he characters around our home,” said himself. He would worry about the hard to explain, but I guess I was would slap Curly on the face, saliva Joan. “I like to tell people that we ate act and whether or not their contract just wired that way for some reason. would fly out of his mouth. After the our pies, we didn’t throw them!” with Columbia would be renewed I also worried about whether kids show, Curly would complain: ‘Hit each year. Curly and Larry didn’t came over to our house to see me me harder so they can hear it in the In fact, Moe was a very pro- have any interest in that aspect of or to meet my famous father. So I back row!’” tective father and quite a worrier. their careers, so my dad was a wor- was just insecure on that level. It “When I started to walk, he would rier for all three of them.” lasted from when I was a little kid Paul Howard also clearly remem- tape soft sponges to all the sharp in elementary school until I was in bers seeing the Stooges perform, furniture corners in the rooms to As a young girl, Joan says she my 20s when I eventually realized it even though he was only around keep me from hitting my head if I was reluctant to tell her friends about was a rather non-productive attitude. three or four at the time. “I was in fell,” Paul recalled. “Later, when I her dad’s profession. “When I was a Now, I celebrate my family connec- the front of the theater, sitting on was about four years old and before kid, girls didn’t really like that kind tion to The Three Stooges. I go to my mother’s lap looking up on the I had learned to swim, he built a of physical comedy at all, so I was fan club meetings, and take along stage, and a voice introduced them: swimming pool at our house. In a actually a little hesitant about tell- my family films and slides and tell ‘Ladies and gentlemen – The Three corner of the shallow end he built a ing my friends what my father did stories about growing up with Moe, Stooges!’ Then the music began, six-foot-by-four-foot slatted, wood- because I knew what their reaction and my father entered on one side en ‘crib’ which was immersed in would be. They would say things of the stage and Curly came in about six inches of water. I could like, ‘Oh, it’s silly and stupid’ or ‘I from the other side with a cigar in splash around in it, on a hot summer don’t like that kind of comedy.’ I his mouth. I don’t remember where day, and Dad could turn his back never lied about what my dad did, I Larry was. They began to kind of and weed in his gardens without would just be evasive.” dance together. Then ‘Pow!’– they worrying about me drowning. He smashed right into each other’s bel- was a very sensible and cautious Her brother, however, was not lies and faces. At the same time, a person in real life, not at all like his so subtle. “If anybody asked me big bass drum produced the sound crazy, angry screen character. But he what my father did for a living, I’d say he was a meter reader for the effect as they ricocheted off each was impatient and did worry a lot. Ruth Godfrey (left) and Gloria Patrice other and I noticed Curly’s cigar was I would see him sitting at his desk Pacific Gas and Electric Company!” with Nita Bieber (right) from Rhythm and just flattened against his face. To a at home in the early evening going Paul admitted. “To me, that was a Weep (photo courtesy of Nita Bieber). four-year-old, it was startling to see my father do such a wacky routine in front of an audience.” One might imagine that, while growing up, Paul and Joan had to hide hammers, household tools, and cream pies when their father and uncles gathered for family events, but that wasn’t the case. “I didn’t see Publicity shot of Moe. A long time smok- er, Moe would die from lung cancer. (photo provided by Nick Thomas) Stooges are everywhere at the Stoogeum in Ambler, Pennsylvania. (Photo provided by Gary Lassin) Page 8 Classic Images March 2012 Shemp, Curly, and Larry. The fans 85-seat theater and was the brain- museum. The other 99.99 percent iron. It’s a silhouette of the Stooges really appreciate it and I’m thrilled child of Stooges devotee and col- were purchased by me over the past doing their ‘stuff’ and has been on when I see them enjoying it.” lector, Gary Lassin, and opened in 30 years. Most of the items that I my house for about 50 years. It shows 2004. “I used my own money to obtained from family members were my dad poking Curly and Larry, and One venue where Paul Howard get it going,” said Lassin, who is purchased. The best one donated to my mother had it made for Dad back has shared memories of his family the current president of the 2,500 me was a letter handwritten by Moe in the ‘30s or ‘40s.” To this, Paul is the Stoogeum, a sacred destina- member-strong Three Stooges Fan to his six-year-old daughter, Joan. added, “I, personally, have no props. tion for devoted Stooges followers. Club and who actually married a She saved it since the mid-1930s and However, my dad had a fondness for Located in Ambler, Pennsylvania, relative of Larry’s in 1981. “Only a gave it to me a few years ago at one collecting trinkets that conformed to about 20 miles north of Philadelphia, handful of items were donated to the of our fan get-togethers.” a frog theme. Drawings, a magnifier, the three-floor museum features an paper weights, ceramics, etc., I still Lassin says hardcore Stooges have a few of these frog icons.” fans/collectors will enjoy seeing other one-of-kind personal items While the Stooges use of props at the Stoogeum, including Larry’s to inflict violence upon each other driver’s license and studio ID card, may seem dated now, the real tal- which includes his thumbprints.