From the S&S archives: An interview with Moe Howard of The Three Stooges

Pacific Stars & Stripes ^ | May 22, 1966 | Hal Drake

[Elliott Jackalope]

One of my all time favorite trick questions is "How many stooges were in the Three Stooges?" The correct answer is six. Yes, six. There was always Moe and Larry, but the role of the third Stooge was played by no less than four different people. The original third stooge was Shemp, who left the act to be with Ted Healy when he and the Stooges parted ways. Moe's brother Jerry then took on the role of "Curly". When Curly had a stroke then Shemp came back. When Shemp died of a stroke then he was replace by Joe Besser aka "Stinky", who's trademark line was "don't do that, not so haaard". As I understand it he had something written into his contract that specifically said that he wouldn't be hit. I guess he didn't want to end up with a stroke! The final Stooge was Joe DiRita, who played the third Stooge in the movies they made. And now you know the rest of the story.

[Vinnie]

The boys were HUGE in the 'Burgh.

"They were a comedy act??

"I thought they were in a 'Life in Pittsburgh' documentary." (G)

[Wally_Kalbacken]

The Bob Bernet website and his meeting with Moe Howard blows away my reminiscence – but here it is anyway.

In High School in the early to mid-1970’s, my friends and I would have a free hour during the afternoon – which provided time to head to my parents house for some Three Stooges on the UHF station in Milwaukee. It was a wonderful way to break up the afternoon.

As we talked about the Stooges during late 1974, our attention was focused by Larry Fine’s passing earlier that year on the fact that Moe was the only original Stooge left. We decided to locate him and try to talk with him on the phone.

We ran up several hundred dollars in long distance bills in trying to locate him – assuming that NYC and LA were the best bets. Finally we decided on the approach of using the name of a booking agency in NY when contacting the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). Thinking we would be given the name and number of his agent – we were surprised to be given his home phone number (!) I called and spoke with Moe's wife Helen – and she asked us to call back later when he was up from an early afternoon nap.

When we called – he was very gracious, spoke with us for perhaps 20 minutes, recalling vaudeville and the Riverside theatre in Milwaukee from his performances there 40 ears earlier.

He was coughing slightly during our conversation – but was very willing to talk and to responded to our enthusiasm about his comedy. It was a huge thrill. At the end of the conversation he politely asked us not to call his home number again - indicating he was not thrilled that SAG had given it out.

Roughly two months later on May 4th 1975, I was attending a Linda Ronstadt concert at the Performing Arts Center in Milwaukee and was explaining to my date, a H.S. classmate, about the phone call we had made to Moe. She had heard about it from someone who heard a tape of the conversation at school. I remember feeling an odd sensation as I was discussing this – but had no idea what this was. The next morning I heard a radio that Moe had passed away.

I envy this Bernet fellow for going to LA and meeting Moe. In his website description – I can see many similarities in the Stooges fanaticism we experienced. It’s great to know that Moe had many opportunities to understand the depth of appreciation there was for the Stooges work. Although it earned them a mere pittance by comparison to much lesser entertainment today – the appreciation by the fans was and is still there.

[Badray]

Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk.

[Badray]

"Overlooked is how athletically talented these guys were."

Did you ever stop laughing long enough to check out the babes? They usually had (at least 2) very pretty women working with them. One of guys always would get an ugly one.

[PennsylvaniaMom]

The Boys were HUGE in the 'Burgh...

Why soytently!

[prisoner6]

Thankee for the 'Burgh Thing ping! The Stooges were always a hit with me..then again I'm from that demogrpahic...Guyz. Do you remember the fellow who used to put together a StoogeFest every year in Pittsburgh? Sometimes it was at the playhouse, sometimes another venue.

It was always a great time with screenings of all their movies. In any case he passed away about a year ago. I'm not sure if the Stoogefests will continue.

Of course Paul Shannon with "Adventure Time" on channel 4 WTAE was a big boost to promoting the Stooges locally if not nationally.

Finally has anyone else developed a taste to 3 Stooges beer. My local distributor (Shaw's Noble Avenue in Crafton near Pittsburgh) has it on special for ten bucks a case. Usually it ran around 20. Not bad...!

prisoner6

[prisoner6]

Hmmm..somehow my post got farked up a bit...another guy at the station is a Stooge fanatic and said the guy who used to put the fests together was Doug Drown(sp). I think his internet site is still up.

prisoner6

[the invisib1e hand]

what a great, heartwarming site. It is encouraging to learn that Moe was a good human being as well as a good stooge.