Shempr Fidelis

Buddies,


Ah, its MAY thats th merry merry munth, rightski?  Then I guess its no wondr that on th direckt opposit end o th year -- here in Novembr -- we find ourselfs commemoratin so many fokeses deaffs: Mama Polanski ... Edward Woodward ... and, ocourse, there are many fokes here and elsewhere who mark this day tday as th sad anniversry o th assassination o Presdent Kennedy.

But we here at The Joey Polanski Show choose tday to mourn th passin o one Samuel Horwitz -- bettr known as Shemp Howard, affecktionatly known simply as Shemp.


And while weere on th subjeckt o bettr knowin Shemp, and bcause I gots a feelin that there aint too many Three Stooges fans among yous readrs o th JPS, lemme clue yas all inta sompm you may not awready know about th Shempstr.

Id imagine evn th non-Stooge-fan woud be able to tell ya that Shemp is th guy who replacd Curly.  Well ... woud it suprise you to learn that thats atchualy backwards?  Shemp didnt replace Curly until aftr Curly had awready replacd Shemp.  Thats right, fokes: th ORIGINAL Third Stooge was Shemp, not Curly.

See, "The Three Stooges" began as th "company" of a popular Vaudeville comedian namd Ted Healy.  Ted Healy was a boyhood chum o one Moses Horwitz, who woud latr bcome known as Moe Howard, th head Stooge.

Ted Healy
Moe
Th boyhood frienship tween Healy and Moe led to them two partnerin up in some Vaudeville prformances.  A "crew" o "stooges" began when Moes brothr, Shemp, heckld th ackt from th audience and a back-n-fort tween Moe and his brothr brougt Shemp onta th stage in a bit o improvisd shtick.  Eventualy, th trio o stooges was rounded out by addition o Louis Feinberg, who latr bcame known as Larry Fine.

Larry
Ted Healy and th ORIGINAL Stooges ...
... note Shemp
So, then, WHY do so many o yas think that CURLY was th original Third Stooge?  Well ... see ... Ted Healy was cheapski and also a drunkski.  And th Stooges -- Shemp & Co. -- were th highlight o th first film they done wif Healy.

Shemp, Moe, and Larry
Soup to Nuts
Bein underappreciatd and undrpaid led to th Stooges walkin out on Healy and doin their shtick wifout im.  Healy tryd to sue em fer usin th old material but was unsuccessful; and Healys back-up stooges wernt no goodski; and so Ted hadta woo th boys back.  But his boozin and abusin led Shemp to leave th ackt; and this creatd a need fer a replacement stooge.  And guess who th rplacement stooge was, fokes?  Yep.  You got it.  Jerome Horwitz, little brothr to Shemp & Moe.  You know im as Curly Howard.

Curly
Ted Healy and th REVAMPD Stooges ...
... note Curly
Ocourse, th newly reconstitutd Three Stooges soon followd Shemps lead & walkd out on Healy fer goodski.  And it was durin this time that th now famous two-reel short-subjeckts was made -- wif Curly as th Third Stooge.  Shemp, meanwhile, had gone on to a rathr successful career on his ownski, relucktantly rejoinin th Stooges only aftr Curly was incapacitatd by a strokeski.

So you see ...  Shemp was th original Third Stooge.  Curly was th rplacement.  Now go tell all yer friends th great things you learn here at th Polanski Show.  And drink a toast to th Shempr while yer at it.