Moe Howard

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Moe Howard
Born	June 19, 1897 Bensonhurst, New York  United States
Died	May 4, 1975 at age 77 Los Angeles, California

Moe Howard (June 19, 1897 – May 4, 1975) was one of The Three Stooges, the slapstick comedy team who starred in motion pictures and television for four decades. His distinctive coiffure came about when he was a boy and cut off his curls with a pair of scissors, producing a ragged shape approximating a helmet.

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Moe was born Harry Moses Horwitz in the Brooklyn, New York neighborhood of Bensonhurst. He was the fourth of the five Horwitz brothers and of Levite and Lithuanian Jewish ancestry. Although his parents were not involved in show business, Moe, his older brother Samuel (Shemp), and younger brother Jerome (Curly), all became world-famous as members of The Three Stooges.

In school, Moe originally did quite well, aided by a prolific memory, able to quickly memorize anything. In later years, this helped him in his acting career, making memorizing his lines quick and easy. Moe loved reading, as his older brother Jack commented "I had many Horatio Alger books and it was Moe's greatest pleasure to read them. They started his imaginative mind working and gave him ideas by the dozen. I think they were instrumental in putting thoughts into his head to become a person of good character and to become successful."

Although his "bowl-cut" hair cut is now world famous, his mother had always wanted a daughter, so, as a child his mother refused to cut his beautiful hair, letting it grow to shoulder length. One day, he could not take his classmates' teasing any longer. Moe snuck off to a shed in their backyard, and with the help of a friend and a mixing bowl, cut his hair. Moe was so afraid his mother would be upset (she enjoyed curling his hair) that he hid under the house for several hours causing a panic. He finally came out and his mother was so glad to see him that she didn't even mention his 'new do'.

However, the allure of the stage started calling him, and the more he followed it, the worse he began doing in school. He began playing hooky from school in order to attend theater shows. Moe said, "I used to stand outside the theater knowing the truant officer was looking for me. I would stand there 'til someone came along and then ask them to buy my ticket. It was necessary for an adult to accompany a juvenile into the theatre. When I succeeded I'd give him my ten cents-that's all it cost-and I'd go up to the top of the balcony where I'd put my chin on the rail and watch, spellbound, from the first act to the last. I would usually select the actor I liked the most and follow his performance throughout the play."

Despite his decreasing attendance, Moe graduated from P.S. 163 in Brooklyn, but dropped out of Erasmus Hall High School after only two months, the end of his formal education. To please his parents, he took a class in electric shop, but dropped out after a few months to pursue a career in show business.

He began by running errands for no fee at the Vitagraph Studios in Midwood, Brooklyn (currently the home of the CBS daytime serial As the World Turns), where he was rewarded with bit parts in movies being made there. Unfortunately, a fire at the studios in 1910 destroyed copies of most of Moe's work done there. In 1909, he met a young man named Lee Nash -- later famous as Ted Healy -- who would later change his life. For the time, though, Moe and Lee became good friends. In 1912, they both held a summer job working in Annette Kellerman's aquatic act as diving "girls."

[edit] Career

Moe continued his attempts at gaining show business experience, by singing in a bar with his older brother Shemp (until their father put a stop to it), and in 1914 joining a performing troupe on a showboat for the next two summers. In 1922, he joined Lee Nash, now firmly established in show business as Ted Healy, in a vaudeville routine. One day Moe spotted his older brother Shemp Howard watching the show, and yelled at him from the stage. Shemp and Moe heckled each other to everyone's amusement, and Healy hired Shemp as a permanent part of the act. Healy next recruited a vaudeville violinist, Larry Fine, to join the crazy gang, which was billed as Ted Healy and His Racketeers -- later changed to Ted Healy and His Stooges.

On June 7, 1925, Moe Howard married Helen Schonberger, a cousin of magician Harry Houdini^{[citation needed]}, and truly lived happily ever after until his dying day. The next year, Helen pressured Moe to leave the stage, as she was pregnant and wanted Moe nearer to home. Moe attempted to earn a living in a succession of "normal" jobs, none of which was successful. He returned to working with Ted Healy .

By 1930, Ted Healy and his stooges were on the verge of "the big time," and made their first movie, Soup to Nuts - featuring Ted Healy, and his four stooges - Moe, Shemp, Larry, and one-shot Stooge Fred Sanborn -- for Fox Films (later Twentieth Century-Fox). Shemp had not seen eye-to-eye with Healy, and left the group shortly after filming, in order to pursue a solo film career. (See the Wikipedia entry for Shemp Howard.) Moe brought in his baby brother, Jerome ("Jerry" to his friends, "Babe" to Moe and Shemp) as a replacement. Healy originally passed on Jerry, but Jerry was so eager to join the act that he shaved off his luxuriant mustache and hair, and ran on stage during Healy's routine. Healy hired Jerry, who took the stage name of "Curly."

Healy and the stooges were hired by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as "nut" comics, to liven up feature films and short subjects with their knockabout antics. After a number of appearances in MGM films, Healy was being groomed as a solo character comedian. With Healy pursuing his own career, his stooges (now calling themselves "The Three Stooges") signed with Columbia Pictures, where they stayed until December 1957, making 190 short films.

With Healy's departure, Moe's character assumed Healy's previous role of the aggressive, take-charge leader of the Three Stooges, short-tempered and prone to slapstick violence against the other two stooges. In many ways, this was the antithesis of Moe Howard's true self; he was quiet, loving, and generous to his friends and family. In fact, he was one of those men who did not have problems showing affection — instead, he would shower his loved ones with gifts, increasing in quantity and expensiveness over time as his fortunes improved. He was also farsighted, and invested the money made from his film career wisely. However, the Stooges got no subsequent royalties from any of their many shorts: they were paid a flat amount for each one, and Columbia owned the rights (and profits) thereafter.

In 1934, Columbia released its first Three Stooges short, Woman Haters, where their characters where not quite finalized. It wasn't even a Stooge comedy, but rather a romantic farce; Columbia was then making a series of two-reel "Musical Novelties" with the dialogue spoken in rhyme, and the Stooges were recruited to support comedienne Marjorie White. Only after the Stooges became established as short-subject stars were the main titles changed to give the Stooges top billing. The version seen on TV and video today is this reissue print.

Their next film, Punch Drunks, was the only short film that was written entirely by the Three Stooges, with Curly as a reluctant boxer who goes ballistic every time he hears "Pop Goes the Weasel." Their next short, Men in Black (a parody of the hospital drama Men in White) was their first and only film to be nominated for an Academy Award (with the classic catchphrase, "Calling Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine, Dr. Howard"). They continued making short films at a steady pace of eight per year, such as Three Little Pigskins (with a very young Lucille Ball), Pop Goes the Easel, Hoi Polloi (where two professors make a bet trying to turn the Three Stooges into gentlemen), and many others.

In the 1940s, the Three Stooges became topical, making several anti-Nazi movies, including You Nazty Spy (1940) (Moe's favorite Three Stooges film), I'll Never Heil Again (1941), and They Stooge to Conga (1943). Moe's dead-on impression of Adolf Hitler highlighted these shorts. Though unusual in their political commentary, these shorts were often hilarious as well.

On May 6, 1946, during the filming of Half-Wits Holiday, Curly suffered a stroke. Although Moe made certain that his baby brother received the best medical care, he had him replaced in the Three Stooges by Shemp, who returned to the group until Curly would be well enough to rejoin the Stooges. Although Curly had recovered enough to appear in Hold That Lion! in a cameo appearance (the only Three Stooges film to contain all three Howard brothers; Moe, Curly, and Shemp), he suffered a series of strokes, leading to his death on January 18, 1952.

The Three Stooges continued to make short films for Columbia into the 1950s—the era of television. On November 22, 1955, Moe's brother Samuel (Shemp) died, necessitating the need for another Stooge. Existing footage enabled the Stooges to complete the films that they had been working on until Moe hired Joe Besser in 1956, who worked with Moe and Larry making shorts until December 1957. With the death of Columbia's head of short subjects, the making of shorts came to an end, and Howard was forced to take a job as a lowly errand boy at Columbia: a broken, but proud man.

Fortunately for the Stooges, Columbia's sale of the library of short films to television under "Screen Gems" brand. With this, the Three Stooges quickly gained a new audience of young fans. Ever the businessman, Howard sought out Joe DeRita as the third Stooge and approached Columbia. The studio, and others, starred the revitalized trio in several feature-length movies - Have Rocket, Will Travel, Snow White and the Three Stooges, The Three Stooges Meet Hercules, The Three Stooges in Orbit, The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze, and The Outlaws Is Coming.

Moe, Larry and Curly-Joe continued to make live appearances, many notable "guest appearances", notably in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) — as firemen! — and 4 for Texas. The boys tried their hand at a children's cartoon show titled The New 3 Stooges, with the cartoons sandwiched between live action segments of the boys. However, by 1965, it was clear that the trio were not immune to age. They were simply getting too old to do slapstick comedy. However, they did at least receive royalties from their features with Curly-Joe, and income from the volume of Three Stooges merchandising.

Moe sold real estate when his show-business life slowed down, although he still did minor roles and walk-on bits (Don't Worry, We'll Think of a Title (1966), Dr. Death: Seeker of Souls (1973)), television appearances ("Here's Hollywood", "Toast of the Town", "Masquerade Party", and several appearances on "The Mike Douglas Show"). The Stooges also made several appearances on late night television, particularly "The Tonight Show". There was also the Stooges final film in 1969, Kook's Tour, which was essentially an early "reality TV" show of Moe, Larry and Curly-Joe, out of character, touring the country and interacting with fans. Larry suffered a major stroke during the filming of Kook's Tour, and died on January 24, 1975, at 72. Soon afterwards, Moe asked long-time Three Stooges supporting actor Emil Sitka to replace Larry, but this final lineup never recorded any material before Moe's death on May 4, 1975, just a month shy of his 78th birthday.

The Three Stooges, Mark V, promotional picture taken in 1975 (after Larry Fine's death), from left to right, Curly Joe DeRita, Moe Howard (who died shortly thereafter) and Emil Sitka.

Moe Howard in February 1975, three months before his death.

[edit] Death

A lifelong smoker, Moe Howard died of lung cancer on May 4, 1975 (not long after the passing of co-Stooge Larry Fine) in Los Angeles, California, USA and was cremated. His remains are interred at Hillside Memorial Park, Culver City, California.

Moe and Helen had two children: Joan (b. 1927) and Paul (b. 1935).

[edit] Trivia

• Moe is notable for his near perfect imitation and mockery of Adolf Hitler.

• The Three Stooges received a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on August 30, 1983, at 1560 Vine Street, for their contributions to Motion Pictures.

• Paul Ben-Victor played Moe Howard in a 2000 TV movie.

• While filming the 1941 I'll Never Heil Again, a satire on Nazi Germany, Moe, a devoted family man, rushed from the set to his daughter's birthday party, still dressed as the dictator 'Moe Hailstone' (Moe's costume was meant to be a sendup of Hitler's, down to the moustache). This caused a few calls to the Los Angeles Police Department, as people reported Adolf Hitler running red lights in Hollywood.

• In 1964 Mad magazine did a spoof crediting Moe for influencing The Beatles' haircuts.

[edit] Further reading

• Moe Howard and the Three Stooges; by Moe Howard [1], (Citadel Press, 1977).
• The Columbia Comedy Shorts; by Ted Okuda with Edward Watz [2], (McFarland, 1986).
• The Complete Three Stooges: The Official Filmography and Three Stooges Companion; by Jon Solomon [3], (Comedy III Productions, Inc., 2002).
• The Three Stooges Scrapbook; by Jeff Lenburg, Joan Howard Maurer, Greg Lenburg [4](Citadel Press, 1994).
• The Three Stooges: An Illustrated History, From Amalgamated Morons to American Icons; by Michael Fleming [5](Broadway Publishing, 2002).
• One Fine Stooge: A Frizzy Life in Pictures; by Steve Cox and Jim Terry [6], (Cumberland House Publishing, 2006).

[edit] External links

• Biography at 3-stooges.com
• My Pal Moe by Bob Bernet (featuring letters and rare photos of Moe Howard at home)
• Moe Howard at the Internet Movie Database
• Moe Howard at the Internet Broadway Database