Shemp Howard's minor stroke occured in November 1952 about three years before his fatal heart attack. Legend has it according to an account by Gertrude in the 1985 biography by Jeff Forrester, Shemp was at home in Northridge,CA playing cards with Al Winston and a couple of friends whe he complained to his wife his head hurt bad. Babe called a doctor who examined Shemp and gave him an MRI(yes they had them back then)when the results came in several weeks later, The doctor told them that Shemp had suffered minor hemmoraging in his brain. After returning to work with Moe and Larry in early 1953, Jules White begin to use heavy stock footage due to rising production costs and declining movie attendance to mask Shemp's illness. While I can't really confirm wheter this account is found in the "Stooges Cronicles" book, in most of the remakes Shemp looks a bit disoriented and pale. Babe also recalled that at the time of his heart attack on November 22,1955, that Shemp had been prescribed some unknown heart medication.
- Shemp had his small stroke in early 1952
- Shemp and Babe lived in Toluca Lake
-
The Stooge Chronicles was published in 1981; see
Bibliography - The stock footage shorts began production in mid-1952.
The aspects of the story relating Shemp's comment to Babe, physical exam, and
particularly the unknown medication prescription... these will not be found in Forrester's
The Stooge Chronicles, or any other Stooge book for that matter. Exaggeration and fiction; unwarranted and pointless.
