Does anyone know the real reason Shemp left the 3 Stooges back in the 1930s?
The best account, and substantiated by news articles and trade reports, can be found in Joe Besser's autobiography
Not Just a Stooge (aka
Once a Stooge, Always a Stooge)...
After 2 years apart, in August 1932 Ted convinced Moe, Larry & Shemp to rejoin him for J. J. Shubert's new Broadway revue,
Passing Show of 1932. Ted was the star and M.C., the boys ("Racketeers") were his stooges in several bits, and Besser's vaudeville act was also in the show.
Shortly after rehearsals began in Detroit (
Passing was scheduled for a preview tour prior to NYC), Healy and J. J. Shubert had a contract falling out. Healy quit and took Moe and Larry with him... Shemp was fed up with Healy's past behavior and decided to stay with
Passing. Without Healy, the show folded within a couple weeks after playing some dates in Cincinnati.
Shemp headed back to Brooklyn and picked up a film contract for short subjects at Vitaphone, where he worked from 1932 - 1937.
Moe's version of events, that Shemp quit for the opportunity to play 'Knobby Walsh' in Vitaphone comedies is inaccurate...
- The Vitaphone opportunity occurred after the
Passing Show split.
- Shemp was at Vitaphone for 3 years, moving from bit parts with Arbuckle, to supporting roles with Jack Haley, Harry Gribbon, Ben Blue and others, eventually costarring/starring in his own shorts... and then, circa mid-1935, the studio acquired rights to produce "Joe Palooka" shorts and cast Shemp as 'Knobby.'
Guessing, Moe's later-in-life faulty recollections came from the events of Spring 1935. Shemp and family vacationed in L.A. after helping Jenny and Sol relocate to the west coast; the vacation that generated photos of Shemp visiting his brothers on the sets of HOI POLLOI and PARDON MY SCOTCH. After the family visit, Shemp returned to Brooklyn and started work on the "Palooka" comedies. Moe's memory probably combined the split of 1932, with Shemp's 1935 post-vacation return to NYC.
