Topic: Social Lives

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

     Here's a question I've never seen asked around here:  who were the stooges' friends?  Whom did they hang out with after hours?  I know they were a close-knit family, with two brothers not in the business, I also know that they were for the most part a touring act and when you're on tour you hang with the other members of the company, but that's not my question.  I've read that Larry hung quite a bit with William Frawley, who was his neighbor in the hotel they lived in, and I've read a blurb by Billy Gilbert wherein Billy called Shemp his best friend.  Those are the kind of tidbits I'd be interested in.  Who did Babe hang with? Or Moe?  Those two certainly didn't pal around together, certainly not after dark.  And I've never heard of any of them being golfers, so names of any regular foursome would be out.  Anybody seen any reference to their social lives?

[metaldams]

      Good question, and I really have no clue.  Been a while since I've read any of the bios but I don't remember hearing about any Hollywood pairings and carousing.  The Stooges weren't exactly Flynn and Barrymore, and at least with Moe, I get the impression he was a business minded family man.  Hey, who knows?  I could be wrong.

      However, I remember years ago, some fan letters with Stan Laurel came out from the fifties.  I think the context of Stooge discussion came with the passing of Shemp, but what left the biggest impression on me was that Laurel still, in the mid 50's, thought of the Stooges as Healy's boys.

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

Yeah, I wasn't asking about girlfriends or affairs, I think we know that Moe and Larry at least were real family men.  Who did they pal around with?  Fishing, cars, hobbies, bowling, anything.  And yes what little there was from Stan seemed to say he didn't even know their names.  Though I think he mentioned staying in touch with Betty Healy, for what that's worth, not much.  Stan liked deep-sea fishing, Hardy liked the horses and golf and did both with high-profile people like Crosby.  Larry liked all sports, I guess, and the jury is still out about how much he gambled on them ( it's funny how easy it is to track the hard gamblers, Phil Silvers, Lou Costello, Durante, Chico Marx, etc. ), my guess is nowhere near as much as the big boys, he didn't have that kind of money, but even if he just went to a baseball game, who'd he go with?  Anybody ever seen anything?

[metaldams]

Yeah, I wasn't asking about girlfriends or affairs, I think we know that Moe and Larry at least were real family men.  Who did they pal around with?  Fishing, cars, hobbies, bowling, anything.  And yes what little there was from Stan seemed to say he didn't even know their names.  Though I think he mentioned staying in touch with Betty Healy, for what that's worth, not much.  Stan liked deep-sea fishing, Hardy liked the horses and golf and did both with high-profile people like Crosby.  Larry liked all sports, I guess, and the jury is still out about how much he gambled on them ( it's funny how easy it is to track the hard gamblers, Phil Silvers, Lou Costello, Durante, Chico Marx, etc. ), my guess is nowhere near as much as the big boys, he didn't have that kind of money, but even if he just went to a baseball game, who'd he go with?  Anybody ever seen anything?

I know Curly was a dog guy, I remember reading he bought them obsessively on a whim.  I think Larry especially liked baseball and The Dodgers, and yes, I heard he gambled, but not sure of what extent.  Of course he was a violinist, but we all know that.  Oh, Curly, obviously in the very early days considering his 1952 death, watched television with his daughter...I think TIME FOR BEANY, or something Beany and Cecil related.

That's all that comes to mind for me. 

[Umbrella Sam]

Don’t know if this is actually true or not, but in the Three Stooges NES game, one of the trivia questions claims that Moe liked to collect stamps.

[metaldams]

...and I'd be interested if the boys interacted, socially or professionally, with other comedians.  Check this out.  I think the guy with the big nose is Monte Collins?  The guy on the right is definitely Harry Langdon.

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

Looks like Collins and Langdon, alright.  I love how Moe is smoking right in front of the No Smoking sign.  They're all in very snazzy civvies, but it still looks like they're at Columbia.  Where were they after work?  With whom?  Not being a card player myself, it's only now occurring to me that they may have played cards among themselves, but really, they must have had friends, a circle of some kind, individually or as a group.  Shemp died in a car coming home with some guys from the fights...who was in the car, anybody whose names we'd know?  And P.S. , Metal, that's a great picture, I've never seen it before.  Thanks.

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

Also, it looks like all five of them are confidently strolling right off the loading dock.  Gotta be posed.

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

@ Umbrella Sam: So Moe liked to collect stamps, and apparently he hooked rugs.  Mr. Excitement.  Maybe he DIDN'T have any friends.

[Seamus]

James Karen, the character actor who's been in about 60% of all the movies you've ever seen, was on Gilbert Gottfried's podcast about old showbiz a couple years ago, and talked about working with the Stooges for a week on an insurance commercial in the '60s.  He said that Moe revealed himself to be a massive Shakespeare nerd during the shoot. 

Karen had been working mostly on the stage at that point, and Moe kept referring to him as "Mr. Broadway."  At one point during the shoot Moe says to Karen, "Hey Mr. Broadway, know what the greatest year of my life was?  1936.  In '36 I seen two Hamlets!"  Moe would ask Karen to start any Shakespeare speech, and before Karen could finish the first sentence Moe would immediately jump in and finish the speech, knew them all by heart. 

Pretty fascinating tidbit about "after hours" Moe I'd never heard before.

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

Excellent.  Thanks.

[Percy Pomeroy]

"Huntz Hall, of Bowery Boys and Dead End Kids fame, worked with Shemp in Private Buckaroo at Universal Studios and refers to him as "my father in this business." Hall became a close friend and regular visitor to Shemp's and Babe's home in Toluca Lake, California. (The loose-knit group also included Morey Amsterdam, Phil Silvers, Milton Berle, Martha Raye and a young Shecky Greene.)"

https://www.cigaraficionado.com/article/shemps-last-cigar-6062

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

   Thank you, Percy Pomeroy ,  that's the kind of info I've been looking for.  Now we've got Shemp hanging with those guys, Larry hanging with ( at least ) William Frawley, and Moe still quoting Shakespeare, collecting stamps and hooking rugs.  Slowly we turn.  Babe have any well-known male friends, or only musicians and golddiggers?  Anybody?  Bueller?

P.S.  That link to Cigar Aficionado turns out to be a nice, informative link, having very little to do with cigars and quite a bit to do with what we're talking about here.  Good eyes, Percy, thank you very much.

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

And, thinking in depth as I do, think 1955, seven years before the Dick Van Dyke Show, and consider:  Morey Amsterdam to replace Shemp?
     Disadvantages:
     
     Much higher profile already, had had his own TV show, might have been too busy and not interested
     Morey and Moe are too close namewise, almost like having two Moes
     Might have been too tall, don't know, but even 5'8" is too tall for a stooge
     Nothing at that point could have saved the stooge shorts
     Morey's physically O K, but he's mainly a verbal comic

     Advantages:

     Funny looking
     Funny as hell, The Human Joke Machine  ( That was really his billing )
     His TV show had been cancelled years before, he might have been hungry
     Approximately the right age ( younger, but not glaringly so ) as Moe and Larry
     Had a funny act with a cello ( of all things )  that might have worked into something with Larry
     He certainly came from the same show-biz traditions as Moe and Larry
     Remember, we're talking about many years before the Dick Van Dyke Show, which when it was running was considered sophisticated humor.  Morey had been, up until then, and indeed in the show played the part of, a vaudeville-type comic.
     And for those of you paying any attention at all, I know I'm babbling about impossible scenarios.