Topic: The New SHEMP BOOK

[Freddie Sanborn]

Anyone who watches these films knows that Moe gets the lion’s share of hard knocks. And Moe was a master at pulling his punches and slaps. No doubt accidents happened ( they’ve been well-documented) but on the whole, the Stooges probably fared much better on the injury front than construction workers.

[HomokHarcos]

We know now that even small hits or blows to the head over time can have long term damage, hence the recent controversy in ice hockey, American football, boxing and pro wrestling. So it’s very possible that the Three Stoogee were suffering in some sort from the slapstick.

However, the general public’s knowledge of CTE didn’t really make grounds until the 2000s, so the book suggesting that Moe was being careless I don’t agree with.

[NoahYoung]

Does the book have any info on how many birthdays Shemp had? I'm curious about that.

[NoahYoung]

BTW, I'm curious since most people get it wrong.

[QuinceHead]

I haven’t gotten very far into SHEMP!, but I’m finding it a fascinating read so far.

Looks like a lot of “established lore” has gotten debunked, and the author is laying a lot of blame at Moe’s feet for this.

(Part of me wonders if, after Joan Howard Maurer’s death a few years ago, other family members are finally feeling freer to discuss things that don’t quite mesh with what we previously thought we knew?)

[metaldams]

I’ve been slow reading this too - a horrible bout of insomnia I’m learning to manage thanks to some YouTube channels.  Slowly getting back to normal.  But anyway, I’m about 100 pages in and am at the beginnings of Shemp at Vitaphone.  Yes, indeed it fascinating reading how Shemp was the main guy behind Healy as far as their part of the act is concerned - meaning Healy had a big cast behind him besides Stooges.  The fact Moe wasn’t even there when Larry came on board and was out of the act for years is a revelation for me.  There seem to be several newspaper articles backing this up and it is indeed interesting to read the press Shemp got.

[falsealarms]

I'm curious if anyone else has read the newest Shemp book.....  I was skeptical of any new books on him offering all that much not already widely known. He's been gone for nearly 70 years, after all.

It seems, from a few comments here and some interviews by author Burt Kearns, the book mostly aims to build a case for Shemp's legacy at the expense of Moe.

Is that accurate? I haven't read the book yet because I waiting on some reviews of it.

[NoahYoung]

Does the book have any info on how many birthdays Shemp had? I'm curious about that.

No one bit. He had exactly one birth day -- just like everyone else!