Topic: Film Tribute to Shemp Howard, Philadelphia 3/24 - 3/25

[BeAStooge]

SECRET CINEMA WEBSITE: http://www.thesecretcinema.com

The Secret Cinema presents long-promised
A LOVING TRIBUTE TO SHEMP HOWARD
 
Part 1:
Friday, March 24, 8:00 PM
Admission: $6.00
Moore College of Art & Design
20th & Race Streets, Philadelphia PA
(215) 965-4099

Part 2:
Saturday, March 25, 11:00 AM through 5:00 PM
Admission: FREE with voucher from the Friday night show
The Stoogeum (see below)

Many comedy fans love The Three Stooges, and most Three Stooges fans would name Curly as their favorite Stooge. A growing cult would argue that the oft-overlooked Shemp is the greatest, funniest Stooge, and the Secret Cinema is proudly among that group. In fact, for many years we've promised a night in tribute to Shemp, but wanted to wait until the effort was as worthy of its great subject as possible. That time has come. On Friday, March 24 (111 years after his birth) we will begin a two-day, two-location tribute to the original "third Stooge" that includes a screening of some of his rarest and funniest films, and a special Secret Cinema visit to a nearly unbelievable, private Three Stooges museum containing the world's largest and greatest collection of Stoogeiana.

For those confused about all of this third Stooge business: What would become the best-loved, most-televised comedy team in the history of film began as the trio of brothers Moe and Shemp Howard, and Philadelphian Larry Fine. They worked under straight man Ted Healy and became stars of vaudeville, finally answering Hollywood's call to bring their slapstick to the movies just as the talkie era began. They made but one film with this original lineup, the 1930 feature SOUP TO NUTS, before Shemp decided he was tired of Healy and left to work solo. A third Howard brother, the rotund, crew-cut Curly, was recruited to fill Shemp's place, and not much later they all left Healy to begin what would be the longest running act in two-reel comedy.

After suffering a stroke, Curly needed to be replaced, so Shemp rejoined in 1946, and continued with the group until his own death in 1955. After that, The Three Stooges continued to make shorts with Joe Besser, and later made features with "Curly Joe" DeRita.

The first decade's worth of shorts that the Curly-featured lineup made for Columbia were undeniably the best films ever to star The Three Stooges. They had the biggest budgets, and employed the best gagmen in the business (many of whom had cut their teeth in the early silent films of Mack Sennett). And younger brother Curly was a comic natural, whose often childlike mannerisms and high-pitched exclamations were both hilarious and original. Does this mean Curly is the greatest Stooge? We say no!

Shemp Howard (born Samuel Horwitz on March 4, 1895) had already proved himself to be his own man by the time he rejoined the Stooges, having already starred or co-starred in multiple series of comedy shorts for  Vitaphone, R.K.O. and Columbia, and also appeared as a comic character actor in at least 38 feature films, alongside the likes of W.C. Fields and Abbott and Costello. Through his film career, in and out of the Three Stooges, Shemp maintained a singular presence -- comically unattractive (he was once even voted "The ugliest man in Hollywood"!), nervous, and with a seemingly endless supply of improvised, side-splitting asides.

A LOVING TRIBUTE TO SHEMP HOWARD, Part 1:
The screening at Moore
Friday, March 24 - 8:00 PM
Admission: $6.00
At the auditorium of Moore College of Art and Design, to celebrate Shemp Howard's 111th birthday, we will present a special program featuring his "solo shorts." Since most people are very familiar with the films of the Three Stooges, we will instead focus on the little-seen two-reel comedies Shemp starred in away from the Three Stooges. While perhaps only the Laurel and Hardy and Our Gang shorts are as well-known as the Three Stooges' are, during the era of the sound short subject (1930s through 1950s), Hollywood's studios produced dozens of other comedy series in much the same format. Shemp Howard's unique gifts were tried in a number of these series, sometimes as the star performer, and sometimes in experimental pairings with other once-famous comic players like Tom Kennedy, Andy Clyde, Ben Blue and Roscoe Ates. Many of these films featured the same producers, directors, writers, character actors and sometimes gags as Three Stooges shorts from the same time. In some, all that's missing is Moe and Larry! Just a few highlights of the feature-length program will be: THE CHOKE'S ON YOU (1936; one of a series of shorts based on the popular comic strip Joe Palooka, with Shemp appearing as the young fighter's trainer Knobby Walsh), the cruelly hilarious MR. NOISY (1946; Shemp plays an obnoxious, heckling baseball fan; with famed Three Stooges player Vernon Dent.), the very Stooges-like BOOBS IN THE WOODS (1940; Shemp is the trouble-making brother-in-law of Andy Clyde, as they go on a camping trip; directed by frequent Stooges director Del Lord), and much more! The evening will begin with a brief illustrated talk on the life and work of Shemp Howard, by Secret Cinema programmer Jay Schwartz. All who attend the screening at Moore will receive a free voucher and directions to…

A LOVING TRIBUTE TO SHEMP HOWARD, Part 2:
The museum visit! (and another screening)
Saturday, March 25, 11:00 AM through 5:00 PM
Admission: Included free with voucher from Friday night Moore screening
Screening of SOUP TO NUTS at 2:00 PM

In recent years, the Secret Cinema has partnered with some of the Philadelphia area's greatest museums to create some unique film events: The Franklin Institute, The Academy of Natural Sciences, and Eastern State Penitentiary, to name three. However, we've never been prouder than we'll be on this day, when we offer a Secret Cinema visit to The Stoogeum.

What's a Stoogeum? Opened in 2004, it's a fantastic private museum devoted exclusively to the Three Stooges! This is not simply an array of collected objects mounted in somebody's rec room -- it's a bonafide, purpose-constructed, multi-floored MUSEUM, with exhibits created by a museum design firm in collaboration with owner Gary Lassin, president of the Three Stooges Fan Club and possessor of the world's largest and best collection of Stoogeiana. Housed there are thousands of rare posters, photos, clippings, fan merchandise, and jaw-dropping personal objects (The Three Stooges' pay checks! Jules White's driver's license! Shemp's custom-made watch chain! Shemp's honorable discharge papers from the army --   documenting his bedwetting!!) More than a collection of memorabilia, the informative displays and groupings provide a context explaining the Three Stooges long journey through stage, movies and  television to become pop culture icons. There are also exhibits devoted to the many other performers and creative personnel they worked with. Even if you don't like the Three Stooges, the Stoogeum would provide a fascinating walk through the history of 20th century American show business. The Philadelphia City Paper ran a nice article about The Stoogeum last year, viewable here:
http://citypaper.net/articles/2005-04-07/naked.shtml

Of course the designers of The Stoogeum thought to include a screening room, and we will be taking full advantage of it! At 2:00 PM there will be a special screening of the first film starring The Three Stooges, SOUP TO NUTS (details below). As with all Secret Cinema screenings, we will project this in real film, using an archival 16mm print restored through the efforts of the Three Stooges Fan Club.

The Stoogeum would be on the maps of every regional tourism group, except that it is NOT OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. This private museum is usually open only to fan club members by special invitation, and very occasionally has special event open houses like this one. There is no extra charge to visit the Stoogeum, but to attend you must pick up the voucher (with directions) at the Friday night Moore screening. The Stoogeum is located in the nearby Northwestern suburbs of Philadelphia, easily accessible by car. To accommodate the carless, the Secret Cinema will pick up attendees at the nearby Septa train station, and details about this will also be provided at the Moore screening. DO NOT MISS THIS RARE OPPORTUNITY!

SOUP TO NUTS (1930, Dir: Ben Stoloff. 71 min.)
This early talkie, written by popular cartoonist Rube Goldberg, is quirky and undeniably dated, but not always in a bad way. A madcap mix of music, stagy vaudeville humor and grand-scaled cinematic slapstick, it shows some early approaches to using the new medium of sound movies to showcase the previously uncapturable American arts of musical theater and variety. The thin plotline concerns a troubled costume shop owner who invents wacky devices (like a hat-tipping machine) as a hobby. SOUP TO NUTS' greatest value is the vivid snapshot it provides of the earliest lineup of the Three Stooges, as they were still honing their unique comedic style (The Three  Stooges films  would not again include Shemp Howard for another 16 years). It also shows how they worked with their straight man mentor Ted Healy, the top-billed star of the picture and one of the biggest names in vaudeville. His physical comedy and cynical manner were a great influence on the Stooges and others -- no less than Milton Berle called him "my idol" -- but Healy was doomed to be forgotten after his early, tragic death, following a vicious beating by three men outside a Hollywood nightclub. As usual, all parts of this Secret Cinema film program will be projected in 16mm film on a giant screen (not video).