Topic: What are YOU doing on Shemp's Day?

[Dunrobin]

Friday, March 4th, would have been Shemp Howard's 110th birthday, if he was still alive.  Personally, I think each of the Stooges' birthdays should be declared a national - if not global - holiday; it makes a lot more sense to celebrate the birth of a Stooge then that of some jackass politician who thought that we're all "stooges."

Anyway - I'm curious to what, if anything, others where planning to do to celebrate Shemp's Day on Friday.  As for me, I'm planning on picking up some beer and some bud, and having myself a Shemp-a-thon with everything I've got from his film career.

[Pilsner Panther]

Friday, March 4th, would have been Shemp Howard's 110th birthday, if he was still alive.  Personally, I think each of the Stooges' birthdays should be declared a national - if not global - holiday; it makes a lot more sense to celebrate the birth of a Stooge then that of some jackass politician who thought that we're all "stooges."

Anyway - I'm curious to what, if anything, others where planning to do to celebrate Shemp's Day on Friday.  As for me, I'm planning on picking up some beer and some bud, and having myself a Shemp-a-thon with everything I've got from his film career.

I'm having a root canal (no kidding, the dental appointment just happens to be scheduled for that day). After that, I think I'll recover by watching some of my favorite Shemp shorts, like, "A Peach Of A Pair," "Corn On The Cop," "Brideless Groom," "Gents In A Jam," "Scrambled Brains," and "Goof On The Roof."

Happy "boithday," Mr. Shemp Howard!


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[Themescules]

I'm going to celebrate Shemp's 110th birthday in style. First off it will be my parents 48th anniversary on the 4th so that is a celebration in itself. Second I celebrated Shemp's 100th birthday in Antarctica 10 years ago with a Shemp marathon, so I will celebrate his 110th B-day here in Las Vegas with another Marathon at my local bar. I will also celebrate his B-day on March 17th, St. Paddy's day, which is the day he wanted us all to believe was his birthday. Hell, anything to extend a Stooges celebration is alright with me, especially with green beer or anything made by the Panther Brewing Co.! lol

[Baggie]

 I thought that Shemp was born on St. Patrick's Day, the 17th. Is that not right?

[Dunrobin]

I thought that Shemp was born on St. Patrick's Day, the 17th. Is that not right?

That's the date that's been floating around for a long time, but thanks to research by Garystooge, we now know that it was really on the 4th, not the 17th.

[BeAStooge]

I thought that Shemp was born on St. Patrick's Day, the 17th. Is that not right?

That's the date that's been floating around for a long time, but thanks to research by Garystooge, we now know that it was really on the 4th, not the 17th.

Gary's explanation, posted 3/4/04 on the Fan Club's yahoo group board...

What follows is my long-winded opinion on how March 17 incorrectly became gospel as Shemp's birthdate.

Back in 1940, Universal Studios issued a 2-pg bio on Shemp because he was appearing in many of their feature films. This bio listed March 17, 1900 (not 1895) as his birthdate. It also contained several other screwy "facts" (such as Shemp appearing in "Soup to Nuts" with Healy, THEN LATER calling in Moe & Larry to form the Three Stooges).

Now, fast forward to the early 1980s. The Lenburg Brothers are doing research for the Three Stooges Scrapbook. They need to research thousands of facts and are under pressure to meet publisher deadlines. They need to know Shemp's birthdate. It's not in Moe Howard's autobiography or any other book. Joan Maurer
doesn't know what it is. Shemp's wife is still alive, but not on the best of terms with Moe's family at the time, so they can't ask her. But their research turns up the aforementioned studio bio. They knew Shemp was 2 years older than Moe who was born in 1897, so the 1900 on the bio couldn't be right, it had to be 1895. But they had no reason to suspect that March 17 was wrong, so they assumed the studio bio had just gotten the YEAR wrong. You can tell this is probably what happened because in the Scrapbook itself, after giving the March 17, 1895 birthdate, they state parenthetically "not 1900 as listed in some studio biographies."

Anyway, once the "bible" of Stooge reference books listed this March 17 date, all other researchers have used it over and over again because there would be no
reason to think it's wrong.

The reason I believe March 4 is the true date is because that is what is listed on Shemp's death certificate. The death certificate info was provided by Shemp's son Mort. You would think he knew what his father's birthday was. To view a copy of the death certificate go to:
http://shempcompany.com/death_cert.gif

For many years I've tried to find another primary source document which gives an exact date of birth. I've examined Shemp's 1918 Army discharge, 1942 Selective Service Registration card, 1925 marriage license and other items, none of which give a month and day of birth. Even his mausoleum marker gives only 1895, with no month or day.

The above is merely my opinion on the likely scenario for how the March 17 date
became accepted. But until I see some conclusive evidence to the contrary, I feel that March 4 is probably the real date of birth.

[garystooge]

Thanks for digging up my explanation Brent. Just as a follow-up, we are still seeking some documented proof for Shemp's real birthdate, but have not had any luck. Bill Cappello has done extensive research through the NYC Municipal birth archives in hopes of locating a birth certificate to no avail.  We now suspect that since most births at that time took place at home and not in a hospital, that Shemp's birth may have never been reported to the State.

One other point that bears noting is that it's not unusual for there to be confusion over the birth dates of Jews from this time period. Many Jews back then marked occasions such as births by reference to the Jewish calendar and Jewish holidays. They didn't use the same calendar we use today. My grandfather for example, knew only that his birthday was on the 2nd night of Hanukkah. That always falls on a different date using our "modern" calendar, and so there was
confusion about his real birth date.

This may have been the situation with Shemp....maybe even he wasnt sure of his real birthdate.
Gary

[Baggie]

 Thanks for that info.

  Well tomorrow I'm gonna be damn busy I'm afraid. I'm working in the day until 2.30 in the afternoon, then I'm due back at work at 6.00 until 2.00 in the morning because some pissed up hooligans are coming to watch a boxing match at the place where I work. (And the last time we held a boxing match, the police had to stop all the crowd fighting and throwing chairs with CS gas and police dog units from about 50 different Police Stations. It was all exciting stuff until we started getting chairs thrown at us.) Apparantly this is a "classier" match than the last one. It's actual professional boxers who get paid to hit each other  . It's on the telly, so I'll need to do my hair good tomorrow night  . I'm sure somewhere in between I'll fit a bit of Shempism in, but certainly not a Shemp-a-thon.

 I was planning on a St. Patrick's Day celebration, as it's a good excuse to drink pints of Guiness, so I think I'll go ahead with that to celebrate the birhdays of Shemp and Chico Marx, and get bladdered.

[Genius In the Lamp]

I'm going with 4 March, but ...

I just looked up Shemp's World War I draft registration card on a subscription genealogy site.  It lists his birthday as 17 March (probably going back to Gary's point about the Jewish calendar), so the 17 March date predates Shemp's show business career.  At the time, he was working on his brother Jack's short-lived farming venture in Chatham.  It also mentions something about a "rupture on (his) left side"; what was that?

Other interesting draft registration cards include Joseph Feinberg (which lists him as a prisoner - do I have the right person, Gary?  It lists his birth date as 25 Jan 1878), Bud Jamison (nothing out of the ordinary), and John Edward McIntyre (Christine's father - he's described as a large man with blue eyes and grey hair, and he has very elegant penmanship).

[Christine McIntyre]

Very interesting.  Well, for me, it wouldn't be Shemp's birthday without lifting a glass and toasting, "Pip pip, a little barbeque, and what have you!"

[Waldo Twitchell]

It's a regular work day, so I'll just pay homage by wearing my 'Legalize Shemp' button. A Shemp-a-thon of sorts wouldn't hurt either.

[Pilsner Panther]

Thanks for digging up my explanation Brent. Just as a follow-up, we are still seeking some documented proof for Shemp's real birthdate, but have not had any luck. Bill Cappello has done extensive research through the NYC Municipal birth archives in hopes of locating a birth certificate to no avail.  We now suspect that since most births at that time took place at home and not in a hospital, that Shemp's birth may have never been reported to the State.

One other point that bears noting is that it's not unusual for there to be confusion over the birth dates of Jews from this time period. Many Jews back then marked occasions such as births by reference to the Jewish calendar and Jewish holidays. They didn't use the same calendar we use today. My grandfather for example, knew only that his birthday was on the 2nd night of Hanukkah. That always falls on a different date using our "modern" calendar, and so there was
confusion about his real birth date.

This may have been the situation with Shemp....maybe even he wasnt sure of his real birthdate.
Gary

Or maybe his parents were confused due to English being their second language? Who knows how well Jennie and Solomon Horwitz spoke English at all? Some immigrants even had their last names changed without their consent at Ellis Island just because the officials couldn't understand what they were saying!

It wasn't only Jews who didn't have their birthdates recorded accurately, if at all. Blacks, in particular, underwent the same thing. For example, Jelly Roll Morton's birth date is given as either 1885, 1888, or 1890, depending on which source you check (just as with Shemp). If you accept the 1890 date, then Jelly Roll was playing piano in the New Orleans "sporting houses" when he was as young as 13, which seems pretty unlikely!

Gary, I have a couple of questions about Shemp's Army service. First, does anyone know what his rank and military occupational specialty were in WWI?

Second, why did he have a Selective Service (draft) card at the time of WWII? He would have been past draft age by then. If I remember right, the upper U.S. draft age was 35, and either 40 or 45 for volunteers (?). In either case, Shemp would have been over age in 1941 when the draft started.

 

[garystooge]

Gary, I have a couple of questions about Shemp's Army service. First, does anyone know what his rank and military occupational specialty were in WWI?

Second, why did he have a Selective Service (draft) card at the time of WWII? He would have been past draft age by then. If I remember right, the upper U.S. draft age was 35, and either 40 or 45 for volunteers (?). In either case, Shemp would have been over age in 1941 when the draft started.

The WWI discharge lists his rank as private in Company 12, Camp Wheeler, GA.
He was inducted on 10/25/18 and discharged on 11/29/18 so he wasn't there long enough to develop a specialty or move up in rank.

The 1942 Selective Service Registration card is dated 4/26/42. This was only a few months after Pearl Harbor. I'm sure that all able-bodied men were required to register, even those over draft age. In the event they needed more troops, the draft age limit could always be raised and it was critical for the governtment to know who was available if they did so.  It's somewhat similar today...my son just turned 18 and had to register with Selective Service even though there is no draft...just in case a huge mobilization is needed.

I believe it was Genius who asked about a "rupture" on Shemp's left side. Both the WWI discharge and the WWII registration card mention a cyst on Shemp's right shin, but no mention of anything on Shemp's left side.

BTW Genius, thanks for mentioning the March 17 birthdate on the WWI registration. I've never seen any official type of documentation with the March 17 date on it, so that certainly lends some creedence to the March 17 date.....the search for the truth continues!

Another indication that even the family members weren't sure of his birthdate is his mausoleum marker which merely gives the years of birth and death. I'm guessing they probably would have used specific dates had they been sure of what his birth date was.

[mrhoward]

GaryStooge you are right about Shemp not being born in a hospital. His mother made big money in real estate and her youngest son Jerome was her only child to be born  in a hoispital

[jrvass]

(snips)...The 1942 Selective Service Registration card is dated 4/26/42. This was only a few months after Pearl Harbor. I'm sure that all able-bodied men were required to register, even those over draft age. In the event they needed more troops, the draft age limit could always be raised and it was critical for the governtment to know who was available if they did so.  It's somewhat similar today...my son just turned 18 and had to register with Selective Service even though there is no draft...just in case a huge mobilization is needed.

(snips)...

Another indication that even the family members weren't sure of his birthdate is his mausoleum marker which merely gives the years of birth and death. I'm guessing they probably would have used specific dates had they been sure of what his birth date was.

My 2 pennies...

My Grandfathers had to register for the draft during WWII. They were in their late 40's then. One of them served in WWI as a pilot. As the war continued, my mother worried that her father would have to serve. Fat chance since he was the budget director at General Motors, building tanks and guns (I wish I could get my hands on a cheap Guide Lamp (a GM division to you youngsters) "Liberator" pistol... they were worth $3000 NIB 6 years ago! Cheap guns dropped all over Europe to partisans fighting the Nazi's.)

And it's not unusual to raise and lower the draft age. During the Civil War, old men and young boys fought for the South in the last few months.

As far as the mausoleum markers are concerned, just listing the years of birth and death was a common practice. Even if the family knows the dates of birth and death. It's something that I noticed this past summer when I "inherited" the care of 2 family mausoleums, 2 crypts, 4 columbarium spots, and 10 graves... some used and some not used yet. The older family mausoleums just list the years. The earliest is 1797 and the latest was 1989. We know the dates, but chiseling on stone costs money and you continue the customs of the times for aesthetic purposes.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=6130700&pt=Shemp%20Howard

Whether it was the 4th or the 17th, have a glass of your favorite Panther Piss while watching your favorite Shemp short, and wish him a happy 110!

James

[Senorita Rita]

The 1942 Selective Service Registration card is dated 4/26/42. This was only a few months after Pearl Harbor. I'm sure that all able-bodied men were required to register, even those over draft age. In the event they needed more troops, the draft age limit could always be raised and it was critical for the governtment to know who was available if they did so.  It's somewhat similar today...my son just turned 18 and had to register with Selective Service even though there is no draft...just in case a huge mobilization is needed.

This reminds me of something I read on one of the other Stooge forums years ago. It very well could be  some fan's imagination, but I don't know. This person claimed that the boys did register during WWII, but that he had come across some information, that Curly was deemed ineligible because during an exam,doctors found that he had some type of internal head injury. Any truth to that?

[Pilsner Panther]

Sorry, I don't know about that, but I should have thought he was ineligible because he was overweight and because of his ankle injury.

The ankle injury alone would have rendered Curly "4F" (unfit for military service). Believe it or not, there were men who deliberately shot themselves in the foot (unlike Curly), to avoid the draft.

Besides, most of the entertainers who went into the service were assigned to USO shows and other morale-building activities for the troops. It would have been terrible for morale if any of them had been killed in combat. As an aside, Al Jolson (well over 60 at the time) went on a grueling tour of South Korea in 1949, singing his heart out for the GI's, and died of a heart attack soon after he got back to the States. He was decorated as an honorary Korean War casualty, as a result of this selfless effort.

Of course, Curly could have have kicked the Nazis' tails single-handed if only there'd been some way to deploy him to Europe and then broadcast "Pop Goes The Weasel" all over the continent— he would have beaten General Patton to Berlin and personally whupped Hitler's sorry behind...!