Editing Shemp Howard (section)

==Career==
===Show business===
Shemp's brother [[Moe Howard]] started in show business as a youngster, on stage and in films. Moe and Shemp eventually tried their hands as minstrel-show-style "blackface" comedians with an act they called "Howard and Howard{{snd}}A Study in Black". At the same time, they worked for a rival vaudeville circuit, without makeup.{{Citation needed |date=June 2023}}

By 1922, Moe had teamed up with his boyhood friend [[Ted Healy]] in a "roughhouse" act. One day Moe spotted his brother Shemp in the audience and yelled at him from the stage. Quick-witted Shemp yelled right back, and walked up onto the stage. From then on he was part of the act, usually known as "Ted Healy and His Stooges". The Howard brothers were the original Stooges; [[Larry Fine]] joined them in 1928.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.threestooges.net/journal/view/155|title=ThreeStooges.net :: The Three Stooges Journal – Issue No. 155|first=Robert|last=Davidson}}</ref> On stage, Healy sang and told jokes while his three noisy stooges got in his way, and Healy retaliated with physical and verbal abuse. Shemp played a bumbling fireman in the Stooges' first film, ''[[Soup to Nuts]]'' (1930), the only film where he played one of Healy's gang.{{Citation needed |date=June 2023}}

After a disagreement with Healy in August 1930, Moe, Larry and Shemp left to launch their own act, "Howard, Fine & Howard", and joined the [[Keith-Albee-Orpheum|RKO vaudeville circuit]]. They premiered at Los Angeles's Paramount Theatre in August 1930. In 1931, they added "Three Lost Soles" to the act's name and took on Jack Walsh as their straight man. Moe, Larry and Shemp continued until July 1932, when Ted Healy approached them to team up again for the Shuberts' Broadway revue "Passing Show of 1932", and they accepted the offer. In spite of their past differences, Moe knew an association with the nationally known Healy would provide opportunities the three comics were not getting on their own.<ref>https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/moe-howard</ref>

On August 16, 1932, in a contract dispute, Healy walked out of the Shuberts' revue during rehearsals. Three days later, tired of what he considered Healy's domineering handling of the Stooges' career, Shemp left Healy's act to remain with "Passing Show", which closed in September during roadshow performances and after pan reviews in Detroit and Cincinnati. Shemp regrouped to form his own act and played on the road for a few months. He landed at Brooklyn's [[Vitaphone]] Studios for movie appearance opportunities in May 1933. When he split from Healy, Shemp was immediately replaced by his and Moe's younger brother [[Jerry Howard]], known as Curly.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://mentalfloss.com/article/29769/final-years-curly-three-stooges-fame|title=The Final Years of Curly (of Three Stooges Fame)|work=[[Mental Floss]]|last=Deezen|first=Eddie|date=January 18, 2012|access-date=July 2, 2017}}</ref>

===Solo years===
After leaving the Three Stooges, Shemp Howard, like many New York City-based performers, found work at Vitaphone. Originally playing bit roles in their six two-reel [[Roscoe Arbuckle]] comedies made from 1932 to 1933, showing off his comical appearance, he was given speaking roles and supporting parts almost immediately. He was featured with studio comics [[Jack Haley]], [[Ben Blue]] and [[Gus Shy]]; then co-starred with [[Harry Gribbon]], [[Daphne Pollard]], and Johnnie Berkes, and finally starred in his own two-reel comedies.{{Citation needed |date=June 2023}} The independently produced ''[[Convention Girl]]'' (1935) featured Shemp in a very rare straight role as a blackmailer and would-be murderer.{{citation needed|date=March 2022}}

Shemp preferred to improvise dialogue and jokes, which became his trademark. In late 1935, Vitaphone was licensed to produce two-reel short comedies based on the ''[[Joe Palooka]]'' comic strip. Shemp was cast as Knobby Walsh, and although only a supporting character, he became the comic focus of the series, with Johnnie Berkes and Lee Weber as his foils. He co-starred in the first seven shorts, released in 1936–1937. Nine of them were produced, the last two done after Shemp's departure from Vitaphone.{{citation needed|date=March 2022}}

Howard unsuccessfully attempted to lead his own group of "stooges" in the [[The Van Beuren Corporation|Van Beuren]] musical comedy short ''[[The Knife of the Party]]''. In 1937, he followed his brothers' lead, moved to the West Coast, and landed supporting actor roles at several studios, mainly [[Columbia Pictures]] and [[Universal Pictures|Universal]]. He worked exclusively at Universal from August 1940 to August 1943, performing with such comics as [[W. C. Fields]], and with comedy duos [[Abbott and Costello]] and [[Olsen and Johnson]]. He lent comic relief to [[Charlie Chan]] and [[The Thin Man]] murder mysteries. He appeared in several Universal B-musicals of the early 1940s, including ''[[Private Buckaroo]]'' (1942), ''[[Strictly in the Groove]]'' (1942), ''How's About It?'' (1943), ''[[Moonlight and Cactus (1944 film)|Moonlight and Cactus]]'' (1944) and ''[[San Antonio Rose (film)|San Antonio Rose]]'' (1941); in the latter of which he was paired with [[Lon Chaney Jr.]] as a faux Abbott and Costello. Most of these projects took advantage of his improvisational skills. When Broadway comedian [[Frank Fay (American actor)|Frank Fay]] walked out on a series of feature films teaming him with [[Billy Gilbert]], Gilbert called on his closest friend, Shemp Howard, to replace him in three B-comedy features for [[Monogram Pictures]], filmed in 1944–45. He also played a few serious parts, such as his supporting role in ''[[Pittsburgh (1942 film)|Pittsburgh]]'' (1942), starring [[Marlene Dietrich]] and [[John Wayne]].{{citation needed|date=March 2022}}

===The Three Stooges: 1946–1955===
{{Further|The Three Stooges}}
[[File: Sing a Song of Six Pants (1947) 2.jpg|thumb|Shemp with his younger brother [[Moe Howard]] and partner [[Larry Fine]] in ''[[Sing a Song of Six Pants]]'' in 1947]]
[[File:ShempUgly.jpg|thumb|Shemp in ''[[Brideless Groom]]'' in 1947]]
[[File:Malice in the Palace.JPG|thumb|[[Moe Howard]], Shemp (bottom center), and [[Larry Fine]] in ''[[Malice in the Palace]]'' in 1949]]
From 1938 to 1940 and again from 1944 to 1946, Howard appeared in Columbia's two-reel comedies, co-starring with Columbia regulars [[Andy Clyde]], The Glove Slingers, [[El Brendel]], and [[Tom Kennedy (American actor)|Tom Kennedy]]. He was given his own starring series in 1944. He was working for Columbia in this capacity when his brother Curly was felled by a debilitating stroke on May 6, 1946. Curly had already suffered a series of strokes prior to the filming of ''[[If a Body Meets a Body]]'' (1945), and in January 1945 Shemp filled in for Curly at a week-long appearance at the St. Charles Theatre in [[New Orleans]].{{Citation needed |date=June 2023}}

Shemp agreed to fill in for Curly in Columbia's popular Stooge shorts, knowing that if he refused, Moe and Larry would be out of work. {{Citation needed |date=June 2023}}He intended to stay only until Curly recovered, which never happened as Curly's health continued to worsen. Curly died on January 18, 1952, at the age of 48. Shemp agreed to remain with the group permanently.

Shemp's role as the third Stooge was much different from Curly's. His characterization was more relaxed as opposed to Curly's energetic persona. Unlike Curly, who had many distinct mannerisms, Shemp's most notable characteristic as a Stooge was a high-pitched "bee-bee-bee-bee-bee-bee!" sound, a sort of soft screech done by inhaling. It was a multipurpose effect: he emitted this sound when scared, sleeping (done as a form of snoring), overtly happy, or dazed. It became his trademark sound as the "nyuk nyuk" sound had become Curly's. Because of his established solo career, he was also given opportunities in the films to do some of his own comic routines.{{Citation needed |date=June 2023}}

During this period, The Three Stooges ventured into live television appearances, beginning on Tuesday, October 19, 1948, with [[Milton Berle]] on his [[Texaco Star Theatre]] program.

Shemp appeared with Moe and Larry in 77 short subjects, four of which were produced posthumously using stock footage. The trio also made the feature film ''[[Gold Raiders]]'' (1951). Shemp suffered a mild stroke in November 1952, but recovered within weeks. The medical episode had no noticeable effect on his remaining films with the Stooges, many of which were remakes of earlier films that also used recycled footage to reduce costs.{{Citation needed |date=June 2023}}