August 2024 Auction Ends Thursday, August 29th, 5pm Pacific
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/29/2024
Moe Howard handwritten page from the draft of his autobiography, ''Moe Howard & the 3 Stooges''. In this manuscript, documenting his adolescent years, Howard writes about getting in fights at school, deciding he wanted to be an actor, and entertaining exploits like hunting frogs for pocket change. In blue ballpoint, Howard writes in full:
''It was in 1908 that I made up my mind that being an actor was to be my life's work. In early spring of that year I was attending school approximately 15 days out of a 5 month semester. I was having an awful time with the truant officers, fortunately in those days they had to ride in a horse drawn carriage which made it very difficult for them to find me. They were now beginning to question my Mother. She wanted no trouble as she was having enough of her own problems so she lied for me and said that I had an Aunt in New York City who was desperately ill and alone and that I was the only one who could care for her. We lived in Brooklyn in Bensonhurst that is. I used to attend school when different Friday tests came along and I passed them with flying colors. It was at this time that I was lying on my stomach by a pond at 8 a.m. Thursday morning 4 miles from our home, with a short wooden club in my hand waiting for the greenbacks, frogs that is the ones people eat the legs of, in restaurants. I killed 10 frogs every Thursday morning and sold them to Mr. Sullivans Restaurant & Saloon at 15 cents a pair of legs or $1.50 for the 10 frogs. I must also relate that this was the year that ended my fighting career, I fought while going to school, in school and returning from school. You see my Mom made finger curls all over my head down to my shoulders so that from age 6 to age 11 I sported more black & blue eyes and bloody noses than any youngster alive anywhere. All a kid had to do was make a remark about Sissy or Girly Girly and the fight was on be he large or small. I threw punches no matter what the result. The principal of the school finally could stand it no longer so had me removed from P.S. 101 to P.S. 128. But it made no difference. At P.S. 128 I found a friend who felt so sorry for me that he joined my...'' Page ends mid-sentence.
Single page manuscript on lined yellow legal paper measures 8'' x 12.5''. Light creasing, overall very good plus condition. From the Moe Howard estate.
Moe Howard's Handwritten Manuscript Page When Writing His Autobiography -- Moe Tells of His Early Years Skipping School, Wanting to Be an Actor, Getting Into Fights & Hunting Frogs
Click above for larger image.