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Incredible and entertaining collection of 78 pages handwritten by Moe Howard, comprising the draft of his 1977 autobiography, "Moe Howard and the Three Stooges", published after his death. In this comprehensive history of Howard's life, he leaves no stone unturned, beginning with his birth in 1897 (looking like a "shriveled up monkey"), through his vaudeville years, working with Ted Healy and then their break, his first film "Soup to Nuts", meeting and marrying his wife Helen, and of course his career with The Three Stooges.
In the first four pages of the manuscript, Moe lists the years 1908-1973, with important events noted, such as how they formed Howard, Fine & Howard, and then reunited with Ted Healy in 1931; "Signed with Columbia - 3 Stooges" in 1934; "appeared in London" in 1939; "Ed Sullivan show" in 1942 and 1943; "Curly gets stroke" in 1946; and much more including the resurgence of the Stooges in the 1960s. In the 70+ other pages, Moe goes into wonderful detail, using his comedic talents to craft an entertaining story of his life. Regarding his famous bowl haircut, Moe describes in the early pages how it came to be: "…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…I threw punches no matter what the result…Rusty [his friend] and I went into his bedroom I asked him to get his Mother's scissors which he did wonderingly, brought it to me and without the least hesitation without looking in his mirror I proceeded to encircle my head with the Scissors clipping curls all the way around…I returned the Scissors to Rusty who was now laughing hysterically which prompted me to look in the mirror. I choked up, there wasn't a laugh in me I could only wonder how my Ma would be affected…Pop said Now he is really ugly…" Then, after a rough and tumble childhood of many visits to the Principal's office, Moe discovers acting, writing, "I appeared mostly as a street urchin and ragamuffin and on some occasions a genteel lad from a very wealthy family a sort of a hateful show-off…There must have been something sinister about my looks".
Two pages are devoted to Moe's brother Curly, headed at top "Jerome (Curly) Howard". He writes, "When he was about 16 he was the life of any party. He had a beautiful singing voice and at the beach the crowd would gather around while he would sing and play the ukelele, which I taught him how to play. He had beautiful brown hair. The years rolled by it was now 1928 and Jerome or Babe as we later called him as he was the babe in the family. Curly joined Orville Knapps band as a comedy guest conductor, he wore tails which were made to break away piece by piece as he conducted the band…he would be left conducting the band in long underwear with a drop seat that was held up with a horse blanket safety pin. At that moment the band would close with a roll of drums and a crash of symbols [sic] and Curly would bow and leave the stage always with a roar of Laughter!"
In a section titled "On the Farm", Moe writes about his and his brothers' exploits, going skunk hunting, pretending to be scarecrows, and a prank he and Shemp would play: they'd go into town with Moe having shaved the right side of his face, and Shemp having shaved the left side ("Folks say 'Here they come' and would cross to the other side of the street"). In this section, Moe also describes a gun accident that left Curly shot in the foot. He writes, "One day he took my rifle, which was a 22 calibre with a hair trigger, and went hunting with a young neighbor boy…Jerry said later that he was sitting on the ground with his legs crossed and the end of the rifle barrel was pointed at his foot and without any thought about the rifle he kept playing with the trigger until it finally discharged and the bullet entered his foot at the ankle. I shall never forget the look on his face when he limped into the farm house and went right up to the bedroom where he and I slept…he lay on the bed as white as a sheet blood oozing from his foot. We had him rushed to St. Peters Hospital in Albany New York 60 miles away by ambulance. It was touch & go…It was extremely fortunate that my Mother was not there at the time…He never let it interfere with his work. He kept swimming, dining, dancing and sitting on the beach singing and playing the Uke."
In another section, Moe describes meeting Larry Fine in 1925: "Larry said If you are willing to hire me your should know what you would care to pay me. Ted [Healy] said Larry I'll give you 100.00 per week and another 25.00 if you forget the violin. Larry said Ted you sold me. I was most interested in how Larry became a violin player and performer. He was born and raised in South Philadelphia at least that is what he told me. He then became acquainted with a young lady and her sister from Atlantic City it was Mabel and Loretta Haney. They did a dancing act in Vaudeville called The Haney Sisters. Larry said he joined them in Philadelphia. He did the Russian Dance and played the Violin and they called the Vaudeville Act - Haney Sisters and Fine…He tried real hard and I liked him all the better for it…Mabel and Loretta pushed Larry into the background in the act and finally called the act Haney Sisters and Co. This was the straw that broke the Elephant's back according to Larry…So that was the end of the Haney Sisters & Co. and how Larry became one of The 3 Stooges. Of course he later married Mabel…" Moe also tells funny stories of having to cover for Larry's indiscretions with other ladies when he was married to Mabel.
Many of the pages are devoted to the men's vaudeville days with Ted Healy before they became The Three Stooges. In addition to funny stories about girls being shot out of cannons, blueberry pie pranks (earning the nickname "dead shot Moe"), and going alligator hunting with Ted Healy, Howard describes "Rehearsing for A Night in Venice". In part, "I recall when we were rehearsing for J.J. Shubert's Broadway production of 'A Night in Venice' in 1929 we were working with Ted Healy at the time along with The Stevens Bros. and their wrestling Bear. Healy got the bright idea that if we made our entrance on stage with about a dozen or more cats closely following us on stage at our heels, it would be a very funny entrance. Then Healy said where can we get a dozen or more cats and how can we get them to follow you guys. I said Ted I have an idea how to get the cats but will have to figure out how we can get them to follow us on stage. Okay says Ted go get the cats and we'll keep them in the men's room here…I asked about 20 kids to bring me a good size cat, not a kitten and I'd give them 50 cents per cat…before the clock struck 5 there were 16 cats of every color, size and description in the mens room…J.J. Shubert was deathly afraid of cats, which we found out later…Mr. Shubert got up and headed for the men's room as he opened the door 16 cats jumped him, Shubert fell to the floor and fainted, he was taken to the Hospital…but wouldn't come to rehearsal until all the cats were out of the building…We arranged for the transfer man to cart the cage with the cats into the basement of the Century Theatre…I know it to be a fact that there were cats and kittens of all kinds running through the Century Theatre until it was torn down years later…"
In 1927, Moe's daughter Joan was born and the crew moved to Hollywood shortly thereafter. He writes, "My wife was in labor for many hours. I would pop in and out of her room at the sound of her moaning after many hours they wheeled her out on a table and took her to the room where the deliveries happen after some time when they wheeled her out and I walked alongside of her and said Honey never again. I can't take it, that's it. And that's the way it was for 8 years until my son Paul was born in 1936. Little Joan was cute as a bug with little curled ringlets…Healy, Shemp & his wife & son Mort, Larry and his wife and baby daughter Phyliss, my wife, Joan and I we made quite a group. We arrived in L.A. by train to do the Fox picture - 'Soup to Nuts'…"
Moe describes their lives in Los Angeles, describing a weird incident from the film "Horses' Collars". He writes, "In our western picture Horses Collars there was a scene of a fight between the two heavies and Curly at one point in the fight the one heavy was just starting to take his coat off as Curly was throwing a punch and it so happened that Curly's arm went right into the sleeve of the Heavies coat they were both locked in the one coat each one had a full arm, the second heavy was standing alongside of us and as Curly swung the first heavy around he punched his own pal and when he swung Curly around Curly landed a punch on the second heavie's chin, this kept on until they both passed out. We then found that the second heavy was throwing an epileptic fit from the punches and passed out. We ran over and turned him onto his stomach so he wouldn't swallow his tounge [sic]. He was brought to the studio hospital and after some time he was brought around. it upset us quite a bit. You never could tell what would happen in any one of our comedies."
In one of the pages, Moe reflects on working with Shemp after Curly had his stroke. He writes, "Shemp filled the spot very nicely. He was an entirely different type but fit in very well. So on we went with Shemp. I felt very low for a long time but never showed it. Every time I smacked or poked Shemp I was seeing Curly. This feeling finally left me and I was able to think clearly again in the writeing [sic] of our stories and planning gags. Shemp, I and Larry went on personal appearances. We didn't have to break in any material for Shemp was very familiar with the action, the dialogue and the gags. We appeared in many theatres it was 3 shows a day and 4 shows on Saturday and Sunday. The one I will never forget is the Labor Day weekend at the Steel Pier in Atlantic City. We usually did 28 minutes in our theatre routine but that weekend at the steel pier we did 12 shows a day we had to cut our act down to 7 minutes…The only reason we did appear at the Steel Pier was that our contract called for 7 days at the Earle Theatre in Philadelphia but there were no stage shows permitted in Pennsylvania on Sunday so they put in the Steel Pier for the Sunday play date…"
With much more funny content including Moe waging a war with gophers in his garden, and sweet stories about his family and Three Stooges fans. Other content such as legal troubles and Larry's extramarital exploits is also included here, but which wasn't published in the book. A treasure trove of material unmatched by its volume, penned by Moe on 58 pages. Most pages measure 8" x 12.5". In very good condition with legible handwriting. From the Moe Howard estate.
Letters (listed in chronological order) can be seen here:
Letters