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Posts Archived Under Vaudeville
Larry Fine looking stunned,
undoubtedly by some
unexpected turn of events |
People who work in comedy know the "Rule of Three." That is, when writing jokes or creating a comedic movie, TV show, play, or even a skit, writers know how to establish a situation, confirm it, and then overturn it. If you look for it, you'll see it all the time: "A priest, a minister, and a rabbi walk into a bar ..."; "an Englishman, an Irishman, and a Scotsman were arguing ..."; "a genie grants a man three wishes ..."
With that rule so well-known, it makes us wonder why there are so few three-man comedy teams. There's the Ritz Brothers (who few remember nowadays), the Marx Brothers (who originally were a quartet), the Three Stooges -- and that’s about it.
We were reminded of this apparent paradox today in noting that October 5 marks the birthday of our favorite Stooge, Larry Fine. Every Stooge fan has his favorite. (We use the pronoun "his" deliberately here, since it's well known that women just don't get -- or even like the Stooges.) Some prefer the outright lunacy of Curly; some think Shemp is the ne plus ultra of wackiness; there are undoubtedly those who think the antics of Joe or Curly Joe cannot be bettered; and we're sure Moe brings delight to many for his attempts to bring order out of chaos.
But Larry is, for us, the essential Stooge. His "normalcy" (at least in terms of Stoogedom) provides the necessary grounding between Moe's masochism and Curly's flights of fancy. The Trinity of Stooges has been compared to Sigmund Freud's theory of the unconscious (no, honestly), what with Moe's controlling force representing the ego, Curly the uncontrollable id, and Larry, the superego that strives for organization and peace.
Larry Fine himself was an unassuming man. He was born Louis Feinberg in Philadelphia in 1902, and after a childhood accident (he burned his arm with acid), he took up the violin, a choice that led to a career in vaudeville, where a chance meeting with comedian Ted Healy (who had originally hired the Howard Brothers -- Moe, Shemp, and Curly -- to accompany him on stage) led him to join Healy's act as the third Stooge, a role he would hold for the next four decades, until a debilitating stroke forced him to retire.
Larry's contribution to the act is invaluable. He provides an entry point for the viewer, allowing us to put Moe's harshness and Curly's craziness into context. Without him, Stooge fanatics would be left only with an authoritarian beating up on a lunatic. And every so often, Larry will say or do something so off the wall that it confirms his own existence as a Stooge.
Director Peter Farrelly has been threatening to make a new "Three Stooges" movie for years. While this may not seem a good idea at first blush (Benicio Del Toro as Moe? Sean Penn as Larry?), his views on Mr. Fine give Larry-philes reason for hope (while also providing a fine epitaph): "Growing up, first you watched Curly, then Moe, and then your eyes got to Larry. He's the reactor, the most vulnerable. Five to fourteen, Curly; fourteen to twenty-one, Moe. Anyone out of college, if you're not looking at Larry, you don’t have a good brain."
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Directory categories:
Larry Fine, The Three Stooges, Comedy Teams, Comedy, Actors |
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Archived under: 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, Actors, Biographies, Birthdays, Comedians, Entertainment, Humor, Men, Movie History, Movies, Musicians, The Three Stooges, Vaudeville |
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Groucho Marx in 1931 |
Thirty-two years ago this week, an icon of American entertainment died: a performer who was recognizable by his voice, his physicality, and his frequent appearances on television and in films. We refer, of course, to Julius Henry Marx -- better known as Groucho.
Groucho Marx died on August 19, 1977, but with all the fuss over Elvis Presley's death three days earlier, his passing was virtually overlooked by the media. But for those with a taste for a sharp tongue and terrible puns, Groucho lives on.
In a career that spanned almost all of the 20th century, Groucho and his brothers conquered vaudeville, Broadway, radio, the literary world, and motion pictures. After he retired from movies (more or less), Groucho hosted "You Bet Your Life," a game show that became known for Groucho's verbal byplay with civilian guests and its immortal catch phrase, "say the secret word and win $100."
He made a "comeback" at the age of 82 (though he'd never really left), packing concert halls with his one-man show.
While some may prefer the karate-chopping guy in the jumpsuit, we'll take the cigar-smoking con man in the greasepaint mustache waggling his eyebrows at the nearest blonde or trying to scam a wealthy dowager.
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Directory categories:
Groucho Marx, The Marx Brothers, Comedians, Comedy Films, Television Game Shows |
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Archived under: 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, Actors, Anniversaries, Authors, Biographies, Broadway, Celebrities, Comedians, Dead Celebrities, Entertainment, Game Shows, Humor, Movies, Musicals, TV, Vaudeville |
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Shemp Howard, circa 1945 |
It is a truth universally acknowledged that men like The Three Stooges and women do not. But even among Stooge partisans, controversy reigns as to who the greatest is. Most fans will opt for Curly, while others rank Moe as the ne plus ultra of Stoogedom. My own preference is for Larry (seriously -- he's indispensible in his role as the moderating ego to Moe's superego and Curly’s id). But a strong argument can be made for the man we celebrate today: Shemp Howard.
Shemp was born Samuel Horowitz, but his mother's inability to pronounce his name led to his unique sobriquet. Shemp and his brother Harry Moses -- soon to be known as "Moe" -- were stage struck as kids, frequently playing hooky to attend local vaudeville and theatre performances. Moe carved out a career for himself in movies and vaudeville, but Shemp was a slow starter, making his film debut in 1919’s "Spring Fever," alongside Moe and baseball Hall of Famer Honus Wagner.
Moe found work as a foil for fellow vaudevillian Ted Healy. In a 1923 appearance, he spotted Shemp in the audience. The brothers started heckling one another to the audience’s delight, and Healy hired Shemp to join the act.
By 1930, Healy and his "Racketeers" (or ultimately, "Stooges") made it to Hollywood. But Shemp, who had never gotten along with Healy, quit the act (to be replaced by his youngest brother, Jerry, also known as "Curly") and struck out on his own. With his comedic flair and unusual looks (he was billed as "The Ugliest Man in Hollywood"), he quickly found success working as a character actor with such stars as Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, W.C. Fields, and Abbott and Costello -- even appearing in a dramatic role opposite John Wayne.
In 1946, a stroke left Curly unable to perform, so Shemp stepped in on a "temporary" basis that lasted for the next decade, though the three Howards did make their only film appearance together in 1947’s "Hold That Lion."
Shemp himself died of a massive heart attack in 1955. Producer Jules White completed a number of unfinished films using a body double, leading to an immortalizing tradition that seems appropriate for a Stooge. To this day, when actors are hired to double for other actors while wearing heavy makeup or being filmed only from the back, they're referred to as a "Fake Shemp."
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Directory categories:
Shemp Howard, The Three Stooges, Comedy Groups, Comedy Movies, Actors |
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Archived under: 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, Actors, Biographies, Comedians, Dead Celebrities, Entertainment, Filmmaking, Humor, Imposters, In Character, Movie History, Movies, Roscoe (Fatty) Arbuckle, The Three Stooges, Vaudeville |
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On February 6, 1843, an era began in American entertainment that seems baffling today, but which was wildly popular for most of the 19th century. On that date, the Virgnia Minstrels took the stage in New York City to present the first performance in what would become a long line of minstrel shows.
Minstrel shows go back centuries, at least as far as their elemental parts are concerned. Musical parodies and terrible jokes ("An uncle of mine was killed by hard drink." "Is that so?" "Yeah; a block of ice fell on his head") are as old as music and humor -- and the unfortunate practice of blackface goes back to at least 1441 -- but it was Dan Emmett who got the idea to combine them all into a single evening.
Minstrel shows and troupes differed in their content and material, but all followed the same basic structure, using wisecracks, sentimental songs, puns, and stock characters to entertain audiences. Unfortunately, a good portion of those shows was dedicated to confirming audience prejudices that African-Americans were lazy and ignorant -- a bias reinforced by using white performers in burnt cork makeup who "imitated" the way blacks supposedly acted.
Minstrelsy pretty much vanished with the advent of vaudeville in the late 19th century, (though it continues even now), but blackface remained popular into the 1950s. Such beloved white entertainers as Al Jolson and Eddie Cantor used blackface as a major part of their acts, and even Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, and Bugs Bunny tried it out. Bert Williams, a superstar who was the first black actor to appear with an otherwise white cast, never appeared on stage without "blacking up."
Though mocking ethnic groups and wearing blackface are thankfully things of the past (well, for the most part, anyway), the trend hasn’t been entirely eliminated. Recently, protesters have been fighting director M. Night Shyamalan's plans to film "Avatar: The Last Airbender" using white actors rather than Asians, but we can't imagine anyone is dumb enough to black up today -- or can we?
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Directory categories:
Vaudeville, Performing Arts, Race and Racism, Dsicrimination, Daniel Decatur Emmett |
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Archived under: American History, Anniversaries, Black History, Bugs Bunny, Comedians, Entertainment, History, Impersonators, Imposters, Make-Up, Performing Arts, Society and Culture, United States, Vaudeville |
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Herbert "Tiny Tim" Khaury |
When this time of year rolls around, our thoughts naturally turn to Tiny Tim. No, not the Dickens character; the singer of the 1960s. Born in 1932 as Herbert Khaury, he was five when his father brought home a gramophone and records featuring such artists as Billy Murray, Irving Kaufman, and Nick Lucas -- superstars in the first quarter of the twentieth century, but who are all but forgotten today.
Young Herbert was instantly taken with them and their vaudeville songs and performance styles. He began a long trial of learning the ukulele, becoming a walking encyclopedia about Tin Pan Alley, training his voice (which ranged from a high falsetto to a deep baritone), busking, and struggling for recognition. He performed under a number of names (Darry Dover, Larry Love, Judas K. Foxglove) before settling on "Tiny Tim" (after being booked into a nightclub that specialized in acts featuring little people).
His big break came when he was featured in the 1968 documentary "You Are What You Eat," which focused on such "far out" locations as L.A.'s Sunset Strip, San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury, and New York's East Village. His unique presence -- the large nose, the long stringy hair -- and performance style earned him a slot on "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In," the hottest show on television. He performed his signature tune, "Tiptoe Through the Tulips," and became a national sensation as albums and further TV shows followed.
He reached the peak of his fame on December 17, 1969, when he married Victoria Budinger, (aka "Miss Vicki") on Johnny Carson’s "Tonight Show;" a wedding that attracted 40 million viewers. It was all downhill from there, though. While he was never out of work -- he played Vegas and circuses, appeared in movies and on TV, and kept recording (even country and punk songs) -- he became a D-list celebrity.
In 1996, he suffered a massive heart attack and was warned that performing could kill him, but trouper that he was, he continued on -- and in one of those twists of fate, was onstage singing "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" when he suffered a second fatal heart attack. As his third wife helped him off stage, she asked if he was all right. Tim replied with his last words, "No, I'm not," and collapsed.
Tiny Tim is now probably as obscure as his own idols were, but on the anniversary of the day he was the most-watched man in America, we salute him.
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Directory categories:
Tiny Tim, Novelty and Comedy Musicians, Rock and Pop Music, Vaudeville, Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In |
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Archived under: 1960s, Anniversaries, Biographies, Celebrities, Dead Celebrities, Entertainment, Music, Music History, Musicians, Nicknames, Rock and Roll, Tiny Tim, Vaudeville, Weddings |
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