Joe Besser

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Joe Besser

Born	August 12, 1907 St. Louis, Missouri United States
Died	March 1, 1988 at age 80 North Hollywood, California

Joe Besser (August 12, 1907 – March 1, 1988) was an American comedian, known for his impish humor, and is now best remembered for his brief stint as part of the Three Stooges. People who grew up in the 1950s and 1960s remember Besser for playing Stinky, the spoiled mamma's boy in the Abbott and Costello Show.

He was born in St Louis, making him the only main Stooge member not born on the East Coast. He was the ninth child of Morris and Fanny Besser (Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe). He had seven older sisters, and an older brother Manny who was in show business. From a young age, Joe was also fascinated with show business, especially the magic act of Howard Thurston that came annually. For years, he asked Thurston if he could join the act, and Thurston kept telling him to wait until he was older. When he was twelve, Thurston allowed Besser to play a minor audience plant (as in, "stooge"). Besser was so excited by this, he snuck into Thurston's train after the St. Louis run of the show was over, and was discovered the next day sleeping on top of the lion's cage in Detroit.

Thurston gave in, informed Besser's parents of the situation, and trained him as an assistant. The first act involved pulling a rabbit out of a hat. The trick involved two rabbits, one hidden in a pocket of Thurston's cape. But young Besser was so nervous that he botched badly, pulling out the rabbit from the cape at the same time as the other rabbit was on display, before the trick had been performed. The audience roared with laughter, and Besser from then on was assigned comic mishap roles only.

Besser ended up in vaudeville, doing comedy in general, and was a headliner. He specialized in playing a bratty, whiny child, and his catchphrases "You crazy, youuuuu!" and "Not so faaaaaast!" became well known.

In 1932, he married the dancer Erna Kay, real name Erna Dora Kretschmer, known as "Ernie". They were neighbors and friends of Lou Costello, of Abbott and Costello fame. He was in demand in movies, radio, and eventually television. One of his most famous roles was "Stinky", the bratty, loudmouthed child dressed in an oversized Little Lord Fauntleroy outfit, shorts, and a flat top hat with overhang. He played that for the first season of The Abbott and Costello Show.

When Shemp Howard died of a sudden heart attack in November 1955, Moe Howard, recruited Besser to join The Three Stooges. Although a contract signed by Moe Howard and the other Stooges legally gave Moe approval over any new members to join the act, Columbia executives had final say over any actor who would appear alongside Moe and Larry in films, and the studio had insisted Moe select a performer already under contract to the studio. Producer-director Jules White met with Besser, who asked for -- and got -- his former feature-film salary (more than Moe or Larry earned).

Joe Besser refrained from imitating Curly or Shemp (Joe and Shemp had been friends since 1932). Besser continued to play the same whiny character he had developed over his long career. Besser had a clause in his contract prohibiting being hit excessively, insisting that his humor was more about comedic revenge for being bullied. "I usually played the kind of character who would hit others back." In a 2002 "E Entertainment" episode which used file footage of Besser, the comic stated that the left side of Larry Fine's face was noticeably coarser than the other side, which he attributed to Moe's less-than-staged slaps.

Besser was a Stooge for a little more than one year. His Stooge tenure ended when Columbia shut down the two-reel-comedy department on December 20, 1957. Jules White had shot enough film for sixteen comedies, which were released a few months apart until mid-1959.

Moe Howard and Larry Fine discussed plans to tour with a live act, but Besser declined. In later years, Joe explained this was because his wife, Ernie, had suffered a heart attack, and he was unwilling to leave without her.

Joe Besser returned to films and television, most notably as the superintendent "Jillson" for four seasons (1961–1965) of The Joey Bishop Show, and the voice of Babu the genie in the animated I Dream of Jeannie series. He also made occasional appearances on the ABC late-night series, also called The Joey Bishop Show between 1967 and 1969.

Numerous Stooge fans view Besser as a "red haired stepchild". Yet, apart from Shemp Howard, he had the most prolific career of any Stooge. Besser's sissified Joe may not have fit the Stooge mold comfortably, but the truth was that Moe and Larry were older, and the constant profusion of recycled scripts and stock footage hurt the quality of Besser's Stooge output. A contingent of Stooge fans feels Besser brought substantial humor to the role, and indeed several of the Besser Stooge shorts used all-new, original material tailored for the new team. Many fans born after 1952 remember the comic actor fondly, as his shorts were the ones predominately seen at movie theatres during their youth. To many fans, it was Besser's replacement, Joe DeRita, who seemed bland and devoid of character during his feature-film run. (Initially DeRita was given only 23% of the trio's take, until Fine pushed for equal pay.)

Later in life, Joe Besser expressed dismay that fans only recognized him for his year with the Stooges and were unfamiliar with the rest of his body of work. His autobiography, Not Just a Stooge, bears this out. Ironically, the book would later be retitled and remarketed to emphasize the Stooge connection.

Besser recalled his friendship with the Stooges in an emotional speech referring to "the four boys" (Moe, Larry, Curly, and Shemp) up in heaven looking down on the event of the dedication of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on August 1983. He was the only official Stooge to speak at the event, as Joe DeRita was ill at the time, although he outlived Besser by five years. Stooge supporting player Emil Sitka (who almost became a Stooge himself in the 1970s) was also in attendance. This was a turning point for Besser, who in his final years came to embrace his role as a Stooge.

Considered a kind man, Besser enjoyed meeting fans of all ages as well as giving his time to the children of his community. He died of heart failure on March 1, 1988. In the early-1990s, the heirs of several stooges filed a lawsuit against Moe Howard's family, who had amassed control over the team's finances. The result gave the other heirs more profits, and placed Joe DeRita's stepson in charge of the Stooge images/sales.

[edit] Further reading

Not Just a Stooge (later retitled Once a Stooge, Always a Stooge) by Joe Besser with Jeff Lenburg and Greg Lenburg [1], (Knightsbridge Publishing Co., 1990).
Moe Howard and the Three Stooges by Moe Howard [2], (Citadel Press, 1977).
The Complete Three Stooges: The Official Filmography and Three Stooges Companion' by Jon Solomon [3], (Comedy III Productions, Inc., 2002).
The Columbia Comedy Shorts by Ted Okuda with Edward Watz [4], (McFarland, 1986).
The Three Stooges Scrapbook by Jeff Lenburg, Joan Howard Maurer, Greg Lenburg [5](Citadel Press, 1994).
The Three Stooges: An Illustrated History, From Amalgamated Morons to American Icons by Michael Fleming [6](Broadway Publishing, 2002).