Joe Palma

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Joe Palma
Born Joseph Provenzano
March 17, 1905(1905-03-17)
New York, New York
Died August 14, 1994 (aged 89)
Poway, California
Years active 1937-1968
Spouse(s) Marjorie Ann Ries

Joe Palma (March 17, 1905 – August 14, 1994), was an American film actor. Born in New York, New York, Palma appeared in over 120 films between 1937 and 1968.

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[edit] Early years

Palma grew up in New York City, and worked as a mortician in the Provenzano Funeral Home, owned by his parents. Eventually, Hollywood called, and Palma headed west. He joined the stock company at Columbia Pictures in 1937, and played scores of bit parts over 30 years.[1]

In the film Rumpus in the Harem, Palma is seen at left doubling for Shemp Howard.
In the film Rumpus in the Harem, Palma is seen at left doubling for Shemp Howard.

With his lean build, brushed-back hair, and unassuming appearance, Joe Palma almost always played incidental roles, which is probably why he lasted so long as a Columbia contract player. He was usually in the background, and at most, he would be given only a few lines of dialogue, as in the 1945 Three Stooges comedy Beer Barrel Polecats: Palma plays an angry convict who dares Curly Howard to punch him in the nose. Palma can be glimpsed in all kinds of movies, including crime dramas, musical comedies, costume epics, westerns, serials, and two-reel comedies. He's the railroad brakeman picking up runaway Scotty Beckett in The Jolson Story; he's the plainclothes detective making a positive identification in the Jean Porter musical Little Miss Broadway; he's the cowboy silently refusing bartender Shemp Howard's messy concoction in Punchy Cowpunchers; he's a waiter in Sam Katzman's production Rock Around the Clock. His largest speaking role is probably in the Schilling & Lane short Training for Trouble (1947), in which Palma attempts a Jewish dialect: "This is Goldstein, Goldberg, Goldblatt, and O'Brien, booking agents. O'Brien speaking."

[edit] "The Fake Shemp"

Today, Palma is best known as Shemp Howard's posthumous double. In 1955, Three Stooges member Shemp Howard died of a sudden heart attack. At the time, the Stooges still had four short films left to deliver on their annual contract with Columbia Pictures. By 1955, budget cuts had forced them to utilize stock footage from previous shorts as a matter of survival. As a result, the Stooges managed to complete the four films without Shemp. To do this, Palma was made up to resemble the late Stooge, complete with wig, and would be filmed only from the back or side. On occasion, Palma was required to add a brief line of dialogue or sound (most notably in Hot Stuff). The few new shots Palma appeared in were then edited together with the recycled footage containing the real Shemp, and new films were born.[2]

[edit] Later years

Palma spent his last years in the entertainment industry as an assistant to Jack Lemmon. He appears as "Mr. Palma," the mailman, in Lemmon's 1964 Columbia comedy Good Neighbor Sam. His final film appearance was as a butcher in Lemmon's 1968 film The Odd Couple.[1] He died of natural causes on August 14, 1994.

[edit] See also

[edit] Selected filmography

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Joe Palma in the Internet Movie Database
  2. ^ Okuda, Ted; Watz, Edward; (1986). The Columbia Comedy Shorts, p. 73 McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. ISBN 0899501818