If you are even remotely interested in The Three Stooges, you might like this YouTube clip of a report from a St. Louis TV station about the life of comedian Joe Besser, who performed as part of the Three Stooges after Shemp Howard’s sudden death in 1955:
I remember hearing Joe Besser’s voice in assorted Hanna-Barbera cartoons well into the late 1970s, but I didn’t know much about his career overall. I think most people who grew up watching the Stooges would agree that the shorts with Joe are decidedly weak, but still a vast improvement over the final years of the Stooges with Curly Joe DeRita. It was interesting to learn about him beyond the context of those few films. As usual, writer and show-biz historian Mark Evanier deserves the credit for digging up the clip.
