Shemp Howard interview

Factual Questions
1

My name is Geoff Dale, a Canadian author. I am currently researching material for a biography I am writing on Shemp Howard, one of the ‘original’ Three Stooges. I read somewhere that American writer Bernard Trink interviewed Howard many years ago.

I’ve been conducting a lot of research over the past year and, as you can imagine, there is considerably less material on him than there is on the other stooges Curly, Larry and Moe. I’ve interviewed a few of his remaining family members but the more information I gather, the better.

So I was wondering if Trink is still alive and whether there is any way of contacting him? If this is not an option, does anyone know if the transcripts for the interview still exist and how they might be obtained?

I do have another major concern and that involves Howard’s intense dislike - even fear - of travelling. So I am wondering whether this interview is an urban myth or whether, if such an interview actually took place, was it done over the phone.

Shemp Howard is indeed a fascinating figure but quite a mystery to a large degree.

Any information would be very much appreciated. I can be reached at geoff_dale@sympatico.ca. Thanks in advance. - Geoff

2

Reported.

3

bee-bee-bee-bee-bee-bee

4

For what?

5

Forum change?

6

Yup.

7

Trink seems to still be alive, if you can trust Wikipedia: Bernard Trink - Wikipedia Note that was not a dig at Wikipedia but at anyone who says he’s researching and didn’t even google the guys name. Sorry, Geoff, but it’s the most basic of steps when researching.

Maybe our resident farang, Siam Sam, knows the guy. Trink seems to have pissed off most of the ex-pats at one time or another.

8

While working on my degree, the instructor was not overly circumspect about abusing me for citing Wikipedia, claiming that it was not an academic source. I can see how **geoffwriter **may be a little gun-shy, Wikipedia wise.

9

Anyone who completely ignores Wikipedia doesn’t know how research works: You use it to find other sources, or at least a basic direction for further research. Believe it or not, simply being used in Wikipedia doesn’t make a source invalid.

10

Really?

I always heard it as Eeb-eeb-eeb-eeb-eeb.

11

Eep?

12

Trink is at the Bangkok Post and the OP should be able to contact him through them:
http://www.bangkokpost.com/search/news-and-article/?xAuthor=101&xAdvanceSearch=true

Here is a recent interview with him:

13

Hi, geoffwriter. I just sent you a Private Message with Trink’s e-maill address in it, or what used to be his e-mail address. It’s not clear if he still does e-mail. (He’s extremely low tech.) He is still alive and in his 80s but in poor health. I ran into him and his wife a few months ago.

There’s also a local Kiwi (New Zealander) who goes by the name of Stickman and writes a weekly online column at www.stickmanweekly.com. He interviewed Trink 10 years ago. You can find that interview in two halves at www.stickmanweekly.com/Weekly/weekly170.html and www.stickmanweekly.com/Weekly/weekly171.html. In the Private Message, I sent you Stickman’s e-mail too, and it’s also listed at the bottom of those links. Stickman is always very helpful and usually gets right back to people.

I’ll ask around this week and see if I can come up with any better direct contact details.

I have not read the interview with Shemp Howard that you mention, but I believe it exists. I recall Trink referring to it at least once in his column back in the day. He claimed Shemp had an encyclopedic knowledge of the Art of Comedy and was fascinating to listen to on the subject. My understanding is the interview took place here in Bangkok, maybe at the Oriental Hotel, in the 1950s, but I’m not certain about that.

EDIT: I just came back in to break those links. They may not be completely safe for work.

14

Or, simply, to find if someone’s still alive, as I did.

15

From the first half:

16

I’d love reading the Shemp Howard interview. I hope its found and reprinted someday.

Its probably buried in that huge stack of scrapbooks Trink mentioned.

17

Probably all that was ever recorded from the interview was some occasional written notes.

18

I scanned through that Stickman interview with Trink again but somehow missed the Three Stooges reference. And now I’m wondering if that really was Shemp he was talking about, because Trink says he first arrived in Thailand in 1962, but Shemp died in 1955. (I had thought Trink was here first in the 1950s following the Korean War, moved to Japan, then returned to Thailand in the early 1960s, but I guess not.) I thought I’d remembered him saying Shemp before back in his column, but maybe it was Moe?

The OP has not come logged back in yet. I may e-mail him if he doesn’t, but first I’ll see if I can get some more contact info.

19

And if (as it seems) Shemp hated to travel, it’s a bit strange he’d be in Thailand (which took some fairly intrepid traveling to reach in the early 50s).

20

Well, I’m not about to trust my memory now, but the more I think about it, the more I think it really may have been Moe he was talking about. Anyway, maybe the OP can get ahold of Trink himself and get it cleared up.