NOBODY'S STOOGE: TED HEALY by Bill Cassara (paperback)
Finalist: International Book Awards 2015
Huffington Post ranks "Nobody's Stooge" as one of the best film books of the year!
By the author of Edgar Kennedy-Master of the Slow Burn and Vernon Dent-Stooge Heavy.
Discover the missing back-story of the dawn of The Three Stooges in this groundbreaking full-length biography of Ted Healy. Millions of comedy movie fans still enjoy watching The Three Stooges, but few know the Ted Healy story or the mysterious circumstances that surrounded his untimely death. He began his show business career in Vaudeville and climbed to the pinnacle of fame as a movie star, appearing in dozens of films, such as Dancing Lady (1933) with Joan Crawford and Clark Gable, Fugitive Lovers (1934) with Robert Montgomery, Operator 13 (1934) with Gary Cooper and Marion Davies, Reckless (1935) with Jean Harlow, and the Academy Award-winning San Francisco (1936) with Jeanette MacDonald, Spencer Tracy, and Gable. Healy's sudden death at age forty-one just days after the birth of his son has long been surrounded in mystery and scandal. Was his death by natural causes or did foul play involving an alleged MGM/Wallace Beery murder cover up the truth?
Author Bill Cassara, a retired law enforcement professional, digs deep into the annals of film history to uncover the riveting, tragic, and at times hilarious truth about Ted Healy, the unjustly forgotten, innovative funnyman.
Includes a richly detailed biography that draws from many never before seen sources, a Filmography, photos and illustrations, an Index, and a Bibliography
"If he is remembered at all, Ted Healy is known as the man who assembled the trio that came to be known as The Three Stooges. Little is known about the comedian himself, a boyhood friend of Moe Howard who went on to achieve considerable success on stage and screen. Bill Cassara, a retired police Internal Affairs sergeant, has employed his investigative skills and keen interest in movie comedy to research biographies of Edgar Kennedy and second-banana Vernon Dent. Now he turns his attention to Healy and comes up with “the goods.” He even devotes an entire chapter to the rumors and lore surrounding his mysterious death in 1937. Comedy buffs will welcome this thorough biography, filled with rare photos and newspaper clippings, along with a wonderful new drawing of Healy by Drew Friedman."
-- Leonard Maltin
"Nobody's Stooge is a must-have for Three Stooges fans, people who love MGM films of the ‘30s, and movie scholars who want to learn more about one of the most respected entertainers of his era."
-- inthebalcony.com
"Film biographies must be well-written and about interesting people. Nobody’s Stooge: Ted Healy is both. For fans of 1930s movies, and certainly for the millions of Three Stooges fans, this book is definitely a must-have."
-- examiner.com
"Where Cassara stands out in compiling this information is in interpreting it through an eye trained for forensics."
-- immortalephemera.com
Review by Greenbriar Picture Shows