Growing Up Stooge

Growing Up Stooge

by Joan Howard Maurer and Jeff Lenburg

370 pages

7x10 size

Her father was Moe Howard, the scowling, bossy, mop-haired leader of The Three Stooges, who dished out laughter to millions with a poke in the eye and pie in the face of his two nitwitted partners.

GROWING UP STOOGE tells the wild, true-life story of Joan Howard Maurer growing up as the daughter of the world’s most famous “Moe” and niece of her zany uncles, Curly and Shemp Howard.

Imagine living under the same roof as the man responsible for creating five decades of hilarious mayhem and madness in more than 200 classic two-reel comedy shorts and feature films. If you’re thinking, “Heaven help the daughter who had a father like that,” think again!

This entertaining, revealing, and beautifully written memoir chronicles Joan's incredible life as a “Stooge Kid.” From the very day she entered the world at Brooklyn Jewish Hospital and her famous father and uncles mashed their cross-eyed faces against the nursery glass it was clear her life would not be ordinary.

With nearly 300 illustrations from the family's personal collections, many of which have never been published, this book sheds light on it all—the good, the bad, and the moronic. It's a journey full of raucous beginnings and rocky endings, exhilarating ups and debilitating downs. Along with the comedy came a lifetime of lessons for Joan who shares them all through a candid, behind-the-scenes look at a treasury of off-camera memories with her world-famous father and knuckleheaded uncles.

So, get ready to duck some flying pies and find out what it was really like GROWING UP STOOGE.