WHAT IS A FAKE SHEMP IN FILM? (In the Entertainment industry.)

Fake Shemp Photo Credit Greg Williams – WikiWorld

WHAT IS A FAKE SHEMP IN FILM? (In the Entertainment industry.)  

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What is a Fake Shemp in film?

A fake Shemp is someone who appears in a film as a replacement for another actor or person. Their appearance is disguised using methods such as heavy make-up (or a computer-generated equivalent), filming from the back, dubbing in audio and splicing in past footage from the original actor's previous work, using a sound-alike voice actor, or using partial shots of the actor. The concept is named after Shemp Howard, whose sudden death in 1955 necessitated the use of these techniques to finish the films to which he was already committed. Once somewhat commonplace throughout the 20th century, the use of fake Shemp’s to emulate living people is now forbidden under Screen Actors Guild contracts, largely because of a lawsuit filed by Crispin Glover that determined that the method violates the original actor's personality rights. The method continues to be used in cases, such as Shemp's, where the original actor is deceased and permission from the deceased actor's estate is granted.

A fake Shemp is distinguished from a stunt double. Stunt doubles usually only substitute for an actor in select scenes where the original actor is either unable to perform the stunt or is unwilling to take the risk of being injured in the stunt. The same techniques are often used for both.

The term references the comedy trio The Three Stooges. On November 22, 1955, Stooge Shemp Howard died suddenly of a heart attack at age 60. At the time, the Stooges still had four shorts left to deliver (Rumpus in the Harem, Hot Stuff, Scheming Schemers, and Commotion on the Ocean), by the terms of their annual contract with Columbia Pictures. By this point in the trio's career, budget cuts at Columbia had forced them to make heavy use of stock footage from previously completed shorts, so they were able to complete the films without Shemp. New footage was filmed of the other two Stooges (Moe Howard and Larry Fine) and edited together with stock footage. When continuity required that Shemp appear in the new scenes, they used Columbia supporting player Joe Palma to be a body double for him, often appearing only from behind or with an object obscuring his face.

Palma is often mistakenly cited as Shemp's stand-in, but these four shorts are the only documented times he performed in this capacity. Palma was a bit character actor and was not employed as a stand-in or double during Shemp's lifetime. Shemp's stand-in was usually Harold Breen, and there were others from time to time. But these four shorts required someone to double as Shemp in an actor's capacity, not a stand-in as such; hence, director Jules White utilized character actor Palma, who had appeared as a supporting character in numerous Three Stooges shorts before Shemp's death and would continue in that capacity for the trio's shorts with Joe Besser as the third stooge. Palma became the original "Fake Shemp", although the term was not officially in use at the time.

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Fake Shemp Photo Credit Greg Williams – WikiWorld