Born Samuel Horowitz, Shemp was one of the first Stooges in the act.
As youngsters, Shemp and Moe had several acts as brothers, before Moe signed up with Ted Healy. One day Moe spotted his brother in the audience, and yelled at him from the stage. Shemp yelled right back, and walked onto the stage and Healy hired him on the spot. But after a few years of taking abuse from Healy, Shemp accepted a contract from Vitaphone and went out on his own, replaced by Curly. When Curly was unable to perform any more, he returned to the act.