When
a National Enquirer interviewer first asked Paul McCartney in a
1983 interview about the story of Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and later
Jerome "Curly" Howard once being in the band, he simply
smiled and said "How else would you explain why we wore
those crazy haircuts?".
McCartney
remembers the first time he met Moe Howard...
"Moe
rolled up on this raggedy old moped and offer to let John and
I ride it. We
would jump on and start to ride only to see Moe running up quickly,
he would grab us by the shoulders and throw us to the asphalt,
poke us in the eyes, clonk us on our bloomin' heads, and steal
the moped back as if he'd never given us the bloody permission
to ride the blasted thing...Boy, those were truly the golden years!"
I looked at John and said, "We need this joker to play drums
in our band!" From then on, we were like family. I
remember him saying something about how mopeds weren't around
where he was from.
Moe
was a strange bird...In fact, he always seem so amazed by just
about any motorized or electronic gadgets. He sometimes seemed
as though he was from another planet. John and I would just look
at each other and laugh at how crazy he seemed. Always facinated
by the simple things. He almost fell out of his chair the first
time he saw a lava lamp. He even mentioned something about how
Jerome and Larry would freak when they saw it too. He asked if
he could take it back with him. I said "Sure, but where is
back?" He smiled like a kid in a candy store, but never replied...he
just smiled. I never did find out where "Back" was.
We only played together for a few short months and Moe, Larry
and Jerome just seemed to vanish from our lives."
Although
Moe and Larry both fit into the bands format very well, their time
with the Beatles was quite short-lived. It seems all was wonderful
with the band which was called "The Lunkheads" at the
time, until Moe insisted that McCartney and Lennon let his good
friend Larry Fine (an accomplished musician) and his kid brother
Jerome into the band. Jerome wasn't much of a musician, but as Rolling
Stones writer Jock Kilgore put it "He was simply a showman,
and a bonafide lady's man...a real nutcase on wheels!"
Tension
started to rise between McCartney and Moe Howard. The more Moe would
insist on his two counterparts joining the band, the more McCartney
would distance himself.
Moe
Howard remembers...
"I
could feel our bond drifting slowly apart. I knew the talent my
kid brother had from our earlier years in vaudeville, but Paul
just wanted to be a stubborn fool. I really loved Paul, hell,
I even told him that one day I'd name a kid after him, but he
was like a broad at times, just so complicated and impossible
to deal with."
Moe
Howard held his ground and kept a steadfast attitude that Larry
Fine, and Jerome Howard were the missing ingredients that could
send this band over the top and to the next level. McCartney disagreed
claiming that his two childhood buddies Ringo and John fit the bill
in a more appropriate fashion.
Both
Howard and McCartney agreed to have all 7 members in the band and
call themselves the "Beatlebrained Imbeciles", a name
that only lasted two weeks when manager and promoter Bill Stein
got wind of it. Stein, who was in Barbados at the time, immediately
flew to New York and called an emergency meeting with Howard and
McCartney. The
three of them spent time discussed the future of the band, the best
interest of their fans, and the idea of a 7 member band. Stein once
said "If you chumps think I'm stickin' around to watch you
wash your careers down the tubes, you're crazy!" He got up,
slammed the door and wouldn't talk to McCartney or Howard for 3
weeks.
Finally,
on October 5, 1964 Moe got fed up and quit the band. He felt that
he could cut out the middle men (McCartney and Stein) and do this
gig on his own. He took Larry, and Jerome (who had just begun to
feel comfortable with a left-handed guitar) with him. It was a bitter
situation for all of them, but a choice that simply had to be made.
Jerome
hits the stage a bit early to tune his axe and swoon the ladies
When
asked if he felt they had made a mistake by leaving the band, Curly
once said "I'm trying to think, but nothin' happens!"
Curly remembered the days of jammin' with the beatles, and with
a reminiscent smile said...
"I
can still see it now, me on the stage...shakin' the tootsies.
I would flop down on stage and run in circles and the goils would
go wild. Imagine it...me floppin' around like a chicken without
a head...nyuk, nyuk, nyuk."
At
one point, after the breakup, Fine's agent realized how much publicity
Lennon was getting with
the New York City photo. So as a publicity stunt and a cheap attempt
to steal Lennon's limelight, Fine spoofed the photo by wearing the
exact same shirt. When asked why he would do such a thing, he simply
said "Beat
it Grandpa, don't tell me how to run my business!"
In
a Rolling Stones interview, Ringo once told a reporter about a time
that he and Larry Fine were drinking on a tour bus one night and
Larry mentioned a crazy story about a time travel machine he built
and called "The Yellow Submarine". Ringo laughed his head
off and told Larry that he should stop drinking and get some sleep.
The two of them (Larry and Ringo) were "inseparable" according
to James Armor a music agent and long time scam-artist from Rochester
New York.
Was
this promotional poster created with Larry in mind? If so, could
Paul McCartney possibly be able to answer some of these strange
myths about a time machine? Did the Beatles actually see the machine
with their own eyes? This is something that should be addressed
some day soon.
Did
the Yellow Submarine album have anything to do with Larry Fines
inability to keep his mouth shut that night with Ringo on the tour
bus? Could this whole "Yellow Submarine" frenzy have been
inspired by someone else other than the Beatles as we know them
today? I think the evidence is definitely looming large.
Did
you know that shortly after McCartney noticed the editing change
to the poster shown above (notice the Thanks Larry!) insignia, he
had 4500 posters recalled and reprinted. Mark Sands from the Sun
Times claimed that McCartney didn't believe the whole "Magic
Time Machine" story and that Fine concocted it as a result
of too much bourbon. Ringo agreed, but publicly admitted that the
album was inspired by that interesting story by Fine.
Once,
Fine was asked about his fondest moment with the band, Larry recollected
a time when he and Ringo got locked in the tour bus and almost missed
a gig in Jersey...
"We
were in the tour bus enjoying the company of a couple of ladies
when we looked up at the clock and realized what time it was.
Ringo about fell out of his chair. He sat down his bottle of hooch
and headed for the door, but we realized that Paul and John had
the keys to the bus. They had forgotten that we were in there
and had taken off for the dressing rooms. We were so late, we
ended up throwing one of Ringo's Bass Drums through the bus window
just to get out."
Yes,
the story of the Stooges and Beatles has many twists and turns.
In fact, many people have written it off as mere myth and nonsense
but there is still one big mystery that the skeptics haven't been
able to answer. In 1946 just towards the end of the Jerome's career,
the Stooges apparently got a little lippy about the big secret.
The word somehow leaked out to Jules White that the Stooges often
spoke of a "Magic Time Machine." This time machine, (Larry
Fine's Time Machine) was supposed to have given the Stooges the
ability to travel anywhere, do anything, and teleport themselves
to any time era. If there really was a "Time Machine"
then all of this could actually be true. The Stooges may be responsible
for forging one of this century's most recognized rock bands ever
assembled. Just before Jules' death, he told his wife of the unusual
story that he overheard on the set one day while filming "Half-Wit's
Holiday". She only bothered to mention the story to family
members and myself. Now I'm writing this story so that you might
have the details that I've been lucky enough to hold onto for 17
years now.
Many
contradicting stories have been written about the history of the
Stooges/Beatles involvement. We may never know the truth, but for
now, these up-close interviews and rare photos could possibly tell
us more than we've ever known about the unlikely events that until
now, have been swept under the rug.
As
a ex-beat writer for Rolling Stones Magazine, I always liked to
end my stories with a bit of startling imagery and amazement. This
last photo should definitely qualify as that. This photo was found
in a trunk of Larry Fine's in his home shortly after his death.
He left the trunk and the key to it to his ex-wife in his will.
He obviously didn't want anyone getting into the trunk until he
was gone. Why was that? We may never know. But if this Time Machine
really existed, where was this photo taken, and where is it now?
Unfortunately only Larry Fine, and whomever has the device now,
can answer that question. Nonetheless, this photo is startling.
It is believed to be a promotional photo created for the public
showcasing of the time machine before Moe Howard talked Fine into
closing the door on the public spectacle. So without further adieu,
here is the photo...
\Was
this a promotional photo created to showcase Larry's invention?
I'm
as baffled as you are!
Until
next time,
Jack
Mahoney -
The New York Times
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