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Quiz about Ted Healy the Man Behind the Stooges
Quiz about Ted Healy the Man Behind the Stooges

Ted Healy, the Man Behind the Stooges Quiz


This is about the true founder of the Three Stooges, a once-famed comedian who is largely forgotten today.

A multiple-choice quiz by tjoebigham. Estimated time: 6 mins.
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Author
tjoebigham
Time
6 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
166,406
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
15
Difficulty
Difficult
Avg Score
7 / 15
Plays
499
Last 3 plays: Guest 107 (6/15), tluvgrandpa (10/15), Guest 107 (12/15).
- -
Question 1 of 15
1. What was Healy's real name and birthplace? Hint


Question 2 of 15
2. Who or what was his first stage partner? Hint


Question 3 of 15
3. When did Healy first meet the Horowitz brothers, who would become the Stooges? Hint


Question 4 of 15
4. What was Healy's first Broadway show? Hint


Question 5 of 15
5. Who was Ted's first wife? Hint


Question 6 of 15
6. What problems did Ted suffer from? Hint


Question 7 of 15
7. Healy and his Stooges once performed for Al Capone.


Question 8 of 15
8. What movie studio did they do their early work at? Hint


Question 9 of 15
9. With which three famed stars did they once co-star? Hint


Question 10 of 15
10. Who was Ted's female partner? Hint


Question 11 of 15
11. What early 30's female star had a brief affair with Ted? Hint


Question 12 of 15
12. Who became Ted's second wife? Hint


Question 13 of 15
13. With his second wife Healy conceived a daughter.


Question 14 of 15
14. How did Ted die an early death? Hint


Question 15 of 15
15. What famed 30's actor was involved in Ted's tragedy on December 20, 1937? Hint



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Most Recent Scores
Mar 19 2024 : Guest 107: 6/15
Mar 01 2024 : tluvgrandpa: 10/15
Feb 25 2024 : Guest 107: 12/15
Feb 22 2024 : 030100: 5/15

Score Distribution

quiz
Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. What was Healy's real name and birthplace?

Answer: Lee Nash, Houston, TX.

Nash, who became Ted Healy, was the son of a Houston buisnessman who entered vaudeville in his early teens. The other names are those of W.C. Fields characters! (And Fields was born in Philadelphia!)
2. Who or what was his first stage partner?

Answer: A German Shepherd

Healy, like Curly Howard, was a dog fancier and he first partnered with his German Shepherd. Joe Besser didn't join the Stooges until the late Fifties, well after Healy's death.
3. When did Healy first meet the Horowitz brothers, who would become the Stooges?

Answer: 1909

Healy first met the Horowitz brothers on a Brooklyn beach. Moe and Shemp were the first to team with Healy; Curly was forbidden by his mother to join and didn't become part of the team until later.
4. What was Healy's first Broadway show?

Answer: Earl Carroll's Vanities

Ironically, Moe and Shemp left Healy so he recruited new Stooges when he joined the Vanities, closer to burlesque than the follies. "Hellzapoppin" starred Olson and Johnson and "The Cocoanuts" was a Marx Brothers show.
5. Who was Ted's first wife?

Answer: Betty Braun

Braun was a dancer-comedienne who joined Healy on stage and in life before she divorced him because of his hard-partying character. Stevens was Barbara Stanwyck, Levy was Paulette Goddard and Ockleman was Veronica Lake!
6. What problems did Ted suffer from?

Answer: Alcoholism and depression

Healy suffered depression throughout his life and turned to booze for comfort, as no treatment for depression existed in those days.
7. Healy and his Stooges once performed for Al Capone.

Answer: True

Healy once tried rifling Capone's safe to get the mobster's attention. Capone wanted them to perform at his nightclub in return. Healy was thrilled, but the Stooges (Moe and Shemp, who reunited with Healy and newcomer Larry Fine) were so scared of Capone they could hardly act!
8. What movie studio did they do their early work at?

Answer: MGM

Actually, their first movie was at Twentieth-Century-Fox, a 1930 farce called "Soup to Nuts" (written by Rube Goldberg). Afterwards, they signed with MGM. But soon Moe. Larry and Curley, sick of the often drunken Healy, struck off on their own and signed with Columbia.
(Their next film for Fox was 1961's "Snow White and the Three Stooges" with the last Stooge, "Curley Joe" DiRita.)
9. With which three famed stars did they once co-star?

Answer: Fred Astaire, Joan Crawford and Clark Gable

Healy and the Stooges co-starred with Crawford, Gable and Astaire (in his big-screen debut; he wouldn't return to MGM until the late 40's) in the 1933 MGM musical "Dancing Lady". They also made a brief series of shorts for the studio. (The Ritz Brothers worked at 20th Century Fox.)
10. Who was Ted's female partner?

Answer: Bonnie Bonnell

Comedienne Bonnell appeared with Ted and the boys in their MGM shorts, especially the early Technicolor short "Nertsery Rhymes".
11. What early 30's female star had a brief affair with Ted?

Answer: Thelma Todd

Today, Todd is better known for her mysterious 1935 death than her film work. Rumors flew that her gangster husband, Pat DiCicco, had her murdered because of her infidelities.
12. Who became Ted's second wife?

Answer: Betty Hickman

Hickman was a UCLA student when she met Healy, who swore off affairs with actresses after Todd's death. She provided the stability he needed and the child he wanted but sadly wouldn't live to see grow up.
13. With his second wife Healy conceived a daughter.

Answer: False

It was a son, John Jacob Healy, that Betty gave Ted, the child he always wanted. But Healy would not live to see his son grow.
14. How did Ted die an early death?

Answer: He was beaten and died the next day

Ted was celebrating his son's birth in the Trocadero club in a drunken spree on December 20, 1937; outside he got into a brawl and suffered fatal injuries. He died the next day.
15. What famed 30's actor was involved in Ted's tragedy on December 20, 1937?

Answer: Wallace Beery

Healy got into a drunken brawl with the pugnacious Beery, who was joined by DiCicco (who seemingly nursed a grudge against Healy for the latter's affair with Todd) and a young Albert Broccoli (well before he became the producer of the James Bond series). A sad end to the life of the comic who founded the best-known comedy trio of all time.
Source: Author tjoebigham

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor JuniorTheJaws before going online.
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