Ultra-rare vintage 8x10-inch black and white publicity portrait dated 1944, boldly signed and inscribed in blue fountain pen in-person for inveterate autograph hound Howard Davis at Boston's Colonial Theater in the 1940s. In good condition, with minor edge wear and handling dings. The only authentic 8x10 signed portrait of the star we have ever encountered. Homely, hilarious Shemp Howard was one of the original Three Stooges, along with brother Moe Howard and Larry Fine. He left the team in 1933, replaced by another brother, Curly Howard, until the latter suffered a stroke in 1946. The star resurfaced and stuck around until his death of a heart attack at the age of 60. The so-called "Forgotten Stooge" was memorable in Soup to Nuts (1930), W.C. Fields' The Bank Dick (1940), Mr. Dynamite (1941), Hold That Ghost (1941), Hellzapoppin' (1941), Arabian Nights (1942), Brideless Groom (1947), Sing a Song of Six Pants (1947), and Malice in the Palace (1949). 

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