Thursday, April 12, 2012

Moe Howard (A Stooge) in the 1940 US Census

The Three Stooges made a short film about the 1940 Census - Denise Levenick highlighted it on her blog in The 1940 U.S. Census Stooges Style - No Census, No Feeling.  Watch it if you like The Three Stooges.

I wondered if Moe Howard, Curly Howard and Larry Fine were enumerated in the 1940 U.S. census.

I checked the 1940 Los Angeles (CA) City Directory, and found Moe Howard easily - residing at 540 N. Highland Avenue. But I did not find the other two.  Using Google Maps gave me the streets Rosewood, Oakdale and McCadden Place that define the block.  That led to the Steve Morse ED Finder and the ED of 60-265 for the block.  The Moe Howard family is enumerated on Sheet 5-A of this ED, household #94 (rents, for $100/month).



Moe's information is :

Name:  Moe Howard
Details:  Male, White, age 42, married, 1 year of high school, born in New York, resided same place in 1935.
Employment:  Worked 60 hours the last week of March, an actor, in motion picture industry, worked 52 weeks in 1939, and made more than $5000 in 1939.

He resided with his wife Helen (age 40, born New York); daughter Jean (age 13, born New York), daughter Paul (age 4, born New York - I know, it says daughter and marked as female); chauffeur Oren Heilman (age 25, born Minnesota, made $400 in 1939 working 52 weeks as a chauffeur);  cook Elouise Heilman (age 26, born Minnesota, made $400 in 1939 working 52 weeks as a cook).

I guess that we'll have to wait for the census index to find Curly and Shemp Howard and Larry Fine.

Now I'm wondering about Ted Williams and Babe Ruth.  Were they enumerated in their home towns, in Florida during spring training, or in the cities where they played baseball?  

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/04/moe-howard-stooge-in-1940-us-census.html

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I plan to incorporate Larry Fine into my Burbank Jamboree talk this June. According to online material, Larry lived at the President Hotel in Atlantic City where his daughter Phyllis was "raised" before he came to Hollywood and stayed at the Hollywood Knickerbocker Hotel. Eventually he bought a house in the late 1940s. One can find "fake" driver's licenses for Larry with the Ivar address on it... that's the address for the Hollywood Knickerbocker Hotel. Unfortunately, I can't find Larry at either Hotel on the 1940 census.

Larry Fine (Feinberg) with wife Mabel and daughter Phyllis and son John are somewhere in 1940, and I sure would like to know where.

Joel Weintraub
Dana Point CA

Anonymous said...

So close.... decided to look at those online city directories...and for 1939, Larry is at 843 S Curson Av in Los Angeles.... ED 60-859 but he is not at that address. So the idea he lived only at hotels doesn't look like the reality of the situation. Anyone with a 1940 or 1941 Los Angeles City Directory?

Joel

Randy Seaver said...

Larry Fine is not in the 1940 or 1941 Los Angeles City directories.

There is no Larry Feinberg in the 1940 or 1941 Los Angeles directories either.

Elizabeth Handler said...

Thanks for sharing this. I posted a "Funny Friday" last week with links to a brief clip and the full episode at Three Stooges as Census Takers. I did spend a short time trying to find them, but didn't have luck. Are the Los Angeles city directories at Ancestry.com?

Anonymous said...

The California Voter Registration list of 1944 show the Fines on Aberdeen Avenue..... but they are not at that address in 1940.

Joel Weintraub