Spring Fever (1919)

[Louie Despres]

I was speaking with my dad today and he was telling me about a book on early baseball he was reading and they mention "Spring Fever" as being a short film Moe and Shemp Howard appear in with baseball great Honus Wagner. I had never heard of this film before and was wondering, is this true or just some folklore?

[Brent Walker]

Louie, I've seen and heard about this as well, and in fact here is an auction of lobby cards from the film:

http://www.robertedwardauctions.com/auc ... 4/328.html

However, it says Moe plays a young boy who Honus teaches batting. Unfortunately, there's no scene like that depicted in the lobby cards, and there are several young kids, though it's hard to see their faces. However, in 1919, Moe would have been a "young boy" of 21 or 22! It just says Shemp was in it (he would have been 23 or 24). They may indeed be in it, but not as young boys. I'm still waiting to see a shot of a kid resembling a 12 year old kid in a Vitagraph film. Wouldn't it be ironic if it turned out that Milton Berle was actually in this film instead?

Of course it's even more confusing because it was made the same year as the Harold Lloyd one-reeler by the same title.

[Mar-Jean Zamperini]

Hey, Louie! I just got off of the phone with Rich, and he mentioned that you were looking for info on this film. I knew that it was mentioned in the book "The Three Stooges: An Illustrated History: From Almagamated Morons to American Icons" by Michael Fleming.

Moe and Shemp spent time in summer stock in 1921 in Jeanette, Pennsylvania, a town near Pittsburgh, which would explain the access to Pittsburgh Pirate Honus Wagner.

This book says "The brothers starred with Hall of Fame baseball player Honus Wagner in a series of twelve two-reel silent sports comedies, which they filmed outside Pittsburgh. The result: it's a good thing Wagner could hit a curveball. He won five batting titles for Pittsburgh but was not Oscar material. "I think", said Moe, "that perhaps they made banjo picks out of the film"."

Interesting, that this film is mentioned as a series of two-reelers. I seem to recall hearing an interview where Moe mentions the film as well, and also the same remark about banjo picks. Moe tended to get his dates and facts mixed up. Maybe this is where the author gets his information from?

I know that a man named Rich Sanner runs a small Stooges club in Jeanette, PA, and would probably know a lot more about this/these films. I have his email somewhere, if you would like it!