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| A sample of Moe's memorabilia that Lenburg and his brother meticulously organized for Moe's daughter Joan. |
In 1977, prior to the posthumous publication of Moe Howard’s autobiography Moe Howard and the Three Stooges by Citadel Press, Jeff and Greg Lenburg conceived the idea for a remarkable companion book titled The Three Stooges Scrapbook. Their inspiration stemmed from their efforts to organize rare clippings that Moe had kept in a box throughout the Stooges’ nearly 50-year career. These clippings included news stories, photographs, ads from personal appearances dating back to the team’s vaudeville days, handwritten Stooge routines by Moe, and other unique memorabilia.
The Lenburgs had been friends of Moe during their high school years in the 1970s, and Moe’s daughter, Joan Howard Maurer, approached them about sorting through and organizing this extensive collection. The Lenburgs, honored by the opportunity, worked diligently to organize and catalogue this one-of-a-kind material as well as hundreds of Stooges photos and film scripts from Moe’s personal collection, which Joan had stored in her attic.
Seeing the treasure trove of material Moe had preserved but never used for his own lavishly illustrated autobiography, the idea for The Three Stooges Scrapbook came to fruition. The Lenburg and Maurer collaborated to co-author on what would become the definitive Stooges book, modeled after Donald F. Glut’s The Dinosaur Scrapbook from Citadel Press, which had been a comprehensive exploration of dinosaurs. Similarly, The Three Stooges Scrapbook aimed to be an exhaustive resource on all things related to the Stooges.
Published by Citadel Press in hardcover in 1982, The Three Stooges Scrapbook quickly became a best-seller, praised for its in-depth exploration of the Stooges’ biographies, history, filmography, TV appearances, and cultural impact.
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| Little did Lyle Stuart, publisher of Citadel Press, know that Moe's autobiography, with such a strange cover and published after Moe's death would be such a huge hit. |
Critics and fans alike received The Three Stooges Scrapbook with great enthusiasm. A review on ThreeStooges.net commended the book as “the best book for Three Stooges' fans, new and old, and film comedy historians/fans in general.” The review highlighted that Joan Howard Maurer’s access to the Howard family archives allowed the Lenburgs to compile a comprehensive reference on the Stooges’ filmography, TV appearances, records, and memorabilia, with decades of subsequent information enriching the book’s content.
For years after the book’s first release, the Lenburgs dreamed of co-authoring an updated edition with Maurer that would include a complete Stooges filmography. When the original edition was published, a thorough and detailed filmography had yet to be written, and many records of cast listings and roles from the Stooges’ two-reelers were lost or nonexistent. Additionally, there was no way to reach out to fans for input.
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| The inspiration for The Three Stooges Scrapbook: The Dinosaur Scrapbook by Donald F. Glut, also published by Citadel Press, publishers of Moe's autobiography. |
Despite repeated requests to Citadel Press for a revised filmography, the Lenburgs’ proposals were consistently denied. However, in 2012, their dream was finally realized when they and Joan struck a deal with Chicago Review Press to produce The Three Stooges Scrapbook – Updated Edition.
This new edition, expanded by nearly 70 pages compared to the original, featured updated chapters, a revamped and expanded filmography, and new information uncovered through the authors’ own research as well as contributions from loyal Stooges fans and the definitive fan site, ThreeStooges.net.