GIP part 2
Dec. 5th, 2003 02:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meelieI forgot to give credit to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
alasen for my new shemping icon! bad me! And here is the definition(s) of shemp from the man himself:
Q: What's the significance of the Shemp credit that pops up in your collaborations with Sam Raimi?
BRUCE: We were all big fans of The Three Stooges growing up (Sam Raimi, filmmaker friend Scott Spiegel and myself).
In learning more about the Stooges, we found that when they made their films (or "shorts" - 20 minutes in length), they not only made one at a time, but two or three - thereby capitalizing on standing sets from the big, Columbia "A" pictures, currently in production. This allowed them, for example, to use a large castle set (and shoot a pie fight or something) before it was torn down. As a result, they were always shooting pieces of shorts as well as complete ones.
Well, one fateful day, Shemp (the really ugly one with the long, stringy black hair) was incapacitated by a heart attack, and the rest of the Stooges, distraught as they were, had to finish a number of Shorts. So, they brought in a "Fake Shemp." The doubles they used were often the wrong height/weight and lacked in the true Shemp mannerisms. Even in high school (in the mid-70's), distracted by commercials, eating bowls of Captain Crunch, we could tell whenever the obviously fake Shemp made his appearances - which is in about 3 or 4 shorts - and we were amused to no end.
We then began to use the term "Fake Shemp" for a any actor (in our early Super-8 flicks) who didn't have any lines, or was doubling for another actor (which happened a lot when you couldn't pay an actor to stay around), or who was just way in the background doing ridiculous things.
So, in the first Evil Dead film, we decided to designate Fake Shemps as an official credit category. The names listed were people who we shot "parts" of - a hand, a foot, someone under heavy make-up, etc. It seemed to be handy, since films (particularly low-budget ones) are usually pieced together in many different ways over a long period of time.
The term has since expanded in our vocabulary to include a number of fun uses:
"Shempish" - anything that is cheesy or second-rate - "Man, throw that shirt out, it looks really Shempish."
"Shemping" - doing nothing of any great importance - "I have no plans Saturday night, I'm just Shemping..."
"Shemp Alert" - sighting of a Shemp - either being "Shempish," or just "Shemping."
Oh Bruce! How I triplemegaheart thee! and Sam Raimi. And Ted Raimi. But not so much Rob Tapert.
alasen for my new shemping icon! bad me! And here is the definition(s) of shemp from the man himself:Q: What's the significance of the Shemp credit that pops up in your collaborations with Sam Raimi?
BRUCE: We were all big fans of The Three Stooges growing up (Sam Raimi, filmmaker friend Scott Spiegel and myself).
In learning more about the Stooges, we found that when they made their films (or "shorts" - 20 minutes in length), they not only made one at a time, but two or three - thereby capitalizing on standing sets from the big, Columbia "A" pictures, currently in production. This allowed them, for example, to use a large castle set (and shoot a pie fight or something) before it was torn down. As a result, they were always shooting pieces of shorts as well as complete ones.
Well, one fateful day, Shemp (the really ugly one with the long, stringy black hair) was incapacitated by a heart attack, and the rest of the Stooges, distraught as they were, had to finish a number of Shorts. So, they brought in a "Fake Shemp." The doubles they used were often the wrong height/weight and lacked in the true Shemp mannerisms. Even in high school (in the mid-70's), distracted by commercials, eating bowls of Captain Crunch, we could tell whenever the obviously fake Shemp made his appearances - which is in about 3 or 4 shorts - and we were amused to no end.
We then began to use the term "Fake Shemp" for a any actor (in our early Super-8 flicks) who didn't have any lines, or was doubling for another actor (which happened a lot when you couldn't pay an actor to stay around), or who was just way in the background doing ridiculous things.
So, in the first Evil Dead film, we decided to designate Fake Shemps as an official credit category. The names listed were people who we shot "parts" of - a hand, a foot, someone under heavy make-up, etc. It seemed to be handy, since films (particularly low-budget ones) are usually pieced together in many different ways over a long period of time.
The term has since expanded in our vocabulary to include a number of fun uses:
"Shempish" - anything that is cheesy or second-rate - "Man, throw that shirt out, it looks really Shempish."
"Shemping" - doing nothing of any great importance - "I have no plans Saturday night, I'm just Shemping..."
"Shemp Alert" - sighting of a Shemp - either being "Shempish," or just "Shemping."
Oh Bruce! How I triplemegaheart thee! and Sam Raimi. And Ted Raimi. But not so much Rob Tapert.
