Paul Garner

Paul Albert "Mousie" Garner (July 31, 1909 – August 8, 2004) was an American actor and comedian born in Washington, D.C., whose career spanned vaudeville, Broadway, film, and television across more than seven decades. He acquired the nickname "Mousie" through his stage persona as a shy, simpering jokester, and became recognized as one of the last performers to carry on the comedic traditions of vaudeville.

Garner's introduction to performing came early. In 1913, as a young child, he made his stage debut in a family musical-comedy act conceived by his father, in which he sang, danced, and imitated Al Jolson. Still a child during World War I, he entertained soldiers, and by his teenage years in the 1920s he had committed himself to a career on the vaudeville stage. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, Garner performed as part of a musical comedy trio called The Gentlemaniacs — also billed as Garner, Wolf (or Wolfe) and Hakins — alongside his cousin Jack Wolf, who was the father of sportscaster Warner Wolf, and Richard "Dick" Hakins. The trio appeared in several short subjects and feature films, among them After the Show (1929), Swing It, Professor (1937), The Hit Parade (1937), Murder with Reservations (1938), and Radio and Relatives (1940).

Garner's stage work extended to Broadway, where he appeared in 1931 in the drama The Gang's All Here. Beyond Broadway, he performed in major national touring companies, nightclubs, auditoriums, and concert halls throughout his career.

His professional path intersected repeatedly with the world of the Three Stooges. Stage star Ted Healy had worked with Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Shemp Howard as his stooges, and when those three departed to work independently, Healy brought in replacements, with Garner working in that orbit between 1922 and 1936. According to Garner's 1999 autobiography, Mousie Garner: Autobiography of a Vaudeville Stooge, he came close to joining the Three Stooges on two separate occasions. Following Shemp Howard's death in November 1955, Moe Howard and Larry Fine sought Garner as a replacement in 1956, but Garner was then under contract to bandleader Spike Jones as a comedian with Jones's ensemble, the City Slickers. Despite Moe Howard appealing directly to Jones, Jones declined to release Garner from his contract, and Joe Besser ultimately filled the role. After Besser left the act in 1958, Larry Fine again proposed Garner as a candidate, and Garner rehearsed with Moe and Larry; however, Moe subsequently judged Garner "completely unacceptable" for the act, and Joe DeRita became the third Stooge in October 1958. In the early 1970s, DeRita, with Moe Howard's approval, invited Garner and Frank Mitchell to join a "New Three Stooges" act, with Garner and Mitchell filling in for the ailing Larry Fine and Moe Howard, respectively.

During World War II, Garner served in the U.S. Army, reaching the rank of technical sergeant. He was deployed overseas, participated in the Allied forces' North African campaign, and was injured twice in the line of duty, receiving several commendations. After recovering from his injuries, he joined the USO to perform in Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson's Sons O' Fun, the touring version of Hellzapoppin', staged for servicemen throughout Europe during the postwar Allied occupation. Garner continued USO work through both the Korean and Vietnam conflicts, entertaining troops into the 1950s and 1960s.

His television career was extensive. During the 1950s he appeared on The Colgate Comedy Hour, The Jack Benny Program, Cavalcade of Stars, The Jackie Gleason Show, The NBC Comedy Hour, and Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall. Through the 1960s he took on character roles in programs including Maverick, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, 77 Sunset Strip, The Munsters, Petticoat Junction, I Dream of Jeannie, Get Smart, and Julia, among others. In the 1970s he appeared on variety programs such as The Red Skelton Show and The Bobby Vinton Show, and in the 1980s he continued in television with roles on CHiPs, Brothers, and Amazing Stories.

His film work included For Those Who Think Young (1964), Last of the Red Hot Lovers (1972), Cheech and Chong's Next Movie (1980), the Richard Benjamin film Saturday the 14th (1981), Rhinestone (1984), Avenging Angel (1985), and Stoogemania (1985). He played Billy Crystal's Uncle Lou in Billy Crystal: A Comic's Line (1984) and appeared as a cameraman in David Lee Roth's music video for "Just a Gigolo" (1985). In 1994 he appeared in Radioland Murders in a role conceived as a tribute to his time with Spike Jones and His City Slickers, and he portrayed Uncle Smackers in The Onion Movie, produced by David Zucker and released in 2008. Among his television films were Goodnight, My Love (1972), Frasier, the Sensuous Lion (1973), The Dream Merchants (1980), and Side By Side (1988), the latter alongside Sid Caesar, Danny Thomas, and Milton Berle.

Garner's life and career are documented in several entertainment biographies, including Spike Jones and His City Slickers: An Illustrated Biography, Moe Howard & The Three Stooges, The Stooge Chronicles, and The Stoogephile Trivia Book. In 2002 he wrote the introduction to The Three Stooges: The Triumphs and Tragedies of The Most Popular Comedy Team of All Time. His autobiography was published in 1999, with photographs supplied largely by his nephew Stephen Garner, a professional magician from Maryland.

Garner died on August 8, 2004, at Verdugo Hills Hospital in Glendale, California, eight days after his 95th birthday, following kidney problems. He was interred with his family at the Bnai Israel Cemetery in Oxon Hill, Maryland, and was the last major figure associated with Ted Healy and the Three Stooges to die.