Edward Bernds was a writer and director of many of The Three Stooges comedy shorts in the 1940s. Actually, he had a very prolific career as writer and director of many other movies, too, but it's his connection with the Stooges in which I was interested.
I had the privilege and honor of knowing Mr. Bernds for several years, talking by phone mostly, and I did meet him once, in April 1976, shortly before I moved from California. He was always cordial and accommodating to anyone who wanted to know about his working with the Stooges, among others.
It wasn't until March of 1993 when, during a phone call, I asked him for a signed photo, and he replied very soon with a letter and a great photo of himself with the Stooges. During the call, I told him about my researching and writing about some of the supporting players in the Stooges films, and he was interested in reading some, so I sent him copies of three recently published articles in The Three Stooges Fan Club Journal - Gino Corrado, Duke York, and Richard Fiske.
He liked the articles, and replied once again, this time not with a handwritten letter, but with an audio cassette. You can listen to it here - it's about 5 minutes (you can either left click and listen to the streaming mp3, or right click and "save" it to your hard drive).
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2 comments:
That was great, Bill! I wonder if anyone took the time to sit down and interview him. He was such a prolific director. I knew of him also from his work directing the later Blondie films. Did he ever talk with you about that?
Thanks for your comment, Devin.
Bernds published his memoirs in 1999 - "Mr. Bernds Goes to Hollywood - My Early Life and Career in Sound Recording at Columbia with Frank Capra and Others". The book contains an interview too: "Epilogue: The Story Continues- Leonard Maltin and Joseph McBride Interview Edward Bernds".
The book was published by Scarecrow Press and should still be available.
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