During the fourteen years between his times with the Stooges, he had a successful solo career as a film comedian, including a series of shorts by himself and with partners.

Moe, Larry and Shemp continued until July 1932, when Ted Healy approached them to team up again for the Shuberts' Broadway revue "Passing Show of 1932", and they accepted the offer.

When he split from Healy, Shemp was immediately replaced by his and Moe's younger brother Jerry Howard, known as Curly.

He was featured with studio comics Jack Haley, Ben Blue and Gus Shy; then co-starred with Harry Gribbon, Daphne Pollard, and Johnnie Berkes, and finally starred in his own two-reel comedies.

[citation needed] The independently produced Convention Girl (1935) featured Shemp in a very rare straight role as a blackmailer and would-be murderer.

In late 1935, Vitaphone was licensed to produce two-reel short comedies based on the Joe Palooka comic strip.

Shemp was cast as Knobby Walsh, and although only a supporting character, he became the comic focus of the series, with Johnnie Berkes and Lee Weber as his foils.

[citation needed] Howard unsuccessfully attempted to lead his own group of "stooges" in the Van Beuren musical comedy short The Knife of the Party.

In 1937, he followed his brothers' lead, moved to the West Coast, and landed supporting actor roles at several studios, mainly Columbia Pictures and Universal.

[citation needed] Shemp agreed to fill in for Curly in Columbia's popular Stooge shorts, knowing that if he refused, Moe and Larry would be out of work.

[citation needed] During this period, The Three Stooges ventured into live television appearances, beginning on Tuesday, October 19, 1948, with Milton Berle on his Texaco Star Theatre program.

[further explanation needed] The Los Angeles County Coroner's death certificate states that Shemp Howard died on Tuesday, November 22, 1955, at 11:35 [PM] PST.

[6] Shemp Howard is interred in a crypt in the Indoor Mausoleum at the Home of Peace Cemetery in East Los Angeles.

To fulfill the contract, producer Jules White manufactured four more shorts "with Shemp" by combining old footage of Howard with new connecting scenes played by a body double (longtime Stooge supporting actor Joe Palma) who is seen mostly from the back.

He came to be known by Stooge fans as the "Fake Shemp", a term which director Sam Raimi later coined in reference to any body double replacing an actor.

Rumpus in the Harem borrows from Malice in the Palace; Hot Stuff from Fuelin' Around; Commotion on the Ocean from Dunked in the Deep.

The best-received and most technically accomplished of the four is Scheming Schemers (1956), combining new footage with recycled clips from three old Stooge shorts: A Plumbing We Will Go (1940), Half-Wits Holiday (1947) and Vagabond Loafers (1949).

[8] When it was time to renew the Stooges's contract, Columbia hired comedian Joe Besser to replace Shemp.

The Stooge shorts were still in demand for kiddie-matinée shows, and their TV revivals boosted the team's popularity to an all-time high.