Larry Fine
Encyclopedia
Louis Feinberg known professionally as Larry Fine, was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 comedian
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...

 and actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

, who is best known as a member of the comedy act The Three Stooges.

Early life

Fine was born to a Jewish family as Louis Feinberg in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

. His father, Joseph Feinberg (who was Russian-Jewish), and mother, Fanny Lieberman, owned a watch repair and jewelry shop. When Larry was a child he burned his arm with some acid
Hydrochloric acid
Hydrochloric acid is a solution of hydrogen chloride in water, that is a highly corrosive, strong mineral acid with many industrial uses. It is found naturally in gastric acid....

  that his father used to test whether or not gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...

 was real: having mistaken it for a beverage, Larry had the acid bottle to his lips when his father noticed and knocked it from his hand, accidentally splashing Larry's forearm. Later, Larry received violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

 training to help strengthen his damaged muscles; this skill would be put to use in many of the Stooges' films. He became proficient on the instrument, and his parents wanted to send him to a European music conservatory, but the outbreak of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 prevented this. In scenes where all three Stooges are playing fiddles, only Larry is actually playing his instrument; the others are pantomiming
Mime artist
A mime artist is someone who uses mime as a theatrical medium or as a performance art, involving miming, or the acting out a story through body motions, without use of speech. In earlier times, in English, such a performer was referred to as a mummer...

. To further strengthen his arm, Larry took up boxing as a teenager. He fought and won one professional bout. His career as a pugilist was stopped by his father, who was opposed to Larry's fighting in public.

Acting career

As Larry Fine, he first performed as a violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

ist in vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...

 at an early age. In 1925, he met Moe Howard
Moe Howard
Moses Harry Horwitz , known professionally as Moe Howard, was an American actor and comedian best known as the leader of The Three Stooges, the farce comedy team who starred in motion pictures and television for four decades...

 and Ted Healy
Ted Healy
Ted Healy was an American vaudeville performer, comedian, and actor. He is chiefly remembered today as the original creator of the Three Stooges, but had a successful stage and film career of his own.- Early life :...

. Howard and his brother Shemp had been working as audience stooges for Healy. Shemp left soon after to attempt a solo career and was in turn replaced by another brother, Curly
Curly Howard
Jerome Lester "Jerry" Horwitz , better known by his stage name Curly Howard, was an American comedian and vaudevillian. He is best known as a member of the American slapstick comedy team the Three Stooges, along with his older brothers Moe Howard and Shemp Howard, and actor Larry Fine...

. Larry's trademark bushy hair came out, according to rumor, from his first meeting with Healy, in which he had just wet his hair in a basin
Sink
A sink is a bowl-shaped plumbing fixture used for washing hands, for dishwashing or other purposes. Sinks generally have taps that supply hot and cold water and may include a spray feature to be used for faster rinsing...

, and as they talked, it dried oddly. Healy told him to keep the zany hairstyle and, according to a 1973 TV interview on the Mike Douglas show with Moe:
Beginning in 1933
1933 in film
-Events:* March 2 - King Kong premieres in New York City.* June 6 - The first drive-in theater opens, in Camden, New Jersey.* British Film Institute founded....

, The Three Stooges made 206 short films, and several features, with their most prolific period featuring the characters of Larry, Moe and Curly. Their career with Healy was marked by disputes over pay, film contracts, and Healy's drinking and abuse. They left Healy for good in 1934.

In many of the Stooge shorts, Fine did more reacting than acting, staying in the background and providing the voice of reason between the extreme characterizations of Moe and Curly. He was known for his bald head on top, and lots of very curly hair around the sides and back. On many occasions, Moe would call him "Porcupine
Porcupine
Porcupines are rodents with a coat of sharp spines, or quills, that defend or camouflage them from predators. They are indigenous to the Americas, southern Asia, and Africa. Porcupines are the third largest of the rodents, behind the capybara and the beaver. Most porcupines are about long, with...

". He was a surrealistic foil and the middle-ground between Moe's gruff "bossiness" and Curly and Shemp's (and later Joe's and Curly Joe's) childish personae. And like the other Stooges, he was often on the receiving end of Moe's abuse.

But in the earliest Stooge two-reelers (and occasionally the later ones) Larry indulges in utterly nutty behavior. He would liven up a scene by improvising some random remark or ridiculous action. In the hospital spoof Men in Black
Men in Black (1934 film)
Men in Black is the third short subject starring American slapstick comedy team the Three Stooges. The trio made a total of 190 shorts for Columbia Pictures between 1934 and 1959.-Plot:...

, Larry wields a scalpel
Scalpel
A scalpel, or lancet, is a small and extremely sharp bladed instrument used for surgery, anatomical dissection, and various arts and crafts . Scalpels may be single-use disposable or re-usable. Re-usable scalpels can have attached, resharpenable blades or, more commonly, non-attached, replaceable...

 and chortles, "Let's plug him... and see if he's ripe!" In Disorder in the Court
Disorder in the Court
Disorder in the Court is the 15th short subject starring American slapstick comedy team the Three Stooges. The trio made a total of 190 shorts for Columbia Pictures between 1934 and 1959.-Plot:...

, a tense courtroom scene is interrupted by Larry breaking into a wild Tarzan yell
Tarzan yell
The Tarzan yell is the distinctive, ululating yell of the character Tarzan, as portrayed by actor Johnny Weissmuller in the films based on the character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, starting with Tarzan the Ape Man...

. Of course, after each of his outbursts, Moe would gruffly discipline him. According to his brother, Larry had developed a callus
Callus
A callus is an especially toughened area of skin which has become relatively thick and hard in response to repeated friction, pressure, or other irritation. Rubbing that is too frequent or forceful will cause blisters rather than allow calluses to form. Since repeated contact is required, calluses...

 on one side of his face from being slapped innumerable times by Moe over the years.

Larry's on-screen goofiness was an extension of his own relaxed personality. Director Charles Lamont
Charles Lamont
Charles Lamont was a prolific film director of over 200 titles, and the producer and writer of many others. He was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, and died in Los Angeles, California, USA.-Career:...

 recalled, "Larry was a nut. He was the kind of guy who always said anything. He was a yapper." Writer-director Edward Bernds
Edward Bernds
Edward Bernds was an American screenwriter and director, born in Chicago, Illinois.-Career:While in his junior year in Lake View High School, he and several friends formed a small radio clique and obtained amateur licenses...

 remembered that Larry's suggestions for the scripts were often "flaky," but would occasionally contain a good comic idea.

The Stooges became a big hit in 1959 on television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

, when Columbia Pictures released a batch of the trio's films. The popularity brought the Stooges to a new audience and revitalized their careers.

Personal life

Offstage, Larry was a social butterfly. He liked a good time and surrounded himself with friends. Larry and his wife, Mabel, loved having parties and every Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...

 threw lavish midnight suppers. Larry was what some friends have called a "yes man," since he was always so agreeable, no matter what the circumstances.

Larry's devil-may-care personality carried over to the world of finance. He was a terrible businessman and spent his money as soon as he earned it. He had a serious gambling
Gambling
Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...

 addiction, and would gamble away all of the money he had on him either at the horserace track or at high-stakes gin rummy card games. In an interview, Fine even admitted that he often gave money to actors and friends who needed help and never asked to be reimbursed. Joe Besser
Joe Besser
Joe Besser was an American comedian, known for his impish humor and wimpy characters, and is now best remembered for his brief stint as a member of the Three Stooges in movie short subjects of 1957-59...

 and director Edward Bernds
Edward Bernds
Edward Bernds was an American screenwriter and director, born in Chicago, Illinois.-Career:While in his junior year in Lake View High School, he and several friends formed a small radio clique and obtained amateur licenses...

 remember that because of his constant and free spending and gambling, Larry was almost forced into bankruptcy when Columbia terminated the Three Stooges comedies in December 1957.

Because of his profligate ways and his wife's dislike for housekeeping, Larry and his family lived in hotels — first in the President Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey
Atlantic City, New Jersey
Atlantic City is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States, and a nationally renowned resort city for gambling, shopping and fine dining. The city also served as the inspiration for the American version of the board game Monopoly. Atlantic City is located on Absecon Island on the coast...

, where his daughter Phyllis was raised, then the Knickerbocker Hotel in Hollywood. Not until the late 1940s did Larry buy a home in the Los Feliz
Los Feliz, Los Angeles, California
Los Feliz, also Rancho Los Feliz is an affluent, hilly neighborhood in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, California, named after its land grantee José Vicente Feliz....

 area of Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

.

On May 30, 1967, Fine's wife, Mabel, died of a sudden heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...

. According to the DVD supplemental material for the Midway Pictures
Midway Pictures
Midway Pictures is a documentary film production company based in Providence, Rhode Island founded by filmmaker David Bettencourt. The first Midway Pictures documentary, You Must Be This Tall: The Story of Rocky Point Park, received five stars from the Providence Journal when it was released in...

 documentary You Must Be This Tall: The Story of Rocky Point Park, Fine was on the road and about to take the stage for a live show at Rocky Point Amusement Park
Rocky Point Amusement Park
The Rocky Point Amusement Park was a highly popular amusement park on the Narragansett Bay side of Warwick, Rhode Island. It operated from the late 1840s until its close in 1995. The following year, the park filed for bankruptcy.- History :...

 in Warwick, Rhode Island
Warwick, Rhode Island
Warwick is a city in Kent County, Rhode Island, United States. It is the second largest city in the state, with a population of 82,672 at the 2010 census. Its mayor has been Scott Avedisian since 2000...

 when he heard news of Mabel's passing. Fine immediately flew home to California, leaving his fellow two stooges to improvise their remaining shows at the park.

Mabel's death came nearly six years after the death of their only son, John, in a car accident on November 17, 1961 at age 24. The couple's daughter, Phyllis, died of cancer at the age of 60 in 1988. John's wife, Christy (Kraus), died on October 26, 2007 after a lengthy illness.

Final acting years and death

Returning to work, Fine and the Stooges were working on a new TV series entitled Kook's Tour
Kook's Tour
Kook's Tour is the title of an American short comedy film produced in late 1969 and early 1970. It was the final film to star the Three Stooges and originally intended as part of a television series. However, on January 9, 1970, before filming was completed, Larry Fine suffered a severe stroke,...

in January, 1970, when Larry suffered a debilitating stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...

 that paralyzed the left side of his body. He eventually moved to the Motion Picture House
Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital
The Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital is a retirement community, with individual cottages, and a fully licensed, acute-care hospital, located at 23388 Mulholland Drive in Woodland Hills, California...

, an industry retirement community in Woodland Hills
Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California
Woodland Hills is a district in the city of Los Angeles, California.Woodland Hills is located in the southwestern area of the San Fernando Valley, east of Calabasas and west of Tarzana, with Warner Center in its northern section...

, where he spent his remaining years. In spite of his paralyzed condition, he did what he could to entertain the other patients, and was visited regularly by his friend Moe Howard.

Fine used a wheelchair
Wheelchair
A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, designed to be a replacement for walking. The device comes in variations where it is propelled by motors or by the seated occupant turning the rear wheels by hand. Often there are handles behind the seat for someone else to do the pushing...

 during the last five years of his life. Like Curly Howard
Curly Howard
Jerome Lester "Jerry" Horwitz , better known by his stage name Curly Howard, was an American comedian and vaudevillian. He is best known as a member of the American slapstick comedy team the Three Stooges, along with his older brothers Moe Howard and Shemp Howard, and actor Larry Fine...

, Fine suffered several additional strokes before his death on January 24, 1975. He was entombed in Glendale's Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery
Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale
Forest Lawn Memorial Park is a privately owned cemetery in Glendale, California. It is the original location of Forest Lawn, a chain of cemeteries in Southern California. The land was formerly part of Providencia Ranch.-History:...

 in the Freedom Mausoleum, Sanctuary of Liberation.

Fine is sometimes erroneously listed as the father of sportscaster Warner Wolf
Warner Wolf
Warner William Wolf is an American television and radio sports broadcaster, perhaps best known as a local news sports anchor in Washington, D.C., New York City and his catchphrase "Let's go to the videotape!"....

, who is in fact the son of Jack Wolf, one of several other "stooges" who played in Ted Healy
Ted Healy
Ted Healy was an American vaudeville performer, comedian, and actor. He is chiefly remembered today as the original creator of the Three Stooges, but had a successful stage and film career of his own.- Early life :...

's vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...

 act at one time or another. He is, however, the father-in-law of actor and Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

 television personality Don Lamond, best known for hosting Stooges shorts on KTTV
KTTV
KTTV, channel 11, is an owned-and-operated television station of the News Corporation-owned Fox Broadcasting Company, located in Los Angeles, California. Serving the vast Los Angeles metropolitan area, KTTV is a sister station to KCOP , Los Angeles' MyNetworkTV station...

 for many years.

Posthumous fame

  • The Three Stooges have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
    Hollywood Walk of Fame
    The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...

     for their contributions to Motion Pictures, at 1560 Vine Street in Hollywood, dedicated on August 30, 1983, with ex-stooge Joe Besser
    Joe Besser
    Joe Besser was an American comedian, known for his impish humor and wimpy characters, and is now best remembered for his brief stint as a member of the Three Stooges in movie short subjects of 1957-59...

     in attendance.
  • In the 2000 TV movie, Larry Fine was played by Evan Handler
    Evan Handler
    Evan Handler is an American actor who is best known for playing Harry Goldenblatt, Charlotte's divorce attorney and later husband, on Sex and the City, and Charlie Runkle, Hank's comically bumbling friend and agent, on Californication.-Early life:Handler was born in New York City, the son of Enid...

    .
  • In a 2004 New Yorker
    The New Yorker
    The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...

    feature on the Farrelly Brothers's
    Farrelly brothers
    Peter John Farrelly and Robert Leo "Bobby" Farrelly, Jr. , professionally known as the Farrelly Brothers are screenwriters and directors of ten comedy films, including There's Something About Mary; Dumb and Dumber; Kingpin; Hall Pass; Me, Myself & Irene; Shallow Hal; Stuck on You; Osmosis Jones;...

     attempt to write a script for a new Three Stooges movie, Peter Farrelly
    Peter Farrelly
    Peter John Farrelly is an American film director, screenwriter, producer and novelist. The Farrelly Brothers are mostly famous for directing and producing gross-out humor romantic comedy films such as, Dumb and Dumber, Me, Myself and Irene, There's Something About Mary and The Heartbreak...

     offered his theory of Stooge appreciation: “Growing up, first you watched Curly, then Moe, and then your eyes got to Larry. He’s the reactor, the most vulnerable. Five to fourteen, Curly; fourteen to twenty-one, Moe. Anyone out of college, if you’re not looking at Larry, you don’t have a good brain.”
  • A large mural of Larry Fine appears on a wall at the busy intersection of 3rd and South Streets, near his birthplace in Philadelphia
    Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
    Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...

    . The effort to create a mural on that site began when a local weekly newspaper suggested that the city should somehow honor Fine. Dedicated on October 26, 1999, with Fine's sister in attendance, that mural showed Larry with a peculiar look on his face. In May 2006, a similar mural showing Larry with a more animated expression and playing a violin was painted over the original mural. This mural stands over Jon's Bar and Grill and a sign reads "Birthplace of Larry Fine."
  • On October 15, 2009, the Associated Alumni of Central High School in Philadelphia
    Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
    Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...

     inducted Larry Fine in the illustrious school's Hall of Fame, even though he never graduated. A member of the Central Alumni Hall of Fame Committee stated: "Many people are not even aware that Mr. Fine was a Philadelphian and that is a part of what we’re trying to do."
  • For the 2012 Farrelly Brothers' film The Three Stooges
    The Three Stooges (film)
    The Three Stooges is an upcoming slapstick comedy film based on the mid-20th century comedy shorts of the same name. It was produced, written and directed by the Farrelly brothers and co-written by Mike Cerrone...

    , Larry will be portrayed by Sean Hayes
    Sean Hayes (actor)
    Sean Patrick Hayes is an American actor and comedian. He is widely known for his role as Jack McFarland in the NBC sitcom Will & Grace, for which he won an Emmy Award, four SAG Awards, one American Comedy Award, and six Golden Globes nominations.He also portrayed comedian Jerry Lewis in the...

     of Will and Grace fame.

Further reading

  • [My Brother] Larry, the Stooge in the Middle; by Morris Feinberg (ghostwritten by Bob Davis) (Last Gasp, 2001).
  • One Fine Stooge: A Frizzy Life in Pictures; by Steve Cox and Jim Terry, (Cumberland House Publishing, 2006).

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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