Larry Fine

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The Three Chills.

Louis Feinberg (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, October 5, 1902-Woodland Hills, California, January 24, 1975), known as Larry Fine, was an actor and American comedian, famous for being one of the first three, along with Moe and Shemp Howard, to star in the black-and-white comedy series The Three Stooges.

Biography

The son of Joseph Feinberg and Fanny Lieberman, both Jewish jewelers, Louis was the eldest of four children—Morris, Philip (who died prematurely), and Lyla, an elementary school teacher.

When he was just a child, he suffered an accident to his right arm when his father accidentally spilled some of the acid he used to check the authenticity and metallic quality of the jewelry he worked with. This unfortunate incident could have been worse if it weren't for the fact that he was caught before drinking the substance and, in desperation, Joseph reacted accordingly by taking the container from him, which ended up spraying a good part of its contents, causing severe damage to one of his extremities..

After receiving adequate medical treatment, he had to complement his rehabilitation by following a strict therapy that included handling a stringed musical instrument, which led him to practice playing the violin. This would not only allow him to put those injured muscles into operation, but would also constitute the kickoff of his musical career.

Louis would soon begin to shine as a professional violinist, performing frequently in numerous local theaters and being awarded for his great artistic skills. He also practiced boxing in the lightweight category, but would leave it once he started in show business. His enormous talent and ability to combine music and dance earned him a privileged place among the celebrities of the time.

Circa 1921, he got a job in Gus Edwards' “Newsboy Sextette,” playing the violin, dancing, and telling jokes in a Jewish accent. Also included in the number were Mabel Haney, his future wife, and Loretta, his sister. Together they would co-star in the sketch of The Haney and Fine sisters, at the Vaudeville theater.

In 1928, Ted Healy, a comedian and screenwriter close to the Horwitz brothers, surprised him in one of his incredible performances performing a Russian dance style. Immediately after he was called on stage to be part of what would be the new comedy trio in the company of Moses (Moe) and Samuel (Shemp) Horwitz. His debut took place on Broadway, in the play A Night in Venice . From then on he posed for the animated figure of the Three Stooges, "Soup to Nuts", for the Fox film company —precursor of 20th Century Fox— and around 1934, After his resignation with MGM, he signed a contract with Columbia Pictures, appearing on screen that same year.

Behind the scenes, Larry led a rather carefree and disorganized life, often throwing large feasts and being late for important meetings. He was also a lousy administrator, lending money to those who had to pay debts, and squandering the excess amount on luxury goods and expensive gifts. This careless management of his capital plunged him into virtual misery when Columbia decided to put an end to "The Three Stooges"; in 1958.

Larry Fine once recalled the numerous injuries they sustained during the production of "Three Little Pigskins". Curly scalped himself, and Larry lost a tooth when Joseph Young, brother of actor Robert Young, punched him in the jaw.

Larry said that the tougher scenes in "In the Sweet Pie and Pie" and in other films, they were those with cakes. As Fine recounts: 'Sometimes we'd run out of pastels, and the stagehand would remake them by picking up the scraps off the floor, but also gathering dust, nails, splinters, and tacks. Another problem was pretending that you didn't know when a cake was about to hit you. To resolve this, Jules White (the director) would say to me, 'Now Larry, Moe is going to hit you with a cake on the count of three.' Then Jules White would say to Moe, 'Hit Larry on the count of two!' So when it came time to count, I never got to three, because Moe hit me with the cake!"

Whenever there was a scene where the Stooges were dreaming of women and saying their names, Larry would always say his wife's name, Mabel.

She spent most of her life in hotels, first at the President Hotel in Atlantic City, and later at the Knickerbocker in Hollywood. The jovial style of his wife, a lady of good taste and too adventurous to carry the reins of a house, was perhaps the main reason for their delay in buying their own residence in Los Feliz, California.

Larry and Mabel had two children: Johnny, the eldest, who died in a violent traffic accident in November 1961, and Phyllis, the daughter who stayed by his side through the most difficult times the family had to go through. Six years later, on May 30, 1967, while he was on one of the many tours they carried out throughout the North American territory, he was forced to leave it immediately when he found out that his wife, with whom he had been married for 41 years, had died.

He stood out for his participation in the most prestigious theaters in the United States, including Keystone, Alhambra, Broadway, Nixon's Grand, and the Allegheny, and for his well-known television and film production, exceeding a surprising number of 200 interventions.

Scrambled brains (1951) and The Three Stooges meet Hercules (1962) were part of his favorite Three Stooges films, and actors Spencer Tracy, Peter Falk, Clark Gable, Milton Berle, Redd Foxx and Jack Benny, their preferences when it comes to entertainment. From the early 1960s through the 1970s, Larry continued to make live appearances with Moe Howard and Curly-Joe, until suffering from hemiplegia that prevented him from contributing to the show.

Larry Fine's tomb.

He died on January 24, 1975, from a brain hemorrhage, at the age of 72, and only a few months apart from his longtime friend and co-worker, Moe Howard, who died in May of that anus. He was laid to rest at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, Glendale.

Larry Fine

Biography

Further reading