January 24: The Smart Stooge

Larry Fine (Louis Feinberg), the “smart one” of the Three Stooges, died at 73 on this date in 1975. Fine was a son of Philadelphia (there’s a mural of him on a wall at the juncture of 3^rd and South Streets) whose parents ran a jewelry and watch repair shop. He was a violinist and dancer (both at the same time) in vaudeville when he joined the Three Stooges in 1925. Larry was the most low-key and nondescript of the Stooges, although he was slapped by Moe so many times that he developed a callous on his cheek, according to Fine’s brother. In real life, he was a gambler, an easy spender, and a devoted family man (they lived in hotels for most of their lives) whose wife and son both tragically died before him in the 1960s. Fine was onstage to make several announcements at the Woodstock Festival in 1969. To see him getting revenge on Moe, look below. “We graduated with the highest temperatures in our class.” —Larry Fine, Men in Black, 1934