Editing Larry Fine (section)

==Acting career==
===Vaudeville===
At an early age, Fine started performing as a violinist in [[vaudeville]]. Between 1925 and 1928, while serving as the [[master of ceremonies]] at [[Rainbo Gardens]] in [[Chicago]], Fine met [[Shemp Howard]] and [[Ted Healy]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.threestooges.net/journal/view/155|title=The Three Stooges Journal - Issue No. 155 |website=www.threestooges.net |first=Robert|last=Davidson |access-date=February 22, 2021}}</ref> who were performing in the [[The Shubert Organization|Shubert Brothers']] ''[[A Night in Spain]]''. Since Howard was leaving the play for a few months, they asked him to be a replacement "stooge". Fine joined Ted's other stooges, Bobby Pinkus and Sam "Moody" Braun. Howard returned in September 1928 to finish ''Spain''{{'s}} national tour.

In early 1929, Healy signed a contract to perform in the Shuberts' new revue ''A Night in Venice''. Healy brought Fine, Shemp Howard, and [[Moe Howard]] together for the first time as a trio. "Moe, Larry, and Shemp", along with [[Fred Sanborn]], appeared in ''Venice'' from 1929 through March 1930. Fine, Shemp Howard and Moe Howard toured with three different titles: "Ted Healy & His Racketeers", "Ted Healy and his Southern Gentlemen", and "Ted Healy and His Three Lost Souls"<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.worldmime.org/en/about-mime/vipersonalities/105-vipersonalities/309-the-three-stooges.html#:~:text=The%20Three%20Stooges%20started%20in,during%20their%20tenure%20with%20Healy) | title=The Three Stooges }}</ref> before going to [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]] in the summer to film [[20th Century Fox|Fox Studio's]] ''[[Soup to Nuts]]'' (1930).

Fine and the Howard brothers broke up with Healy after ''Soup to Nuts'' and toured as "Howard, Fine, and Howard: Three Lost Soles" from the fall of 1930 to the summer of 1932. In July 1932, Fine and Moe Howard teamed up with Healy again, adding [[Curly Howard]] (real first name: Jerome) to the group. The new lineup premiered at RKO Palace Theatre in [[Cleveland]] on August 27, 1932. Shemp Howard split off to pursue a solo career.

===Larry's hair===
Fine was easily recognized in the Stooge features by his large top bald spot with thick, bushy, curly auburn hair around the sides and back; Moe called him "[[Porcupine]]". According to rumor,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm6F5-qYONo | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120408172341/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm6F5-qYONo&context=C4bab1abADvjVQa1PpcFOLuu6n-qx03AhaPW-I4mJNzCN43bHLsC0=| archive-date=April 8, 2012 | url-status=dead|title=Moe Howard on The Mike Douglas Show part 5| website=[[YouTube]] |access-date=August 24, 2021}}</ref> his trademark hairstyle had its origin from his first meeting with Healy in which Fine had just wet his hair in a sink, with it drying oddly as they talked. Healy encouraged Fine to keep the hairstyle.{{citation needed|date=June 2024}} However, in a 1960 interview, Fine revealed it was [[J. J. Shubert]] who encouraged him to keep the hairstyle, not Healy, after Fine had opened the door to him having just shampooed his hair. <ref>{{Cite web |title=RARE - THREE STOOGES interview and Stooge Family Interview |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Roewa67NqWc&t=114s |access-date=April 24, 2025 |website=[[YouTube]]}}</ref>

===Three Stooges features===
{{Further|The Three Stooges}}
[[File:Three Stooges 1937.jpg|thumb|Fine, [[Curly Howard]], and [[Moe Howard]] in 1937]]
[[File:Sing a Song of Six Pants (1947) 2 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Fine in ''[[Sing a Song of Six Pants]]'' in 1947]]
[[File:Malice in the Palace.JPG|thumb|right|Fine (right) with [[Moe Howard]] and his brother [[Shemp Howard]] in ''[[Malice in the Palace]]'' in 1949]]
[[File:Larry Fine in a promotional image from 1962.png|thumb|Fine in 1962]]
Beginning in 1934, [[The Three Stooges]] set about making 206 short films and several features, their most prolific period starring Fine, Moe Howard, and Curly Howard. Their career with Healy was marked by disputes over pay, film contracts, and Healy's drinking and verbal abuse. Fine and the Howard brothers finally left Healy for good in 1934.<ref name=Scrapbookrev>{{cite book| last = Maurer| first = Joan Howard| author-link = Joan Howard Maurer|author2=Jeff Lenburg |author3=Greg Lenburg | title = The Three Stooges Scrapbook| publisher = Citadel Press| orig-year = 1982 |year=2012|edition=revised| isbn = 978-1-61374-074-3 | url =http://a.co/cYoBoxO}}</ref>

In films from the Curly era, the Larry character did more reacting than acting, staying in the background and serving as the voice of reason in contrast to the zany antics of Moe and Curly. He was a [[surrealistic]] foil and the middle ground between Moe's gruffly "bossy" and Curly's childish personae. Like the other Stooges, Larry was often on the receiving end of Moe's abuse. His reasonableness was the perfect foil to Moe's brusque bluntness and Curly's or Shemp's boyish immaturity, but Larry sometimes proposed something impossible or illogical and was quickly put down verbally and physically by Moe, who often pulled a handful of hair out of Larry's head.<ref name=Scrapbookrev/> Film critic [[Leonard Maltin]] wrote, "Larry is the least distinctive character of the trio, but he adds a pleasing touch by siding with either Moe or Curly, depending on the situation, thereby enabling him to show moments of lucidity as well as lunacy."<ref>{{cite book | last = Maltin | first = Leonard | author-link = Leonard Maltin | title = The Great Movie Comedians: From Charlie Chaplin to Woody Allen | publisher = CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform | orig-year = 1978 |year=2015 | edition=revised | isbn = 978-1-51432-494-3 | url = http://amzn.com/1613740743}}</ref>

After Curly suffered a debilitating stroke in May 1946, Shemp replaced him in the act. The Shemp era marked a period of increased onscreen presence for Larry, who had been relegated to a background role during the Curly era. Upon Shemp's return, he was allotted equal onscreen time, even becoming the focus of several films, in particular, ''[[Fuelin' Around]]'' (1949) and ''[[He Cooked His Goose]]'' (1952).<ref name="Okuda">{{cite book| last = Okuda| first = Ted | author-link = Ted Okuda|author2=Watz, Edward | title = The Columbia Comedy Shorts| publisher = McFarland & Company| year = 1986| pages =60–102| isbn = 0-89950-181-8}}</ref>

On November 22, 1955, Shemp died of a heart attack. [[Joe Palma]] doubled for Shemp in the next four films; then [[Joe Besser]] succeeded him as the third Stooge in 1956. After Columbia Pictures closed its comedy-shorts department at the end of 1957, [[Joe DeRita]] replaced Besser.

In the earliest Stooge films, Larry frequently indulged in utterly nutty behavior. Fine livened scenes up with improvised remarks or ridiculous actions. In the hospital spoof ''[[Men in Black (1934 film)|Men in Black]]'' (1934), Larry, dressed as a surgeon and wielding a large kitchen knife, chortles: "Let's plug him... and see if he's ripe!" In ''[[Disorder in the Court]]'' (1936), a tense courtroom scene is interrupted by Larry breaking into a wild [[Tarzan yell]]. Of course, after each of his outbursts, Moe would gruffly put him down. According to Fine's brother, Fine developed a [[callus]] on one side of his face from being slapped so often by Moe.<ref name=Scrapbookrev/>

Larry's goofiness has been described as an extension of Fine's own relaxed personality. Director [[Charles Lamont]] recalled: "Larry was a nut. He was the kind of guy who always said anything. He was a yapper."<ref name=Scrapbookrev/> Writer-director [[Edward Bernds]] remembered that Fine's suggestions for the scripts were often "flaky", but occasionally contained good comic ideas.<ref name=Scrapbookrev/>

The Three Stooges became a big hit on television in 1959 when [[Columbia Pictures]] released a batch of their films, whose popularity brought them to a new audience and revitalized their careers.<ref name=Scrapbookrev/>