Larry Fine

Louis Feinberg (October 5, 1902 – January 24, 1975), known professionally as Larry Fine, was an American comedian, actor, violinist, and boxer, 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, at 3rd and South Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His father, Joseph Feinberg (who was Russian Jewish), and mother, Fanny Lieberman, owned a watch repair and jewelry shop. In early childhood, Larry's arm was burned with acid that his father used to test whether or not gold was real. Having mistaken it for a beverage, Larry had raised the acid bottle to his lips when his father noticed, and knocked it from his hand, accidentally splashing Larry's forearm. He was later given violin lessons to help strengthen the damaged muscles, a skill which would be put to use in many of the Stooge films. He became proficient on the instrument, and his parents wanted to send him to a European music conservatory, but the plan was prevented by the outbreak of World War I. In scenes where all three Stooges are playing fiddles, only Larry is actually playing, while the other two are pantomiming. To strengthen his arm further, Larry took up boxing in his teens, fighting in (and winning) one professional bout. His father, opposed to Larry's fighting in public, put an end to his brief career as a boxer.

Larry Fine (pianos)

Larry Fine (born 1950) is an American piano technician, consultant, and author. He is best known as the author of The Piano Book.

The Piano Book, as of 2001 in its fourth edition, describes how pianos work, discusses and reviews many brands of pianos, tracks changes in the piano industry worldwide, describes the retail piano industry in America with hints for the buyer on how best to deal with piano stores. It also documents innovations in piano building. The book is written from the viewpoint of the piano technician, and thus often emphasizes aspects of piano quality that make it hard or easy for the technician to keep the instrument in tune and in good working order.

Over the years, the work has been increasingly a collaborative effort, as Fine has recruited a large number of his fellow technicians to evaluate and report on the pianos that they see in the course of their work.

The book was accompanied by an annual Supplement, which offered updates to tide the book over between major revisions. As of Fall 2009, Fine replaced the annual supplements with a new, semi-annual publication Acoustic & Digital Piano Buyer.