Larry Fine (Reenvisioning)
Fine himself (born Louis Feinberg) grew up at 3rd and South Streets, the current location of the mural. Besides his career as a Stooge, Fine played violin, acted in film, and even earned money as a boxer. This mural is a testament to a true Philadelphia original.
Artist David McShane recounts the story of this mural:
“Early in the summer of 2005 I got a call from Gerald Kolpan of Fox 29 News. He was doing a story about the loss of the Larry Fine Mural. I didn’t know it was gone until he told me. I later found out that the stucco the mural was painted on was pulling away from the wall because of water damage from a bad roofing job. It was a danger and a liability to the building owner, who wisely had a contractor come in and tear the stucco down and replace it with new structurally-sound stucco. The owner of the building (who also runs Jon’s Bar & Grille, the business that takes place inside the building) called me and asked about doing another Larry mural. The old mural had become a landmark and many tourists and Three Stooges fans made trips to see it. It is even a stop on the Duck Boat Tours that run frequently through the city. . . . Instead of painting the same mural all over again, I decide to design a new image of Larry, with a crazier expression on his face and with a violin in his hands. I discovered that Larry’s father was a jeweler and ran a jewelry shop on the first floor of their house (which is now Jon’s Bar & Grille). As a youngster, Larry burned his arm with some acid in his Father’s shop and took up the violin as therapy to help regenerate his arm. His mother wanted him to become a classical concert violinist, but instead the violin led Larry to vaudeville comedy, which then led him to the Stooges. So Larry is playing the violin in the mural, dressed in a loud plaid jacket. To maintain some consistency with the old mural, I kept the same yellow and black concentric circles in the background that the old mural had.”
