Caught in the middle: Author Steve Cox salutes lovable Three Stooges porcupine Larry Fine

“One Fine Stooge: Larry Fine’s Frizzy Life in Pictures” author Steve Cox chronicles the smart little imbecile’s 40-year tenure as part of America’s most iconic comedy team in an engrossing conversation. Seen above is the cover of the Three Stooges’ June 1962 Dell comic book — beware of Moe, Larry and Curly Joe — purely incompetent painters for hire! Image Credit: My Comic Book Shop / DreamWorks Classics

You nitwit you! Larry Fine, best known as the frizzy haired lightning rod of the Three Stooge, was the eldest of four kids born on October 5, 1902, to Russian Jewish middle class parents in South Philadelphia. Fine’s dad Joseph Feinberg owned a watch repair and jewelry shop.