Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Philadelphia

Larry Fine The Stooge From Philly

Porcupine!

Larry Fine was born on this date in 1902. It’s been scientifically proven that all men know who Larry Fine is. For the benefit of the rest of you, Larry Fine was the bushy-haired, reactive Stooge. You know, the guy who stood there and mostly underplayed as Moe slapped the hell out of Curly. Until he himself became collateral damage.

Fine was born Louis Feinberg at 3rd and South Streets in Philadelphia. The son of a watch repairman and jewelry shop owner, he was encouraged to take up the violin to counteract the effects of an acid burn, which damaged the muscles in his forearm when he was boy. The acid had been used by his father to test jewelry for gold content. Young Larry was about to drink the stuff, when his father slapped it away.

Larry showed such dedication to the violin that his parents wanted to send him to study the instrument at a conservatory in Europe, but with the outbreak of World War I, he remained in Philadelphia. He took up boxing to further strengthen his arm and won his only professional fight, before his father put a stop to it.

Larry brought his violin to the vaudeville circuit. It was there that he met Shemp Howard and the problematic Ted Healy. Healy, who was a raging alcoholic and notoriously abusive, would eventually come to a bad end under mysterious circumstances, possibly at the hands of Wallace Beery (the original onscreen “Champ”). These days, Healy is remembered, if at all, as the man who introduced The Three Stooges.

Shemp was looking to take a break from Healy’s act for a few months, so he asked Larry if he might be interested in being a substitute “stooge.” The pay was good (Healy offered him an extra ten dollars a week if he would “throw that fiddle away”), so Larry was amendable.

At first, he was tossed in with Bob Pinkus and Sam “Moody” Braun. Once Shemp returned, however, Larry, Shemp, and Shemp’s brother Moe – who had worked with Healy from the beginning – were brought together for the first time.

Shemp would depart to pursue a solo career in film, working with W.C. Fields, Fatty Arbuckle, and Abbott and Costello. He was replaced by his and Moe’s younger brother, Jerome – better known as Curly.

The reconfigured Stooges followed Healy to the big screen. Soon Healy was being groomed by MGM for a career as a solo comedian. The Stooges signed their own contract with Columbia and left their abrasive former boss in the dust. From the mid-1930s through the late-‘40s, The Three Stooges were the movies’ most popular short subject attractions. Shemp would return to the team after Curly suffered a stroke in 1946.

Larry, Philadelphia’s native Stooge, is commemorated in a mural near his birthplace at 3rd & South. We’re coming up on the 20th anniversary of the original mural’s dedication on October 26, 1999. The mural was overpainted with another Larry mural in 2006.

While we’re on the subject of boxers and violinists, Curly is unstoppable in his ascent to the championship, thanks to Larry’s stirring rendition of “Pop Goes the Weasel,” in “Punch Drunks” (1934):

https://vimeo.com/60991844

Happy birthday, Larry Fine!

PHOTO: Larry, as immuralized in 2006

October 5, 2019
Philly Inquirer’s Feline Future

This cat definitely has a future with the Philadelphia Inquirer.

February 28, 2019
Krampusnacht Devilish Delights & Dark Carols

Here comes Krampus – and along with him, my most controversial post of the year. I always lose one or two followers over Krampusnacht. Apparently it’s hard for some folks to reconcile Christmas with an Alpine devil. But when it comes to the holidays, the Central European psyche holds nothing in reserve.

In the grand tradition of spare the rod, spoil the child (Proverbs 13:24), with Krampus the Old World really pulls out all the stops. On December 5, the eve of Saint Nicholas’ Day, it is the custom for an egregiously-horned, whiplash-tongued demon to emerge from his mountain lair, festooned in chains and cow bells, to accompany the Patron Saint of Children on his rounds. Saint Nick bestows small gifts to all the good boys and girls; the bad are handed over to Krampus.

Garden-variety naughtiness may earn the sting of a switch; but the especially ill-behaved are clapped in chains, taken for a short ride in a wicker basket, and then drowned in a stream or immolated by hellfire. With mounting anxiety a thousand times worse than the anticipation of a bad report card, a wee sinner pulls the sweat-soaked blankets over his head and begins to pray vociferously for a stocking full of coal.

It is with mixed emotions that I watch Saint Nick’s dark helper creep ever closer to the mainstream. It used to be that there were one or two books of vintage postcards, and they were out of print and difficult to get a hold of. Now Krampus has become something of a shadow industry. He’s even been the subject of a major motion picture, for crying out loud. I never thought I would see it, but The Man is trying to appropriate Krampus, just like he did rock ‘n’ roll. But you can’t keep a good demon down. As long as there are people fed up with Black Friday sales on Thanksgiving, there will always be plenty of fuel for a reactionary Black Christmas. And no amount of tinsel is going to change that.

If there is any classical music written for Krampus, I have yet to hear it. Therefore, as a kind of place holder on this Krampusnacht, I will offer a suite by Finnish composer Einar Englund for a film inspired by another bizarre legend, that of “The White Reindeer.” Don’t go into it expecting any Rankin-Bass Rudolph. This is Lapland, after all, the land of shape-shifting, vampiric livestock. This Rudolph sports teeth like The Abominable.

It’s also the birthday today of pianist Krystian Zimerman. He’ll be the soloist in Franz Liszt’s “Totentanz” (“Dance of Death”). As time allows, we’ll even have a diabolical sleigh-ride courtesy of Bernard Herrmann.

Oh yes! We’ll also mark the birthdays of Francesco Geminiani, Vítězslav Novák, Osvaldo Golijov, and José Carreras, with a little more Hanukkah music tossed into the mix, from 4 to 6 p.m. EST. Then stick around for “Music from Marlboro.” We’ll embrace the saints at 6 – more about that in an upcoming post – on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

This year’s Parade of Spirits, Liberty Lands, formerly known as Krampuslauf, spills into the streets of Philadelphia’s Northern Liberties neighborhood on December 15. The event will benefit Delaware Valley homeless shelters.

Go ahead and unfollow me, if you must. You can stop your ears, but you can’t stop Krampus.

December 5, 2018
Krampus is Coming Controversial Christmas

Here comes Krampus – and along with him, my most controversial post of the year. I always lose one or two followers over Krampusnacht. Apparently it’s hard for some folks to reconcile Christmas with an Alpine devil. But when it comes to the holidays, the Central European psyche holds nothing in reserve.

In the grand tradition of spare the rod, spoil the child (Proverbs 13:24), in Krampus the Old World really pulls out all the stops. On December 5, the eve of Saint Nicholas’ Day, it is the custom for an egregiously-horned, whiplash-tongued demon to emerge from his mountain lair, festooned in chains and cow bells, to accompany the Patron Saint of Children on his rounds. Saint Nick bestows small gifts to all the good boys and girls; the bad are handed over to Krampus.

Garden-variety naughtiness may earn the sting of a switch; but the especially ill-behaved are clapped in chains, taken for a short ride in a wicker basket, and then drowned in a stream or immolated by hellfire. With mounting anxiety a thousand times worse than the anticipation of a bad report card, a wee sinner pulls the sweat-soaked blankets over his head and begins to pray vociferously for a stocking full of coal.

It is with mixed emotions that I watch Saint Nick’s dark helper creep ever closer to the mainstream. It used to be that there were one or two books of vintage postcards, and they were out of print and difficult to get a hold of. Now Krampus has become something of a shadow industry. He’s even been the subject of a major motion picture, for crying out loud. I never thought I would see it, but The Man is trying to appropriate Krampus, just like he did rock ‘n’ roll. But you can’t keep a good demon down. As long as there are people fed up with Black Friday sales on Thanksgiving, there will always be plenty of fuel for a reactionary Black Christmas. And no amount of tinsel is going to change that.

If there is any classical music written for Krampus, I have yet to hear it. Therefore, as a kind of place holder on this Krampusnacht, I will offer a suite by Finnish composer Einar Englund for a film inspired by another bizarre legend, that of “The White Reindeer.” Don’t go into it expecting any Rankin-Bass Rudolph. This is Lapland, after all, the land of shape-shifting, vampiric livestock. This Rudolph sports teeth like The Abominable.

It’s also the birthday today of pianist Krystian Zimerman. He’ll be the soloist in Franz Liszt’s “Totentanz” (“Dance of Death”). Then, if time allows, we’ll have a diabolical sleigh-ride courtesy of Bernard Herrmann.

Oh yes! We’ll also mark the birthdays of Francesco Geminiani, Vítězslav Novák, Osvaldo Golijov, and José Carreras, with a little more Hanukkah music tossed into the mix, from 4 to 6 p.m. EST. Then stick around for “Music from Marlboro.” We’ll embrace the saints at 6 – more about that in an upcoming post – on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

This year’s Parade of Spirits, Liberty Lands, formerly known as Krampuslauf, spills into the streets of Philadelphia’s Northern Liberties neighborhood on December 9. The event will benefit Delaware Valley homeless shelters.

Go ahead and unfollow me, if you must. You can stop your ears, but you can’t stop Krampus.

December 5, 2018
Eugene List: Philly Roots, Pianist of Presidents

Illustrating the adage (coined by me, I believe) that no one can ever get away from Philadelphia forever, the pianist Eugene List – who was born there 100 years ago today – returned from a childhood spent in Los Angeles to study piano with Olga Samaroff. Samaroff herself, of course, was born in Austin, TX, as Lucy Hickenlooper and later married Leopold Stokowski.

The prodigious List had already made his orchestral debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He rode the bus back to Philly to enter into a competition to study with Samaroff, who would train a remarkable stable of pianists, including Richard Farrell, Natalie Hinderas, William Kapell, Raymond Lewenthal, Rosalyn Tureck, and Alexis Weissenberg. In his second year with Samaroff, he won another competition which allowed him to perform with the Philadelphia Orchestra. At the behest of Stokowski, he ditched his plans to play the Schumann concerto and instead played the American premiere of Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 1.

While never entirely eschewing the standard Romantic literature, List was renowned for his devotion to neglected repertoire, including underserved works of Edward MacDowell and especially Louis Moreau Gottschalk, a revival of whose music he spearheaded. In particular, he drew attention for recreating some of Gottschalk’s “monster concerts,” which involved enormous numbers of pianists. He gave the American premiere of Carlos Chavez’s Piano Concerto (with the New York Philharmonic). He also edited the complete works of Stephen Foster.

Motivated by the attack on Pearl Harbor in December of 1941, he promptly enlisted in the US Army at the age of 26. Initially, he was given an office job as a typist at the New York Port of Embarkation, but soon he was transferred to the Army Special Services Division. At the postwar Potsdam Conference, he was asked to play for Harry S. Truman, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin. For Chopin’s Waltz in A-flat, Op. 42, a work he had not memorized, Truman acted as his page-turner. This earned List a reputation as “Pianist of the Presidents.” He played at the White House many times; the last was for Jimmy Carter in 1980.

List’s later life was marred by tragedy. In 1983, after 42 years of marriage, his wife, the violinist Carroll Glenn, slipped into a coma only days after being diagnosed with a brain tumor. Two years later, while planning a recital to mark the 50th anniversary of his Carnegie Hall debut, List fell down the steps of his New York brownstone and broke his neck. He was 66 years-old.

List was a familiar presence on radio and television, and he even appeared in a movie, “The Bachelor’s Daughters,” in 1946.

We’ll hear List perform music by Gottschalk and Howard Hanson, alongside observances of the birthdays today of composers Hanns Eisler, Elisabeth Lutyens, and Wenzel Thomas Matiegka, and pianist and conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy – all to come between 4 and 6 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

Then stick around for music from cinematic adaptations of the books of Jane Austen on “Picture Perfect” at 6!

PHOTO: Eugene List and Carroll Glenn

July 6, 2018

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