Topic: Larry Fine's "autobiography"

[Shemoeley Fine]

I have several Stooges book in my collection, all bought when they intially came out. The Stooges Scrapbook, The Curly Book, Moe Howard and the Stooges, the Script book and my most prized one, Larry Fine;s bio with the original color overwrap. Although the book is written very poorly I know it is the rarest of the Stooges books, save any books on them from way back in the day. Any idea how much Larry's book might fetch on e-bay?  i am not interested in selling, just curious.

Larry's bio was the first book I bought on the Stooges, although  previously I had  purchased a Leonard Maltin book on 2 reelers that had a filmography of the Stooges' short that has since become obsolete but back in the 1970's it was essential .

Shemoeley Fine

[BeAStooge]

Larry Fine;s bio with the original color overwrap. Although the book is written very poorly I know it is the rarest of the Stooges books, save any books on them from way back in the day. Any idea how much Larry's book might fetch on e-bay?  i am not interested in selling, just curious.

It depends on which Stroke of Luck edition you have.  The book went thru 3 printings from 1973 - 1974, and a 4th printing in 1976.

A 4th printing in excellent condition, with the dust cover intact, sells for about/average $200.  The earlier the edition, and the better the condition, prices rise significantly... last year, a good condition 1st edition went for $650 on eBay.

[Shemoeley Fine]

I had no idea it had 3 pressings as Stroke of Luck was on an obscure publisher and is poorly written as Larry who dioctated the book to his writer was in his latter stages of life after he had a stroke and was not the most coherent person in the world at the time. Dang mine  is worth a lot of mula, when I croke my daughter will have a nice inheritiance by selling all my memoribillia and music collection.

I checked and it turns out as I suspected that I have a first pressing with the color overwrap dust cover and it is not in mint coindition but it is in record terms VG as I have hardly refered back to it after reading it the first time way back in the early 70;s as I acquired superiro books on the Stooges by jean howard Maurer and Citadel press as mentioned before, The Scripts, The Curly Book and The Scrapbook. I also have 3 books on the Stooges on Contemporary Press, Moe Howard and the Three Stooges as well as 2 others on Comtemporary and another book The Last of the Moe haircuts all from the late 70's.

I was surprised to see there are others now including 2 on Larry, of which one appears to be written by his brother, a book on Jerome as viewed by his daughter and even an encyclopaedia....  wow   Stoogemania is alive and well

Shemoeley Fine
El Fino

[BeAStooge]

I had no idea it had 3 pressings as Stroke of Luck was on an obscure publisher...

I was surprised to see there are others now including 2 on Larry...

All of Stroke of Luck's printings combined, each one limited and on a shoestring budget, probably do not add up to one typical print run from a mainstream publisher.  Even with four printings, it's not easy to find a copy.

Spring 2006, Cumberland Press is releasing One Fine Stooge by Steve Cox and Jim Terry.  It's adapted from Larry's personal files and photo albums.  Steve's preface contains the 30-year backstory for this book, including the details behind the creation and failure of Stroke of Luck.  An abridged version of the preface was recently published in The Three Stooges Journal # 112, Winter 2004 issue... http://www.threestooges.net/journal.php?action=view&id=112