
 |
|
February 10, 2012
Lisa M. Krieger: Man with defibrillator demands access to his own heart's information
David G. Savage: Why activists may not be in a hurry to have High Court rule on alternative marriage
February 9, 2012
Laura McMullen: 10 Least Expensive Public Schools for Out-of-State Students
Kimberly Palmer: How to actually enjoy -- relaxing, financially -- your vacation
February 8, 2012
Warren Richey: Why momentous Prop. 8 ruling might not satisfy gay-rights groups
Menachem Wecker: Though Controversial, LL.M.'s Can Lead to Specialized Legal Jobs
The Kosher Gourmet byDana Velden: Going to the bother of making soup? You know it better be good. This CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP certainly is! And it's a cinch to make, too (Includes techinques and serving secrets)
February 7, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Caught off-guard? President's Super Bowl interview with Matt Lauer gives those who need a reason not to vote for him, a darn good one
Suzanne Bohan: Leaping lizards! Tiny reptiles advancing robot design
February 6, 2012
Jonathan Tobin: Iran Threatens Israel With Destruction, But the New York Times Doesn't Hear It
Jeffrey Fleishman: In newly democratic Egypt, tens of democracy activists jailed, to stand trial; their groups are 'threatening the stability of the homeland'
Julie Deardorff : Researchers say antioxidants may not be that effective and could do more harm than good
Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
February 3, 2012
Edmund Sanders : Israeli official says Iran is creating missile that could reach East Coast of US
Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
January 30, 2012
Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
Caroline B. Glick: Obama: Of course I intend to prevent a nuclear holocaust . . . in a few months
Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
Jeannine Stein: An inflated ego and thinking you're 'all that' doesn't just make others sick of you, it can make you ill
Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
Jordan Rau: In quest to grow, Catholic hospital system will announce this morning its break from church
Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
January 19, 2012
January 18, 2012
January 17, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
David G. Savage: They sued their principals after slandering them online --- now the cases are headed to the Supreme Court
David Francis: Where to Invest in 2012: With stocks expected to rebound, opportunity abounds for investors
January 13, 2012
Ben Lynfield: Israeli lawmakers move to annex Jewish Judea, one museum at a time
Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz: Thriving through touch: Gentle massage helps older people with low mobility improve in mind and body
January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
Warren Richey: Supreme Court says no to new rule on eyewitness testimony
John Fauber : Statins found to raise diabetes risk in postmenopausal women
Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
The Kosher Gourmet by Joseph Erdos: This mushroom and barley soup has an intense -- almost nutty -- flavor that mixes robust with Middle East. It has creaminess without cream
January 11, 2012
Shari Roan: Millions of atrial fibrillation sufferers at risk for devastating, but preventable, stroke
Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
|
| |
Jewish World Review
Sept. 4, 2008
/ 4 Elul 5768
With humor as their weapon, the Three Stooges took on Hitler
By
Bruce Dancis
|  |
|
|
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | (MCT)
So you think this is all there is to the Three Stooges: Moe gets mad, pokes Larry in the eye and hits Curly on the head, followed by a torrent of flying pies, nyuk, nyuk, nyuks and woo, woo, woos.
Well, how about the Three Stooges as Nazi fighters?
It turns out that the screen comedy trio of Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard (Moe's little brother) made the first Hollywood films to satirize and lampoon Adolf Hitler and his Nazi government. And these shorts, daring for their time, are included in the just-released DVD set "The Three Stooges Collection, 1940-1942, Volume Three" (two discs, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, $24.96, not rated).
"You Nazty Spy!" hit the theaters in January 1940, nine months before Charlie Chaplin's "The Great Dictator." It was a time when most of the Hollywood studios remained reluctant to address dramatically or comedically the Nazi state, its persecution of Jews and the war Germany had started in Europe in 1939.
The timidity of the studio heads was based on several factors they didn't want to close down the European market for Hollywood films, and they were being pressured from conservatives and isolationists in Congress who opposed U.S. involvement in the European war and were concerned about Hollywood making "propaganda" films attacking the fascists.
Warner Bros. broke the ice with its 1939 production of "Confessions of a Nazi Spy," but, as film historian Michael E. Birdwell writes in his book, "Celluloid Soldiers: Warner Bros.'s Campaign against Nazism," the studio faced the opposition of the Production Code Administration (Hollywood's censors). Its director, Will Hays, stated that given the nation's policy of official neutrality, no studios could produce any more anti-Nazi films.
But that didn't deter the Three Stooges and Columbia Pictures from making "You Nazty Spy!," written by Clyde Bruckman and Felix Adler and directed by Jules White. Historian Lynn Rapaport, writing in the San Diego Jewish Journal, points out that film shorts were not as closely regulated or censored as feature films, so perhaps the Stooges' efforts were unnoticed or ignored.
| BUY THE SET ... |
| 
at a discount by clicking HERE.
|
|
"You Nazty Spy!" was released with a disclaimer, "Any resemblance between the characters in this picture and any persons, living or dead, is a miracle," which was patently ridiculous because the short depends on Moe's physical resemblance to Hitler particularly after he pushes his hair back on one side and gets a piece of black tape stuck to his upper lip.
As a paper-hanger named Hailstone from the country of Moronica, Moe becomes the foil of three evil government officials who want to overthrow their king and form a dictatorship. So Hailstone becomes dictator, even ranting in his speeches like Hitler, with Curly turning into Field Marshal Gallstone and Larry being appointed Minister of Propaganda Pebble.
The short is filled with references to beer-hall putsches, the appeasement at Munich, book burnings and "concentrated camps" for dissidents, and the Nazi leadership the Stooges is depicted as raving idiots.
The Stooges returned to the same roles in their July 1941 short, "I'll Never Heil Again," also included in the DVD set. This time the opening disclaimer reads, "The characters in this picture are all fictitious. Anyone resembling them is better off dead."
There's more Hitler-mocking oratory by Moe, a swastika made out of snakes and disputes with other Axis powers that culminate in a football game with a globe of the world taking the place of the ball.
The tone remains madcap as usual, but there's a clear and strong political message in lines such as this from Curly, now known as Field Marshall Herring, to Moe's Hailstone: "We bombed 56 hospitals, 85 schools, 42 kindergartens, four cemeteries and other vital military objects."
Lawrence Jeffrey Epstein, author of "Mixed Nuts: America's Love Affair With Comedy Teams," reports that "You Nazty Spy!" was Moe and Larry's favorite Stooges short, and the trio was evidently proud to have made several anti-Nazi films. Like many Jewish Americans in show business, the Stooges had changed their names to appear less ethnic Moe and Curly were born Moses and Jerome Horwitz, while Larry was originally Larry Feinberg. But their films were always filled with Yiddish words, and their Brooklyn accents ("soitenly") were hardly disguised.
The rest of the 21 shorts in this collection contain the usual assortment of Stooge-style cartoonish mayhem, silly puns and juvenile humor, the kind that has endeared the trio to (mostly) boys and men for decades.
But at one particularly perilous time in history, these three Jewish comedians, these Three Stooges, fought back against the fascists with the only weapon they had their sense of humor.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes inspiring articles. Sign up for our daily update. It's free. Just click here.
Comment by clicking here.

© 2008, The Sacramento Bee
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
|