Tidbit Tuesday: The Three Stooges vs. Hitler

Ten months before Charlie Chaplin released The Great Dictator, the Three Stooges came out with You Nazty Spy. Produced by Columbia Pictures in January 1940, the film came out four months after Germany invaded Poland, and nearly a year before the U.S. entered the war.

Comprised of Larry Fine, and brothers Moe and Curly Howard, the Three Stooges began as the vaudeville act “Ted Healy and His Stooges” in 1922. Larry and Moe were the original stooges with the third played by various individuals throughout their fifty-year career. In 1934, the trio signed a contract with Columbia and became wildly popular within their first year. Their movies were typically “shorts,” films less than thirty minutes.

After WWII began, the Stooges (all of whom had Jewish heritage) put out several pieces that poked fun at Hitler and the Nazis, the first being You Nazty Spy with a sequel I’ll Never Heil Again the following year. Moe played “Moe Hailstone,” an Adolf Hitler-like character from Moronica, with Larry playing a Joachim von-Ribbentrop-type ambassador and Curly playing a Hermann Göring character. Consider by most to be the actors’ best film, You Natzy Spy is also the Stooges’ favorite.

In the movie, the evil cabinet ministers overthrow the king and decide to put Moe the new ruler, believing that he’ll be stupid enough to follow their orders. After successfully committing mayhem, the trio is run out of office by a mob and eaten by lions. A bit of a dark ending, but audiences loved it.

You Nazty Spy opens with a disclaimer that reads: “Any resemblance between the characters in this picture and any persons, living or dead, is a miracle.” Was this a Stooge-style eye poke at the censors or an attempt to appease them?

Other wartime movies by the Stooges included They Stooge to Conga, Higher Than a Kite, Back from the Front, Gents without Cents, and No Dough Boys. An anti-Japanese film The Yoke’s On Me was issued in 1944.  

Have you seen any of the Stooges’ wartime films?

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Linda Shenton Matchett writes about ordinary people who did extraordinary things in days gone by. Her latest release, Under Ground, features WWII war correspondent, Ruth Brown. A volunteer docent and archivist for the Wright Museum of WWII, Linda is also a trustee for her local public library. She was born a stone’s throw from Fort McHenry and has lived in historic places all her life. Now located in central New Hampshire, Linda’s favorite activities include exploring historic sites and immersing herself in the imaginary worlds created by other authors. Visit her website where she blogs about history, mystery, and faith. Sign up for her newsletter and receive a free short story. You can also connect with Linda on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

The Award Winning Mrs. Miniver

Author Jan Struther

Born in England, Jan Struther was a writer for Punch magazine. When her work came to the attention of The Times editor Peter Fleming in 1937, he asked her to write a series of columns for the paper that revolved around an “ordinary sort of woman who leads an ordinary life – sort of like yourself.” Initially, the columns were light, domestic scenes, but as war approached, the tone of the pieces changed. The columns were published in book form in 1939.

Wildly successful in the U.S., the book was made into a movie and released in 1942, starring Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon. Reports indicate that President Roosevelt rushed it to the theaters in the hope of swaying the last of those intent on maintaining U.S. neutrality. He and Churchill both have credited the film in hastening America’s involvement in the war.

In 1943, the part entertainment, part propaganda Mrs. Miniver won six Academy Awards. The movie’s director, Alsace-Lorraine native, William Wyler, said later, “I was concerned about Americans being isolationists.” He went on further to say his attitude was “Let’s make propaganda pictures, but make them good.”

German propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels agreed when he said that Mrs. Miniver’s “refined powerful propagandist tendency has up to now only been dreamed of. There is not a single angry word spoken against Germany; nevertheless the anti-German tendency is perfectly accomplished.”

So powerful was the film that a portion of the following scene from the movie in which the vicar delivers a sermon in a bombed out church was translated into several languages and airdropped into German-occupied territory.

“There’s scarcely a household that hasn’t been struck to the heart. And why? Surely you must have asked yourselves this question…I shall tell you why. Because this is not only a war of soldiers in uniform. It is the war of the people, of all the people. And it must be fought not only on the battlefield but in the cities and in the villages, in the factories and on the farms, in the home and in the heart of every man, woman and child who loves freedom. Well, we have buried our dead, but we shall not forget them. Instead, they will inspire us with unbreakable determination to free ourselves, and those who come after us, from the tyranny and terror that threaten to strike us down. This is the People’s War. It is our war. We are the fighters. Fight it then. Fight it with all that is in us. And may God defend the right.”

What is your favorite WWII era film?

   

Linda Shenton Matchett is an author, journalist, blogger, and history geek. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, a stone’s throw from Fort McHenry, Linda has lived in historical places most of her life. She is a volunteer docent at the Wright Museum of WWII and a Trustee for her local public library. Active in her church Linda serves as treasurer, usher, and choir member. Linda has written numerous historical romances and mysteries. To find out more about Linda and her books visit www.LindaShentonMatchett.com. Sign up for her newsletter for links to free ebooks, book reviews, historical tidbits, and more.