You Nazty Spy
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You Nazty Spy! (1940) is an 18-minute short subject by the Three Stooges that satirized Nazi Germany. Shot in only seven days, it was the 44th Three Stooges comedy. It was followed in 1941 by the sequel I'll Never Heil Again.
You Nazty Spy! is significant because it satirized the Nazis and helped publicize the Nazi threat in a period when America was still neutral about World War II, and isolationist sentiment was prevalent among the public. During this period, isolationist senators such as Burton Wheeler and Gerald Nye objected to Hollywood films on grounds that they were anti-Nazi propaganda vehicles designed to mobilize the American public for war. According to the [Internet Movie Database], You Nazty Spy! was the first Hollywood film to spoof Hitler. It was released nine months before the more famous Charlie Chaplin film The Great Dictator.
The film and its sequel are set in the fictional country of Moronica. Moe Howard's character Moe Hailstone represented Hitler, and Curly Howard played a character based on Hermann Göring. You Nazty Spy! was reportedly Howard's favorite Three Stooges short. Another notable feature of the short was the fact that it implied that business interests were behind the Nazi's rise to power. This is probably reflective of a common belief amongst some Americans about the Nazis at the time.
The Hays code discouraged or prohibited many types of political and satirical messages in films, requiring that the history and prominent people of other countries must be portrayed "fairly"; but short subjects may have been subject to less attention than feature films.
Trivia
- According to the Internet Movie Database, I'll Never Heil Again was the only Three Stooges sequel.
- Larry Fine injured his leg shortly before filming, and can be seen with a limp throughout the short.
Further reading
- Moe Howard and the Three Stooges; by Moe Howard [link], (Citadel Press, 1977).
- The Complete Three Stooges: The Official Filmography and Three Stooges Companion; by Jon Solomon [link], (Comedy III Productions, Inc., 2002).
- The Three Stooges Scrapbook; by Jeff Lenburg, Joan Howard Maurer, Greg Lenburg [link](Citadel Press, 1994).
- The Three Stooges: An Illustrated History, From Amalgamated Morons to American Icons; by Michael Fleming [link](Broadway Publishing, 2002).
- One Fine Stooge: A Frizzy Life in Pictures; by Steve Cox and Jim Terry [link], (Cumberland House Publishing, 2006).
External links
- [The Three Stooges vs. Hitler]
- [Moe, Larry and Curly: Premature Anti-Fascists]
- [You Nazty Spy] at StoogeWorld.com
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