# Curious little instance of wartime censorship of a Three Stooges episode? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 13, 2015, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curious-little-instance-of-wartime-censorship-of-a-three-stooges-episode/725035 "2015-07-13T10:53:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2015, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curious-little-instance-of-wartime-censorship-of-a-three-stooges-episode/725035/1 "2015-07-13T10:53:38Z")
In “Dizzy Pilots” (1943), our heroes are airplane builders named ‘The Wrong Brothers’. The episode opens to Moe reading a letter they’ve just received from their draft board announcing that they’ve been granted an additional thirty days to complete the airplane they’re working on, which they claim will revolutionize flying. But if their plane does not live up to their claims, they will be inducted into the military. When the plane fails, they are shown next in Army basic training, where they fare no better. So where’s the supposed censorship? The letter from the draft board is written on stationary bearing the heading “Republic of Canabeer”. And the Stooges R.F.D. address is “Stinkola, Moronica”. They make this obvious: Moe reads these words out loud before he starts on the body of the letter. So, despite the obviously, unanimously American accents of the Stooges (and two airplane executives who come to witness their test flight, and the drill sergeant they face in basic training), _this story is supposed to be taking place in a fictitious foreign country, not the U.S. of A._ Why would this be? The only explanation I can think of is that wartime fervor drove concerns that it would harm the war effort to suggest - even as a joke - that the U.S. government would ever consider buying airplanes from “three screwballs like the Wrong Brothers” (as the executives refer to them). This sensitivity may have been amplified by that fact that (AIUI) Germany had air superiority early on, so the U.S. was playing catch-up for a while. I have no idea whether there was actual government censorship going on here; it may have been preemptive self-censorship by the Columbia Pictures Corporation. Other Three Stooges episodes (e.g., “Fuelin’ Around” (1949), later repackaged as “Hot Stuff” (1956)) portrayed fictitious countries. But here, the Stooges were American carpet layers targeted by the “State of Anemia” (who mistook Larry’s hair for, presumably, Einstein’s, before kidnapping the boys). And in the wartime parodies “I’ll Never Heil Again” and “You Nazty Spy”, it was made painfully obvious who they were referring to. But the premise of “Dizzy Pilots” seems to be a unique little sidestep. I’m surprised I never noticed this until recently. In my defense, I first came to love this episode as a little kid, when I wouldn’t have understood such concerns. Thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2015, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curious-little-instance-of-wartime-censorship-of-a-three-stooges-episode/725035/2 "2015-07-13T11:02:21Z")
IIRC, by this time the studio was pasting together new material with older material so there are some continuity mistakes…not to mention the shock of Curlys failing health and condition. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2015, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curious-little-instance-of-wartime-censorship-of-a-three-stooges-episode/725035/3 "2015-07-13T11:43:07Z")
Curly was still in his prime in 1943. But you are correct that they slapped new material together with old to save time and money: the basic training footage was from an earlier film. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2015, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curious-little-instance-of-wartime-censorship-of-a-three-stooges-episode/725035/4 "2015-07-13T12:20:43Z")
Censorship had nothing to do with it. They used the names to be funny. “Canabeer” is an extremely obvious pun. No one in 1943 would have the slightest concern that they were supposedly in a foreign country but still clearly American. Your question is akin to asking why they weren’t building a jet plane or using cell phones. The continuity fetish of today did not exist in the 1940s. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2015, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curious-little-instance-of-wartime-censorship-of-a-three-stooges-episode/725035/5 "2015-07-13T13:27:07Z")
The letter was signed by _Joe Strubachincoscoe_. I can’t see anything in that name. I must be missing something. The episode is on YouTube. Now, I'm going to have to watch it and report back later today! ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2015, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curious-little-instance-of-wartime-censorship-of-a-three-stooges-episode/725035/6 "2015-07-13T13:28:39Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > The only explanation I can think of is that wartime fervor drove concerns that it would harm the war effort to suggest - even as a joke - that the U.S. government would ever consider buying airplanes from “three screwballs like the Wrong Brothers” (as the executives refer to them). I would think it more likely that they didn’t want to depict Americans as reluctant to go into the army. Our brave boys were supposed to be eager to join the armed forces and go to war to lick Schicklgruber. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2015, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curious-little-instance-of-wartime-censorship-of-a-three-stooges-episode/725035/7 "2015-07-13T14:35:35Z")
Could it have been a propaganda move to portray our enemies as the Three Stooges? As in, it was a foreign country, and implying that their airplane builders/soldiers were buffoons and idiotis? ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2015, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curious-little-instance-of-wartime-censorship-of-a-three-stooges-episode/725035/8 "2015-07-13T15:41:12Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > I would think it more likely that they didn’t want to depict Americans as reluctant to go into the army. Our brave boys were supposed to be eager to join the armed forces and go to war to lick Schicklgruber. They were eager to join the military. Watch Ken Burns The War. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2015, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curious-little-instance-of-wartime-censorship-of-a-three-stooges-episode/725035/9 "2015-07-13T16:06:30Z")
I agree with **RealityChuck**. These are jokes, nothing more. In almost any comedy, the answer to “Why was this included?” is going to be “Because it’s [intended to be] funny.” ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2015, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curious-little-instance-of-wartime-censorship-of-a-three-stooges-episode/725035/10 "2015-07-13T20:28:12Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Could it have been a propaganda move to portray our enemies as the Three Stooges? As in, it was a foreign country, and implying that their airplane builders/soldiers were buffoons and idiotis? I think this makes a lot of sense. It’s kind of the flip side of what I was suspecting, but more benign. Not fear of hurting the war effort, but trying to do all they could to help. The aforementioned parodies of the Nazis were certainly aiming for this. > [@Morgenstern](#): > > The letter was signed by _Joe Strubachincoscoe_. I can’t see anything in that name. I must be missing something. > > The episode is on YouTube. > > Now, I'm going to have to watch it and report back later today! I too always wondered about that name. To quote Moe, “What a moniker!” Slight quibble: Strubachincoscow. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2015, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curious-little-instance-of-wartime-censorship-of-a-three-stooges-episode/725035/11 "2015-07-13T20:44:44Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > I too always wondered about that name. To quote Moe, “What a moniker!” > > Slight quibble: Strubachincoscow. Right up there with “Slartibartfast,” which always seems to get a laugh and a reaction out of proportion to just being weird. But the Brits of my acquaintance are either keeping the secret or insisting it’s just a silly name. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2015, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curious-little-instance-of-wartime-censorship-of-a-three-stooges-episode/725035/12 "2015-07-13T21:17:45Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Censorship had nothing to do with it. They used the names to be funny. “Canabeer” is an extremely obvious pun. Everyone participating in this thread, including those only reading it, has thereby spent more time thinking about the subject than the writers did. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2015, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curious-little-instance-of-wartime-censorship-of-a-three-stooges-episode/725035/13 "2015-07-13T21:32:23Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Everyone participating in this thread, including those only reading it, has thereby spent more time thinking about the subject than the writers did. Well, the Stooges were ALWAYS trying to slip bad or even naughty jokes past the censors. I remember one episode in which they were looking over a map of Egypt, as they hunted for a mummy’s tomb. The map showed “Giva Dam” on the Nile. Apparently, someone at the Hays office was asleep at the switch. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2015, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curious-little-instance-of-wartime-censorship-of-a-three-stooges-episode/725035/14 "2015-07-13T21:58:57Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Well, the Stooges were ALWAYS trying to slip bad or even naughty jokes past the censors. I remember one episode in which they were looking over a map of Egypt, as they hunted for a mummy’s tomb. The map showed “Giva Dam” on the Nile. > > Apparently, someone at the Hays office was asleep at the switch. Not to mention three men sleeping in the same bed and sharing a bathtub!! They were used for WPA propoganda in this episode: > **[Cash and Carry (film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cash_and_Carry_(film))** > > Cash and Carry is a 1937 short subject directed by Del Lord starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard). It is the 25th entry in the series released by Columbia Pictures starring the comedians, who released 190 shorts for the studio between 1934 and 1959. > Upon their return to their humble abode in the city dump following six months of fruitless prospecting, the Stooges stumble upon an orphaned young woman and her incapacitated younger broth... [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPX_3m8YoMM) ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2015, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curious-little-instance-of-wartime-censorship-of-a-three-stooges-episode/725035/15 "2015-07-13T22:44:56Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Right up there with “Slartibartfast,” which always seems to get a laugh and a reaction out of proportion to just being weird. But the Brits of my acquaintance are either keeping the secret or insisting it’s just a silly name. I think that name is intended to evoke “clarty” and “fart.” Isn’t there a bit in the radio show where he makes a stink? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2015, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curious-little-instance-of-wartime-censorship-of-a-three-stooges-episode/725035/16 "2015-07-14T11:31:40Z")
I thought that the OP was way off track, suggesting wartime “censorship” over Three Stooges antics, but then I recalled the case of **In the Navy** ,\* where the sequence at the end where Wilson )Costello) takes control of the ship and wreaks havoc was explained away as a Bad Dream – which it hadn’t been when the film was originally shot. I’d heard that the Navy insisted upon the change, but the imdb page suggests that it was a fearful studio’s own doing: > [@](#): > > When the picture was sent to the U.S. Navy for approval, they refused to have its name associated with it because of the sequence at the end when Watson takes over a ship and does some decidedly un-military maneuvers with it. The producers, desperate to receive the support of the Navy, came up with the idea of having Watson accidentally taking a sleeping potion and dreaming the entire sequence. When this scene was shot and edited in, the Navy lent its backing to the picture. > **[In the Navy (1941) - Trivia - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033754/trivia/?ref_=tt_trv_trv)** > > In the Navy (1941) - Trivia on IMDb: Cameos, Mistakes, Spoilers and more... On another note: > [@](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > : > > Originally Posted by **Amateur Barbarian** > > Right up there with “Slartibartfast,” which always seems to get a laugh and a reaction out of proportion to just being weird. But the Brits of my acquaintance are either keeping the secret or insisting it’s just a silly name. > > I think that name is intended to evoke “clarty” and “fart.” Isn’t there a bit in the radio show where he makes a stink? As I understand it, Adams said that he started off with an obviously obscene name and just kept making minor changes until it was technically “clean”, but evoked its shady roots. > [@](#): > > Douglas Adams writes in the notes accompanying the published volume of original radio scripts that he wanted Slartibartfast’s name to sound very rude, but still actually be broadcastable. He therefore started with the name “Phartiphukborlz”, and changed bits of it until it would be acceptable to the BBC. He came closer to achieving this goal in the following episode, > **[Slartibartfast](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slartibartfast)** > > Slartibartfast is a character in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a comedy/science fiction series created by Douglas Adams. The character appears in the first and third novels, the first and third radio series (and the LP adaptation of the first radio series), the 1981 television series, and the 2005 feature film. The character was modelled after actor John Le Mesurier. > Slartibartfast is a Magrathean and a designer of planets. His favourite part of the job is creating coastlines, the most n... Admission: Until I read the above, I never even heard of the word “clarty”, and had to look it up. “Slartibartfarst” certainly didn’t evoke memories of Clarty for me, but it was still clear that the name was supposed to suggest euphemisms. - (You’d think the title was really _Abbott and Costello in the Navy_, and it certainly looks that way in posters, where the stars’ names appear over “In the Navy”, but the real title is apparently just _In the Navy_. It’s as annoying as those Marx Brothers movies like _Go West_.) ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2015, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curious-little-instance-of-wartime-censorship-of-a-three-stooges-episode/725035/17 "2015-07-15T15:41:36Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Well, the Stooges were ALWAYS trying to slip bad or even naughty jokes past the censors. I remember one episode in which they were looking over a map of Egypt, as they hunted for a mummy’s tomb. The map showed “Giva Dam” on the Nile. > > Apparently, someone at the Hays office was asleep at the switch. “Study this map carefully.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2015, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curious-little-instance-of-wartime-censorship-of-a-three-stooges-episode/725035/18 "2015-07-15T15:49:53Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Until I read the above, I never even heard of the word “clarty”, and had to look it up. Huh! I used to work for a guy named McClarty. I know now that should have been my first warning! :smack: :mad: ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2015, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curious-little-instance-of-wartime-censorship-of-a-three-stooges-episode/725035/19 "2015-07-15T16:34:20Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Well, the Stooges were ALWAYS trying to slip bad or even naughty jokes past the censors. I remember one episode in which they were looking over a map of Egypt, as they hunted for a mummy’s tomb. The map showed “Giva Dam” on the Nile. > > Apparently, someone at the Hays office was asleep at the switch. I don’t recall any examples of anything naughtier than “Giva Dam” in their stuff. But, in his autobiography, Moe Howard claimed that when they tried doing their stage act (well after the death of the Columbia shorts) they actually tried using some “blue” material. I don’t know what Moe considered “blue”, but the thought of Stooges doing sex jokes seems bizarre. The Stooges were cleaner than Tex Avery cartoons. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2015, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curious-little-instance-of-wartime-censorship-of-a-three-stooges-episode/725035/20 "2015-07-15T16:57:36Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > (You’d think the title was really _Abbott and Costello in the Navy_, and it certainly looks that way in posters, where the stars’ names appear over “In the Navy”, but the real title is apparently just _In the Navy_. It’s as annoying as those Marx Brothers movies like _Go West_.) “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein” is the same way. Do you know whether there was some prohibition on using actors’ actual names in the titles? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curious-little-instance-of-wartime-censorship-of-a-three-stooges-episode/725035.md?page=2)