Topic: Banned shows????

[Hammond Eggar]

I recall that TBS in Atlanta had these scenes intact in their prints from the mid-80s or so, at least for 3 Little Sew and Sews. These scenes were also uncut in the VHS releases which came out in the late 80s/early90s? There were 3 shorts per tape with a tagline of "Uncouth!" "Uncut!"

As a kid in the 1980s, I was tapping the Stooges off of WTBS each and every weekday morning.  That's how I obtained my original copy of Cookoo Cavaliers.  I don't recall it have the missing scene in question.  WTBS was pretty good about not showing edited prints, but ocassionally one did slip in.  Movie Maniacs is one of the obvious titles that was shown edited.

[IFleecem]

When I would tape late night/early morning stoogers on TBS around 88-90 they would chop them down to 10 minutes or a little more to squeeze them between movies as filler.

Robin

[ThumpTheShoes]

When I would tape late night/early morning stoogers on TBS around 88-90 they would chop them down to 10 minutes or a little more to squeeze them between movies as filler.

Robin

After looking at a handful of shorts taped from this era (88-92), I've noticed that the ones shown complete were still cut in the middle for ads and (a BIG "and") they were time-compressed all to hell! And I thought that Ted Turner's airings of Gilligan's Island were badly sped up... a 16 minute Stooge film ran complete in less than 14 minutes!

-Th

[locoboymakesgood]

I have to admit, I miss watching the colorized first season of Gilligan's Island on TBS. When Nick at Nite started airing them about 8 or so years ago, I was shocked to see the original first season was in B+W.

Heh, weird.

[DJEvelEd]

How about when Curly spelled cat k-i-t-t-y- PUSSY?

Didn't Moe use the word GAY once?

If they were around today I'm sure they would use words like yam bag, mule juice, va-jay-jay  that could be taken the wrong way. (to those with dirty minds)

[locoboymakesgood]

Yeah I'm surprised some of that stuff hasn't been censored in the past. I mean of course, in today's world the meanings of both of those are taken into a whole different context..

[Hammond Eggar]

There is an exchange between Moe and Larry in Three Pests in a Mess that I believe was edited out of some prints.  It's the moment in which Moe has black ink on his face.  Larry gets down on one knee and says "Mammy."  I seem to recall, at the least, reading about it being edited for some airings.  Perhaps someone could confirm this?

[ThumpTheShoes]

There is an exchange between Moe and Larry in Three Pests in a Mess that I believe was edited out of some prints.  It's the moment in which Moe has black ink on his face.  Larry gets down on one knee and says "Mammy."  I seem to recall, at the least, reading about it being edited for some airings.  Perhaps someone could confirm this?

This was the first of the newly "remastered" shorts that I got a look at back in the early 90's when WTBS or TNT (I forget which) had a Curly All-Nighter. I tuned in while some commercials were on, threw in a tape to catch whatever I could and Three Pests... came on. I was ecstatic to notice windowboxed titles (sure, as I was that it was a good thing, oh yes!) and much cleaner sound and picture than I had been accustomed to. Once it got to the scene in question, I was more than surprised to note that the sound was muted where Porcupine shoulda said, "Mammy!"

I decided then, and there, not to record anymore from that channel since they would be censored, and that the world is an unfair place! Since then, when I've seen this one on tv, the scene's been cut completely or the "Mammy!" is muted...

And the world has become, just for the record, even more unfair!

-Th

[stooged and confused]

Back in the 70's, I'd watch the Stooges on WFLD Channel 32 in Chicago. They would edit out ceratin bits of mayhem like scissors on the nose and the "racial slurs." They would also cut 2-3 minutes out to fit in an hour time block. They usually played a Curly, a Shemp and a Curly with ooddles of commercials during and after the short was completed.

And I do recall TBS speeding up the film so they could add more commercials like Thump mentioned--I had forgotten about that deceptive practice.

[Curley91]

Another 'mammy' joke that often gets scissored is Curly's routine in "All The World's A Stooge."  I've never actually seen the edited print, but I've heard that it has showed up on a few TV stations.  Was it ever on TBS?

[IFleecem]

Continuing the "Mammy" references, I remember the superstation in Chicago when they showed the short "Slaphappy Sleuths" they left in the line when Moe got his face blacked out when Emil Sitka started his jalopy and Larry said "Why don't you sing Mammy" and Moe responded with "Why don't you shut up" and I've seen the other where he just says the shut up line with it silenced. When you know the line is coming and then its not there you feel cheated. I'm not insenitive but history is history and times have changed so once all these are available in the full length, then it won't bother me so much. Hmm, popcorn out of a tailpipe lol.

Robin

[ThumpTheShoes]

Another 'mammy' joke that often gets scissored is Curly's routine in "All The World's A Stooge."  I've never actually seen the edited print, but I've heard that it has showed up on a few TV stations.  Was it ever on TBS?

Yeah, but the mammy bit was there when I've seen it (TBS, anyway... and years ago!). Could've been censored later, though, and I missed it since I stopped watching them on that channel. Maybe they overlooked it for a while since there's no blackface to coincide?

Incidentally, I forgot to mention that, in the censoring of Three Pests in a Mess, the word "porter" was silenced, as well. That's when Moe, face blackened with ink, bumps into Larry in the hallway, and Larry barks, "What's the idea, porter?!"

Continuing the "Mammy" references, I remember the superstation in Chicago when they showed the short "Slaphappy Sleuths" they left in the line when Moe got his face blacked out when Emil Sitka started his jalopy and Larry said "Why don't you sing Mammy" and Moe responded with "Why don't you shut up" and I've seen the other where he just says the shut up line with it silenced. When you know the line is coming and then its not there you feel cheated.

Oh, god! The copy I have from the Family Channel cuts all that entirely! No popcorn from the tailpipe, no soot, no overinflated tire! Emil starts to enjoy popcorn from his hat and, suddenly, the popping stops and Porcupine tells him, "Okay, Mister! Take it away!"

Edit: For anyone interested, here's a clip of Slaphappy Sleuths (a 16 minute clip of the whole, uncut thing, actually):
Slaphappy Sleuths  116 MB

Not to put too fine a point on it, but, censoring sucks!

-Th

[MR77100]

The one shot I remember be editing out of Uncivil Warriors was the shot of the black baby!

[MR77100]

When my family began taping The Stooges off Chicago Fox 32 in 1990, we noticed numerous editing techniques by the station. They would bleep out the occasional "Jap" line and even in HIGHER THAN A KITE, a "German" reference by Vernon Dent. During the Saturday mornings, they would show two full episodes, and to fill in the remaining 8-minute time slot, chop the hell out of a third short to complete the schedule. I actually taped several of these shorts and can't recall why I bothered! Some hacked episodes included THE YOKE'S ON ME, NO DOUGH, BOYS, THEY STOOGE TO CONGA, THREE MISSING LINKS, and SOME MORE OF SOMOA. The last two were for the black natives and the rest for the WW2 stereotypes. Other chopping included deleting the black maid from TERMITES OF 1938 and the "Mammy" scene from THREE PESTS IN A MESS. Episodes that were NEVER shown on Fox 32 included BACK TO THE WOODS, UNCIVIL WAR-BIRDS, THREE ARABIAN NUTS, YOU NATZY SPY, and I'LL NEVER HEIL AGAIN.

Then in 1992, they began showing the Stooges on WPWR 50, and they showed the FULL episodes! It was then that I went to re-recording these shorts to have them in their entirety. HOOOORRRRAAAAAYYYYY!

[afcomser]

I know this is many years later but that is not true. Hitler actually loved both of those shorts. Moe actually got a letter from Hitler. If you can immagine that.

[JazzBill]

I know this is many years later but that is not true. Hitler actually loved both of those shorts. Moe actually got a letter from Hitler. If you can immagine that.

No, I can't imagine that. But I did hear that Hitlers favorite short is the one where the Stooges get stuck in quicksand and 10 minutes of mayhem follows. 

[Dunrobin]

Now let's not start that again!   

[JazzBill]

Now let's not start that again!   

I'm pretty sure Hitler had other things on his mind.

[metaldams]

Hitler supposedly really did view THE GREAT DICTATOR twice, so while there's no documentation of him watching YOU NAZTY SPY....you never know.

[RICO987]

Actually, I had read years ago that Moe’s depiction of Hitler earned him a spot on Hitler’s “Death List”.  I looked for corroboration on the web, but so far all I could find is something on Wapedia that states exactly what I write of above:

http://wapedia.mobi/en/Three_Stooges

My memory is that I first read of Moe being on Hitler’s “Death List” in the Sacramento Bee, which is probably a little more reliable than Wapedia.

[Blystone]

The Sacramento Bee, reliable? I dunno, I've never understood why a newspaper should be named after an insect. How about the Cincinnati Cockroach, or the Baltimore Bedbug? The Seattle Spider? The Tampa Tarantula?

Seriously, though, it doesn't seem likely that Hitler or his minions ever saw a Stooges short, since they came to power (by fraud) in 1933, and the persecution of the Jews was one of the first items on their agenda. Harpo Marx, on a solo European-Russian tour in that same year, reported that he already saw Jewish shops in Hamburg with their windows splattered with anti-Semitic graffiti. He later said, "I got across Germany as fast as I could." Obviously, not stopping to give any performances!

So if the Nazis had known that Columbia Pictures was a Jewish-owned business (they probably did, the name Harry Cohn being a dead giveaway), they would have banned any and all Columbia films mach schnell, and not only those starring the Stooges. All American films were under a Nazi ban by 1939-1940, which caused a lot of trouble for every Hollywood studio, but especially for Walt Disney's. The Disney brothers had been relying on the European markets to help them finance their increasingly expensive animated features, and now that money was cut off. As a result, both Pinocchio and Fantasia lost money, in spite of their excellence.

And the Disneys were about as Gentile as you can get, but it didn't matter.

A bad, bad time that I wouldn't have wanted to live in.

[BeAStooge]

Moe’s depiction of Hitler earned him a spot on Hitler’s “Death List”. 

A tale.

[RICO987]

The Sacramento Bee, reliable? I dunno, I've never understood why a newspaper should be named after an insect. How about the Cincinnati Cockroach, or the Baltimore Bedbug? The Seattle Spider? The Tampa Tarantula?

Seriously, though, it doesn't seem likely that Hitler or his minions ever saw a Stooges short, since they came to power (by fraud) in 1933, and the persecution of the Jews was one of the first items on their agenda. Harpo Marx, on a solo European-Russian tour in that same year, reported that he already saw Jewish shops in Hamburg with their windows splattered with anti-Semitic graffiti. He later said, "I got across Germany as fast as I could." Obviously, not stopping to give any performances!

Ad hominem attacks notwithstanding, I do not see a modern day Left-Right political agenda in this old World War II news, so I would credit the Bee with some modicum of journalistic integrity on this sort of history reporting.

With respect to the Third Reich intelligence gathering mechanisms, I suspect you greatly underestimate their ability in that area.  If not for the United States entry into the War, all of Europe might be speaking German now. 

I went back onto Google and found over a dozen hits that relate this same story.  Allegedly, Charlie Chaplin was also on the “Death list” for his portrayal of the “Little Dictator”.  Google is not the best history book around, and it may ultimately not be true.  But it hardly stretches the imagination to believe it could be true.   If Hitler or one of his loyalists actually saw or knew of Moe’s impersonation, what do you think the reaction of the Der Führer would have been to a Jew making fun of him?             

[afcomser]

good point, I forgot the three stooges were jewish. Horowitz was there last name duh on me. Granted the death list was made by Gerbals not Hitler. I just remember reading that in one of my Stooges books, but some of them may not be acurate either.

[Blystone]

If you can't tell the difference between shtick and ad-hominem attacks, what are you doing even discussing comedy? Let's say that an otherwise serious newspaper has a silly name. Oh... the New Orleans Times-Picayune, for example. There's a real newspaper that's been picayune for well over a century!

Definition of "picayune:" trivial (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

I'll admit that I don't like that Bee paper (or any Fly papers) because I was once attacked by a swarm of bees in Sacramento and I'm still pulling the stingers out of my tuchis. Now even my computer's registry has hives.