The Joke that Censored the Three Stooges in 1933

Follow along with me on this. I only discovered this a couple of days ago, and it blew my mind.

First, some background. In 1933, MGM released a motion picture called Dancing Lady, and boy did this film have a cavalcade of stars. Joan Crawford was the lead character, and the supporting performers included Clark Gable, Franchot Tone, an early appearance by Fred Astaire, an early appearance by Nelson Eddy – and the Three Stooges. No kidding, here’s the opening credits for this film.

This performance was so early in the Stooges’ career, in fact, that they were still billed as “Ted Healy and His Stooges,” as they were the comic relief for song and dance actor Ted Healy. In fact, Curly Howard is actually billed under his government name of Jerry Howard.

These were films the Stooges made with Ted Healy for MGM, before they parted ways with Healy and moved to Columbia Pictures, where they filmed the classic two-reeler films we all love today.

In the film, Joan Crawford plays a dancer who auditions for a major production. And throughout the movie, the Stooges factor in – Moe and Curly (I still call him Curly) as backstage workers, while Larry (branded as the character “Harry” in the film) plays the pianist.

And as you can see from the clip, Ted Healy is all OVER the movie. He plays a studio tough man named “Steve,” and he has to get his lines in at every time.

I should note that this was known as a “Pre-Code” Hollywood film, which at the time meant lots of scantily-clad women, some very salacious dialogue, and more than a few wink-wink moments.

Holy Mommie Dearest, Batman …

Well … during the film, there’s a running gag where Larry Fine works on a jigsaw puzzle. But when the movie was released in 1933, there was no payoff to Larry and the jigsaw puzzle. It just seemed like some weird quirk in the film that never gets explained. And that’s because there was a scene in Dancing Lady that offended the studio so much, it was removed.

It was the punchline for the jigsaw puzzle scene.

And as of last week … the footage from that film was found, and it’s now available on YouTube thanks to the work of Turner Classic Movies.

And I’m going to leave their TCM video below. But suffice it to say … this may have been the earliest response to an overseas demagogue ever committed to film.

Even if the editors did chop out this scene, that didn’t stop the Stooges from lampooning Hitler in other films, such as their shorts You Natzy Spy! and I’ll Never Heil Again. But that was in 1940, when the Stooges were their own stars at Columbia, not as assistant bit players at MGM as underlings for a hammy song-and-dance leader.

But wow … this footage is incredible. Definitely a piece of Hollywood history.