THREE STOOGES VS. THE NAZIS

THREE STOOGES VS. THE NAZIS

DAYTON, Ohio (Wireless Flash) -- Today (Apr. 20) is the 121st birthday of Adolf Hitler's birth. The Allied troops usually get credit for defeating Der Fuhrer, but some credit is due to the Three Stooges. According to University of Dayton communications professor Dr. Donald Morlan, the 1940 Stooge short film, "You Nazty Spy," was the first motion picture to mock the Nazi leader. The film features Moe as a nutty wallpaper hanger who becomes head of a fictional country called Moronika. The short also alludes to book burnings and "concentrated camps," and the Moronikan propaganda minister -- who is played by Larry -- limps just like Hitler's real propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels. Although "You Nazty Spy" was Hollywood's first attempt at Hitler hilarity, Moe later said he never would have made it had he known the horrors of Hitler.