A theater experience often included newsreels that provided much needed news on the progress of the war and an animated cartoon, often featuring Bugs Bunny or Daffy Ducky outsmarting a caricatured enemy. The government’s propaganda department urged Hollywood studios to use their influence to gain American support for the war. Many feature films of the period would emphasize the need for US involvement in WWII. Films such as Wake Island (1942) or Bataan (1943) justified the need for American troops to fight the Axis powers for the sake of democracy. Other films, like More the Merrier (1943) and They Got Me Covered (1943), added humor to make light of the current hardships like the housing shortage and the fear of spies living among us. Comedies provided a reprieve from the realities of wartime and the films of popular comedy teams such as Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello, the Three Stooges and the Marx Brothers made these actors big stars during the 1940s.
Although Charlie Chaplin is famous for his comedic portrayal of Hitler in his 1940 film, The Great Dictator, it was three Jewish comedians who first satirized Hitler and the Third Reich. The Three Stooges consisted of Moe Howard, Moe’s brother Shemp (who was soon replaced by another brother, the popular Jerry “Curly” Howard) and Larry Fine. In 1939 this team starred in the short, Confessions of a Nazi Spy and in January 1940, nine months before Chaplin’s film release, followed up with You Natzy Spy. These films supposedly landed the comics on Hitler’s personal list of enemies. The Three Stooges appeared in 90 short films between 1936-1946, the peak of their popularity. Their other service-comedies included I’ll Never Heil Again (1941), HigherThan a Kite (1943), Back From the Front (1943), No Dough Boys (1944), and an anti-Japanese short The Yokes on You (1944). The Three Stooges were the first to use film to ridicule Hitler, while most of Hollywood was still trying to placate Nazi Germany, in fear of losing the lucrative German market for their films.
Many regard Laurel and Hardy as the greatest comedy team in history. Between 1926 and 1950 the characters of the bumbling Stan Laurel and the pompous Oliver Hardy starred in 107 films. The comedy team starred in 8 films between 1941-1945 including 3 war-themed films – Great Guns (1941), Air Raid Wardens (1943) and Big Noise (1944). They were also recruited to film a short documentary called The Tree in a Test Tube (1943), which was created by the US Dept. of Agriculture to explain the military’s uses for wood and the research being done to create lightweight military aircraft. This documentary can be seen on YouTube.
Harpo, Chico, and Grouch – The Marx Brothers had actually broken up before our entry into WWII but reunited to help the war effort by entertaining the troops and selling millions in war bonds. In 1946 they made one last film, A Night in Casablanca. This film didn’t do well at the box office despite the excitement that Groucho fabricated about Warner Brother’s plan to sue over their use of Casablanca in their title, and the plot consisting of Nazi spies. It made for good press but didn’t help them at the box office, and the Marx Brothers ultimately disbanded to pursue their individual interests.
The comedy team of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello were the highest paid entertainers during WWII. They began their partnership in Vaudeville in 1935 before their highly successful appearance on the Kate Smith Hour radio program on February 3, 1938. It was on the radio where they first performed their famous “Who’s on First” routine. By 1940 they launched their own radio program and also landed supporting roles in the movie musical One Night in the Tropics starring Allen Jones, Nancy Kelly, William Frawley, and Robert Cummings. Abbott and Costello stole the show, and by 1941 the pair starred in the service comedy, Buck Privates, which also featured the Andrews Sisters. It was a smash and was quickly followed up by In the Navy(1940), which co-starred Dick Powell. Universal Studios followed up with the pair starring in Keep’em Flying (1941). These and other non-service films made the team the highest paid entertainers during WWII.
In 1942 Abbott a
nd Costello funded their own 35-day war bond tour. The US Treasury credits them with raising 85 million in bond sales and New York City’s Mayor LaGuardia honored the team on the steps of city hall. In 1943 the pair also toured army bases and entertained the troops, which resulted in Costello suffering an attack of rheumatic fever. Although the team had a falling out in 1945, they reunited in 1947 in Buck Privates Come Home and many other films before being dropped by Universal in 1955 as fresh new acts like Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis became popular. The film industry changed drastically after WWII, but thankfully these funny guys were here to make Americans laugh as they carried on towards victory.
Several of these films, as well as the Laurel and Hardy documentary, are available to watch on cable or to purchase on Amazon.