No Census, No Feeling (1940)

User Rating:

8.5/10   

Director:

Del Lord

Writers:

Harry Edwards (story)
Elwood Ullman (story)

Release Date:

4 October 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Short

Plot:

The stooges get jobs as census takers and wind up in a fancy mansion looking for people to survey. Moe and Larry are recruited to join a bridge game...

Plot Keywords:

Alum | Reference To Napoleon | The Three Stooges | Slapstick | Revolving Door

Cast

Curly Howard	...	Curly (as Curly)
Larry Fine	...	Larry (as Larry)
Moe Howard	...	Moe (as Moe)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Bruce Bennett	...	Football Player (#20) (uncredited)
Symona Boniface	...	Bridge Party Hostess (uncredited)
Max Davidson	...	Storekeeper (uncredited)
Vernon Dent	...	Moe's Bridge Partner (uncredited)
Marjorie Kane	...	(uncredited)
Frank Mills	...	Stadium Guard (uncredited)
Bert Stevens	...	Party Guest (uncredited)
John Tyrrell	...	Napping Man (uncredited)
Ellinor Vanderveer	...	Bridge Player (uncredited)
Bert Young	...	(uncredited)
Evelyn Young	...	Woman on street - Slaps all 3 (uncredited)

Directed by
Del Lord

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Harry Edwards		story and screenplay
Elwood Ullman		story and screenplay

Produced by
Del Lord	....	producer
Hugh McCollum	....	producer

Cinematography by
Lucien Ballard

Film Editing by
Art Seid		(as Arthur Seid)

Production Companies

• Columbia Pictures Corporation

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (1940) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Screen Gems Television

Also Known As:

No Answer, No Feeling (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

17 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Victor High Fidelity Sound System)

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

At one point in the short, Moe and Larry attempt to guess the age of the "lady having bridge party". Larry guesses 43 while Moe guesses 50. Averaged out, this is roughly 46.5, or forty-six years and six months old. By the time this was released in October of 1940, the actress playing the role, Symona Boniface, was just barely over forty six years and six months old.

Quotes:

Moe: Now, calm yourself. We're census takers, madam. How old are you?
Larry: What address is this?
Lady having bridge party: One hundred and two.
Moe: You don't look a day over eighty.
Lady having bridge party: Young man, I'm twenty-nine.
Moe: Oh, yeah?
Lady having bridge party: Well, how do I look?
Moe: Oh, you look like a million.
Larry: Ah, she can't be that old. (Larry and Moe open her mouth and check her teeth.) Forty-three.
Moe: Fifty.
[...]

Movie Connections:

References The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939)

The Stooges as government employees?

No Census, No Feeling (1940) was a short that the three stooges did during the U.S. census year of 1940. The three lovable losers are down on their luck. After being harassed by a police officer. Moe, Larry and Curley hide in a line that they mistake for a soup kitchen. When they emerge from the building, they're given a job as census takers (for those who live outside the States, every ten years, the U.S. government hires people to become census takers). What kind of bizarre adventure do the boys get mixed up in this time? This is one of their best shorts so I advise you to watch and find out!

Highly recommended.