No Census, No Feeling

"No Census, No Feeling" is one of the Stooges better shorts. It's filled with great gags, one-liners, many slaps & pokes, and a cast of great supporting characters. Other reviews have summarized some of this episode's wild antics.

The greatest laugh of this episode, however, was very subtle and likely unscripted. During the bridge game, as Fifi (the maid) handed out silver goblets of gourmet punch, Moe attempted to make eye contact with her and then lowered his head to take a gander at her rear end as she walked away. Love it!

Watch this short. And then watch it again. It's that good.

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.

You learn something new everyday may be an old saying, but sometimes it's actually true--I already knew a lot of those old comedies borrowed a lot from others, but when you watch the Shemp solo "A Peach of a Pair," then yeah, here comes great fun, regardless...

I guess the best stuff comes from the very beginning: the stooges falling out of the awning--nice no-look punch from Moe on Larry--the census and the football game.

Not a damn thing wrong with this short...

There are some classic Stooges material in here, such as the alum-in-the punch routine and there are numerous too-silly gags but you get to choose from here. It's pretty wild, start-to-finish and if you don't laugh at one gag, another one will come along in a few seconds and you might like that. In other words: a lot of good stuff and a lot of dumb things.

The boys are homeless again, this time sleeping on a big awning outside a pawn shop (the "Square Deal Swap Shop"). When the shop owner opens for the day and pulls the cord, the boys, naturally, fall to the sidewalk. Less than a minute later, after breaking some of the merchandise, the cops are after them. They inadvertently get into a line (a gag we see often in Stooges films) and become "census takers."

"Hey, we're working for the census,"" says Moe.

"You mean we're working for Will Hays?," responds Curly. Classic film buffs will know who he is referring to.

I like the answer Moe gets when he rings the doorbell and asks the man who appears, "I'm a census taker. You are married or happy?"

The longest gag of the short film was the above-mentioned alum scene and all the actors did a great job of puckering up their mouths after drinking this specially-made punch, especially Vernon Dent and Marjorie Kane.

As Curly sums it up: "Roses are red and how do you do? Drink four of these and woo-woo-woo-woo!!"

Larry, Curly, and Moe wreck a shop and get chased by a cop. They hide in the census office and become census takers. The first half with the rich lady is good. The punch drink is funny but it could be tighter. More could be done with the lips. The second half with the football team is also funny. The gags feel a little different than usual. It's all very good although I'm not sure if any of the gags are iconic.