I seem to recall the first time this was broadcast on network TV, sometime in the late 1970's, the bathroom scene, where one of the characters writes "Putz!" on the fogged mirror, was altered to read "Schmuck!", something the TV censors thought was less "offensive."
If "schmuck" was substituted for "putz," it's kind of ironic, since they both mean "penis."
Can anyone confirm this was done?
--The important thing is Post-its.-- M. Scorsese
lol! I was just going to ask a very similar question. I remember reading in the "Book of Lists" back in the 70's about how this movie had been censored. I remember that they said that another word was dubbed in every time Burns or Matthau said "putz"...but it wasn't "schmuck", it was something more innocuous. I also remember that they said that the mirror scene was cut entirely.
But I can't remember what word was used to replace "putz"!!
Anyone???
OK, let's hear it for Google! I just found exactly the "Book of Lists" entry I was looking for:
http://www.geocities.com/EnchantedForest/1804/p/b05.html
13 More Outrageous Moments Of U.S. TV Censorship
[...]
11. NBC MOVIE-THE SUNSHINE BOYS (1977)
When Walter Matthau called George Burns a "putz" - a Yiddish word literally meaning penis but used commonly to denote a jerk - NBC dubbed the word with "shmo" - another Yiddish word for jerk or boob. Later, when Burns wrote the word putz on a mirror for Matthau, the shot was cut altogether.
Yes, they both mean "penis".
Yiddish is derived from German and in German, Schmuck means "jewelry", so I suppose the Yiddish use of Schmuck relates to the metaphor of "Family Jewels".
When I was in Vienna, I saw store signs that said "Gross Schmuck": they were jewelry stores. They weren't selling Biggest Dickest!