The Unholy Three directed by Elliott Nugent and released in 1925 starred Lon Chaney as the crossdressing Professor Echo. Echo morphed into Mrs. "Grandma" O'Grady for the purpose of committing an elaborate robbery. One of Mrs. O'Grady's accomplices in this heist was the midget Tweedledee played by Harry Earles who also starred in the well-known "Freaks" and the better known "Wizard of Oz".
While the crossdressing robber gag could just as easily appear in a Hollywood film today, it would undoubtedly take on a title with much less euphemistic meaning than "The Unholy Three". Long before the age of political correctness, this film freely equated "unholy" with the act of crossdressing and the extreme physical anomaly of midgetism. As "unholy" creatures, it was natural for them to fall into evil ways which, in this case, was the life of crime.
Lon Chaney, The Unholy Three
