“Even as IOU” (1942) starring The Three Stooges / Z-View

Even as IOU (1942)

Director:  Del Lord

Screenplay: Felix Adler

Stars: Shemp Howard, Larry Fine, Moe Howard, Stanley Blystone, Heinie Conklin, Vernon Dent, Bud Jamison and Suzanne Ridgway

Tagline: A 1000 to 1 howler!

The Plot…

The boys decide to help a homeless mother and her child.  How you ask?  (And I’m glad you did.)  They steal the kid’s piggy bank.  They bet the cash on a longshot and… win!!  A couple of con men then sell the boys a broken down nag for their winnings.  The boys think that the horse will bring in even more money when it wins races.  What could go wrong?

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

The funniest part of Even as IOU is at the beginning.  The boys are selling race track tip sheets.  Curly tells a man he guarantees every race a winner.  The man buys the sheet only to realize that the sheet is from yesterday’s races.  Curly responds, “They won, didn’t they?”  Curly helps the man call for the police until he realizes the cop is for him.  The boys pose as mannequins to hide from the policeman.  Curly then has an exchange with the police officer,  Truly fun stuff.

The racetrack bits are pretty generic.

Even as IOU has one of the most bizarre endings of any Stooges short… and that’s saying something.  Curly eats a horse vitamin and it causes him to give birth to a colt.  Huh?

Even as IOU earns 3 of 5 stars.