''Even as IOU'' is a 1942

short subject A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film or ...

directed by

Del Lord Delmer "Del" Lord (October 7, 1894March 23, 1970) was a Canadians, Canadian film director and actor best known as a director of Three Stooges films. Career Delmer Lord was born in the small town of Grimsby, Ontario, Canada. Interested in the the ...

starring American

slapstick Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such as ...

comedy team

The Three Stooges The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best remembered for their 190 short-subject films by Columbia Pictures. Their hallmark styles were physical, farce, and slapstick comedy. Six total ...

(

Moe Howard Moses Harry Horwitz (June 19, 1897 – May 4, 1975), better known by his stage name Moe Howard, was an American comedian and actor. He is best known as the leader and straight man of the Three Stooges, the farce comedy team who starred in motion ...

Larry Fine Louis Feinberg (October 4, 1902 – January 24, 1975), better known by his stage name Larry Fine, was an American actor, comedian and musician. He is best known as a member of the comedy act the Three Stooges and was often called "The Middle St ...

and

Curly Howard Jerome Lester Horwitz (October 22, 1903 – January 18, 1952), better known by his stage name Curly Howard, was an American comedian and actor. He was a member of The Three Stooges comedy team, which also featured his elder brothers Moe and ...

). It is the 65th entry in the series released by

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...

starring the comedians, who released 190 shorts for the studio between 1934 and 1959.

Plot

The Stooges are fraudulent individuals engaged in the illicit sale of counterfeit racing forms, exploit unsuspecting patrons by peddling expired documents. This duplicitous endeavor culminates in a confrontation with a disgruntled customer, precipitating their flight from law enforcement. Amidst their flight, a fortuitous encounter with a destitute mother and her daughter prompts a benevolent gesture, as they utilize funds from the child's piggy bank to alleviate their financial distress. Buoyed by the success of their altruistic deed, the Stooges subsequently find themselves embroiled in a sequence of events revolving around a horse race. Following an unexpected triumph in the race, their newfound prosperity is short-lived as they fall victim to the machinations of two swindlers, who deceive them into purchasing a retired racehorse named Seabasket. Undeterred by their misfortune, the Stooges assume responsibility for the care of the aged horse, with Curly inadvertently ingesting a Vitamin Z pill intended for the equine. Miraculously, this mishap results in Curly's ostensible birthing of a new

Equidae Equidae (commonly known as the horse family) is the Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic Family (biology), family of Wild horse, horses and related animals, including Asinus, asses, zebra, zebras, and many extinct species known only from fossils. The fa ...

entity, subsequently heralded as a promising racehorse.

Cast

Credited

Production notes

Filming of ''Even as IOU'' was completed April 18–22, 1942. There are several references to

The New Deal The New Deal was a series of wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression, which had started in 1929. Roosevel ...

instituted by President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

: *Curly's "FBI Loan" is ignorance pertaining to an

FHA insured loan An FHA insured loan is a government-backed mortgage option designed to help a broader range of Americans—particularly first-time homebuyers—achieve homeownership with more flexible credit, income, and down payment requirements than convention ...

(

Federal Housing Administration The Federal Housing Administration (FHA), also known as the Office of Housing within the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), is a Independent agencies of the United States government, United States government agency founded by Pr ...

). *Curly describes his taking the child's piggy bank as "only a lend-lease" referring to the

Lend-Lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (),3,000 Hurricanes and >4,000 other aircraft) * 28 naval vessels: ** 1 Battleship. (HMS Royal Sovereign (05), HMS Royal Sovereign) * ...

Law passed by Congress in 1941. The idea of Curly swallowing Vitamin Z and hatching a colt generates from the use of synthetic vitamins as dietary supplements, which was both popular and experimental in the early 1940s. Moe requesting an operator patch him through to " Ripley, yeah, believe it or not." This is one of the earliest mentions of Ripley's in popular media. The "ma-ma" doll gag had recently been used by

Laurel and Hardy Laurel and Hardy were a British-American double act, comedy duo during the early Classical Hollywood cinema, Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–1957) ...

in 1940's '' Saps at Sea''. It would be used again in the Stooges' 1951 short '' Scrambled Brains''.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1942 films 1942 comedy films The Three Stooges films American black-and-white films Films directed by Del Lord American horse racing films Columbia Pictures short films American slapstick comedy films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films