Even As IOU

Infobox Film
name = Even As IOU


caption =
director = Del Lord
producer = Del Lord
Hugh McCollum
writer = Felix Adler
starring = Moe Howard
Larry Fine
Curly Howard
Vernon Dent
Ruth Skinner
Stanley Blystone
Billy Bletcher
Wheaton Chambers
Heinie Conklin
Jack Gardner
Bud Jamison
cinematography = L. William O'Connell |
editing = Paul Borofsky
distributor = Columbia Pictures
released = flagicon|US September 18, 1942
runtime = 15' 37"
country = USA
language = English
amg_id = 1:137048
imdb_id = 0034710
preceded_by = "Three Smart Saps"
followed_by = "Sock-a-Bye Baby"

"Even As IOU" is the 65th short subject starring American slapstick comedy team the Three Stooges. The trio made a total of 190 shorts for Columbia Pictures between 1934 and 1959.

Plot

The Stooges help a destitute mother and her daughter by utilizing the money from the child's piggy bank, and ultimately winning a horse race. Riding high on their win, the boys come across two swindlers who trick them into buying retired race horse, Seabasket (a play on Seabiscuit). Broke again, the Stooges start taking care of the old horse, with Curly managing to accidentally swallowing Vitamin Z pill meant for the horse. However, the error allows Curly to give birth to a colt, which they crown as another winning race horse.

Notes

*The idea of Curly swallowing Vitamin Z and hatching a colt may seem odd, but using synthetic vitamins as dietary supplements was quite popular (as well as experimental) in the early 1940s. [Solomon, Jon. (2002) "The Complete Three Stooges: The Official Filmography and Three Stooges Companion", p. 214; Comedy III Productions, Inc., ISBN 0971186804]
*One notable reference is 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.

References

Further reading

*"Moe Howard and the Three Stooges"; by Moe Howard [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0806507233] , (Citadel Press, 1977).
*"The Three Stooges Scrapbook"; by Jeff Lenburg, Joan Howard Maurer, Greg Lenburg [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0806509465] (Citadel Press, 1994).
*"The Three Stooges: An Illustrated History, From Amalgamated Morons to American Icons"; by Michael Fleming [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0767905563] (Broadway Publishing, 2002).
*"One Fine Stooge: A Frizzy Life in Pictures"; by Steve Cox and Jim Terry [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1581823630] , (Cumberland House Publishing, 2006).