SUMMARY: RUNNING TIME: 16:00 Min. (Black & White)
Directed by Del Lord, Columbia Pictures staff writer Felix Adler scripted this 1942 horseracing comedy. Third-rate horseracing form scalpers Moe, Larry, & Curly are chased off by a cop into a vacant lot where a homeless Mrs. Blake and her young daughter now live among their displaced household possessions. Evidently, the Stooges invite themselves to move in with them.
Sympathetic to their new friends, Curly swipes the little girl’s piggy bank and convinces the Stooges they can help by making a big score at the racetrack. Naively conned into believing a ‘talking horse,’ Curly’s unlikely bet draws some big money at an upcoming race.
Yet, upon being conned yet again, the Stooges now possess another ‘talking’ horse and evidently move into the horse’s stable. Attempting to feed their new pet through a makeshift blowgun (don’t ask), Curly suffers a bizarre medical mishap. A surprise twist occurs at a veterinarian’s office just before this episode ends.
Moe: Moe Howard
Larry: Larry Fine
Curly: Jerry “Curly” Howard
Mrs. Blake: Ruth Skinner
Mrs. Blake’s Daughter: Sharyn Moffett
Joe the Crooked Ventriloquist: Stanley Blystone
Joe’s Confederate: Jack Gardner
Street Cop: Bud Jamison
Irate Motorist: Vernon Dent
Racetrack Gate Attendant: Heinie Conklin
Racetrack Announcer: Lew Davis
Racetrack Pay Window Clerk: Bert Young
Racetrack Customer: Suzanne Ridgeway
Veterinarian Wheaton Chambers
Veterinarian’s Aide: Joe Garcio
Seabasket (Voice): Billy Bletcher
2nd Horse (Voice): Uncredited
Motorists: Uncredited
Racetrack Attendees: Uncredited
Note: Again impersonating journalists, the Stooges re-use a gag previously used in 1935’s “Three Little Beers.”
REVIEW:
“Even as I.O.U.,” ironically, isn’t, as one fragmented sub-plot is left bookended and unresolved by another. With reliable help from Bud Jamison and Vernon Dent, the Stooges initially deliver the goods making their escape from the police. Yet, once the awkward makeshift family subplot kicks in (i.e. a meal together), only some vintage Curly-isms keeps this episode afloat.
Moe & Larry are curiously given so little to do, as Felix Adler’s script makes it ‘The Curly Show,’ mostly fending for himself. Conveniently enough, the mother and daughter are forgotten (and not even referenced again) once the Stooges have stolen the little girl’s piggy bank.
Reverting back to a racetrack caper, “Even As I.O.U.” predictably resorts to somehow watchable Mr. Ed-style humor (predating that TV show by nearly twenty years). The unfixable problem, however, comes with an utterly surreal finale. Nutty, off-the-wall humor can be terrific when it’s smartly played, but Adler’s twist finish is so ridiculous that viewers will likely feel their time has just been squandered.
As far as terrific Curly gags go, “Even as I.O.U.” enjoys its moments, but there’s not nearly enough of them to justify the ultra-stupid ending.
BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING: 5 Stars
