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Even As IOU (1942)

metaldams · 24 · 13251

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Offline metaldams

http://www.threestooges.net/filmography/episode/65
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034710/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_74

Man, this has to be the weakest Stooge short in four years....at least.  There are a few shorts in the past that I've knocked where I thought I was going to catch some crap for knocking, but this one I almost can't see anyone going out of their way to defend.  Perhaps I'm wrong.

OK, the short starts out fine enough.  The boys are selling yesterday's race results, deal with Vernon and police officer Bud, run around on the street like in several good early 40's shorts, and land into a lawn of junk.  Larry "showers" Moe, and the highlight of Curly playing with the tuba happens.  So far, so good....so what (100 points to anybody who gets that reference).

Then the boys meet what appears to be a destitute single mother and her cute little daughter.  Hey, I have no problem with the boys helping out the poor and children, see CASH AND CARRY for an example where it's done right.  Here, all they do is get some milk, or I should say, Curly gets some milk for the kid in a brief scene.  Actually, ALL the scenes from this point on are brief scenes, which is the big problem with this short.  They seem to cram too many little scenarios into one fifteen minute short.  No gags that go anywhere, no character investment in the mother and daughter that make you care too much (really, Felix Adler gave that mother nothing to do in the sawfish scene), and not many gags that involve their plight.

Also, we having fake talking horse fever.  Now, next to the Besser horse epics, EVEN AS IOU may as well be DUCK SOUP, but compared to the shorts made not too long before this, this is a huge step down.  I never found the talking horse stuff funny.  Now, if I were writing this, I would have perhaps had some extended gag with all three Stooges trying to get some milk, you know, milk a single gag for all it's worth  [pie] instead of cramming in a million little brief and unfunny scenarios.  It would've been linked to the mother and daughter, and if they they could milk getting Curly out of a sweater, than I imagine they could've found a funny way to get milk for the kid.  As it stands, this short is just way too unfocused and unfunny after the first five minutes or so.

4/10
« Last Edit: November 29, 2014, 09:49:43 PM by metaldams »
- Doug Sarnecky


Offline Shemp_Diesel

I agree, this is a bit on the weak side given all the greatness that came before it, but I would still say it's a passable short. I haven't watched it in awhile, but from what I remember there are some highlights at the beginning and middle.

Curly laying down in the street and seemingly getting ran over; Larry drawing Moe's bath and the whole milk gag were some of the high points for me.

I think where I tend to deduct some points from this one is the storyline with the destitute mother and daughter. Not so much a problem with them, but the fact that the story doesn't tie up what exactly happened to the mother and daughter--did Curly in fact pay back that "loan" he got from the little girl's piggy bank.

Maybe if some of the loose ends had been tied up I would rate it higher, but overall, I would still give it a 7 on the 10 scale....

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Offline Squirrelbait

http://www.threestooges.net/filmography/episode/65
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034710/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_74

So far, so good....so what (100 points to anybody who gets that reference).


Yeah, I totally got the Megadeth reference!  ;D
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Offline Paul Pain

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Then the boys meet what appears to be a destitute single mother and her cute little daughter.  Hey, I have no problem with the boys helping out the poor and children, see CASH AND CARRY for an example where it's done right.  Here, all they do is get some milk, or I should say, Curly gets some milk for the kid in a brief scene.

This short would have been great if, like CASH AND CARRY, the child's plight gets resolved.  Instead, what follows the sawfish scene is one of the most incredibly stupid shorts in all of the Curly years.  I mean this is BAD, as in RHYTHM AND WEEP bad.  In fact, RHYTHM AND WEEP might be the only worse Curly short.

I personally liked the horse talking with Curly if just because Curly + animals = funny, but the rest sucks.  Buying the horse... swallowing the pill...


He gives birth to a bloody colt for Pete's sake!  What the heck is the that?  Hard to believe the same moron that wrote this was the genius that wrote SCRAMBLED BRAINS and MOVIE MANIACS.  And to rub it in, the next short to review is SOCK-A-BYE BABY.

5/10
#1 fire kibitzer


Offline metaldams

Yeah, I totally got the Megadeth reference!  ;D

Ah, so my cryptic writings aren't so cryptic after all.
- Doug Sarnecky


Offline metaldams

This short would have been great if, like CASH AND CARRY, the child's plight gets resolved.  Instead, what follows the sawfish scene is one of the most incredibly stupid shorts in all of the Curly years.  I mean this is BAD, as in RHYTHM AND WEEP bad.  In fact, RHYTHM AND WEEP might be the only worse Curly short.

I personally liked the horse talking with Curly if just because Curly + animals = funny, but the rest sucks.  Buying the horse... swallowing the pill...


He gives birth to a bloody colt for Pete's sake!  What the heck is the that?  Hard to believe the same moron that wrote this was the genius that wrote SCRAMBLED BRAINS and MOVIE MANIACS.  And to rub it in, the next short to review is SOCK-A-BYE BABY.

5/10

Speaking of SCRAMBLED BRAINS, the whole "mama" gag with doll that they mistake for the heartbeat is I also in this short.

Yeah, it does get plain bad after the sawfish, no doubt.  Just an unfocused mess and yeah, next week ain't exactly a classic either.  I stopped the golden era after LOCO BOY MAKES GOOD, but I can at least understand people extending it until THREE SMART SAPS.  But to this short and next week's?  No way.

Ah, but then there's the comeback to start 1943, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.
- Doug Sarnecky


Offline Paul Pain

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Speaking of SCRAMBLED BRAINS, the whole "mama" gag with doll that they mistake for the heartbeat is I also in this short.

Yeah, it does get plain bad after the sawfish, no doubt.  Just an unfocused mess and yeah, next week ain't exactly a classic either.  I stopped the golden era after LOCO BOY MAKES GOOD, but I can at least understand people extending it until THREE SMART SAPS.  But to this short and next week's?  No way.

Ah, but then there's the comeback to start 1943, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Yeah, 1943 has some of the best ever.  I regret not being here sooner.  I missed a lot of the all-time greats.  You will see I will make arguments for many, including the two aforementioned in 1943, as being amongst the Stooges' GOATs.

But EVEN AS IOU is just a piece of crap.
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Offline Big Chief Apumtagribonitz


Offline luke795

What's wrong with SOCK-A-BYE BABY?  I thought it was better than MUTTS TO YOU if SOCK-A-BYE BABY is a remake or reworking of MUTTS TO YOU.


Offline metaldams

What's wrong with SOCK-A-BYE BABY?  I thought it was better than MUTTS TO YOU if SOCK-A-BYE BABY is a remake or reworking of MUTTS TO YOU.

Wait 'til next week's exciting new episode of WEEKLY EPISODE DISCUSSION (tm) and we'll discuss that then.  Truthfully though, it's been a while since I've seen SOCK, so I'll give it a fresh view before reviewing, maybe I'll have a change of heart.
- Doug Sarnecky


Offline Lefty

I agree with the vast majority of prior posters that this short went downhill after a good start.  The scene with Vernon Dent was the best, followed by the tuba scene, along with Curly headbutting the goat.  "Now let that be a lesson to you!"  Maybe that quote should have applied to the writer(s) for future shorts.


Offline JazzBill

I seem to be in the minority here but I like this short a lot. Plenty of sight gags and funny lines. The beginning is LOL funny and then it tapers down a bit but I still rate it an 8.
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Offline Big Chief Apumtagribonitz

This is jumping the gun, maybe to the point of being completely off-topic, but, I'm interested, Metal, in your comment that the writer gave the mother nothing at all to do in the sawfish scene.  To my mind this is absolutely correct, and it's something we should all bear in mind much, much later with Curly-Joe.  By the time of the '60's features, Moe and Maurer were in charge, and the scripts were obviously slanted to Moe.  Nobody wrote much of anything for DeRita, and as a consequence, as has been noted, many times he is just left standing there.
Remember, everybody, wild as they sometimes seemed, very little ad-libbing went on: they were actors running scenes.  When DeRita was given something to do, like the cigar scene in Outlaws, or the Operation sketch or the Stand-in sketch, stuff that had been written for a dynamic Curly Howard ( I actually don't know where the Operation sketch originated, but Stand-in was from George White's Scandals ) stuff that had a good Curly part, why DeRita was fine, he did a good job.  Not Curly, of course, as has been said a million times, but a good enough job that you can hear a happy, laughing audience on T V.  Curly and Shemp were both self-starters ( I was about to say that they could both make chicken salad out of chicken shit, but the fact is that they both had their share of chicken shit, too ) and for sure DeRita was less inspired, but IMHO he was far from the blivet that he has sometimes been made out to be, and was often poorly served by the writers.


Offline metaldams

Y'know Big Chief, there really can be something to what you say, but I can't say for sure. As far as the Derita features go, while I've seen them, my memory of them is not even close to the shorts, Besser included.  They really leave such little impression in my memory.  What impression I do have of Derita is that he's a fine physical comedian, meaning he can do a good pratfall, a good double take, etc., but he had no character whatsoever.

Is this Derita's fault or the fault of the writers?  I'm not sure.  What I do know is that the four Columbia shorts made in the mid 40's leave the same lack of impression, and Moe and Maurer definitely were not in charge of those.  Still, your points are something to look for when I watch those features again. I'm not sure how much we'll be discussing once we end the 190, but rest assured, the Derita features will be discussed.  As far as the writers giving Derita little to do, it's something to look for.
- Doug Sarnecky


Offline Paul Pain

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How does this sound: DeRita was "role-player"; Curly, Shemp, and Joe (yes, even Besser) were "actors."  DeRita was playing the part given to him, whereas the other three were establishing their own characters with their own personalities injected into the plot.  DeRita was just a Curly imitation with no unique life of it's own.  DeRita could have been good if he had scripts written around his drier sense of humor.
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Offline Kopfy2013

Back to the short .....  :police:

Very interesting short. The short was all over the place. Was it the writers?

However the Stooges did a great job. Curly was on. Great interaction between the Stooges.

I love the opening scene where Curly was in the manhole cover.

I like the Bud Jamison and Vernon Dent scenes. The milk scene; the headbutting scene, the talking horse scene all good.

Agree with Diesel way too many loose ends. Strange writing.

It is between a seven and eight I will give it a seven because of the bad writing.
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Offline GreenCanaries

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Offline MrsMorganMorgan

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I give this poor, POOR short points for two things....Curly chewing on a piece of wooden fish is awesome; watch it again; just that part; it's worth it. And Moe hugging that newborn foal at the end and smiling right at the camera. You can't fake the smile he's giving. I adore this short for that too. But that's it. The tuba bit; the ventriloquist bit; bleh. When this starts playing on the DVD, I just over it as soon as the tuba scene starts!
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Offline Woe-ee-Woe-Woe80

After a great start this short falters some and becomes a hit and miss, the best scenes are when they were selling results from the previous day's races, them running from a cop, Larry giving Moe a "shower", Curly playing the tuba and the "talking" horse.

Overall it's not as bad as some people make it out to be but it's a huge step down to the previous episodes from the most of the episodes released during the past several years (which IMO is from 1939 to 1943) also this is the first time Del Lord had directed a Felix Adler scripted episode since the 1937 release "Goofs And Saddles" (I'm surprised no one has mentioned that yet) because by 1940 it was Jules White who directed the Felix Adler scripted episodes.

I give "Even As IOU" a 7/10


Offline metaldams

The poster in the background of the outdoor furnished "house" is from THE GIRL FRIEND (1935).  Strange Columbia is advertising a seven year old film.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026411/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1
- Doug Sarnecky


Offline Tony Bensley

The poster in the background of the outdoor furnished "house" is from THE GIRL FRIEND (1935).  Strange Columbia is advertising a seven year old film.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026411/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1
A tiny bit of recycled footage, perhaps?  ???

CHEERS!  [3stooges]


Offline Dr. Mabuse

A rare misfire from Del Lord. "Even as IOU" begins promisingly, but goes downhill fast. Definitely one of the weakest Curly two-reelers.

4/10



Offline Daddy Dewdrop

I don't get all the hate for this short.  It has plenty of funny moments.  Not an all-time classic, but not the stinker many find it to be.  It ranks at #77 on my list.