EVEN AS IOU

Production Information
Title: Even As IOU
Studio: Columbia
Short Number: 65
Release Date: September 18, 1942
Running Time: 15:37

“Give me Ripley! Yeah, believe it or not!”

Short Take

A destitute mother and child move into The Stooge’s vacant lot home and The Boys decide to help them. They steal the kids piggy bank and sneak into the race track. They bet on a long shot that wins and then are gypped out of their winnings by two con men who sell them a washed up race horse. However, everything turns out happily when Curly swallows horse vitamins and gives birth to a colt!

Even As IOU Cast & Crew

Directed byDel Lord
Produced byDel Lord
Hugh McCollum
Written byFelix Adler
StarringMoe Howard
Larry Fine
Curly Howard
Stanley Blystone
Ruth Skinner
Vernon Dent
Bud Jamison
CinematographyL. William O’Connell
Edited byPaul Borofsky

Even As IOU Trivia

  • 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”  is one of the earliest mentions of Ripley’s in popular media

Production Notes

  • The previous film, Three Smart Saps, ended with The Stooges getting married. This film ends with them having a “child”, and the next film, Sock-A-Bye Baby, will feature The Stooges as parents, thus completing a domestic trilogy
  • Filming took place from April 18-22, 1942