Even As IOU
Directed by	Del Lord
Written by	Felix Adler
Produced by	Del Lord Hugh McCollum
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Curly Howard Stanley Blystone Ruth Skinner Vernon Dent Bud Jamison
Cinematography	L. William O'Connell
Edited by	Paul Borofsky
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	September 18, 1942 (U.S.)
Running time	15' 37"
Country	Template:Film US
Language	English

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.

Timely references

• There are several verbal references to The New Deal instituted by President Franklin Roosevelt:
  • Curly's "FBI Loan" is ignorance pertaining to an FHA insured loan (Federal Housing Administration).^[1]
  • Curly describes his taking the child's piggy bank as "only a lend-lease" referring to the Lend-Lease Law passed by Congress in 1941.^[1]
• 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 as experimental in the early 1940s.^[1]
• 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.^[2]
• The "ma-ma" doll gag had recently been used by Laurel and Hardy in 1940's Saps at Sea.^[1]