Of Cash and Hash

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Of Cash and Hash

Directed by	Jules White
Produced by	Jules White
Written by	Del Lord Jack White
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Shemp Howard Vernon Dent Christine McIntyre Kenneth MacDonald Frank Lackteen Duke York Stanley Blystone Cy Schindell
Cinematography	Ray Cory
Editing by	Robert B. Hoover
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	February 3, 1955
Running time	15' 46"
Country	United States
Language	English
Preceded by	Fling in the Ring
Followed by	Gypped in the Penthouse
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IMDb profile

Of Cash and Hash is the 160th 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.

[edit] Plot

While crossing the street on their way home from work, the Stooges get caught in the crossfire of a gun battle between two bank robbers (Kenneth MacDonald, Frank Lackteen) and the guards of an armored car. The Stooges barely avoid being shot and flee the scene, and during the police dragnet for the armored car robbers are discovered hiding in a garbage can. The Stooges are brought in and aggressively questioned and accused by Police Captain Mullens. The Stooges manage to fail the lie detector test, but Mullens still suspects them and the Stooges are still in trouble of going to jail.

Kenneth MacDonald keeps the Stooges in line in Of Cash and Hash.

Now on the "hot seat" (as Larry calls it), the Stooges must try to figure out a way to track down the real crooks and clear their name. Returning to work at their restaurant The Elite Cafe (they are the owners unlike in Shivering Sherlocks where they are merely staff), the Stooges quickly upset their customers as usual and nearly kill each other as usual with their antics. Captain Mullens comes in for a follow up interiew, and shows them a mugshot of "Lefty" Loomis, whom the Stooges recognize as the ringleader of the armored car robbers.

One night just before closing a customer comes in for a meal, who happens to be one of the armored car robbers. At first he does not recognize the Stooges and vice versa, but then everything falls into place and the Stooges attempt to capture the robber but he escapes. Just then their attractive friend and customer Gladys Harmon (Christine McIntyre), a tall long legged blonde, comes into the restaurant remarking that she was almost knocked down by the fleeing patron. The Stooges fill Gladys in, and they quickly get into her car and chase the robber. Later that night after a 20 mile chase the Stooges and Gladys stumble upon the crooks' hideout, a large deserted country mansion that feels as spooky as it looks. The Stooges and Gladys knock on the front door with no answer, but through a peephole the crooks discover that the only eyewitnesses to the robbery have walked into their hands.

The Stooges fan out to find something to pry open the door with, leaving Gladys to stand watch with her back to the door. While the Stooges are distracted, the front door silently swings open and Gladys is handgagged and kidnapped by the robbers who spirit her inside before she can call for help or escape their clutches. Moe and Shemp return to the front door to discover Gladys is missing and begin to look for her, when all of a sudden the front door opens and Larry emerges happily brandishing a crowbar. Asking Moe if the crowbar will be useful he replies by whacking Larry on the head and the Stooges enter in search of the robbers and the missing Gladys who is now bound and gagged, locked in a dark cluttered storeroom and facing imminent death at the hands of her captors. Gladys can hear the Stooges calling out for her and tries to attract their attention, but her captors have securely gagged her and her muffled whimperings go unheard by her would-be rescuers. The Stooges are then chased by a grotesque cleaver-wielding humanoid killer resembling an ogre named Angel (Duke York), who just moments before had been preparing to decapitate the captive Gladys, and the other members of the gang who blast away mercillessly while attempting to use the Stooges for target practice.

While Moe and Larry scream for Shemp to help them and lead the criminals round and round in a frantic chase through the hallways, Shemp climbs onto a ledge above a doorway and one by one drops empty flour barrels onto the crooks capturing them. After Lefty is captured, the bags of money from the armored car robbery tumble out of the barrel Shemp has trapped him inside. Gladys in the meantime has knocked over the chair she was tied up in and wriggles out of her ropes before getting to her feet and rejoining the Stooges who have secured the robbers. Shemp, Larry and Moe are so overjoyed that Gladys is safe, and that they have caught the robbers and cleared their names, that Shemp loses control of himself and showers Gladys with celebratory kisses as she happily smiles on.

[edit] Notes

Of Cash and Hash is a reworking of the 1948 film Shivering Sherlocks, using ample recycled footage from the original.
This was the final film featuring long-time Stooge character actress Christine McIntyre.

[edit] Further reading

Moe Howard and the Three Stooges; by Moe Howard, (Citadel Press, 1977). ISBN 0806507233
The Complete Three Stooges: The Official Filmography and Three Stooges Companion; by Jon Solomon, (Comedy III Productions, Inc., 2002). ISBN 0971186804
The Three Stooges Scrapbook; by Jeff Lenburg, Joan Howard Maurer, Greg Lenburg (Citadel Press, 1994). ISBN 0806509465
The Three Stooges: An Illustrated History, From Amalgamated Morons to American Icons; by Michael Fleming (Broadway Publishing, 2002). ISBN 0767905563
One Fine Stooge: A Frizzy Life in Pictures; by Steve Cox and Jim Terry, (Cumberland House Publishing, 2006). ISBN 1581823630