Cash and Carry

By their 25th episode, The Three Stooges had settled on a formula playing characters from the lower class, while at the same time ridiculing those rich people in the upper class. A prime example was in September 1937's "Cash and Carry," where the three are frustrated gold prospectors who return to their digs at the local city dump, only to find a handicapped boy with his older sister living in their quarters.

"Cash and Carry" is the first Three Stooges' film where they care about the less fortunate, breaking new ground for Moe, Larry and Curly. The Stooges find the little boy Jimmy (Sonny Bupp) inside doing his homework. His crippled leg needs surgery, and the normally apathetic trio show their sympathy for the boy when they spot Jimmy's handicap while he's walking out of the shack. Child actor Sonny Bupp later played Charles Foster Kane's son in 1941's "Citizen Kane," and was the last surviving cast member of the Orson Welles' classic, passing away in 2007 at 79. Discovering he and his sister (Harlene Wood) have $62 saved up for the $500 operation, the Stooges suggest an interest bearing savings account at the local bank. Unfortunately, they find out from a bank teller it would take over 100 years for their account to reach $500. Two unscrupulous men, played by actors Nick Copeland and Lew Davis, overhear their dilemma and con them into buying a map for $62 that details where to find pirate Captain Kidd's buried treasure in an abandoned house. The Stooges proceed to look for the treasure by the only way they can with picks, shovels and dynamite that ultimately results in the discovery of a horde of gold. Such action, however, lands them a personal meeting with President Franklin D. Roosevelt.