Income Tax Sappy

Anyone, and I mean anyone who hires the Three Stooges as tax experts deserves what they get. Not even H&R Block would hire Moe, Larry, and Shemp and they hire some winners there. Believe me, regretfully I know.

It's tax time and the boys are doing their taxes and they think of some wild deductions. Larry opines that he should deduct $3000.00 for charity, after all charity does begin at home. Other such similar things occur and the boys get away with it. In fact they decide they're so good why not offer themselves as tax consultants. I'm not sure some real ones didn't start this way.

But even in the days before computers inevitably people do get audited and the IRS sends out Benny Rubin as a potential customer for the Stooges. Rubin was a long time vaudeville, burlesque, and borscht belt comedian and he gives the guys a run for their money in the laugh department.

Let's just say it all doesn't go well and that maybe taxes was not the lucrative employment opportunity as originally thought.

Income Tax Sappy is a pretty good short subject for the boys and I stand by what I said in the title.

Larry prepares a foot long hot dog for Moe. He slathers it with a liter of mustard and says to himself, "and I knoooooooow he's gonna like that!". As he takes the hot dog to serve to Moe, he grabs the jar of mustard as he reminds himself, "He might want a little mustard!" Welcome to "Income Tax Sappy," where cheating on their income tax has made the Stooges into millionaires (the national economy must have been very strong in the early 1950's). The IRS, of course, gets wise. They send over Benny Rubin in a phony beard and a phonier German accent, and the sting operation is on. Shemp displays his ardent love for mashed potatoes and gravy ("I looooooooves gravy!") by shoveling copious quantities of each onto his dickey, which amuses the maid. The jig is up for the Stooges right after Herr Rubin gets the predictable face full of those very same mashed potatoes and gravy. It's good to see Vernon Dent as one of the T-men who come after the Stooges. All in all, there's food fighting, mayhem, and a good dose of Moe handing out the physical abuse to Shemp and Larry. Alas, if only Shemp had not claimed those 14 bartenders as dependents on his W-1040.

This short is easily one of the best Shemp shorts of all time and surprisingly, this short was in 1954 when they're doing stock footage in most of the other shorts during this time and every actor turns in a splendid performance. The boys are trying to cheat on their taxes and Moe is really grouchy in this short, especially in the first half and there is alot of hilarious scenes such as when Shemp destroys Moe's prized possesion and Moe tells Shemp to give it back, Shemp does as he bonks Moe's head with it, very out of character for Shemp, then at the party scene the stooges have a nice home and they're serving food for the guests and Benny Rubin (the guy with the phony beard) does a great performance and he is one of the most underrated stooges actors in this short, I wish that he got to be in the Curly shorts and I love it when Moe accidentally cuts Benny Rubin's beard and acts nervously and tries to keep him from finding out that his beard is missing and it turns out, Benny Rubin is a undercover IRS agent and he arrests the stooges while the stooges try to flee but they accidentally sit on the hot oven while the get captured with their butts on fire, a classic short.

Although Shemp doesn't get quite as much screen time due to a minor stroke in 1952, Moe and Larry gives a great performance (especially Moe) and the people who say that Goof on the Roof (the short before this) was their final classic, I think they're wrong, I think that this short was their final classic. 9/10

"Income Tax Sappy" is one of the last good Three Stooges Shorts. It is notable for several reasons. It was one of only a few released that year that did not contain stock footage. It was also one of the few "all-new" episodes released after Shemp Howard suffered a minor stroke.

Most notably, however, is that "Income Tax Sappy," much like other "all-new" episodes released late in Shemp's career, had a different look and feel to it. According to author Jeffery Forrester in his 1981 book "The Stooge Chronicles", these episodes were an attempt by Columbia to freshen up things a little bit. Columbia's reasoning was that audiences were getting a little tired of the standard Stooges routines. The viewer will notice that in episodes like "Income Tax Sappy", and "Goof on a Roof", the settings are much more middle-class (at least how TV and the movies showed the middle-class in the 1950s). The apartments in these shorts are actually rather up-to-date and spiffy! The earlier portrayals of the Stooges, as barely-employed low-lifes, would have seemed awfully dated by this time.

Did this attempt by Columbia work? Well, yes and no. "Income Tax Sappy", while okay, does not rank up there with the best of the Shemp episodes like "Brideless Groom" and "Fright Night." Though the Stooges give it their best, it was clear that things were winding down.

"Income Tax Sappy" is a gem of a short. Everybody's performance in this is as great as ever and almost all the gags are top notch. The premise: The stooges decide they can cheat on their income tax in ingenious ways and conclude that if they can do it, they can teach others to do it too. With this new "tax-cheating" establishment, the Stooges become rich culminating in a VERY fancy dinner party which their guest, Mr. Cash (played by the wonderful Benny Rubin) attends much to his eventual consternation (it is not wise to cut off your dinner guest's beloved beard). Among the funniest gags: Shemp doing the old "Human adding machine" bit, Moe tangling with a foot-long sandwich which suddenly develops a mind of its own and bites back, and all the Stooges' attempts to appease Mr. Cash (not to mention conceal the fact that they have given him a close shave) who finally reveals himself to be an undercover man from the IRS! If you love the Stooges, this short will leave you in stitches!