| Playing the Ponies | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Charles Lamont |
| Produced by | Jules White |
| Written by | Irv Frisch Al Giebler Will Harr Charles Nelson Elwood Ullman |
| Starring | Moe Howard Larry Fine Curly Howard Nick Copeland Lew Davis Billy Bletcher William Irving Jack "Tiny" Lipson |
| Cinematography | Allen G. Siegler |
| Editing by | Charles Hochberg |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) | October 15, 1937 |
| Running time | 17' 07" |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Playing the Ponies is the 26th 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.
Contents |
The Stooges operate a failing restaurant and are plenty sick of it. Two men (Nick Copeland, Lew Davis) walk in and order food as they look over a racing form. One man laments the state in which his horse, Thunderbolt, is in, claiming that he is "all run out" and that he wants to dump him off on some unsuspecting sap. This works in his favor when Larry opens a newspaper and reads a story on a horse named Mad Cap who won a race worth $10,000. The Stooges then decide to sell their restaurant to Thunderbolt's owners and get into the horse racing industry.
Upon arriving at Thunderbolt's stable, Curly races the horse around the track. Curly misunderstands and runs alongside Thunderbolt, but he stops when Moe calls him over. Feeling hungry, Curly pulls out a handful of pepperinos that he swiped from the restaurant, thinking them to be salted peanuts. However, Thunderbolt eats them first and, with his mouth burning, runs like lightning towards the nearest water trough. Moe demands to know what Curly gave the horse, but he still believes them to be peanuts. To be sure, Moe eats a handful and suffers the same heated mouth as Thunderbolt and runs to the trough. Curly follows suit, and blazes to the trough as well. The Stooges quickly discover that the pepperinos (or hot peppers as they call them due to their spiciness) caused Thunderbolt's sudden burst of speed and believe it to be their ace in the hole for future races.
Once the race starts, Thunderbolt turns around and starts running in the opposite direction. Larry stops him and feeds him the hot peppers, but the effect is too much for Thunderbolt and he is too disoriented to run. Moe and Curly grab a bucket of water, hop on a parked motorcycle and drive alongside of Thunderbolt with the bucket hanging from a pole in front of the horse. Thunderbolt wins the race, and the Stooges enjoy the good life as Thunderbolt eats peanuts out of a large bowl in celebration.