So You Want to Get Rich Quick

WITH THE PRESENTATION of this installment of the JOE MC DOAKES series, the production team went with a tried and true premise. The sudden promise of the inheritance of wealth appearing via a telegram out of the clear blue. The complication and the very reason for having the story continue is found at the bottom of the message.

THIS ALL POWERFUL qualifying requirement (sort of like the "Fine Print") is the provision that Joe provides a male heir to his uncle; in order that the family name be carried on into perpetuity.

CONFRONTED WITH THIS nearly impossible situation, Joe & Alice (Phyllis Coates) strike a deal with a shady middle man "baby broker". This double dealing crook (Fred Clark) manages to bring them a grown up, Dead End Kid-type. This "kid" takes the name of "Stinky" Mc Doakes and this begins a series of complications including the intervention of the courts.

AS ONE WOULD expect, just when all appears to have gone their way, wee are privy to a sudden change; which results in the courtroom deputies restraining him via an over-sized butterfly net!

THIS MOVIE SHORT is somewhat of a departure from what has been the norm for the series. Rather than essaying what is a real life, commonplace problem; Writer/Director Richard L. Bare opts for reworking an old, tried and true plot. It was at the heart of Buster Keaton's SEVEN CHANCES (1925) as adapted from the stage play; as well as being reworked as a 3 Stooges short with Shemp Howard.

ALSO HAVING EMPLOYED a rather large cast of familiar supporting players, it went just a few steps beyond the usual. In addition to semi-regular Fred Kelsey, this little picture brought us: Dick Elliot, Joe Turkel, Leo White and eternal Jack Benny nemesis, Frank Nelson as an agent of the IRS.