Plot
On March 6, 1933, Joe Gimlet, a middle-aged proprietor of a cigar store, encounters his childhood friend, banker Ted Wright. During a dinner engagement with Joe and his wife Mary, Ted presents an investment opportunity, urging the couple to commit $4,000 to his company. Despite Joe's enthusiasm for the proposal, Mary hesitates to relinquish their savings, provoking Joe's inebriated frustration. In a drunken stupor, Joe expresses regret for not marrying the affluent Elvina, a sentiment that exacerbates marital discord. Subsequently, Joe's intoxicated departure from their residence culminates in a car accident, necessitating hospitalization and surgery.
Upon regaining consciousness, Joe finds himself transported back to his youth, inhabiting the home of his upbringing. Surprised by the temporal displacement evidenced by a newspaper account of Roosevelt's African expedition, Joe cautiously navigates interactions with familiar acquaintances, opting to conceal his foreknowledge of future events. Engaging in routine employment as a soda jerk, he encounters Elvina, eventually entering into an engagement, oblivious to the emotional ramifications for his former flame, Mary, and his mother, who imparts wisdom regarding the illusory nature of wealth-induced happiness.
Joe's fortunes soar following his marriage to Elvina, leveraging his prescient insights into impending historical events to amass considerable wealth. Meanwhile, Mary and Ted embark on their own matrimonial journey. Despite his philanthropic gestures and public accolades, Joe's marriage to Elvina is marred by acrimony, exacerbated by financial mismanagement culminating in ruin following the stock market crash of 1929. Joe's subsequent divorce from Elvina precipitates a cascade of personal and professional setbacks, compounded by the betrayal of his bank employees and impending legal repercussions.
As Joe grapples with the ramifications of his actions, he experiences a surreal temporal convergence, returning to March 6, 1933, confronted with the stark reality of his circumstances. Fleeing from impending consequences, Joe implores Mary to abandon her current life for a shared escape, only to be apprehended by law enforcement. In a moment of existential reckoning, Joe awakens in the hospital, restored to the present moment, expressing gratitude for the life he shares with Mary, resigned to the immutable course of fate.
The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best remembered for their 190 short-subject films by Columbia Pictures. Their hallmark styles were physical, farce, and slapstick. Six total Stooges appeared over the act's run ; Moe Howard and Larry Fine were mainstays throughout the ensemble's nearly 50-year run, while the "third stooge" was played in turn by Shemp Howard, Curly Howard, Shemp Howard again, Joe Besser, and "Curly Joe" DeRita.
Jerome Lester Horwitz, better known by his stage name Curly Howard, was an American comedian and actor. He was as a member of the comedy team The Three Stooges, which also featured his elder brothers Moe and Shemp Howard, as well as actor Larry Fine. In early shorts, he was billed as Curley. Curly Howard was generally considered the most popular and recognizable of the Stooges.
William Lee Tracy was an American stage, film, and television actor. He is known foremost for his portrayals between the late 1920s and 1940s of fast-talking, wisecracking news reporters, press agents, lawyers, and salesmen. From 1949 to 1954, he was also featured in the weekly radio and television versions of the series Martin Kane: Private Eye, as well as starring as the newspaper columnist Lee Cochran in the 1958–1959 British-American crime drama New York Confidential. Later, in 1964, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and a Golden Globe for his supporting role in the film The Best Man.
Mae Clarke was an American actress. She is widely remembered for playing Henry Frankenstein's bride Elizabeth, who is chased by Boris Karloff in Frankenstein, and for being on the receiving end of James Cagney's halved grapefruit in The Public Enemy. Both films were released in 1931.
Soup to Nuts is a 1930 American pre-Code comedy film written by cartoonist, sculptor, author, and inventor Rube Goldberg and directed by Benjamin Stoloff. It was the film debut of the original four members who would later, minus Ted Healy, go on to become known as The Three Stooges comic trio. Goldberg made a cameo appearance in the film as himself, opening letters in a restaurant. Several other comedians are also featured.
Christine Cecilia McIntyre was an American actress and singer who appeared in various films in the 1930s and 1940s. She is mainly remembered as the beautiful blonde actress who appeared in many of The Three Stooges shorts produced by Columbia Pictures.
Olivia Joyce Compton was an American actress.
Ben Welden was an American character actor who played a wide variety of Damon Runyon-type gangsters in various movies and television shows.
A Guy Named Joe is a 1943 American supernatural romantic drama film directed by Victor Fleming. The film was produced by Everett Riskin, and starred Spencer Tracy, Irene Dunne, and Van Johnson. The screenplay, written by Dalton Trumbo and Frederick Hazlitt Brennan, was adapted from a story by Chandler Sprague and David Boehm, for which they were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Story.
Vernon Bruce Dent was an American comic actor, who appeared in over 400 films. He co-starred in many short films for Columbia Pictures, frequently as the foil, main antagonist, and an ally to The Three Stooges.
Hollywood Party, also known under its working title of The Hollywood Revue of 1933 and Star Spangled Banquet, is a 1934 American pre-Code musical film starring Laurel and Hardy, The Three Stooges, Jimmy Durante, Lupe Vélez and Mickey Mouse. It was distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Each sequence featured a different star with a separate scriptwriter and director assigned.
Hobart Cavanaugh was an American character actor in films and on stage.
William Edward "Bud" Jamison was an American film actor. He appeared in 450 films between 1915 and 1944, notably appearing in many shorts with The Three Stooges as a foil.
Marcia Mae Jones was an American film and television actress whose prolific career spanned 57 years.
Duke York, was an American film actor and stuntman who appeared in nearly 160 films between 1932 and 1952. He was also known as Duke Owl.
Joe Palma was an American film actor. Palma appeared in over 120 films between 1937 and 1968. He was well known as a supporting player for The Three Stooges and his brief tenure as a body double to member Shemp Howard for four shorts produced after Shemp's death, which led to the coining of the term "Fake Shemp".
Walter B. McGrail was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 150 films between 1916 and 1951. Besides feature films, he appeared in The Scarlet Runner, a 12-chapter serial.
June Gittelson was an American film actress. She appeared in more than 70 films between 1928 and 1945.
Theresa Harris was an American television and film actress, singer and dancer.
Nancy Drew... Detective is a 1938 American comedy film directed by William Clemens and written by Kenneth Garnet. The film stars Bonita Granville, John Litel, James Stephenson, Frankie Thomas, Frank Orth and Helena Phillips Evans. The film was released by Warner Bros. on November 19, 1938.
