Three loan wolves, see how they pawn

Wow.  What a bad, busy week.  Looks like I might not get to call the play-by-play on a few of these from now on.  But let me assure you that I did sit through Three Loan Wolves in its entirety and... and I can't remember what happened!  Oh, wait... yes.  Me myself, being a Coen brothers freak, I couldn't help but think of Barton Fink's dilemma... Orphan?  Dame?  Here, the Stooges decided to go the Orphan route.  They're three small-time pawnbrokers this time, rather than running from the cops from the git go.  Like all orphans, this cute orphan wants to know who's his real daddy.  Reminds me of Jackie Cooper, but he was an awkward teen by that time, if memory serves.  And so, we get the time-honored tradition of a mother leaving her baby at a doorstep.  This time, however, it's not on a lark, or not to strike back at an inattentive husband.  No, this is the real deal here, as close to it as you'd care to get.  Normally, you wouldn't want to leave your baby in the hands of the Stooges, but what can you do.  These days, they're one of the tamer things on the internets.
Meanwhile, as if that wasn't plot enough... and it isn't... the Stooges are beset by greedy mobsters wanting protection money.  Moe takes care of the scout easy enough, but reinforcements arrive by the end of the pic.  Larry gets his big break somewhere in the middle by putting his own unique spin on the Three Bears story.  Also, he has to kill a bad drink with a cigarette.  Shout out to my friend!!!
Good narrative structure to this one, even if it's not a standout like, say, A Plumbing We Will Go or Dutiful but Dumb.  It must've been your proverbial low-hanging fruit when Columbia was cherry picking shorts to put out on DVD.  This was lumped in with other Stooge shorts with three-word names starting with Three.  Not my favourite one, but not totally terrible.

***
-so sayeth The Movie Hooligan