In an unusual twist, Joe himself (George O'Hanlon) narrates this story. It seems that in 1928, Joe attended a banking college so persnickety that it ended up having only two graduates -- Joe, and Harrington Arlington Farrington, Jr. (Ralph Levy, a decade away from his turn as dimwitted Hank Kimball on TV's "Green Acres," which was directed by McDoakes writer-director Richard Bare).
Unfortunately, because Joe came in second, he is overshadowed by Farrington as a genius. When Joe finally gets a bank job, his boss is snooty Farrington, who makes him a lowly accountant. (There's a terrific gag equating the accountants to coxswains on a boat, a gag stolen three decades later by Monty Python for their movie The Meaning of Life.)
After 22 years, Joe finally rises at the bank...to the level of teller. One night, his till is one penny short. Joe keeps borrowing a penny from another till, then another, until he comes upon a till that contains a million dollars. Joe steals the money, juggles the books, becomes president of the bank, and reduces Farrington to Joe's former penurious state...until Farrington figures out how Joe cooked the books.
It's kind of a pity to see Joe finally make a success of himself in an unscrupulous way, but considering that this is a parody of melodramatic rags-to-riches stories, we can forgive Joe this one time. And unfortunately, with banks merging and closing, and rich people getting obscenely richer, this short has only gotten more timely with age. Its mere premise probably seemed like science-fiction in 1953 -- a man stealing right under people's noses and making a career from it? Watching the short now, it's almost cliched.
Our rating: (C) 2012, Steve Bailey.
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