''Little Miss Marker'' (also known as ''The Girl in Pawn'') is an American

Pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorshi ...

1934

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

film directed by

Alexander Hall Alexander Hall (January 11, 1894 – July 30, 1968) was an American film director, film editor and theatre actor. Biography Hall acted in the theatre from the age of four through 1914, when he began to work in silent movies. Following his milit ...

. It was written by William R. Lipman, Sam Hellman, and

Gladys Lehman Gladys Lehman (born Gladys Collins) was a prolific American screenwriter who had a long career in Hollywood. Biography Lehman was born in Gates, Oregon, to James Collins and Lois Gates. She was the eldest of the couple's four children, and ...

after a 1932 short story of the same name by

Damon Runyon Alfred Damon Runyon (October 4, 1880 – December 10, 1946) was an American newspaperman and short-story writer. He was best known for his short stories celebrating the world of Broadway in New York City that grew out of the Prohibition era. To ...

. It stars

Shirley Temple Shirley Temple Black (born Shirley Jane Temple;While Temple occasionally used "Jane" as a middle name, her birth certificate reads "Shirley Temple". Her birth certificate was altered to prolong her babyhood shortly after she signed with Fox in ...

Adolphe Menjou Adolphe Jean Menjou (February 18, 1890 – October 29, 1963) was an American actor. His career spanned both silent films and talkies. He appeared in such films as Charlie Chaplin's ''A Woman of Paris'', where he played the lead role; Stanley K ...

and

Dorothy Dell Dorothy Dell (born Dorothy Dell Goff; January 30, 1915 – June 8, 1934) was an American film actress. She died in an auto accident at the age of 19. Early life and career Born Dorothy Dell Goff in Hattiesburg, Mississippi to entertainers, ...

in a story about a young girl held as collateral by gangsters. It was Temple's first starring role in a major motion picture and was crucial to establishing her as a major film star. It was named to the United States National Film Registry by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

in 1998 and has been remade several times.

Plot

The film tells the story of "Marky" (

), whose father gives her to a gangster-run gambling operation as a "marker" (collateral) for a bet. When he loses his bet and commits suicide, the gangsters are left with her on their hands. They decide to keep her temporarily and use her to help pull off one of their fixed races, naming her the owner of the horse to be used in the race. Marky is sent to live with bookie Sorrowful Jones (

). Initially upset about being forced to look after her, he eventually begins to develop a father–daughter relationship with her. His fellow gangsters become fond of her and begin to fill the roles of her extended family. Bangles (

) – girlfriend of gang kingpin Big Steve (

Charles Bickford Charles Ambrose Bickford (January 1, 1891 – November 9, 1967) was an American actor known for supporting roles. He was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for '' The Song of Bernadette'' (1943), '' The ...

), who has gone to Chicago to place bets on the horse – also begins to care for Marky, and to fall in love with Sorrowful, whose own concern for Marky shows he has a warm heart beneath his hard-man persona. Encouraged by Bangles and Marky, Sorrowful gets a bigger apartment, buys Marky new clothes and himself a better cut of suit, reads her bedtime stories, and shows her how to pray. However, being around the gang has a somewhat bad influence on Marky, and she begins to develop a cynical nature and a wide vocabulary of gambling terminology and slang. Worried that her acquired bad-girl attitude means she will not get adopted by a "good family", Bangles and Sorrowful put on a party with gangsters dressed up as knights-of-the-round-table, to rekindle her former sweetness. She is unimpressed until they bring in the horse and parade her around on its back. Returning to New York, Big Steve frightens the horse, which throws her, and she is taken to the hospital. Big Steve goes there to pay back Sorrowful for trying to steal Bangles but is roped into giving Marky the direct blood transfusion she needs for her life-saving operation. Praying for her survival, Sorrowful destroys the drug which, administered to the horse, would have helped it win the race but killed it soon after. Informed that he has "good blood" and pleased to have given life for a change, Big Steve forgives Bangles and Sorrowful. They plan to marry and adopt Marky.

Cast

as Marthy "Marky" Jane *

as Sorrowful Jones *

as Bangles Carson *

as Big Steve Halloway *

Lynne Overman Lynne may refer to: *Lynne (surname) *Lynne (given name) *Lynne, Florida, an unincorporated community *Lynne, Wisconsin Lynne is a town in Oneida County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 210 at the 2000 census. The unincorporated comm ...

as Regret. The character is meant to be Mafia accountant

Otto Berman Otto Biederman, known as Otto "Abbadabba" Berman (August 10, 1891 – October 24, 1935) was an accountant for American organized crime. He is known for having coined the phrase "Nothing personal, it's just business." Biography Early life Berm ...

, best friend of writer

. *

Warren Hymer Edgar Warren Hymer (February 25, 1906 – March 25, 1948) was an American theatre and film actor. Early life He was born in New York City. His father, John Bard Hymer (1875/1876 – 1953) was a playwright (with nine Broadway plays to ...

as Sore Toe * Sam Hardy as Benny the Gouge * John Kelly as Canvas Back *

Willie Best William Best (May 27, 1913 – February 27, 1962), known professionally as Willie Best or Sleep n' Eat, was an American television and film actor. Best was one of the first African American film actors and comedians to become well kn ...

as Dizzy Memphis * Frank McGlynn Sr. as Doc Chesley * John Sheehan as Sun Rise * Frank Conroy as Dr. Ingalls

Production

Temple, who had previously auditioned for the role of Marky prior to entering her Fox contract and failed to win the part, was loaned out to Paramount by Fox Film thanks in large part to maneuvering by her mother Gertrude. Her mother, recognizing the potential of the role, arranged for a secret meeting and second audition with the director Alexander Hall. This second audition was successful and Shirley Temple was loaned out to Paramount for $1,000 a week. Temple and Dell struck up a close friendship while filming the movie. The scene in which Temple is refusing her food and using rude language ("I don't want no mush" and "I used to be a sissy") had to be redone as Dell could not contain her laughter in the first take. This would be Dell's last completed film of her short career. Temple took Dell's death very hard.

Reception

The film was considered a success at the box office. As a result Paramount offered Fox $50,000 for Temple's contract, but the offer was declined.

Recognition

In 1998, ''Little Miss Marker'' was selected for preservation in the United States

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception i ...

by the

as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Remakes

The film was remade as '' Little Big Shot'' (1935), ''

Sorrowful Jones ''Sorrowful Jones'', also known as ''Damon Runyon's Sorrowful Jones'', is a 1949 American comedy-drama film directed by Sidney Lanfield. The film stars Lucille Ball and Bob Hope. ''Sorrowful Jones'' was a remake of a 1934 Shirley Temple film, '' ...

'' (1949) with

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in more than 70 short and feature films, with 5 ...

and

Lucille Ball Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American actress, comedienne and producer. She was nominated for 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning five times, and was the recipient of several other accolades, such as the Golden ...

and again as '' Little Miss Marker'' (1980) with

Walter Matthau Walter Matthau (; born Walter John Matthow; October 1, 1920 – July 1, 2000) was an American actor, comedian and film director. He is best known for his film roles in '' A Face in the Crowd'' (1957), ''King Creole'' (1958) and as a coach of a ...

Julie Andrews Dame Julie Andrews (born Julia Elizabeth Wells; 1 October 1935) is an English actress, singer, and author. She has garnered numerous accolades throughout her career spanning over seven decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Fi ...

Tony Curtis Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwartz; June 3, 1925September 29, 2010) was an American actor whose career spanned six decades, achieving the height of his popularity in the 1950s (Kansas Raiders, 1950) and early 1960s. He acted in more than 100 f ...

Bob Newhart George Robert Newhart (born September 5, 1929) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his deadpan and slightly stammering delivery style. Newhart came to prominence in 1960 when his album of comedic monologues, ''The Button-Down Mi ...

Brian Dennehy Brian Manion Dennehy (; July 9, 1938 – April 15, 2020) was an American actor of stage, television, and film. He won two Tony Awards, an Olivier Award, and a Golden Globe, and received six Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Dennehy had roles in ...

and

Lee Grant Lee Grant (born Lyova Haskell Rosenthal; October 31, during the mid-1920s) is an American actress, documentarian, and director. She made her film debut in 1951 as a young shoplifter in William Wyler's ''Detective Story'', co-starring Kirk Dougl ...

. Another remake was '' 40 Pounds of Trouble'' (1962), starring

as a casino manager who is left with an eight-year-old girl.

Stage musical

Scott Ellis Scott Ellis (born April 19, 1957) is an American stage director, actor, and television director. Biography Ellis graduated from Goodman School of Drama at the Art Institute of Chicago (now at DePaul University) in Chicago.

and David Thompson are working on a musical adaptation of the film to feature songs by

Harold Arlen Harold Arlen (born Hyman Arluck; February 15, 1905 – April 23, 1986) was an American composer of popular music, who composed over 500 songs, a number of which have become known worldwide. In addition to composing the songs for the 1939 film ...

as its score.^{/sup>

Other references

The plot and title of the film are referenced by the book ''Little Myth Marker'', part of Robert Asprin

Robert Lynn Asprin (June 28, 1946 – May 22, 2008) was an American science fiction and fantasy author and active fan, known best for his humorous series '' MythAdventures'' and '' Phule's Company''.
Background
Robert Asprin was born in St. J ...
's MythAdventures

''MythAdventures'' or ''Myth Adventures'' is a fantasy series created by Robert Lynn Asprin. After twelve novels by Asprin, published 1978 to 2002, he and Jody Lynn Nye continued the series with seven more books. After his death in May 2008, she ...
series.

See also

* Shirley Temple filmography

Shirley Temple (1928–2014) was an American child actress, dancer, and singer who began her film career in 1931, and continued successfully through 1949. When Educational Pictures director Charles Lamont scouted Meglan Dancing School for prospect ...

References

External links

* ''Little Miss Marker'' essa

by John F. Kasson on the National Film Registry

The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception i ...
website
*
*
*
*
*
* ''Little Miss Marker'' essay by Daniel Eagan in America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry, A&C Black, 2010 , page

{{Alexander Hall

1934 films
1934 comedy-drama films
American black-and-white films
American comedy-drama films
Films about children
Films based on short fiction
Films directed by Alexander Hall
Gambling films
American horse racing films
United States National Film Registry films
Paramount Pictures films
1930s English-language films
1930s American films}