''Sorrowful Jones'', also known as ''Damon Runyon's Sorrowful Jones'', is a 1949 American

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

Sidney Lanfield Sidney Lanfield (April 20, 1898 – June 20, 1972) was an American film director known for directing romances and light comedy films and later television programs. The one-time jazz musician and vaudevillian star started his first directing job ...

. The film stars

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 Gold ...

and

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 ...

. ''Sorrowful Jones'' was a remake of a 1934

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 ...

film, ''

Little Miss Marker ''Little Miss Marker'' (also known as ''The Girl in Pawn'') is an American Pre-Code 1934 comedy-drama film directed by Alexander Hall. It was written by William R. Lipman, Sam Hellman, and Gladys Lehman after a 1932 short story of the same n ...

''. In the film, a young girl is left with the notoriously cheap Sorrowful Jones (Hope) as a marker for a bet. When her father does not return, he learns that caring for a child interferes with his free-wheeling lifestyle.

plays a

nightclub singer A nightclub act is a production, usually of nightclub music or comedy, designed for performance at a nightclub, a type of drinking establishment, by a nightclub performer such as a nightclub singer or nightclub dancer, whose performance may ...

who is dating Sorrowful's boss. Ball's singing voice is provided by Annette Warren, who also sang for her in '' Fancy Pants'' and later provided the singing voice for

Ava Gardner Ava Lavinia Gardner (December 24, 1922 – January 25, 1990) was an American actress. She first signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1941 and appeared mainly in small roles until she drew critics' attention in 1946 with her perform ...

in ''

Show Boat ''Show Boat'' is a musical with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It is based on Edna Ferber's best-selling 1926 novel of the same name. The musical follows the lives of the performers, stagehands and dock worke ...

''.

Plot

Sorrowful Jones is a New York bookie who hides his operation behind a trap door in a Broadway barber shop. He suffers from a financial setback when a horse named Dreamy Joe, owned by gangster Big Steve Holloway, unexpectedly wins a race. Jones has to pay all the many customers betting on the horse to win, which empties his pockets completely. When visiting a nightclub, Jones learns that the race was fixed by Big Steve, who tells him about giving the horse a "speedball." Big Steve has informed all the bookies in his circle of friends about the fixed race and demands a sum of $1,000 from each one in exchange for this information. Before the next race, Jones gets information that Dreamy Joe will lose but still takes bets on the horse from his customers. He even takes bets with marker payment from gambler Orville Smith, who leaves his daughter Martha Jane, four years old, as collateral for the bet. Things get even more complicated when Orville is killed by one of Big Steve's goons, Once Over Sam. The reason is that Orville overhears a phone call involving Big Steve, where he reveals that the race is fixed. Because of Orville's demise, Jones is forced to take care of Martha Jane and brings her home with him. The next day Jones gets help from his ex-girlfriend, burlesque performer Gladys O'Neill, to take care of the little girl. Big Steve visits Jones and tells him he is quitting the race-fixing business since the racing commission is investigating him. Big Steve plans to make one final race before he gets out of the game, where he is fixing the race so that Dreamy Joe will win. He also transfers the horse's ownership to Martha Jane, unaware that the girl is Orville's daughter. After the race, Big Steve will kill the horse by giving it a too high dose of "speedball". Jones tries to find Martha Jane's mother but finds out that she is dead. Gladys suggests that Jones give all of Dreamy Joe's winnings to Martha Jane to help her survive, or she will contact the police and tell them about Jones' operation. She does not know Big Steve's plan to fix the race. Big Steve discovers that Martha Jane is Orville's daughter, so Jones must hide her to protect her from getting killed. When hiding on a fire escape landing, Martha Jane falls down and is seriously injured. While in a coma, the little girl calls out for Dreamy Joe. To save Martha Jane and wake her up, Jones and his partner Regret steal the horse from Big Steve at the race track. They take it into the hospital room where Martha Jane lies. Martha Jane wakes up, and the police discover that Big Steve is responsible for Orville's murder. After Big Steve is arrested, Jones proposes to Gladys. The police want Martha Jane to be placed in an orphanage, but Jones and Gladys, who have married, decide to adopt the girl. They go away on their honeymoon together with their newly adopted daughter.

Cast

as Sorrowful Jones *

as Gladys *

Bruce Cabot Bruce Cabot (born Étienne de Pelissier Bujac Jr.; April 20, 1904 – May 3, 1972) was an American film actor, best remembered as Jack Driscoll (character), Jack Driscoll in ''King Kong (1933 film), King Kong'' (1933) and for his roles in films ...

as Big Steve *

William Demarest Carl William Demarest (February 27, 1892 – December 27, 1983) was an American character actor, known especially for his roles in screwball comedies by Preston Sturges and for playing Uncle Charley in the sitcom '' My Three Sons'' Demarest, ...

as Regret * Mary Jane Saunders as Martha Jane

References

External links

* * {{Sidney Lanfield 1949 films Films directed by Sidney Lanfield 1940s English-language films American black-and-white films Paramount Pictures films 1949 comedy films Gambling films American horse racing films Remakes of American films American comedy films Films scored by Robert Emmett Dolan 1940s American films