''The Lemon Drop Kid'' is a 1934 American

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

and drama directed by

Marshall Neilan Marshall Ambrose "Mickey" Neilan (April 11, 1891 – October 27, 1958) was an American actor. Early life Born in San Bernardino, California, Neilan was known by most as "Mickey." Following the death of his father, the eleven-year-old Mickey N ...

and written by Howard J. Green,

J.P. McEvoy Joseph Patrick McEvoy (December 21, 1894 – August 8, 1958), also sometimes credited as John P. McEvoy or Joseph P. McEvoy, was an American writer whose stories were published during the 1920s and 1930s in popular magazines such as ''Liber ...

and

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 ...

. The film stars

Lee Tracy William Lee Tracy (April 14, 1898 – October 18, 1968) 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, lawye ...

Helen Mack Helen Mack (born Helen McDougall; November 13, 1913 – August 13, 1986) was an American actress. She started her career as a child actress in silent films, moving to Broadway plays and touring one of the vaudeville circuits. Her greater succ ...

William Frawley William Clement Frawley (February 26, 1887 – March 3, 1966) was an American vaudevillian and actor best remembered for playing landlord Fred Mertz in the American television sitcom ''I Love Lucy'', "Bub" O'Casey in the television comedy series ...

Minna Gombell Minna Marie Gombell (''née'' Gombel; May 28, 1892 – April 14, 1973) was an American stage and film actress. Early years She was born Minna Marie Gombel in Baltimore, Maryland, the daughter of William and Emma M. Debring Gombel. Her father ...

Baby LeRoy Ronald Le Roy Overacker (May 12, 1932 – July 28, 2001), better known by his stage name Baby LeRoy, was an American child actor who appeared in films in the 1930s. When he was 16 months old, he became the youngest person ever put under term ...

Kitty Kelly Kitty Kelly (born Sue O'Neil; April 27, 1902 – June 29, 1968), was an American stage and film character actress. Biography Born in New York City in 1902, Kelly was best known as a member of the Ziegfeld Follies and her radio hosting with Co ...

and

Henry B. Walthall Henry Brazeale Walthall (March 16, 1878 – June 17, 1936) was an American stage and film actor. He appeared as the Little Colonel in D. W. Griffith's ''The Birth of a Nation'' (1915). Early life Henry B. Walthall was born March 16, 1878 on a ...

. The film was released on September 28, 1934, by

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

Plot

Con artist and racetrack tout Wally Brooks hands a lemon drop to a man in a wheelchair, saying it will cure whatever ails him, then persuades the man, a millionaire named Griggsby, to bet $100 on a horse. Wally knows this horse can't win and intends to pocket the cash. The horse does win, so Wally and his partner Dunhill, alias "The Professor," take it on the lam. Lying low in an out-of-the-way place, Wally meets town drunk Jonas Deering and his beautiful daughter Alice. A love affair blossoms and they marry, but when Alice is about to give birth and having serious medical problems, Wally needs money so he robs Mr. Potter, her boss. Alice dies in childbirth. A despondent Wally shuns his own son, Wally Jr., and isn't sure where to turn next. The Professor marries longtime girlfriend Maizie and offers to raise Wally Jr., and even better, Griggsby shows up, claiming the lemon drop did help his arthritis. He volunteers to become Wally Jr.'s legal guardian and gives Wally some money, minus what the bet on his horse would have won.

Cast

as Wally Brooks *

as Alice Deering *

as William Dunhill *

as Maizie *

as Wally Jr. *

as Cora Jennings *

as Jonas Deering *

Robert McWade Robert McWade (January 25, 1872 – January 19, 1938), was an American stage and film actor. McWade was born in Buffalo, New York. He was the third actor named Robert McWade, after his father and grandfather. In 1902, McWade debuted on stag ...

as Mr. Griggsby * Clarence Wilson as Martin Potter * Charles C. Wilson as Warden *

Eddie Peabody Edwin Ellsworth Peabody, known as Eddie Peabody (February 19, 1902 – November 7, 1970) was an American banjo player, instrument developer and musical entertainer whose career spanned five decades. He was the most famous plectrum banjoist o ...

as Banjo Player *

Edward LeSaint Edward LeSaint (January 1, 1871 – September 10, 1940) was an American stage and film actor and director whose career began in the silent era A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dia ...

as Doctor *

Dell Henderson George Delbert "Dell" Henderson (July 5, 1877 – December 2, 1956) was a Canadian-American actor, director, and writer. He began his long and prolific film career in the early days of silent film. Biography Born in the Southwestern Ontario city ...

as Judge Forrest

References

External links

* 1934 films 1930s crime comedy films American black-and-white films American crime comedy films 1930s English-language films Films about con artists Films based on short fiction Films directed by Marshall Neilan Paramount Pictures films 1934 comedy films 1930s American films {{1930s-comedy-film-stub