Little Miss Big
Cast & Crew
Erle C. Kenton
Beverly Simmons
Fred Brady
Fay Holden
Frank Mchugh
Dorothy Morris
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Mary Jane Baxter, labeled the "world's richest woman" by the press, is considered eccentric by her servants and her irresponsible nephew, Sanford. Sanford especially resents the attention Mary Jane lavishes on her pet dog, Aubrey, and cannot understand why his aunt refuses to sell the plot of land adjoining their estate to help him pay off his considerable gambling debts. When Mary Jane announces she intends to alter her will and leave her money to Aubrey, Sanford decides he will have her declared insane so that he might gain control of the family fortune. After a hearing, during which Mary Jane antagonizes both the judge and the press, she is placed in a rest home with Aubrey, from which they promptly escape. Upon returning home, she overhears the police reporting her escape and her trusted friend, attorney Wilfred Elliott, promising to assist in her capture. When Aubrey dashes into the house, Mary Jane is forced to flee on her own. Exhausted and cold, Mary Jane finds herself following a young couple, Kathy Bryan and Eddie Martin, who are arguing about their future. Eddie, a returning war veteran, is impatient to take up a quick paying job as a mechanic and refuses to return to law school to finish his degree. When the couple arrives at Kathy's home, Mary Jane passes out, attracting their attention. Kathy's young sister Nancy pleads for Mary Jane to be brought inside, where, upon reviving, she pretends to have amnesia. Kathy and Nancy's father Charlie, a barber, offer to share their cramped home with Mary Jane for the night. The next day Mary Jane develops a cold, and the Bryans, to Nancy's delight, allow her to stay on. Mary Jane quickly becomes aware of the Bryans' financial hardships and admires their perseverance. Meanwhile, the newspapers are full of Mary Jane's escape and the posted $50,000 reward, but as Mary Jane never allowed herself to be photographed, the Bryans do not make the connection between the missing woman and their mystery visitor. Back at the Baxter estate, Aubrey runs away and goes in search of Mary Jane. A $5,000 reward is promptly put out for him, which the Bryans overhear on the radio just before Aubrey dashes into the house and into Mary Jane's arms. The family realizes Mary Jane's identity and grow concerned about whether they will be blamed for harboring a fugitive, although Nancy, who has begun calling Mary Jane "grandma," begs to let her stay. Mary Jane offers to leave, but Kathy convinces Eddie to try to find a legal solution. The family is startled when Father Lennergan stops by to visit and he grows suspicious when he hears Aubrey barking and Charlie introduces Mary Jane as Eddie's Aunt Martha. After Lennergan leaves, Charlie shaves Aubrey to disguise him. Meanwhile, at Sanford's behest, the state governor demands that the town mayor find Mary Jane, as the Baxter assets will be frozen until she is located. Father Lennergan returns to visit Charlie and hints that the family could be in serious trouble if "Aunt Martha" is really Mary Jane, and although Charlie denies this, later he returns to Lennergan to confess. The police, meanwhile, are searching house to house and arrive at the Bryan's to find it empty, as Mary Jane has left with Eddie and Kathy to rent a house to work on her legal defense. When Charlie returns from seeing Father Lannergan, he is arrested. Eddie, believing he has a legal solution to Mary Jane's dilemma, goes to see Wilfred, who secretly has his secretary contact the police just after Eddie reveals Mary Jane's whereabouts. Eddie is arrested and Mary Jane found and returned to the rest home. Wilfred then frees everyone and arranges for all to meet at the Baxter estate. There he explains that he acted due to legal necessity and, with Eddie's assistance, insures that a new trial for Mary Jane's sanity will be held. Meanwhile, Mary Jane announces she will donate her extra land for a children's hospital and help the Bryans realize their dreams. Wilfred then offers Eddie a job, thereby assuring that he and Kathy can marry quickly.
Director
Erle C. Kenton
Cast
Beverly Simmons
Fred Brady
Fay Holden
Frank Mchugh
Dorothy Morris
Samuel S. Hinds
Milburn Stone
John Eldredge
Houseley Stevenson
Jeff York
Peggy Webber
Arthur Loft
Edit Angold
Jim Nolan
Harry Brown
Warren Ashe
Stanley Andrews
Frank Ferguson
Barbara Wooddell
Gus Glassmire
Dick Wessel
George Anderson
Dorothy Christy
William Ruhl
Beatrice Gray
Rodney Bell
Teddy Infuhr
Vincent Graeff
Donald Davis
Ruth Cherrington
Parker Garvie
Leonard Kibrick
James Linn
Marcus Sax
Minerva Urecal
Crew
Lawrence A. Aicholtz
Glenn E. Anderson
Chester Beecroft
Bernard B. Brown
Carmen Dirigo
William J. Dodds
Morgan Farley
Russell A. Gausman
Charles S. Gould
Marshall Grant
Abraham Grossman
Paul Ivano
Erna Lazarus
Mary Marlind
Jack Otterson
Jack P. Pierce
Ronald K. Pierce
Harry H. Poppe
Stanley Rubin
H. J. Salter
Russell Schoengarth
Ted Von Hemert
Vera West
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working title of this film was Three Kids and a Queen.
