Baby Take a Bow
Cast & Crew
Harry Lachman
Shirley Temple
James Dunn
Claire Trevor
Alan Dinehart
Ray Walker
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
On the day Eddie Ellison is released from Sing Sing Prison, he is met by his fiancée Kay, who was harassed on the train by morally suspect detective Welch, the man responsible for Eddie's conviction. Also on the train was Larry Scott, a prisoner on his way to Sing Sing, who becomes Eddie's pal after his own release. Six years later, Eddie helps Larry get a job as a chauffeur for his employers, Mr. and Mrs. Stuart Carson. Kay and Eddie are happily married and have a charming daughter, Shirley, and Larry is engaged to Jane, Shirley's dance instructor. The two couples celebrate Larry's new job and discuss Shirley's upcoming birthday party. The next morning, Trigger Stone, an unrepentant thief who also served time in Sing Sing, asks Eddie and Larry to fence something he stole the night before. They refuse, but Welch tells the head of the National Insurance Company that he suspects the chauffeurs in the previous night's theft of Mrs. Carson's pearl necklace, which was actually stolen by Trigger. Later, at the Carson home, Welch is telling the Carsons about Eddie and Larry's prison records when the boys arrive, and despite their pleas of innocence concerning the theft, Mr. Carson fires them for being ex-convicts. That evening at Shirley's party, Shirley and Eddie perform a song and dance, after which everyone hears a radio news report about the robbery. Kay and Jane are upset but stick by their men when they explain the situation. The next morning while Shirley plays outside, Trigger gives her the pearl necklace just before being chased off by policemen. Thinking the necklace is a birthday present, Shirley tries to show it to Eddie, but when he ignores her, she slips it into his pocket and tells him to find it. Welch then arrives to question them about the robbery and to search the apartment. As he looks through Shirley's room, Eddie finds the necklace in his pocket, figures out where it came from and hides it in the coffeepot. After Shirley finds it there, Eddie moves it to the carpet sweeper, which is borrowed and emptied into the garbage by Anna, the maid. Kay comes home and after the boys tell her the story, they are desperately trying to open the sweeper when Welch returns. He opens the sweeper himself, only to discover it is empty. After Welch leaves, Eddie, Larry, Kay and Jane search the apartment building for the necklace, while at the same time, the police search for Trigger. When Trigger comes into the apartment and threatens Eddie with a gun, Eddie outwits him and ties him up. Eddie runs to get the police while Shirley finds the necklace in the garbage can downstairs. She goes up to show Eddie but instead finds Trigger, who convinces her to untie him. Eddie, Kay and the police hear Shirley yelling as Trigger grabs the necklace, and when they rush in, he takes the child hostage and climbs to the roof. They follow Trigger, and even though Eddie is shot by Trigger, he captures him. Shirley gets the necklace from Trigger's pocket, and police officer Flannigan promises her the $5,000 reward. Welch raises a fuss until Flannigan tells him off, and Welch then falls through a skylight onto a feather bed in an apartment below.
Director
Harry Lachman
Cast
Shirley Temple
James Dunn
Claire Trevor
Alan Dinehart
Ray Walker
Dorothy Libaire
Ralf Harolde
James Flavin
Richard Tucker
Olive Tell
Lily D. Stuart
Preston Foster
Crew
Arthur Arling
Eddie Collins
William Conselman
Duncan Cramer
Al De Gaetano
Milton Gold
R. E. Goux
Bud Green
Henry Johnson
Samuel Kaylin
Philip Klein
Sammy Lee
George Leverett
Gene Lewis
Cliff Maupin
L. W. O'connell
E. E. Paramore Jr.
Royer
Bert Sebell
Winfield R. Sheehan
Sam H. Stept
John Stone
John V. A. Weaver
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working titles of this film were Always Honest and Going Straight. According to the Twentieth Century-Fox Records of the Legal Department at the UCLA Theater Arts Library, William Conselman "waived any credit" for his work on the picture's script. The character "Mr. Carson" is referred to both as "Joseph" and "Stuart" in the film and the copyright material. Hollywood Reporter and Daily Variety noted that the film was barred from being shown in Germany, although no reason for the ban was given by the German censors. According to Daily Variety news items, Fox received many letters from fans and women's organizations protesting the presentation of Shirley Temple in films in which she is "mixed up with crooks," such as this picture and Little Miss Marker and Now and Forever. Modern sources include John Alexander (Ragpicker) in the cast. James P. Judge's play was first made into a picture by Fox in 1928 under the title Square Crooks. It was directed by Lewis Seiler and starred Robert Armstrong and John Mack Brown (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1921-30; F2.5354).
