The Lemon Drop Kid
Cast & Crew
Marshall Neilan
Lee Tracy
Helen Mack
William Frawley
Minna Gombell
Baby Leroy
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Fast-talking confidence man Wally Brooks, called "The Lemon Drop Kid" because of his love of the candy, works the racetracks with his partner, William Dunhill, known as the "Professor," earning a living from the dupes who fall for their tips. When irascible multimillionaire Griggsby, who is confined to a wheelchair by his arthritis, arrives at the track, Wally offers him a lemon drop as a placebo and convinces him to place one hundred dollars on a horse. The money is stolen out of Wally's pocket, however, and when the horse miraculously wins, Wally is accused of theft and is forced to flee the track. While on the run, he meets Jonas Deering, a kindly alcoholic on a drinking binge, and escorts him home to the small town of Kibbsville. Jonas' daughter Alice welcomes Wally and falls in love with him, convincing him to take a job at penny-pinching Martin Potter's store, where Alice also works. When Wally tries to place a call to the Professor, Alice learns that he is wanted by the police. Eventually, Wally proposes and is about to confess his past, when Alice assures him she loves him and does not need to know it. They marry and Alice gets pregnant. When a serious complication arises before she is full-term, her doctor urges Wally to take her to a specialist in the city, but he has no money. After being denied a loan by Potter, Wally is forced to hold him up to save Alice, but is too late with the money. Alice gives birth to a baby boy, Wally, Jr., then dies. The police then arrest Wally, who gave himself away by eating a lemon drop during the heist. Utterly despondent, Wally ignores his son and becomes bitter and insubordinate in prison. A kindly warden who is aware of his tragedy arranges for Wally to visit with Wally, Jr., and father learns to love son. After Jonas dies from alcoholism, Wally, Jr. is put up for adoption. The Professor, meanwhile, has married his partner, Maizie, and they have made enough money to adopt Wally, Jr. The papers report only that the Brooks baby was adopted by "a wealthy Manhattan couple," and when Wally is paroled, he is more despondent than ever to have lost his son. Eventually, he gets a message to visit the Professor and is met by Griggsby. Cured of his arthritis by lemon drops, Griggsby gives Wally a check for $5,000 minus the original hundred lost, then escorts him to see his son, announcing that he appointed himself Wally, Jr.'s foster father.
Director
Marshall Neilan
Cast
Lee Tracy
Helen Mack
William Frawley
Minna Gombell
Baby Leroy
Kitty Kelly
Henry B. Walthall
Robert Mcwade
Clarence H. Wilson
Charles Wilson
Eddie Peabody
Edward J. Lesaint
Del Henderson
Grace Goodall
Robert Homans
William B. Davidson
Edward Gargan
Tammany Young
Al Hill
Tempe Pigott
James Burke
Jules Cowles
C. L. Sherwood
Bee Mccune
Jean Mccune
Lillian West
Charles Mcavoy
Eddie Baker
Walter Mcgrail
Lee Shumway
Stanley Blystone
Marshall Ruth
Nell Craig
Sam Mcdaniel
Crew
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The title card for this film reads, "Damon Runyon's The Lemon Drop Kid." Runyon's original short story was later published in his collection Blue Plate Special (New York, 1934). Background footage was shot at Tanforan Racetrack in San Bruno, CA. A pre-production news item in Hollywood Reporter on July 20, 1934 states that Gertrude Michael was set to star with Lee Tracy and Helen Mack in this film, although she does not appear in the final film. Several reviews praise William Frawley's performance, especially the scene in which he sings a lullaby to Baby LeRoy.
Paramount also used Runyon's story as the basis for a 1951 comedy entitled The Lemon Drop Kid, directed by Sidney Lanfield and starring Bob Hope and Marilyn Maxwell. The two films have few similarities and, although neither is completely faithful to Runyon's story, the 1934 film more closely resembles it. In the original short story the "Lemon Drop Kid" has no other name and both his wife and baby die.
