The Little Adventuress
Cast & Crew
D. Ross Lederman
Edith Fellows
Richard Fiske
Jacqueline Wells
Cliff Edwards
Virginia Howell
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Little Pinky Horton is orphaned when her parents fall to their death during an acrobatic act. Handy, trainer of the famous horse Counto, takes responsibility for Pinky and agrees to take her to her cousin Dick in California when she refuses to live with her strict Aunt Hattie. When Pinky and Handy arrive in California, they learn that Dick recently lost his racing stable along with everything else he owned. Dick refuses to take a job with his fiancée Helen Gould's father and instead moves in with Pinky and Handy. Pinky, who has faith in Counto's racing ability, spends her mornings training the horse at a nearby track. Counto's progress results in Pinky spending their grocery money to enter him in a race. Counto, however, refuses to run and throws his jockey. Undaunted by Counto's behavior, Pinky decides to sell the car and trailer and move herself, Handy and Dick into a barn in order to enter him in the next race. Dick contributes to the fund by selling his collection of racing records. Later, a tragedy is narrowly averted when Pinky, Dick and Handy save Counto from a barn fire. While Counto recovers from the fire, Aunt Hattie tries to gain custody of Pinky by seizing Counto for debt. When Dick and Pinky refuse to give up the horse, Dick is sent to jail and Pinky is forced to go with Aunt Hattie. Helen springs Dick from jail and, after taking possession of Counto, takes Pinky to her home, where Pinky and Dick promise Helen that Counto's next race will be his last. Just before the race, Handy overhears the jockey's plans to sabotage the race and, at the last minute, replaces the rider with Pinky. The race begins with Counto trailing his competition, but with Pinky's encouragement, he takes the lead and wins. Pinky is awarded the $50,000 purse, which she spends on buying an interest in Gould's soap factory. Gould turns over his desk to Dick, who is now a soap manufacturer.
Director
D. Ross Lederman
Cast
Edith Fellows
Richard Fiske
Jacqueline Wells
Cliff Edwards
Virginia Howell
Harry C. Bradley
Charles Waldron
Kenneth Harlan
Helen Brown
Anthony Hughes
Jack Clifford
Marvin Stephens
Leonard Carey
Dick Curtis
Boyd Irwin
Edwin Stanley
Kane Richmond
Wade Boteler
May Wallace
Richard Mcallister
George Pearce
Bob Mckenzie
Charles Brinley
Al Herman
Steve Clark
Cy Schindell
Harriett Mathews
Carlos Barbe
James Millican
George Chesebro
Jack Gardner
Edmund Cobb
Bert Dillard
Robert Darrell
Eddie Fetherston
Charles Mcmurphy
Jackie Howard
Clyde Kennedy
Burl Tatum
Eugene Anderson Jr.
Ray Stewart
Harry Bailey
Lou Davis
Wedgwood Nowell
Henry Martin
Brooks Benedict
Wong Chung
Bessie Wade
Beulah Parkington
Phil Dunham
Cy Ring
Gene Stone
Bess Flowers
Reginald Simpson
Victor Travers
Crew
Lionel Banks
Ed Bernds
Irving Briskin
Al Clark
Ralph Cohn
George Cooper
Henry Freulich
Paul Jarrico
Mary Mccarthy
Wilbur Mcgaugh
Michael L. Simmons
Michael L. Simmons
Morris Stoloff
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
A working title for this film was Thoroughbred. The file for the film in the MPAA/PCA Collection at the AMPAS Library contains a letter from the PCA to Columbia, dated July 26, 1938, in which the Hays Office stated its concern about certain aspects of the script that might be subject to censorship. The material in question included a scene containing "gruesomeness"; the depiction of a groom whipping a horse; and the scene in which "Pinky" says a prayer for her horse. In addition, the PCA insisted that a scene showing Handy kissing another man was "rather dangerous, and should be handled carefully to avoid any suggestion of a pansy gag."
