Little Orphan Annie
Cast & Crew
Ben Holmes
Ann Gillis
Robert Kent
June Travis
Ian Maclaren
J. Farrell Macdonald
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Little Orphan Annie runs away from her abusive guardian with her dog Sandy. She meets Johnny Adams, a friendly truck driver who gives her a lift, and during the drive, reveals his dream of being a champion fighter. Johnny is fired for picking up Annie, but promises to meet her in New York. In the city, Annie and Sandy find shelter in a warehouse in a tenement district. The warehouse guard, Pop Corrigan, a former fight trainer, lets her stay on, and by month's end, the warehouse is Annie's home. Annie's cheerful and helpful spirit endears her to her tenement neighbors, and she stands up for them when they are attacked by loan shark Spot McGee because they are unable to repay their debts. Annie attends a local boxing match with her friend, Mary Ellen, and discovers that Johnny is in the ring. He is badly beaten, and she brings him home to the warehouse. Pop undertakes Johnny's training, which the neighbors pay for without the young man's knowledge. They hope that Johnny will win a professional match, the prize of which they would use to repay McGee. With the help of one of Pop's friends, Johnny is booked for a professional match at Lewis Stadium, and he falls in love with Mary Ellen during the course of his training. When Mary Ellen's father, Tom Jennings, is attacked by McGee's thugs, Monk and Hutch, Johnny comes to his rescue, further inspiring the support of the neighbors. Johnny and Annie protest when his match is cancelled, and their cause becomes headline news: "Robin Hood pugilist fights for entire tenement district." Fight promoter Val Lewis reschedules Johnny's match against Dude Dawson. When Johnny is unable to come up with the thousand dollars to pay for the match, neighbor Soo Long sells the coffin for which he has saved his entire life, and gives Johnny the money. McGee tries to sabotage Johnny's chances of winning by locking him and Annie in their gym, but the women of the tenements hear their shouts and, after beating up on McGee's thugs, free Johnny. He arrives at the stadium just in time to fight the match and bests Dawson in the ring. Annie splits the winnings, giving half to the neighborhood for a mutual aid society, and the other half to Johnny and Mary Ellen for their honeymoon.
Director
Ben Holmes
Cast
Ann Gillis
Robert Kent
June Travis
Ian Maclaren
J. Farrell Macdonald
Margaret Armstrong
J. M. Kerrigan
Dorothy Vaughan
James Burke
Sarah Padden
Ben Welden
Eddie Gribbon
Dick Rich
Harry Tyler
Charles Wilson
Jack Rice
Tommy Bupp
Vince Lombardi
Crew
Robert Bischoff
Endré Bohem
Hal Bumbaugh
Lou Forbes
Feild Gray
Kenneth Holmes
Samuel Ornitz
Samuel Ornitz
Frank Redman
Budd Wilson Schulberg
John Speaks
Adolph Zukor
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The plot is based on a studio release dialogue script in the Paramount story files at the AMPAS Library. The title of the script was Little Orphan Annie and the Champ, however, the film was released as Little Orphan Annie. The comic strip "Little Orphan Annie" was inspired by the poem "Little Orphant Annie" by James Whitcomb Riley, published in The Little Orphant Annie Book (Indianapolis, 1908). Robert Kent was borrowed from Twentieth Century-Fox. In 1919, William Selig produced and directed Little Orphant Annie, based on the Whitcomb poem and starring Colleen Moore (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1911-20; F1.2546); RKO released a 1932 version based on the comic strip; and in 1982, John Huston directed Aileen Quinn and Albert Finney in Columbia Picture's Annie, a screen adaptation of the 1977 Broadway musical of the same name, which also was inspired by the comic strip.
