Pepper
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
James Tinling
Jane Withers
Irvin S. Cobb
Slim Summerville
Dean Jagger
Muriel Robert
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
When Pepper Jolly, the leader of a group of neighborhood kids in New York, sees a landlord give Mrs. Donahue, the poor mother of twin babies, until the next day to raise eleven dollars or face eviction, she organizes her followers to get the money. Meanwhile, Pepper's uncle, Ben Jolly, a street cleaner, who has held forty-one city jobs in ten years, witnesses Helen Wilkes, the wealthy daughter of millionaire John Taylor Wilkes, run down a vegetable cart as she speeds in her convertible with her fiancé, Baron Von Stofel. Officer Bob O'Ryan, on horseback, takes Helen and the baron to police headquarters despite her protests that she is to be married the next day. After having raised only $6.22, Pepper and her pals find themselves in front of the Wilkes mansion. When the gardener refuses to allow Pepper to enter, the kids throw tomatoes at Wilkes, who becomes particularly angry at this because he has been forced to eat tomatoes as part of a strict diet. Later, Pepper sneaks into Wilkes's sitting room and threatens to hit him again with a tomato unless he listens to her story about Mrs. Donahue. He acquiesces and offers her twenty-five dollars, but she accepts only five. Upon learning that Wilkes is unhappy, Pepper invites him to go with her to Coney Island, and despite his initial reluctance because of his doctor's warnings that he is dying, Wilkes joins her. After riding many rides and eating many hamburgers, Wilkes realizes that he has lost his wallet and cannot pay for the food. Because Pepper acts as if Wilkes is insane and cries obnoxiously, the hamburger stand owner allows them to wash dishes for the food. Meanwhile, Bob catches Helen and the baron speeding again. At night, when Wilkes, whose feet and stomach ache, desires to go home, Pepper puts shoe polish on his glasses as he sleeps and puts his hat in his hand so that when she sings people will think that he is blind and drop coins into his hat. They get enough money for subway fare, and at Wilkes's request, they spend the night at her apartment, where Uncle Ben keeps Wilkes awake with tales of his past. The next day, when Wilkes sees in a newspaper story that his daughter and the baron have spent the night in jail, he hurries home. Uncle Ben recognizes the baron from his picture, but can't remember where he knew him. Wilkes, who does not like the baron, offers $5,000 in cash if Ben can prove that the baron is a fake before the wedding, which is scheduled to occur in three hours. After Pepper draws glasses, a mustache and a beard on the baron's picture, Uncle Ben remembers his real identity, but the baron and his brothers then kidnap Uncle Ben and Pepper. Pepper bites the chauffeur and escapes. As the wedding is to begin, the guards at the mansion refuse to allow Pepper to enter, so she gathers hundreds of children throughout the city to converge upon the wedding. Meanwhile, Uncle Ben revives and locates Bob, who rides with him on his horse to the mansion. The children burst through the gates as the wedding takes place, and in the riot that ensues, the baron's brothers are chased out. When Uncle Ben identifies the baron as a union treasurer who absconded with burial funds, Helen faints in Bob's arms. Wilkes, who has been enjoying the riot, then asks Pepper what she is going to do with the $5,000, and she tells him she will count it.
Director
James Tinling
Cast
Jane Withers
Irvin S. Cobb
Slim Summerville
Dean Jagger
Muriel Robert
Ivan Lebedeff
Maurice Cass
Romaine Callender
George Humbert
Tommy Bupp
Reginald Simpson
Carey Harrison
Carmencita Johnson
Lois Verner
Gloria Mitzi Carpenter
Mickey Martin
Peter Arnold
Dickie Jones
Georgie Billings
Rafael Storm
George Sorrell
Otto Fries
Herbert Ashley
Wilson Benge
Otto Hoffman
Jay Eaton
Douglas Scott
Grace Hale
Evelyn Mulhall
James Burke
Wade Boteler
Guy Usher
Alice Lamont
Sam Josephson
Bert Morehouse
Tom London
Lee Phelps
Heinie Conklin
Harry Strang
Helen Brown
Clarence H. Wilson
Irving Bacon
Cecile Elliott
Cecil Weston
Jane Keckley
Ruth Warren
Mary Foy
Sam Ash
John Beck
Harry Semels
Broderick O'farrell
Paul Mcvey
Billy Gilbert
Crew
Fred Allen
Lou Breslow
Paul Burger
Sidney Clare
Daniel B. Clark
Duncan Cramer
William Eckhardt
Bernard Freericks
Herschel
Samuel Kaylin
Harry M. Leonard
Jefferson Parker
Murray Roth
John Stone
Lamar Trotti
Sol M. Wurtzel
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working title of this film was Public Nuisance No. 1. This title was changed, according to a New York Times news item, because it had already been used as the title of a British film. Don Rowan is listed as an actor in a Hollywood Reporter production chart; it has not been ascertained that he was in the final film.
