Little Miss Marker

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For other meanings, see the disambiguation page Marker
Little Miss Marker
Directed by Alexander Hall
Produced by B.P. Schulberg
Written by Damon Runyon (novel)
William R. Lipman
Sam Hellman
Gladys Hellman
Starring Shirley Temple
Adolphe Menjou
Dorothy Dell
Charles Bickford
Lynne Overman
Distributed by Paramount Pictures (USA)
Release date(s) June 1, 1934 (USA)
Language English
IMDb profile

Little Miss Marker (also known as The Girl in Pawn) is a 1934 film starring Shirley Temple, Adolphe Menjou and Dorothy Dell.

[edit] Synopsis

The film tells the story of "Marky" (Temple), whose father gives her to a gangster-run gambling operation as a "marker" (collateral) for a bet. When the man loses his bet and commits suicide, the gangsters are left with the girl on their hands. They decide to keep her temporarily and use her to help pull off one of their fixed races, naming her the owner of the horse to be used in the race.

Marky is sent to live with bookie Sorrowful Jones (Menjou). Initially upset about being forced to look after the girl, the gangster eventually begins to develop a father-daughter relationship with her. His fellow gangsters become fond of her and begin to fill the roles of her extended family. Bangles (Dell), the girlfriend of gang kingpin Big Steve (Bickford) also begins to care for Marky. Being around the gang has a somewhat bad influence on the child, and she begins to develop a cynical nature and a wide vocabulary of gambling terminology and slang.

The film stars Shirley Temple, Adolphe Menjou, Charles Bickford, Lynn Overman, and Dorothy Dell. Overman's character, Regret, is meant to be mafia accountant Otto Berman, best friend of writer Damon Runyon, who wrote the story on which the film is based.

The film has been deemed "culturally significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

[edit] External links


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