A Little Hope for the Holidays

If you need a little Christmas cheer, look no further than Bob Hope starring in the 1951 film The Lemon Drop Kid . This film, not to be confused with the champion thoroughbred race horse also named The Lemon Drop Kid, is another great Hope comedy involving gambling, Santa suites, Christmas, and ends with a smile. The film has been broken into 9 to 10 minute segments, but those who are patient enough can view it here, thanks to YouTube and Google video.

The premise of the movie begins when the Lemon Drop Kid aka Sidney Melbourne (Bob Hope) comes from New York City to work the Florida racetrack. He falls in with the beautifully dumb Stella (Andrea King) and persuades her to change her bet. When the bet looses, The Kid finds out Stella is the girl of gangster Moose Moran (Fred Clark), who wants The Kid to reimburse him for the money his girl lost him at the racetrack. The Kid tries to get the money from girlfriend Brainy Baxter (Marilyn Maxwell) and then from fellow miscreant "Oxford" Charlie (Lloyd Nolan). He spies a man dresses as Santa Claus and decides collection donations as Santa is the perfect scheme. After a night in jail, he realizes he needs a backer for this scheme and puts his so-called charitable intentions towards Nellie Thursday (Jane Darwell), a woman who can't get a home because of her incarcerated husband's reputation. A bunch of fellow small time crooks get involved in The Kid's scheme to collect the money under Nellie's name and use it for himself. Of course, no one knows that The Kid is collecting for himself and this is where things get tricky. The plot ties itself up and then unravels wonderfully with just the hint of suspense that comedy needs to make it truly funny.

A little bit of trivia, this song introduced the Christmas tune "Silver Bells", which is sung by Hope and Maxell. Also, William Frawley appeared as "Gloomy" Willie Dunhill in this version and the 1934 version of The Lemon Drop Kid. The film was even included as an example in an article about the Law and Popular Culture from the University of San Francisco.

For some reviews, you can always check out this one from The New York Times or this one from eltremendo3000.com. More info can be found here thanks to cinema.theiapolis.com. And this film ranked as #12 on Dirty Harry's Place's Top 25 Christmas films. So, there you have it, a little Hope for the holidays.