Top 10 Alternative Christmas Films: 4. "The Lemon Drop Kid"

 

Everyone knows the big 3 of Christmas films: “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “Miracle on 34th Street” and “A Christmas Carol” (Alistair Sim). For those of you who would like to view something different for the holidays, here is the fourth of ten recommendations of alternative Christmas films (to be presented in chronological order).

4. “The Lemon Drop Kid” (1951)

Based on a short story by Damon Runyon, “The Lemon Drop Kid” is one of Bob Hope’s funniest films. Hope plays the title role (named after his favorite candy), a penny-ante race track tout who makes the fatal mistake of giving a bum tip to a gangster’s girl friend. The gangster Moose Moran (Fred Clark) gives the Kid the following ultimatum: either cough up $10,000 by Christmas Day or else.

To raise the money, the Kid invents a fake charity so he can get a license allowing him and his fellow grifters to dress up as Santa Claus and beg for money on the streets of New York. Another equally lethal gangster Oxford Charlie (Lloyd Nolan) moves in on the Kid’s racket and exposes him. Disgraced and on the lam, the Kid must come up with one last scam to foil the gangsters and save the day.

Frank Tashlin, who co-wrote the screenplay with Edmund L. Hartman and Robert O’Brien, made his (uncredited) directing debut when he took over retakes from the original director, Sidney Lanfield. Tashlin’s most notable contribution was his staging of the classic Christmas song “Silver Bells” (composed by Ray Evans and Jay Livingston), which was written especially for this picture.

The outstanding supporting cast playing Runyon’s colorful “guys and dolls” include Marilyn Maxwell, Jane Darwell, William Frawley, Sid Melton and Tor Johnson.