The Big Street Reviews

Lucy got her first major role as the arrogant moll of a small-time hood (MacLane). Fonda is a mild-mannered busboy who saves Lucy's dog from being run over. He loves her from afar, and she decides to treat him nicely after his bravery. This endears her to him even more. MacLane slaps Lucy around, and she is crippled and placed in a wheelchair, but that hasn't changed her surly attitude. She wants to go to Florida and find a rich man, so she and Fonda hitchhike there, with Henry pushing Lucy's wheelchair much of the way. Once in Florida, he rounds up a host of Broadwayites who are there for the winter and arranges a party for Lucy where everyone will come and pay homage to her. She has no idea that Fonda did all of this but is so moved by the party that she musters her last bit of strength, stands, and dances with Henry. The effort is too great, and she dies in his arms, but she has gone out the way she wanted to go--at a party in her honor. This Damon Run-yarn is a charming, touching, and often funny little film that presaged GUYS AND DOLLS by several years, but you could see where the genre was going. Eugene Pallette is a fine "Nicely-Nicely" and two of Orson Welles' crowd register strongly in small bits, Agnes Moorehead as Violette (Pallette's moll) and Ray Collins as the betting king of Mindy's (in real life, Lindy's) restaurant.