Gambler Joe E. Brown is having a terrible run of bad luck. He's broke, he owes Alan Dinehart $500, and his girl, Alice White, has thrown him over for rich doctor Robert Barrat. Being a very honorable guy, he decides to sell his body to science, but the only taker is Barrat, who gives him a grand with the body collectable in four weeks, underwritten by Dinehart, who is touched by Brown's honesty. Then something terrible happens. His luck turns, and he has a lot of money and Miss White. He offers Barrat his money back and a handsome profit, but Barrat tells Dinehart Brown wants to welsh.
It's the second movie adapted from Damon Runyon. Runyon was born out of wedlock, and by the 1910s he was one of the premiere sportswriters, and writers about Broadway, with Walter Winchell and Ed Sullivan his leg men. With the institution of the Production Code, his comic hoods speaking ridiculous English became an acceptable way of portraying gangsters without making them outright villains. He died in 1946 at the age of 66.
It's the second movie adapted from Damon Runyon. Runyon was born out of wedlock, and by the 1910s he was one of the premiere sportswriters, and writers about Broadway, with Walter Winchell and Ed Sullivan his leg men. With the institution of the Production Code, his comic hoods speaking ridiculous English became an acceptable way of portraying gangsters without making them outright villains. He died in 1946 at the age of 66.