Princess O'Hara (1935)

The first adaptation of this Damon Runyon story (it was remade in 1943 as It Ain't Hay with Abbot & Costello) showcases Jean Parker in the title role. Princess' father is the well-respected Central Park hansom cab driver, King O'Hara (Ralph M. Remley) who is accidentally killed when he gets caught in the middle of a war between rival cab companies. Chester Morris co-stars as Vic Toledo, the owner of the nightclub where Princess sings, a cab company, and a racehorse. Vic tries to help out when she quits the club and to take over the hansom cab, but she puts him off as she believes he is responsible for her father's death. Her horse takes ill and somehow she ends up in jail for stealing a racehorse. This was of course, the doings of some of Vic's bumbling gangster-type friends whose good intentions go wrong. Vic and Princess find romance in the end. Lots of laughs from Leon Errol and Vince Barnett as the crooks. Viewed at Cinefest in Syracuse New York, March 2003.