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The guys and dolls created by the inimitable Damon Runyon (1884-1946) made wonderful screen characters, and more than 30 films have been produced from Runyon tales. Runyon, once called "the greatest newspaperman of his age," turned to fiction and sold 76 stories to American magazines between 1929 and 1945. His characters, who spoke a unique form of Brooklynese and had hearts of gold under their brassy exteriors, were so distinctive that "Runyonesque" entered the lexicon to describe their whimsical world.

The Runyon story "Madame La Gimp" inspired the Frank Capra film Lady for a Day (1933), starring May Robson as Apple Annie, a bedraggled Broadway apple peddler who is transformed by a helpful gambler into the society matron her daughter believes her to be. The movie won Oscar nominations for Robert Riskin's adaptation of Runyon's story, plus those for Best Director (Capra), Best Actress (Robson) and Best Picture. Capra remade Lady for a Day as Pocketful of Miracles (1961), with Bette Davis as Apple Annie.

Little Miss Marker (1934), adapted from Runyon's story about an orphaned girl who reforms an irascible bookie, helped turn Shirley Temple into a pint-sized superstar. The film was remade three times. Guys and Dolls (1955) was based on the smash Frank Loesser Broadway musical, which in turn was taken from two Runyon stories, most notably "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown." Memorably enacting some of Runyon's most-loved characters are Marlon Brando as Sky Masterson, Jean Simmons as Sarah Brown, Frank Sinatra as Nathan Lane and Vivian Blaine as Miss Adelaide.

by Roger Fristoe