The Lemon Drop Kid

Busted in New York for impersonating Santa, Bob Hope (the title character, a Florida racetrack tout) visited by "Sam The Surgeon" (Harry Bellaver), enforcer for the gangster he has to pay off by Christmas, then rescued by his gal Brainey (Marilyn Maxwell), in the Damon Runyon story The Lemon Drop Kid, 1951.

Still dressed for Florida and the racetrack, Bob Hope (title character) back in New York scrambling to pay back a gangster by Christmas, runs into old pal Nellie (Jane Darwell) with her landlord, early in the 1951 version of the Damon Runyon story, The Lemon Drop Kid.

Joining the prologue, citing Damon Runyon and meeting Bob Hope, title character, a.k.a. Sidney Milburn, hustling two greenhorns (Oliver Blake, Billie Bird) at a Florida track, the remake of the 1934 Lee Tracy version, The Lemon Drop Kid, 1951, also starring Jane Darwell and Lloyd Nolan.