Little Accident Universal Pictures  Produced and Directed by Charles Lamont Written by Paul Yawitz and Eve Greene From a play by Floyd Dell and Thomas Mitchell Released November 1, 1939      After 2 pictures as a boy, Baby Sandy switches to her real feminine gender.  Ignores original play, mainly using its title.  Picture displays cute smile and antics of Baby Sandy, combining some elemental and slapstick comedy sequences by Hugh Herbert and adult members of the cast, but all on a rather inconsequential story that serves nothing more than as an excuse for the individual situations.      Story concerns the parental mix-up of the baby.  Ernst Truex, real father abandons, the child on desk of baby editor, Hugh Herbert.  To save his job, latter assumes grandparent supervision and turns the baby over to his unwed daughter.  From there on, it's a mélange of tribulations for all concerned.  Windup provides a slapsticky chase by the principals after the baby, wrapped in a laundry bag and headed for the mangler.      Baby Sandy is now toddling and delivering a few words in addition to regulation coos.  Picture is episodic, displaying attempt to piece together incidents to get through regulation footage for a feature.  Hugh Herbert Gives a standard portrayal as the adopted grandfather while Edgar Kenney and Etienne Giradot are used for comedy sequences with Sandy.  Giardot catches several chuckles as salesman in a baby-wear shop.  Secondary romantic interest is supplied by Florence Rice and Richard Carlson, with Ernest Truex appearing briefly for the climax.  Anne Gwynne appears in the film wearing an elegant gown.

Cast: Hugh Herbert Florence Rice Richard Carlson Ernst Truex Joy Hodges Fritz Feld Etienne Giardot Anne Gwynne ... the blonde Girl

Production: Paul Yawitz and Eve Greene- Writers Floyd Dell and Thomas Mitchell- Story Frank Tuttle- Producer/Director  Milton Krasner- Cinematographer Frank Gross- Editor

Full Storyline

Tabby Morgan, the irresponsible widowed father of Baby Sandy, deposits his little charge at the office of Mrs. Teedsley, a baby care columnist. Unknown to Tabby, Mrs. Teedsley is actually a pseudonym for Herbert Pearson, who is in danger of losing his column. Luckily for Herbert, his boss, Jeff Collins, has a change of heart when he sees little Sandy in his office, and assuming that the infant is Herbert's granddaughter, he suggests entering her in the perfect baby contest. Desperate to keep his job, Herbert convinces his daughter Alice, a model, to pose as the baby's mother and his friend, Perry Allerton, scion of a railroad magnate, to act as Sandy's father. Eager to save Herbert's job, they agree to the ruse, and little Sandy wins the contest.

When Perry's socialite parents read about their "grandchild," they beg Alice to marry their son and thus avert a scandal. Alice refuses to marry Perry, however, because of rumors of his impending engagement to debutante Joan Huston. When Perry's parents threaten to sue for Sandy's custody unless Alice marries their son, Alice blithely hands the baby over to them. Soon afterward, Tabby returns to visit his daughter, and Herbert takes him to the Allerton house, where Joan discovers that he is Sandy's real father. Threatening to tell the story to the papers, Joan takes Tabby and the baby to a hotel, where Sandy falls down the laundry shoot and is picked up by a laundry truck. Learning of Sandy's peril, Alice, Perry and Herbert rush to the laundry and pull Sandy from a laundry sack in the nick of time. By the time the reporters arrive, Alice and Perry have reconciled and have decided to marry, appointing Sandy maid of honor at their wedding.

 

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