God Gave Me Twenty Cents Explained

God Gave Me Twenty Cents
Director:	Herbert Brenon
Producer:	Jesse L. Lasky Adolph Zukor
Based On:	God Gave Me Twenty Cents by Dixie Willson
Screenplay:	Elizabeth Meehan John Russell
Starring:	Lois Moran Lya De Putti Jack Mulhall William Collier, Jr. Adrienne D'Ambricourt Leo Feodoroff Rosa Rosanova
Cinematography:	Leo Tover
Studio:	Famous Players–Lasky Corporation
Distributor:	Paramount Pictures
Runtime:	70 minutes
Country:	United States
Language:	Silent (English intertitles)

God Gave Me Twenty Cents is a 1926 American silent drama film directed by Herbert Brenon and written by Elizabeth Meehan and John Russell. The film stars Lois Moran, Lya De Putti, Jack Mulhall, William Collier, Jr., Adrienne D'Ambricourt, Leo Feodoroff, and Rosa Rosanova. The film was released on November 20, 1926, by Paramount Pictures,^{[1] [2]} following a gala premiere on November 19 that opened the Paramount Theatre in Manhattan.^[3] It is based on the novel God Gave Me Twenty Cents by Dixie Willson, subsequently remade by Paramount British as a sound film Ebb Tide in 1932.

Plot

As described in a film magazine review,^[4] Mary, a waitress, is sublimely happy in her love for sailor Steve, a jolly young star who surprises even himself when he marries the young Mary. Steve's old girl Cassie Lang, a patron of Ma Tapman's questionable hotel, is heartbroken and, upon her release from prison, goads Steve into gambling on whether or not he will take her to sea with him. Cassie wins, and Steve sails away the next day without a word to Mary. Mary is distraught by this and wants to die. She finds twenty cents on the pier and uses it to buy a rose for her hair. Then she is injured before she can take her own life and ends up in a hospital. There she meets Cassie who, on her deathbed, explains that she used false dimes for her wager with Steve and never sailed with him. Mary is jubilant on the return of Steve.

Cast

• Lois Moran as Mary
• Lya De Putti as Cassie Lang
• Jack Mulhall as Steve Doren
• William Collier, Jr. as Barney Tapman
• Adrienne D'Ambricourt as Ma Tapman
• Leo Feodoroff as Andre Dufour
• Rosa Rosanova as Mrs. Dufour
• Claude Brooke as The Florist

Preservation

With no prints of God Gave Me Twenty Cents located in any film archives,^[5] it is a lost film.^[6]

Notes and References

1. Web site: God-Gave-Me-Twenty-Cents - Trailer - Cast - Showtimes - NYTimes.com. https://web.archive.org/web/20150208212356/http://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/93369/God-Gave-Me-Twenty-Cents/overview. dead. February 8, 2015. Movies & TV Dept.. The New York Times. Baseline & All Movie Guide. Hal Erickson. Hal Erickson (author). 2015. February 8, 2015.
2. Web site: God Gave Me Twenty Cents. AFI Catalog of Feature Films. December 11, 2023.
3. Book: Slide, Anthony . 1998 . The New Historical Dictionary of the American Film Industry . registration . Scarecrow Press . 978-0-8108-6636-2 . 156 .
4. God Gave Me Twenty Cents . The Film Daily . 38 . 49 . November 28, 1926 . 12 . Wid's Films and Film Folks, Inc. . New York City . 26 December 2023.
5. http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.mbrs.sfdb.5698/default.html The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: God Gave Me Twenty Cents
6. http://www.silentsaregolden.com/arneparamountpictures.html God Gave Me Twenty Cents at Arne Anderson's Lost Film Files: Lost Paramount films - 1926