Now and Forever

Now and Forever is a 1934 American drama film directed by Henry Hathaway. The screenplay by Vincent Lawrence and Sylvia Thalberg was based on the story "Honor Bright" by Jack Kirkland and Melville Baker. The film stars Gary Cooper, Carole Lombard, and Shirley Temple in a story about a small-time swindler going straight for his child's sake. Temple sang "The World Owes Me a Living". The film was critically well received. Temple adored Cooper, who nicknamed her 'Wigglebritches'. This is the only film in which Lombard and Temple appeared together. Plot Carefree, irresponsible Jerry Day (Gary Cooper) and his second wife, Toni (Carole Lombard), are running up a bill at a Shanghai hotel that Jerry has no means to pay. Jerry hatches a scheme to swindle other guests to get money to pay his hotel bill and the two escape to the next leg of their foreign vacation. Desperate for more cash, Jerry is willing to sell the custody rights of his 5-year-old daughter Penelope from his first marriage, known as Penny (Shirley Temple), whom he has never met, to his former brother-in-law. Toni is shocked and goes by herself to Paris, while Cooper meets his daughter and is captivated by her, deciding to retain custody after all. Penny and Jerry arrive in Paris to be reunited with Toni, who will now play her mother. After selling a nonexistent gold mine to Felix Evans (Sir Guy Standing), a man who turns out to be much more versed in the art of swindling than he, Jerry decides to re-enter the workforce as a real estate salesman, but is not very successful. Soon he finds himself in need of cash to support himself, Penny and Toni. Jerry meets up again with Evans, who had paid with a phony check, and Evans convinces Jerry to steal a valuable necklace from Mrs. Crane (Charlotte Granville), a rich lady Penny has befriended. Mrs. Crane tells Jerry that she wants to adopt Penny, and offers to throw a party for her. During the party, Jerry spots one of Mrs. Crane's expensive necklaces lying out on her dresser and steals it, hiding it in Penny's teddy bear. The police are called and all the guests are searched but the necklace is not found. When Penny is put to bed, she cuddles her teddy bear and discovers the necklace hidden inside. She asks Jerry if he stole it and he says no. To get her to stop crying, Toni tells Penny that it was she who took the necklace so really Jerry was telling the truth.