The movie begins with Bentley High election returns initially showing:
- President: Rogers 75, Vanderpool 350;
- Vice-president: Smith 260, Dobbs 165;
- Treasurer: Miller 251, O’Brien 174;
- Secretary: Hanson 150, Morris 275.
Harry Vanderpool (Kenneth Howell, February 21, 1913 – September 28, 1966), the son of the town's richest man, believes in imminent victory. He casts his vote for the “swell guy” loser, Sonny Rogers (Junior Coghlan, March 15, 1916 – September 7, 2009). Results end up:
- President: Rogers 501, Vanderpool 500;
- Vice-president: Smith 677, Dobbs 324;
- Treasurer: Miller 343, O’Brien 658;
- Secretary: Hanson 551, Morris 449.
Harry interrupts Sonny’s victory speech with crude noises. Sonny keels over when Harry drives off with a rope attached to Old Ironside’s rear wheels.
Girlfriend Phyllis Dean (Dorothy Thompson Ward, December 4, 1911 – April 14, 1988) handles steering while Sonny wheelbarrows the rear, painted:
- “Danger: Rear end exposed”;
- “Needs to be covered by mortgage.”
Sonny’s father, George (Harry Myers, September 5, 1882 – December 25, 1938), and mother (Lila Leslie, January 1, 1890 – September 8, 1940) quash Mutt’s canine ebullience and Phyllis’s celebrations next-door by:
- Becoming Vanderpool’s Seattle manager;
- Giving Sonny a dish-washing apron.
Mary Lou (Shirley Temple, April 23, 1928 – February 10, 2014) questions Sonny breaking and not drying dishes. She retrieves -- from the refrigerator’s top -- and tastes a white-frosted cake. George squashes the cake while belt-spanking Sonny. He tells Sonny to go to bed and miss the ballgame.
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