Hoboes Bumper and Acorn are enjoying their annual holiday in Florida when they meet fellow vacationer John Hastings. John is the mayor of New York City and an old friend of Bumper, who is known as the mayor of Central Park because he is the convivial leader of the bums. The vacationers return to New York, and while Bumper happily greets his pals, including the politically-minded street cleaner Egghead, John prepares to reunite with his sweetheart, June Marcher. John had quarreled with June when he saw her giving her old boyfriend Len money to help him begin a new life. John had misunderstood the situation, but June convinced him that it was innocent. After John lays the cornerstone of a new school, he goes to the Central Park Casino, where he lunches everyday, and tips Bumper as he opens John’s car door. While Bumper, Egghead and Acorn lunch among the trash cans out back, John meets June. John slips a $1,000 bill into June’s purse as a reconciliation gift, but his gesture goes awry when her handbag is accidently put in Egghead’s rubbish barrel. Later that night, John refuses to believe that June lost her purse and accuses her of giving the money to Len. June’s tearful pleading that she is innocent and that Len has left town is useless. The next morning, Bumper finds June’s purse with the money in it and gets her address from a postcard, but when he arrives at her apartment, he discovers that she has moved away. John receives a goodbye note from June and, after rushing to her apartment, finds that Bumper has the purse but that June is gone. A distraught John gives Bumper the money to divide among his friends and begins to search for June. Later that night, Bumper is walking in the park and sees June try to commit suicide by jumping into the river. He rescues her and hides her from a policeman, but the shock has given her amnesia. Not remembering who she is or what she was running from, June falls in love with her rescuer, who calls her “Angel.” Determined to give June the best of everything, Bumper takes June to stay with his carriage driver friend Sunday and his wife, and takes a bank job arranged by John. After his first day of work, Bumper visits June but is called away by Sunday, who needs help getting the drunken mayor home. When they reach John’s apartment, he talks about the wonderful girl he lost and shows her photograph to Bumper. The heartbroken Bumper recognizes his Angel and realizes that she belongs with John. Bumper then takes John to see June, and at the sight of him she regains her memory and faints. When she awakes, she cannot remember how she got to the Sundays’ apartment or who Bumper is. As John comforts June, Bumper sadly leaves, but when he returns to the park, he realizes he is in his rightful place as Acorn and Egghead welcome him home. More on Wikipedia
Watch Hallelujah, I’m a Bum (1933)
