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1952 - KID
MONK BARONI
80 min
Prod: Jack Broder
Associate Prod: Herman Cohen
Dir: Harold Schuster
Paul Baroni: Leonard Nimoy
Father Callahan: Richard
Rober
Emily Brooks: Allene Roberts
June: Mona Knox
Angelo: Jack Larson
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Paul Baroni
is called “Kid Monk Baroni” by his friends because of his deformed face. He is
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one of a group of young people,
a street gang, trying to cope with their lives in a modest surrounding. His parents are worried
about him until Father Callahan offers the youngsters boxing classes for sports to get
them off the street. There he meets Emily, who is in charge of the church’s social activities
and who seems to like him. Paul develops his boxing skills and spends more and more of his
time in the facilities of the church, even joining the church choir. His deep worries and
pains about his deformed face seem to ease. On his way to his first public performance with
the choir Paul and his friend, Angelo, are harassed by the gang which results in a fight.
Father Callahan tries to intervene and is accidentally hit unconscious by Paul who wanted to protect
Angelo.
In despair Paul flees the area and – with Angelo as his manager – pursues a
boxing career sponsored by a pawnbroker. He pays him a watch per fight won.
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Six watches
later without a single fight lost, the pawnbroker introduces Paul to a boxing manager,
Hillman. "Kid Monk" becomes famous and gets big sums of money for his
fights.
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Still interested
in choir music he buys a record and meets father Callahan in the shop. The father invites him
to a dance in the church's recreation hall. There, Paul meets Emily again and they begin to
develop a relationship. Ends seem to meet when Hillman asks Paul to extend his fighting
circles and Paul sees a chance to make more money.
Emily becomes aware of Paul's suffering from his looks and suggests an operation to get the deformations
removed. )
The new face shows how handsome Paul is. And it attracts girls like June
Travers. She's more an adventure and interesting to Paul than Emily and
they begin dating. June expects expensive presents, a demand Paul can fulfill until he his
broke. He's dropped for better pray. The "new face" make him also
lose fights because he now cares for his look - something he had never done
before. He loses his last fight boxing for the church’s charity and marries Emily in the end.
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