Grandpa Vanderhof and his wacky family, the Sycamores, have been happily living their zany lives in his house by Columbia University in New York for many years. This family (and their friends) are a madcap group of eccentrics, marching to the beat of their own drum, with pride and joy. Their hobbies include collecting snakes, building fireworks in the basement, writing a myriad of plays that never get published, and taking ballet lessons. Things like...

A genial homeless unemployed baseball pitcher is hoaxed into protesting against existing social evils as a newspaper circulation stunt. He pleas to the "little man" for brotherly love and democratic good will, and John Doe clubs are formed. Because of his simple sincerity, he becomes a national hero, but he is shocked when he discovers that it's all a plot by the owner of the paper, who plans to use the voting strength of the clubs to bludgeon his...