[1][2] For his performance, Cooper, at the age of nine, became the youngest person to earn an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role.

[3] Skippy (Jackie Cooper) is the feisty son of the strict Dr. Herbert Skinner (Willard Robertson) and his wife Ellen (Enid Bennett).

Skinner forbids Skippy to play in the pauperized Shantytown, because of its filth and criminal surroundings.

The next morning, Skippy gets a new bicycle from his father but trades it to his friend, Eloise (Mitzi Green), for her new dog.

Dr. Skinner has a change of heart and buys Sooky a licensed dog, finds his mother a job, and refrains from ordering Shantytown destroyed, instead offering assistance to its citizens.

Cooper did the scene, but despite finding the dog was not harmed, he was still hysterical for hours afterward to the point of needing a sedative.