Post by mikef6 on Dec 21, 2019 18:20:45 GMT
The original “Dead End Kids” made a very strong impact first in Sidney Kingsley’s Broadway hit, “The Dead End” and then in Goldwyn’s movie of the play. They were:
Leo Gorcey (Spit)
Huntz Hall (Dippy)
Billy Halop (Tommy)
Bobby Jordan (Angel)
Bernard Punsley (Milty)
Gabriel Dell (T.B.)
They made a series of seven “A” pictures for Warner. Perhaps the best remembered were #3 “Angels With Dirty Faces” (1938) which featured an iconic performance by James Cagney and #4, the loose “Les Misérables” adaptation, “The Made Me A Criminal” (1939). After those films they were either billed as “Little Tough Guys” or “The Dead End Kids And The Little Tough Guys.” Mostly, Gorcey did not appear in these later films. My favorites of these are two cliffhanger serials. I have seen and enjoyed very much the second of the serials, “Sea Raiders.” Billy Halop, Huntz Hall, Gabe Dell and Bernard Punsley are the only four Kids who appear. Halop and Hall share all of the chapter endings. Then, under the guidance of Sam Katzman, he of the Katzman Quickie, Leo Gorcey returned and they became The East Side Kids, a series that turned increasingly comic. In 1945 Gorcey quit when his appeal for a salary increase was turned down. He formed his own production company and with Huntz Hall and Bobby Jordan (and occasionally Gabe Dell) rebranded themselves as The Bowery Boys for 48 films.
These Bowery Boys movies make up a large part of my early childhood memories of drive-in theaters.
Gorcey played Terence Aloysius "Slip" Mahoney. Hall was his goofy sidekick, Sach. Gorcey and Hall were clearly the leads. I remember a game my family would play at the drive-in. We would listen for any of the Boys other than Gorcey and Hall to talk - actually have a line to say. My sister and I would call out if they did. Often, they didn’t.
Thanks for the memories.
Leo Gorcey (Spit)
Huntz Hall (Dippy)
Billy Halop (Tommy)
Bobby Jordan (Angel)
Bernard Punsley (Milty)
Gabriel Dell (T.B.)
They made a series of seven “A” pictures for Warner. Perhaps the best remembered were #3 “Angels With Dirty Faces” (1938) which featured an iconic performance by James Cagney and #4, the loose “Les Misérables” adaptation, “The Made Me A Criminal” (1939). After those films they were either billed as “Little Tough Guys” or “The Dead End Kids And The Little Tough Guys.” Mostly, Gorcey did not appear in these later films. My favorites of these are two cliffhanger serials. I have seen and enjoyed very much the second of the serials, “Sea Raiders.” Billy Halop, Huntz Hall, Gabe Dell and Bernard Punsley are the only four Kids who appear. Halop and Hall share all of the chapter endings. Then, under the guidance of Sam Katzman, he of the Katzman Quickie, Leo Gorcey returned and they became The East Side Kids, a series that turned increasingly comic. In 1945 Gorcey quit when his appeal for a salary increase was turned down. He formed his own production company and with Huntz Hall and Bobby Jordan (and occasionally Gabe Dell) rebranded themselves as The Bowery Boys for 48 films.
These Bowery Boys movies make up a large part of my early childhood memories of drive-in theaters.
Gorcey played Terence Aloysius "Slip" Mahoney. Hall was his goofy sidekick, Sach. Gorcey and Hall were clearly the leads. I remember a game my family would play at the drive-in. We would listen for any of the Boys other than Gorcey and Hall to talk - actually have a line to say. My sister and I would call out if they did. Often, they didn’t.
Thanks for the memories.