The Bowery Boys

For the 19th century nativist gang in New York City, see Bowery Boys.
The Bowery Boys
Medium Repertory theatre, film
Nationality American
Genres Farce, comedy
Former members Leo Gorcey
Huntz Hall
Bobby Jordan
Billy Benedict
David Gorcey

The Bowery Boys were fictional New York City characters, portrayed by a company of New York actors, who were the subject of feature films released by Monogram Pictures from 1946 through 1958.

The Bowery Boys were successors of the "The East Side Kids," who had been the subject of films since 1940. The group originated as the "Dead End Kids", who originally appeared in the 1937 film Dead End. A few of the actors previously appeared together as "The Little Tough Guys."

Origins

The Dead End Kids

Main article: Dead End Kids

"The Dead End Kids" originally appeared in the 1935 play Dead End, dramatized by Sidney Kingsley. When Samuel Goldwyn turned the play into a 1937 film, he recruited the original "kids" from the play—Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bobby Jordan, Gabriel Dell, Billy Halop, and Bernard Punsly—to appear in the same roles in the film. This led to the making of six other films that shared the collective title "The Dead End Kids".

The Little Tough Guys

Main article: Little Tough Guys

In 1938, Universal launched its own tough-kid series, "Little Tough Guys." Gradually, Universal recruited most of the original Dead End Kids, so the series ultimately featured "The Dead End Kids and Little Tough Guys." Universal made twelve feature films, and three 12-chapter serials with the gang. The final film in Universal's series, Keep 'Em Slugging, was released in 1943, with Bobby Jordan replacing erstwhile ringleader Billy Halop.

The East Side Kids

Main article: East Side Kids

When Warner Brothers released the remaining Dead End Kids from their contracts in 1939, producer Sam Katzman at Monogram acted quickly and hired several of them, including Jordan and the Gorcey brothers, Leo and David, as well as some of the Little Tough Guys, including Hally Chester, to star in a new series using the team name "The East Side Kids." These films also introduced 'Sunshine' Sammy Morrison, one of the original members of the Our Gang comedy team, as part of the gang.

The original members of the "Dead End Kids" were now working at several studios, so these films were made at the same time that Universal was making "The Dead End Kids" and "Little Tough Guys" series. A total of 21 films were made, with the final one, Come Out Fighting, released in 1945.

The Bowery Boys

In 1945, when East Side Kids producer Katzman refused to grant Leo Gorcey's request to double his weekly salary, Gorcey quit the series, which then ended immediately. Bobby Jordan then suggested a meeting with his agent, Jan Grippo. Grippo, Gorcey, and Hall formed Jan Grippo Productions, revamped the format, and rechristened the series The Bowery Boys. (The earlier films's credits appear as "Leo Gorcey and The Bowery Boys".) Gorcey, who owned 40 percent of the company, starred, produced, and contributed to the scripts. The new series followed a more established formula than the prior incarnations of the team, with the gang usually hanging out at Louie's Sweet Shop (at 3rd & Canal St.) until an adventure came along.

The original main characters were Terrence Aloysius "Slip" Mahoney (Leo Gorcey), Horace Debussy "Sach" Jones (Huntz Hall), Bobby (Bobby Jordan), Whitey (Billy Benedict), and Chuck (David Gorcey, sometimes billed as David Condon). "Sunshine" Sammy Morrison, "Scruno" in the East Side Kids films, declined the invitation to rejoin the gang. (He later stated in an interview that he "didn't like the setup", possibly referring to the idea of Gorcey and Hall being in the forefront, and being paid much more than the other members.) When Bobby Jordan quit the series for the same reason, his character was replaced by Butch Williams, with former East Side Kids Bennie Bartlett and Buddy Gorman alternating in the role. The proprietor of the malt shop where they hung out was the panicky Louie Dumbrowski (Bernard Gorcey, Leo's and David's real-life father).

Like the previous incarnations of the team, the members went through a number of changes over the course of the series. Thirteen actors were members of the team at one time or another. Bobby Jordan, an original Dead End Kid, appeared in the first eight films, but left after being injured in an elevator accident. Jordan was also unhappy with the direction of the series, which favored Gorcey and Hall, and limited the participation of the other gang members.

Gabriel Dell returned in the fourth entry, Spook Busters (1946), as "Gabe Moreno," a former member of the gang just out of the Navy with a French war-bride in tow. He remained (minus spouse) for the next 16 features. Gabe was a convenient "utility" character, frequently changing jobs (private investigator, policeman, songwriter, reporter, Nazi spy) to suit the story at hand--and the limited casting budget. Dell often acted as a bridge between the real world and those of the Boys who he would summon to assist him. He reprised one of his East Side Kids roles in Hard Boiled Mahoney (1947), playing Gabe as a myopic nerd with thick glasses, ascot and cap. His final appearance was in Blues Busters in 1950, generally regarded as one of the funniest in the series.

The early films such as In Fast Company (1946) flirted with the same humor-laced crime drama of the previous series, but they gradually shifted to all-out comedy, growing more slapstick and fantasy-oriented over the next decade. After 1950, the series began to resemble the farcical Abbott and Costello comedies—a far cry from the grim social realism of their 1930s films. The grittiness of the old days was sanitized with the gang's dingy basement club-house replaced by an ice cream parlor. The "boys" also adopted a more adult look, exchanging their sloppy, juvenile wardrobe for suits.

The team spirit of the ensemble cast faded as Huntz Hall was elevated to co-star status to showcase his comedic skills. The stories now focused entirely on Slip (the self-proclaimed leader of the bunch) and his zany sidekick, Sach, with the diminished three or four "boys" receding into the background with little to do. Time and again the plot revolved around Sach accidentally acquiring some strange power or ability (he becomes a psychic, champion wrestler, crooner, etc.) that Slip is quick to exploit. In most of the films, the gang pursues a scheme for quick riches or gets mixed up with neighborhood thugs. Story elements from their earlier films (haunted houses, mad scientists, nefarious spies) were also frequently incorporated into the new series.

Like a streetwise Abbott and Costello, Gorcey and Hall became a cohesive comedy duo, extending their verbal and physical humor into broader slapstick comedy that served to increase the popularity of the series. In 1953, Edward Bernds, a new producer and director who had previously worked with The Three Stooges, transformed the series into lucrative kiddie-matinée fodder, with Gorcey and Hall re-enacting gags borrowed from the Stooges. (Huntz Hall cited Shemp Howard, who had appeared in three Little Tough Guys films, as a major influence during this latter phase in the series.)

Leo's character "Slip" was famed for his malaprops (always delivered in a Brooklyn accent), such as "a clever seduction" for "a clever deduction," "I depreciate it!" ("I appreciate it!"), and "I regurgitate" ("I reiterate").

In the 1940s, Abbott and Costello appeared in a quartet of "service comedies", one for each branch of the military. The Bowery Boys duplicated this feat a decade later with Bowery Battalion, Let's Go Navy!, Here Come the Marines, and Clipped Wings. Abbott and Costello spoofed westerns: Ride 'Em Cowboy (1942), the upper-classes: In Society (1944), and hillbillies: Comin' Round the Mountain (1951). The Bowery Boys repeated this formula in Bowery Buckaroos (1947), High Society (1955), and Feudin' Fools (1952), respectively.

Abbott and Costello went on safari: Africa Screams (1949), to the Middle East: Lost in a Harem (1944), and even tangled with pirates in Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd (1952). Once again, the Bowery Boys followed suit with Jungle Gents (1954), Bowery to Bagdad (1955), and Hold That Hypnotist (1957). Abbott and Costello become private detectives in Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951); the Bowery Boys open up a detective agency in 1953's Private Eyes.

After Abbott and Costello's haunted-house comedy Hold That Ghost (1941) became a smash hit, the East Side Kids released the similar Spooks Run Wild with Bela Lugosi later that year. Ironically, Lugosi went on to help make Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, one of A&C's most popular and critically acclaimed comedies. The basic premise, centered around Dracula's scheme to transplant Costello's brain into the Frankenstein monster (played by Glenn Strange), was duplicated a few months later by The Bowery Boys in Master Minds (1949). Glenn Strange once again plays a hulking monster who switches minds with Sach (Huntz Hall). With a title suggesting a send-up of the Abbott and Costello "Meet" films, The Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters (1954) was the highest grossing entry in the series.

After filming Dig That Uranium in 1955, Bernard Gorcey was killed in an automobile accident, devastating his son Leo, who began to drink heavily, and it visibly affected his performance in the following film, Crashing Las Vegas, which would be his last. (During filming, he became violently unhinged, trashing the set and destroying every prop in sight.) At a subsequent meeting with Allied Artists, Gorcey demanded an increase on the 40% interest he held in the series. This was denied, and after a heated exchange, he quit the series and stormed off the studio lot.

The studio owed exhibitors three more films for the 1956 season, so Gorcey was replaced by Stanley Clements, a former tough-teen actor who had been in a few East Side Kids movies. Clements, as "Duke Coveleskie," adapted to the series easily and completed the three films, which now starred "Huntz Hall and The Bowery Boys." The new Hall-Clements partnership was successful enough to be renewed for the 1957 season. Four more films were made, with Eddie LeRoy joining the cast as bespectacled "Blinky." With Bernard Gorcey gone, Louie's Sweet Shop was replaced by Clancy's Cafe with a similarly put-upon proprietor, "Mike" (Percy Helton, later played by Dick Elliott).

Legacy

In all, there were 48 Bowery Boys films, making it the longest feature-film series of American origin in motion picture history (only the Mexican Santo film series ran longer), with the final film, In the Money, being released in 1958. Only Huntz Hall and David Gorcey had remained with the series since 1946.[1]

The Bowery Boys and East Side Kids picked up a new generation of mostly younger fans when the films were repackaged and syndicated for television in the 1960s and 1970s. They became a staple for independent stations across the U.S., often used to fill up the early-afternoon time-slots on weekends. In 1967, The Beatles even paid homage by selecting pictures of Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall for the photo-montage cover of their celebrated Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album. (The Gorcey photo was removed, however, after Gorcey's agent demanded a $400 payment for use of his image.)

List of the Bowery Boys

Other recurring players

Filmography

Year Movie Notes
1946 Live Wires Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bobby Jordan, Billy Benedict, William Frambes
1946 In Fast Company David Gorcey replaces William Frambes
1946 Bowery Bombshell
1946 Spook Busters First film with Gabriel Dell
1946 Mr. Hex
1947 Hard Boiled Mahoney
1947 News Hounds
1947 Bowery Buckaroos Last film with Bobby Jordan
1948 Angels' Alley
1948 Jinx Money Bennie Bartlett replaces Bobby Jordan
1948 Smugglers' Cove
1948 Trouble Makers
1949 Fighting Fools
1949 Hold That Baby!
1949 Angels in Disguise
1949 Master Minds
1950 Blonde Dynamite Buddy Gorman replaces Bennie Bartlett
1950 Lucky Losers
1950 Triple Trouble
1950 Blues Busters Last film with Gabriel Dell, who is not replaced
1951 Bowery Battalion
1951 Ghost Chasers
1951 Let's Go Navy! Last film with Buddy Gorman
1951 Crazy Over Horses Last film with Billy Benedict; David Gorcey becomes David Condon; Bennie Bartlett replaces Buddy Gorman
1952 Hold That Line Gil Stratton, Jr. replaces Billy Benedict
1952 Here Come the Marines Last film with Gil Stratton, Jr., who is not replaced
1952 Feudin' Fools Gang becomes standardized: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, David Condon, Bennie Bartlett
1952 No Holds Barred
1953 Jalopy
1953 Loose in London
1953 Clipped Wings
1953 Private Eyes
1954 Paris Playboys
1954 The Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters
1954 Jungle Gents
1955 Bowery to Bagdad
1955 High Society
1955 Spy Chasers
1955 Jail Busters
1956 Dig That Uranium Last film with Bernard Gorcey; last film with Bennie Bartlett
1956 Crashing Las Vegas Last film with Leo Gorcey; Jimmy Murphy replaces Bennie Bartlett; Doris Kemper replaces Bernard Gorcey
1956 Fighting Trouble First film with Stanley Clements; Danny Welton replaces Jimmy Murphy; Queenie Smith replaces Doris Kemper
1956 Hot Shots Jimmy Murphy replaces Danny Welton
1957 Hold That Hypnotist Huntz Hall, Stanley Clements, David Condon, Jimmy Murphy
1957 Spook Chasers David Condon reverts to David Gorcey; first film with Eddie LeRoy; Percy Helton replaces Queenie Smith
1957 Looking for Danger Last film with Jimmy Murphy; Dick Elliott replaces Percy Helton
1957 Up in Smoke Huntz Hall, Stanley Clements, David Gorcey, Eddie LeRoy
1958 In the Money

Home media

All 48 Bowery Boys films were released on DVD by Warner Brothers via their "made-to-order" Archive Collection label in four volumes, each consisting of 12 films on 4 recordable media discs, beginning November 20, 2012. Initial distribution was advertised by Warner as being traditionally replicated on "pressed disc" media in anticipation of high demand for these first Bowery Boy releases to be "remastered from the best available elements."

References

  1. ↑ Me and the Dead End Kid, Leo Gorcey, Jr., Spirit of Hope Publishing, 2003.

External links

Preceded by
East Side Kids
1940–1945		 The Bowery Boys
1946–1958 		Succeeded by
Company disbanded
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