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After their success in the Broadway play of the same name, The Dead End Kids sprang upon an unsuspecting movie-going public in Samuel Goldwyn's 1937 film Dead End, a crime drama featuring Humphrey Bogart.
The success of this film led Warner Brothers to sign the Kids and feature them in six films which starred such screen luminaries as Ronald Reagan, Pat O'Brien, James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, John Garfield and Claude Raines.
The films were the typical Warner fare of serious social/crime dramas with the Kids heavily involved in the plot and also lending some comedy relief. The quality of the films declined until Warner's threw in the towel and the Kids were reborn as the East Side Kids at the king of the poverty row studios, Monogram.
Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bobby Jordan, Gabriel Dell, Billy Halop and Bernard Punsley played the Kids. Despite the fact that they played the same basic roles in every picture, their characters were given different names in many of the films, although Billy Halop was always the leader and featured "Kid" in these movies.
Generally, these films are the best made of any of the four series. Dead End and Angels With Dirty Faces are considered classics of the genre. They Made Me A Criminal is notable for its strong performance by future superstar, John Garfield. (Garfield would team up with Halop & Jordan in Warner's 1939 Dust Be My Destiny and with Leo & Bernard Gorcey in Warner's 1941 Out Of The Fog) The last two Warner's films are pretty bad though.
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At the same time that Warner's was still cranking out the Dead End Kids series and Monogram doing the same with the East Side Kids, Universal Studios signed four of the Kids (Billy Halop, Huntz Hall, Gabriel Dell and Bernard Punsley) and released a series of uniformly bad "B" movies and three 12-part serials. Leo Gorcey's brother, David, was featured in several of these unmemorable films.
Generally, the boys retained the same names throughout the series (except the serials). Billy Halop was first Johnny, then Jimmy before becoming Tommy for the duration. Huntz Hall played Pig, Bernard Punsley played Ape, Gabriel Dell played String. Not all the characters appeared in all the pictures. Dead End Kid Bobby Jordan played Rap in 2 of the films and became Tommy(!) in the last entry in the series.
Make no mistake, the Little Tough Guy films are egregiously bad movies. The first film, Little Tough Guy, bad as it may be, is the best of the lot. It's a social/crime drama in the Warner Brothers style. After this the quality of the films falls right off the chart. I can recommend this series only to die-hard fans of the Boys.
Note: In the three films after Little Tough Guy the kids were billed as "Little Tough Guys" and did not feature any of the Dead End Kids. After the Dead Enders re-joined, the kids were billed as "Dead End Kids and Little Tough Guys".
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This series of films by Monogram featured the boys first in crime melodramas with comedic overtones then in comedies with some serious (usually criminal) overtones.
The plots almost always cast the Boys as lower class street urchins in conflict with the criminal element that surrounded them. Occasionally the criminal element was replaced by Nazi or Japanese fifth columnists.
Billy Halop was gone by this time and Leo Gorcey and Bobby Jordan took over as leaders and featured "Kids".
As the series progressed, the comedy duo of Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall became the focus of the films.
Making steady appearances as East Side Kids were:
Leo Gorcey as Mugs (or Muggs)
Huntz Hall as Glimpy
Bobby Jordan as Danny
David Gorcey as Peewee
Ernie "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison as Scruno
Donald Haines as Skinny
Billy Benedict later took over the role of Skinny (AKA Benny, Pinky)
Bobby Stone with a variety of names
Gabriel Dell appears in many of the films as a non-gang member, usually an adversary or authority figure.
Dave O'Brien (featured in dozens of "B" movies & shorts and star of Reefer Madness) appears in several films.
Other actors cast as East Side Kids include Bennie Bartlett, Harris Berger, Frankie Burke, Hally Chester, Stanley Clements, Johnny Duncan, Dave Durand, Eugen Francis, Buddy Gorman, Mende Koenig and Jimmy Strand
The production values of many of these films are low, even by Monogram standards, although they seemed to get better as the series progressed. A couple of the early films are so bad as to be virtually unwatchable, even by die-hard fans.
This series of comedies found the Boys in a variety of situations, always with the underrated (and critically unappreciated) comedy duo of Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall as the focus. The earlier films (1946-1950) had an overtone of gangster melodrama, while the later films were pure slapstick.
Leo Gorcey began to drink heavily after the death of his father, Bernard Gorcey, in late 1955. In fact, he appears to be intoxicated in his final film, Crashing Las Vegas. The producers of the series replaced Gorcey with former East Side Kid Stanley Clements for the last seven films. The chemistry that worked so well between Gorcey and Hall never materialized with Clements and this, along with the fact that the "Boys" were now well into their 30's and the lack of demand for programmer type films such as these due to TV, proved to be the death knell of the series.
Making steady appearances in this series were:
Leo Gorcey as Terrence Aloyius "Slip" Mahoney
Huntz Hall as Horace Debussy "Sach" Jones
Bobby Jordan as Bobby (last film: Bowery Buckaroos - 1947)
Billy Benedict as Whitey
David Gorcey as Chuck
Bennie Bartlett as Butch
Bernard Gorcey as Louie Dumbrowski, proprietor of Louie's Sweet Shop in most of the films.
Gabriel Dell appeared in a variety of roles, once again usually as an authority figure peripherally connected with the gang. Dell's final film was Blues Busters.
Stanley Clements appeared as Stanislaus "Duke" Coveleske in the last seven pictures.
The production values of these films are far higher than any of the Little Tough Guys and East Side Kids. Most fans agree that the Bowery Boys series is the best of these three.
I feel that Live Wires (which features gigantic tough guy, Mike Mazurki), Mr. Hex and Blues Busters are among the best in this series.
Trivia
Huntz Hall appeared in the most series films.
Surprisingly, it's David Gorcey, not his brother Leo, who comes in second in series' appearances.
Bernard Punsley went on to become a doctor after leaving the series.
Louie's Sweet Shop was located at 3rd Street & Bowery.
Rosemary LaPlanche (Angels' Alley) was crowned Miss America in 1941.
Fans of the 1950s "The Adventures of Superman" should be on the lookout for John "Perry White" Hamilton, Phyllis "Lois Lane" Coates, Robert "Inspector Henderson" Shayne and Ben Weldon (various gangsters) in the Bowery Boys series.
Billy Halop had a recuring role as Bert Munson the cab driver on the TV series All In The Family. He also had bit parts in many other series throughout the 50's, 60's and 70's, including a few bits on Perry Mason.
William 'Billy' Benedict also appeared in several episodes of All In The Family as the Bunker's neighbor Jimmy McNabb
Huntz Hall made numerous TV appearances from the 1960s through the 1990s.
Gabe Dell also made many TV appearances from the 1950s through the 1980s.
Huntz Hall appears on the cover of the Sgt. Pepper album by the Beatles. Leo Gorcey was to appear but he demanded $500 and consequently was dropped.
Sunshine Sammy Morrison was one of the original "Our Gang" child actors.
East Side Kid Hally Chester went on to become a movie producer.
Bela Lugosi, his career already on the skids, appeared in two East Side Kids features, Spooks Run Wild and Ghosts On The Loose.
Charlita (Let's Go Navy) appeared with Bela Lugosi in "Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla"
3 Stooges fans should be on the lookout for Shemp Howard in three of the Little Tough Guys films, Give Us Wings, Hit The Road and Keep 'Em Slugging.
Amanda Blake (High Society) went on to portray saloon owner Miss Kitty in the long-running Gunsmoke series.
Stanley Clements was married to actress Gloria Grahame from 1945 to 1948.
All together, there were 85 films and 3 serials. 7 were Dead End Kids, 12 Little Tough Guys (including the 3 serials), 21 East Side Kids and 48 Bowery Boys. It would take about five days of continuous viewing to see every film and serial!
1941 saw the most films released: seven. Three were Little Tough Guys and four were East Side Kids. 1942 and 1943 came in second with six. 1939, 1940 and 1946 each had five.
Counting the 3 serials, there were 9 films made in the 30's, 47 made in the 40's, 32 in the 50's.
Auteur film producer/director/actor, Ray Dennis Steckler, filmed a parody of the Boys, The Lemon Grove Kids.
Four different studios produced films in the series: United Artists, Warner Brothers, Universal and Monogram (AKA Allied Artists).
For Sale from Amazon.com
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Bowery Boys Set #1
Live Wires, In Fast Company, Bowery Bombshell, News Hounds, Fighting Fools, Hold That Baby!, Master Minds, Blonde Dynamite, Lucky Losers, Blues Busters, Crazy Over Horses, No Holds Barred
Bowery Boys Set #2
Spook Busters, Hard Boiled Mahoney, Bowery Buckaroos, Smuggler's Cove. Ghost Chasers, Let's Go Navy!, Hold That Line, Loose In London, Clipped Wings, Private Eyes, The Bowery Boys Meet The Monsters, High Society
Bowery Boys Set #3
Angel's Alley, Jinx Money, Angels In Disguise, Feudin' Fools, Jalopy, Paris Playboys, Dig That Uranium, Crashing Las Vegas, Hot Shots, Spook Chasers, Looking For Danger, Up In Smoke
Bowery Boys Set #4
Mr. Hex, Trouble Makers, Triple Trouble, Bowery Battalion, Here Come The Marines, Jungle Gents, Bowery To Bagdad, Spy Chasers, Jail Busters, Fighting Trouble, Hold That Hypnotist, In The Money
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East Side Kids
 DVD Set - This 3 volume collection contains 6 discs and 15 Films!
This is the best deal for East Side Kids Fans!
Films Include: Clancy Street Boys, Boys of the City, 'Neath the Brooklyn Bridge, Kid Dynamite,
Million Dollar Kid, Smart Alecks, Pride of the Bowery, Bowery Blitzkrieg, Mr. Wiseguy,
Ghosts on the Loose, Spooks Run Wild, That Gang of Mine & East Side Kids
Plus the Dead End Kids in They Made Me A Criminal
Plus the Little Tough Guys film Little Tough Guy
Plus a Bonus DVD of The Little Tough Guys serial Sea Raiders
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Dead End Kids
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Little Tough Guys
Miscellaneous Items
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Hollywood's Made-to-Order Punks: The Dead End Kids, Little Tough Guys, East Side Kids and the Bowery Boys
by Richard Roat (Author), Mendi Koenig (Foreword), Brandy Gorcey-Ziesemer (Foreword)
Meet and become friends with many of the actors from the Dead End Kids, Little Tough Guys, East Side Kids and the Bowery Boys!
Since he began collecting Movie Memorabilia on the Dead End Kids in 1964, author Richard Roat has had the great fortune to develop personal relationships with David Gorcey, Stanley Clements, Gabe Dell, Bernard Punsly, Huntz Hall, Billy Benedict, Frankie Thomas, Eddie Le Roy, Brandy Gorcey (daughter of Leo Gorcey), Gary Hall (son of Huntz Hall), and Leo Gorcey Jr. (son of Leo Gorcey).
This book draws upon those acquaintances and his talking with Billy Halop, Bennie Bartlett, Johnny Duncan, Ward Wood, Dick Chandlee, Eugene Francis, Harris Berger, Charles Peck, Ronald Sinclair, and more! Lavished with many photos from the films from the author's personal collection, this is one book you'll need to have in your collection, tough guy!
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Hollywood's Made-to-Order Punks Pt. 2: A Pictorial History of the Dead End Kids, Little Tough Guys, East Side Kids & the Bowery Boys
by Richard Roat (Author)
Back in 1964, when I was 12 years old I saw my first Dead End Kid film, the title of the film was Crime School. After watching it I learn all about the Dead End Kids and their lives on and off the big screen. Over the past 40 years, I became friends with many of the actors who portrayed the kids, and the actors who worked with them in their films. I have had the great pleasure of becoming friends with Billy Halop, Huntz Hall, Gabe Dell, Bernard Punsly, Billy Benedict, Bennie Bartlett, Stanley Clements, Pepe Hern, Joe Turkel, Eugene Francis, Johnny Duncan, David Gorcey, Jimmy McCallon, Frankie Thomas, Eddie Le Roy, Bill Lawrence and Keye Luke. My greatest joy is my friendship over the past 30 years with Mendie Koenig (Mendie was a dear Dead End Kids friend-I think of him often), Dick Chandlee, Johnny Duncan and Eugene Francis. I have collected thousands of 8x10 stills, countless posters, lobby cards and anything I can find that has to do with the Dead End Kids. I hope you the reader will enjoy your travels as you thumb thru the pages and look at the pictures that I have collected. Richard Roat
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Hollywood's Made to Order Punks Part 3: The Faces of the Angels with Dirty Faces
by Richard Roat (Author), Johnny Duncan (Foreword)
"The first book in this series, Hollywood's Made To Order Punks, gave you insight into The Dead End Kids/Little Tough Guys/East Side Kids and The Bowery Boys. You got to hear inside stories of who they were and what had become of them. "In the second book in the series, Hollywood's Made To Order Punks, Part 2, you got to see many 8x10 stills, posters, lobby cards, plus you were able to read more of the back stories about them. "Finally in part 3, there are more photographs from the author's extensive collection. Richard Roat aspires to enlighten all his readers with the artistry of this amazing group of entertainers as one turns the pages of this book. As Bim would say (while clicking his fingers together) 'All Gamblers Die Broke.'" - Jennifer Roat Richard Roat lives in Tinley Park, IL just outside of Chicago with his wife Mary and daughter Jenny. Richard retired in 2012 after many years working at a cemetery as a groundsman/gravedigger.ls as you thumb thru the pages and look at the pictures that I have collected. Richard Roat
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From Broadway to the Bowery
by Leonard Getz (Author), Leo Gorcey Jr. (Foreword)
A History & Filmography of the Dead End Kids, Little Tough Guys, East Side Kids and Bowery Boys Films
In 1935 Sidney Kingsley's play about streetwise urban kids, Dead End, opened on Broadway featuring 14 adolescent actors. For two years on Broadway and then on tour, Kingsley's play delivered its social commentary contrasting affluent neighborhoods and tenement slums on New York City's East River. The film industry picked up the story and in 1937 released Dead End which spawned 23 more years of films and serials featuring the Dead End Kids and their offshoots, Little Tough Guys, East Side Kids and the Bowery Boys.
This chronicle follows the street kids through the many assorted incarnations, shifting casts and studios. First the reader is introduced to how the original play and film came about. A cast list and analysis of each production follows. For the major players, the author provides a biography and filmography, and several of these entries include a tribute from a friend or family member. Brief biographical profiles are given for other actors. Sketches of the "Dead End" revivals of 1978 and 2005 follow.
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Beyond Dead End: The Solo Careers of the Dead End Kids
by Joseph Fusco
No one exemplifies the angst of the Depression era street kid more than The Dead End Kids. They were the stars of Sidney Kingsley's 1935 play, Dead End and reprised their roles in Samuel Goldwyn's 1937 Hollywood film version. The movie defined the theme of slum dramas for the juvenile rebellion films of subsequent decades. The Dead End Kids were Billy Halop, Huntz Hall, Bobby Jordan, Leo Gorcey, Gabriel Dell and Bernard Punsly.
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Films Of The Bowery Boys
Hardcover - Paperback
by David Hayes & Brent Walker
Detailed information on all the films. Filled with 100's of photos, it accurately describes every film in every series. Also included is much interesting information about the stars of the series and the making of the films.
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Behind Sach - The Huntz Hall Story
Hardcover - Paperback
by Jim Manago
"Your father is the American Chaplin." -Groucho Marx (speaking to Gary Hall) "Huntz Hall was a complicated person: extremely generous and loving on the one hand, scarily angry and violent on the other..." -Rev. Gary Hall (Huntz Hall's son)
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Bowery Boys Movie Poster Book, Volume 1
by Greg Lenburg
To celebrate this long-running, popular film series, the "Bowery Boys Movie Poster Book, Volume 1" presents, for the first time, rare, color posters from nearly 50 of their movies from the Dead End Kids to the Bowery Boys
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An Original Dead End Kid Presents: Dead End Yells, Wedding Bells, Cockle Shells and Dizzy Spells
Leo Gorcey's autobiography
VERY RARE ORIGINAL EDITION!
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Me and the Dead End Kid
Hardcover - Paperback
by Leo Gorcey Jr.
Leo Gorcey, The Hollywood Legend - Leo Gorcey, Jr., His Happy Ending: The son of a Hollywood legend takes you on a humorous and heartfelt journey of survival, strength, forgiveness, and hope.
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The East Side Comedies: 1940-1945
by I. Joseph Hyatt
"The East Side Comedies" celebrates the 22 East Side Kids movies made by Monogram between 1940 - 1945. It presents selected press book material and original full color lobby cards from the theatrical releases. Read about your favorite "Kids" through studio publicity releases. See how creative theater managers could use the material to draw in an audience when movie exhibition was an art form. Step back into time and see what movie fans of that day experienced when going to the movies!
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Bowery Boys Trailers & Previews
Theatrical trailers and previews for the Bowery Boys films.
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The Lemon Grove Kids (DVD)
Ray Dennis Steckler's parody of the Bowery Boys
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The Bowery Boys - The Real Story Past & Present
VHS video documentary of the series and its stars.
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He Ran All the Way: The Life of John Garfield
by Robert Nott & Julie Garfield
John Garfield appeared in the Dead End Kids film
"They Made Me A Criminal".
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The Immortal Count: The Life and Films of Bela Lugosi
by Arthur Lennig
Bela Lugosi appeared in 2 Eastside Kids films.
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