Dead End Kids
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The Dead End Kids were a group of young actors from New York who appeared in Sidney Kingsley's Broadway play Dead End in 1935. In 1937, producer Samuel Goldwyn turned the play into a film and brought all of them to Hollywood. They proved to be so popular that they continued to make movies under various monikers, including The East Side Kids, The Little Tough Guys, and The Bowery Boys, until 1958.
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[edit] History
In 1934, Sidney Kingsley wrote a play about a group of children growing up on the streets on New York City. A total of fourteen children were hired to play various roles in the play including Billy Halop (Tommy), Bobby Jordan (Angel), Huntz Hall (Dippy), Charles Duncan (Spit), Bernard Punsly (Milty), Gabriel Dell (T.B.), and Leo and David Gorcey (Second Avenue Boys). However, prior to the play's opening, Duncan left for a role in another play and was replaced by his understudy, Leo, a former plumber's assistant, who was originally recruited by his brother David to audition for the play.
The play, which opened at the Belasco Theatre on October 28, 1935, ran for two years and 684 performances. During it's run, producer Samuel Goldwyn, along with director William Wyler saw the play and decided to turn it into a film. They paid $165,000 for the rights to the film, and began searching Los Angeles for the right actors for the parts.[1] When they couldn't find any that would convey the emotions of the play, they transported six of the original 'kids' from the play (Halop, Jordan, Hall, Punsly, Dell, and Leo Gorcey) to Hollywood for the film version. They were all signed to two-year contracts for possible use in future films and set about making the 1937 United Artists' film, Dead End.
However, after only making that one film for Goldwyn, they began run wild around the studio and destroyed property, including a truck that they crashed into a sound stage. Goldwyn choose not to use them again and sold their contract to Warner Brothers.[2]
Once at Warner Brothers, they made six films with actors such as Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, John Garfield, and Pat O'Brien through 1939, when they were released from their contracts due to more antics on the studio lot.
[edit] Little Tough Guys
In 1938, shortly after they made their first film at Warner Brothers, Universal borrowed all of the 'Dead End Kids' except for Bobby Jordan and Leo Gorcey and made twelve films and three 12-chapter serials under the team names of 'The Dead End Kids and Little Tough Guys' and 'Little Tough Guys'. In addition, Universal contracted Leo's brother David and Hally Chester to become part of the team. When Universal dropped Jordan from his contract, Warner Brothers quickly signed him to join the rest of gang.
Due to the fact that the original 'Dead End Kids' were now working for several studios, these films were made at roughly the same time as the Warner Brothers' 'Dead End Kids' series, and later, Monogram Picture's 'The East Side Kids' series. The final film in this series,Keep 'Em Slugging, was released in 1943.
[edit] The 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, as well as some of the 'Little Tough Guys', including 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.
As mentioned above, 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 twenty-two films were made, with the final one, Come Out Fighting, being released in 1945.
[edit] The Bowery Boys
In 1946, with only Mongoram making films using any of the original 'Dead End Kids', Leo Gorcey along with his agent, Jan Grippo, and Hall revamped the The East Side Kids and rechristened them as The Bowery Boys. These films followed a more established formula than the prior incarnations of the team. Gorcey left after the forty-first film and was replaced by Stanley Clements for the remaining films. In all, a total of forty-eight films were made under this team moniker, with the final film, In the Money, being released in 1958.
[edit] Epilogue
In total, the various teams that began life as 'The Dead End Kids' made eighty-nine films and three serials for four different studios during their twenty-one year film career. The team was awarded a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame, where it can be found at the corner of La Brea and Hollywood.
The original play has had two revivals, a 1978 adaption at the Quigh Theatre in New York, and a 2005 version at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, where the family of the original 'Dead End Kids' (Leo Gorcey Jr., Bobby Jordan Jr., Gabe Dell Jr., and the nieces and nephews of Billy Halop) attended a performace together.[3]
[edit] Filmography
| Year | Movie | Distributor | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1937 | Dead End | United Artists | Film Debut |
| 1938 | Crime School | Warner Brothers | |
| 1938 | Angels with Dirty Faces | Warner Brothers | |
| 1939 | They Made Me a Criminal | Warner Brothers | |
| 1939 | Hell's Kitchen | Warner Brothers | |
| 1939 | The Angels Wash Their Faces | Warner Brothers | |
| 1939 | On Dress Parade | Warner Brothers |
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- The Dead End Kids @ Findagrave.com
- The Unofficial Bowery Boys Page
- Fan Site
- Leo Gorcey at the Internet Movie Database
- Huntz Hall at the Internet Movie Database
- Gabriel Dell at the Internet Movie Database
- Billy Halop at the Internet Movie Database
- Bobby Jordan at the Internet Movie Database
- Bernard Punsly at the Internet Movie Database
| Preceded by none |
'Dead End' Kids series 1937-1939 |
Succeeded by 'Little Tough Guys' 1938-1943 |
