Of all the film series in Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide, The Bowery Boys is probably the longest-running example that has gone through different phases while retaining the same cast members. I shall leave the discussion of the series' history to Mr. Maltin:
Sidney Kingsley’s Broadway play "Dead End" was a superior drama that cast a critical eye on big-city tenement slums. When Samuel Goldwyn brought it to the screen, he retained the young performers who’d played the street kids: Billy Halop, Bobby Jordan, Gabriel Dell, Huntz Hall, Leo Gorcey, and Bernard Punsley. While Kingsley never intended to glorify hoodlums, these young actors made a tremendous impact on audiences, much as gangster antiheroes had earlier in the decade…and before long,…
Of all the film series in Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide, The Bowery Boys is probably the longest-running example that has gone through different phases while retaining the same cast members. I shall leave the discussion of the series' history to Mr. Maltin:
Sidney Kingsley’s Broadway play "Dead End" was a superior drama that cast a critical eye on big-city tenement slums. When Samuel Goldwyn brought it to the screen, he retained the young performers who’d played the street kids: Billy Halop, Bobby Jordan, Gabriel Dell, Huntz Hall, Leo Gorcey, and Bernard Punsley. While Kingsley never intended to glorify hoodlums, these young actors made a tremendous impact on audiences, much as gangster antiheroes had earlier in the decade…and before long, the “Dead End Kids” were stars! Warner Bros. featured them in six films over the next few years with such costars as James Cagney (ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES), Humphrey Bogart (CRIME SCHOOL), and John Garfield (THEY MADE ME A CRIMINAL). Most of these films maintained the Dead End stance of portraying these juvenile delinquents as victims of society, though some of this posturing rang hollow considering their shenanigans. Some of the gang also found work at Universal; a B picture called LITTLE TOUGH GUY launched a series of “Dead End Kids and Little Tough Guys” films, which included both the original kids and newcomers. These vehicles were an uneven bunch that randomly integrated action, melodrama, and juvenile comedy. Not only wasn’t there the pointedness of Dead End; there was often no point at all. Universal even featured the group in three Saturday matinee serials, JUNIOR G-MEN, SEA RAIDERS, and JUNIOR G-MEN OF THE AIR. Then, in 1940, producer Sam Katzman launched a low-budget series called The East Side Kids for Monogram Pictures, featuring Leo Gorcey and Bobby Jordan, who were later joined by fellow Dead Enders Huntz Hall and Gabriel Dell. These low-budget films stressed (grade-B) drama as much as comedy. Gamblers, boxers, and Nazis figured prominently, along with Bela Lugosi, who costarred in SPOOKS RUN WILD and GHOSTS ON THE LOOSE. The cast members began to hit their stride here, developing the camaraderie that would make them endearingly popular. In 1946, Leo Gorcey took a hand in revamping the films, assumed the official starring role of Slip Mahoney, with Huntz Hall as his sidekick Sach Jones, and the series was rechristened The Bowery Boys. For several years’ time these films flirted with drama, as in HARD BOILED MAHONEY, IN FAST COMPANY, and JINX MONEY, but then later decided to go all-out with broad juvenile comedy. Audiences enjoyed the results, and The Bowery Boys experienced a healthy run right into the 1950s. Leo Gorcey’s father, Bernard, played Louie Dumbrowski, proprietor of the gang’s ice-cream parlor hangout, and when he died in 1956, Leo left the series. Stanley Clements was brought in to replace him, for seven more generally lackluster comedies (HOT SHOTS, HOLD THAT HYPNOTIST, UP IN SMOKE, etc.) before the series finally breathed its last in 1958.
