In answer to WPIX's weekly airings of classic Abbott & Costello comedies on Sundays, WNEW (now WNYW) would air the Bowery Boys, aka the East Side Kids, on Saturday and Sunday afternoons at noon. More often than not, the movies only lasted an hour, setting up the station's afternoon movie block.
Leo Gorcey & Huntz Hall were the main stars, but, believe it or else, it was one of the supporting cast, Gabriel Dell, who'd find his way to primetime, as one of the stars of a short-lived ABC sitcom, The Corner Bar, in the mid-70's. Hall would make a guest appearance on the show, but, amazingly, it was underpublicized!
Following is a trailer for one of the gang's last pictures, "High Society":
They made you laugh, but you also cheered them on when they ganged up on the bad guys and handed out some beatdowns.
Rating: B.
2 comments:
Another classic my Dad and I shared!
Half the fun was watching Leo Gorcey brutally murder the English language! I get the feeling he was the inspiration for the "Pugs" character on "Fangface".
Sadly, Gorcey was arrested for beating up his young wife. My Dad remembers the headlines. I think she ended up marrying Groucho Marx!
He died rather young back in '69, but I think he lived his life rather hard.
Would you believe while going through some things in our attic in NY, I found some boxes with items wrapped in newspaper. One of the pages had an interview with Dell on his (then) upcoming series!
I used to get a bit confused with this series because there were conpeting shorts like "The Bowery Boys" vs "The East Side Kids".
That might be because the gang changed their name when they changed studios. They started at Warner Bros. as the Dead End Kids, oh by the way.
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