Smart Alecks

During a game of street baseball, angelic slugger Bobby Jordan (as Danny Stevens) scores a hit by capturing dangerous bank robber Max Rosenbloom (as Butch Brocalli). Young Mr. Jordan secretly plans to spend the $200 reward money on new baseball uniforms for "The East Side Kids". But, leader Leo Gorcey (as Muggs McGinnis) wants the money to be split seven ways, with fellow club-mates Stanley Clements (as Stash), Huntz Hall (as Glimpy), Bobby Stone (as Skinny), Ernest Morrison (as Scruno), and David Gorcey (as Peewee).

Misunderstandings put Jordan at odds with his former pals. And, bad becomes worse when former "East Side Kid" Gabriel Dell (as Henry "Hank" Salko) returns, to warn the gang that Mr. Rosenbloom is out of prison, and prowling for Jordan...

"Smart Alecks" uses its cast well. The film's line-up of performers is a classic, and the storyline is a good representation of this particular Bowery boy era. "Introducing Stanley 'Stash' Clements" leads the credits; a good addition to the team, Mr. Clements looks very much like he was brought in as a possible replacement for one of the Gorcey brothers (which is more precisely what happened, in 1956). And, Jordan's pretty sister Gale Storm (as Ruth Stevens) is a treat.

****** Smart Alecks (8/7/42) Wallace Fox ~ Bobby Jordan, Leo Gorcey, Stanley Clements, Gale Storm

Whom do kids look up to and imitate? Certainly not parents nor any adults. Kids admire older kids. Thus, the East Side Kids were a good act for the grade school crowd of the 1940s.. Their later Bowery Boys iterations were way too old to be the comedy sensation of the fourth grade. They wore suits for Pete's sake. Thus, the East Side Kids could be-and should be- childishly silly and immature. They had to act like kids and to a great extent, they did. They seemed like a real gang of street kids (albeit a tad too old) as opposed to the adult hapless loafers of The Bowery Boys

Here the bad guys are kids also. Maxie Rosebloom played a character (as usual) so dumb that he made Satch/Glimpy seem like a veritable Stephen Hawkins He was the "boss" of the criminal gang-which only seemed to have one other member, anyway. Perfect!

The only critical issue is: did kids like this movie when it came out? Well, I did

I've seen about a dozen of the East Side Kids/Bowery Boys films and I guess that they are an acquired taste that I just haven't been able to acquire. Once again, the gang (particularly Muggs) is made up of jerks and you wonder why Danny would have anything to do with them. In this case, Danny accidentally apprehends a wanted criminal and collects a $200 reward. The gang inexplicably thinks they are entitled to 6/7th of the money...and end up stealing it from Danny. What these little juvenile delinquents don't realize is that Danny was planning on buying uniforms for the gang so they could have a baseball team. Instead of telling them, Danny just decides he's had enough of these jerks and leaves the gang...or, perhaps the gang just left him. Fortunately, by the end of the film the gang came through and all was forgiven.

The film works much better than KID DYNAMITE because although the gang was pretty difficult to like, they did come through in the end and Leo Gorcey's jerk routine wasn't as Muggs wasn't as pronounced as in other films. While not brilliant entertainment by any standard, it is worth seeing and is a bit above average in quality and entertainment value compared to the other films I've seen from the series.

SMART ALECKS (Monogram, 1942), directed by Wallace Fox, marks the tenth entry to the "East Side Kids" series. Reverting back to former formula of crime melodrama, sentimental moments and some doses of comedy in between, this edition introduces a new member of the gang, Stanley Clements as "Slash." Series regulars remain as Leo Gorcey (Muggs), Bobby Jordan (Danny), Huntz Hall (Glimpy), Bobby Stone (Skinny) David Gorcey (Pee-Wee), and of course, "Sunshine Sammy" Morrision (Scruno) providing both comedic ad-libs and added bonus of soft shoe tap dancing. Along with the introduction of Clements to the series, there's Gale Storm playing Danny's sister, Ruth Seaton, a character earlier played by Charlotte Henry under the name of Mary Breslin in BOWERY BLITZKRIEG (1941), which means Danny's new surname is now Seaton. Writers naturally overlook the fact in earlier entries that Danny's only living relative to be his brother, earlier played by Dave O'Brien, Tom Brown and Douglas Fowley, using both different first and last name characters. Gabriel Dell, usually playing a rival of the gang assumes a different portrayal, that as a member of the East Side Kids. Roger Pryor steps in for a Dave O'Brien type role as a policeman watching and getting to know the kids, while Maxie Rosenbloom enters for the only time as a tough yet arrogant hood.

For this segment, opening with Scruno (Sammy Morrison) doing his shuffle tap dance, the plot development leads to the boys saving money for baseball uniforms. Danny Seaton (Jordan) has a sister, Ruth (Gale Storm), working as a nurse. She's romantically involved with Officer Joe Regan (Roger Pryor). Henry "Hank" Saleo (Gabriel Dell), a member of the East Side Kids, attempts on being a "big shot" by making some easy money as a lookout for racketeers, "Butch" Broccali (Maxie Rosenbloom) and Mike (Joe Kirk) with a series of robberies. After a bank robbery, Hank hides out at the club, by which its leader, Muggs (Leo Gorcey) wants no part of the stolen money. After Hank's arrest by Regan, he's sent to prison. This is followed by an accidental capture of Butch by Danny, getting a $200 reward. Because Muggs insists the reward money should go to the club, he and the others come to Danny's bedroom at night and take the money from him, unaware of what he wants to do with the money, Suspended from the club, Muggs and Bobby go their separate ways, until Hank, having escaped prison, to warn Muggs of the now fugitive Butch's intentions on getting even with Danny. Other members of the cast include Walter Wolf King (Doctor Goldstein); Herbert Rawlinson (Captain Bronson); Sam Bernard (Doctor Thomas) and Dick Ryan (The Prison Warden).

Overlooking some weaknesses and inconsistencies to the plot, SMART ALECKS is another agreeable entry. Though Gorcey's Muggs can be a jerk at times, his moment of prayer, which may be out of character for him, allows viewers to see there's goodness in him after all. Huntz Hall gets some comedy antics thrown his way while Dell, playing a member of the East Side Kids, wasn't allowed to resume his similar character in future installments. Gale Storm's acting is borderline here but would improve as the story progresses. Length is short enough to allow enough material and pacing to hold interest during much of its 64 minutes.

Available on home video and DVD format, cable television broadcasts for SMART ALECKS over the years has been either on Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: April 2004) and MGM Plus. Next installment: 'NEATH BROOKLYN BRIDGE (1942). (**)

Smart Alecks (1942)

*** (out of 4)

One of the better East Side Kids films has Danny knocking over a racket and getting a $200 reward. The rest of the gang turn their backs on him thinking he's sold them out. Like most of the others, this film suffers from a somewhat stale story but there are plenty of laughs with the best being the one where the gang poison's one of the crooks. The last fifteen minutes turn to drama and the actors handle this very well.

Clancy Street Boys (1943)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Muggs' rich cowboy uncle is coming to town for the first time ever and he thinks Muggs' parents had seven kids instead of one. In order to full them Muggs has to get the gang to play his brothers and Hall to be his sister. Decent entry from The East Side Kids has the usual cheap story but we do gets some good laughs with the highlight being Hall in drag.