Million Dollar Kid

The East Side Kids save millionaire Herbert Hayes from a mugging and in gratitude he allows them the use of a gymnasium he put in his mansion. There Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall and the rest of the gang prove to be handy friends to have for Hayes and his whole family. They expose a fortune hunting phony who is looking to marry daughter Louise Currie and also save younger son Johnny Duncan from the criminal crowd he's starting to run with.

It's the East Side Kids with Monogram pictures so of course don't expect Citizen Kane. Still it's a reasonably entertaining outing for the East Side urchins.

Look for a very funny performance from Iris Adrian who helps the boys expose fortune hunter Stanley Brown. Also for one of the few times in his career, Noah Beery, Sr. is a good guy as the understanding police captain.

This installment of the East Side Kids finds the gang very much reformed and even, dare I say it, kind of sweet! Early in the episode, the gang see an old guy getting mugged...and they save the guy. Given the gang's reputation, the police immediately think THEY mugged the guy but the man speaks up for them. In fact, he's quite rich and invites them to use his gymnasium any time they want! The man seems great...and that's why things get tough later in the show. The gang realizes that one of the muggers was actually the man's own son!! But, learning that his oldest son was just killed in the war, Muggs and the rest conspire to not only reform the young man but beat the tar out of his 'associates'! Yes, the East Side Kids are, in effect, social workers!!

This is an enjoyable installment--one of the better ones in the series. I think most of this is because too often, Muggs was a complete jerk but here he's more likable and less jerkish! A definite improvement and an interesting story. My only real complaint are that a few of the 'kids' are really, really old...especially Herbie...who was really about 35 and supposed to be a teen!!!

This is easily among the better of the many features starring the East Side Kids. It has an interesting story that includes some thoughtful moments in addition to the broad humor. It also has plenty of the group's spontaneous horsing around, and it includes a funny (and all too brief) scene between Leo Gorcey as Muggs and his father Bernard as a messenger.

The story has Muggs, Glimpy, and the rest of the crew saving a rich man from a mugging, befriending him, and then trying to protect him and his family from a variety of criminals and impostors. It works surprisingly well, even most of the more serious moments. Gorcey's style is effective in this kind of story, because he keeps his character's hardened edge even when he is doing something good, thereby usually making him more believable.

The main emphasis is still, of course, the raucous comedy, and the gang gets some good moments at the expense of all of the other characters at one time or another. It's a good movie, and it's probably one of the entries in the series most worth seeing.

In this East Side Kids entry, the gang help keep a wealthy man from being mugged and get use of his gym as the reward. They find out he has two sons and a daughter, all grown. One of those sons is in service, the daughter is supposedly engaged to someone also like that, and another of the sons is...Don't want to reveal too much here. Let's just say some reforming is warranted. Among returning players are Noah Beery Sr.-previously in Clancy Street Boys-playing a police captain and Pat Costello-Lou's brother, previously in Bowery Blitzkrieg-as one of the lowlifes. I liked this one very much especially when someone like Iris Adrian is featured. So on that note, Million Dollar Kid is well worth seeing. P.S. This was the first of the series not to feature Bobby Jordan, who was drafted, or Ernie "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison, who eventually left show business after one more film appearance. I'll mention what happened to him after I review that movie-Greenwich Village-in a few days...

The East Side Kids, now sans Sunshine Sammy Morrison and Bobby Jordan but with Huntz Hall and Billy Benedict, rescue a rich passerby (Herbert Heyes, later to play Mr. Gimble in Miracle on 34th Street) from a mugger. The grateful tycoon invites the boys over to his pad, where a fully equipped gymnasium awaits them. There are subplots involving Heyes ne'e'r do well son (Johnny Duncan, a few years before playing Robin in the Columbia serial Batman and Robin )and his feisty daughter (Louise Currie). The otherwise unknown Al Stone delivers an amusing one-off performance as cousin Herbie, an erstwhile East Side Kid whose relationship with Muggs and Glimpy is somewhat convoluted. One of the wittier series entries.