Clancy Street Boys

CLANCY STREET BOYS (Monogram, 1943), a Banner Production directed by William Beaudine, marks the 13th edition to the "East Side Kids" series, and one of the best. Unlike previous installments from its early years, it's funny without being too silly. Its serious without being too melodramatic. It's the first that would lead to formula material from this to their latter "Bowery Boys" (1946-1958) series. CLANCY STREET BOYS marks the introduction of latter series regulars, namely Billy Benedict playing Butch, a Cherry Street leader; and Leo Gorcey's father, Bernard Gorcey, best known for fans of "The Bowery Boys" series as Louie Dumbrowski, here briefly playing a liquor store owner. Even with his brief scene, his few moments are quite amusing.

Following the opening credits with names of staff and cast listing on sheets hanging on clothes lines and aerial view of New York's East Side, the story starts off with the East Side Kids: Danny (Bobby Jordan), Glimpy (Huntz Hall), Bennie (Bennie Bartlett), Stash (Dick Chandler, replacing Stanley Clements) and Scruno ("Sunshine Sammy" Morrison), along with rival gang leader, Butch (Billy Benedict) and his boys (Jimmy Strand and Johnny Duncan) all looking for Mugs Maginnis (Leo Gorcey) to help him "celebrate" his 18th birthday. Mugs hides about expecting to get what's coming to him, which he gets, even from policeman on their beat, Officer Flanagan (J. Farrell MacDonald). Upon his return home, Mugs finds his mother, Molly Maginnis (Martha Wentworth) concerned about a letter she has received, revolving around his late father's rich oil tycoon friend, Pete Monahan (Noah Beery), passed along as his uncle, coming from Texas with his daughter, Judy (Lita Ward) to visit with Ma Maginnis and her seven children, including "Ethelbert," (being Mugs) and their only daughter, Annabelle. To help his mother, and not wanting to make a liar out of his father, Mugs gathers his friends to pose as the Maginnis children, with Glimpy dressed as Annabelle, and Scruno, the only black member of the gang, as the adopted son. All goes well until George Mooney (Rick Vallin) gets into the act, but not for reasons of assistance. Featuring Jan Rubini (The Violinist); Eddie Mills (Dave) and Jack Normand (The Henchman).

An amusing entry that moves swiftly throughout its 66 minutes without and dull spots. For this edition, Bobby Jordan simply plays Danny, with no new surname added. Earlier a major attraction to the series, he's becoming background gang member in favor of more scenes involving Gorcey and Hall. Noah Beery's entrance to the story with he and his on-screen daughter riding on horseback through the streets of New York is true character to his portrayal. Gorcey's facial expression of his hating his birth name "Ethelbert" would become a running gag for the duration of the series. Huntz Hall in drag gets and Sammy Morrison passing as the offspring each get the most laughs here, making this among a favorite and memorable among series fans.

Available on video cassette and DVD format, cable television broadcasts to CLANCY STREET BOYS and other films in the series include to date Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: September 14, 2004) and MGM Plus. Next in the series: GHOSTS ON THE LOOSE (1943) with Bela Lugosi. (***)

During the course of the second manifestation for Leo Gorcey's mini-mob players, the East Side Kids, who followed the Dead End Kids, while preceding the Bowery Boys, producer Sam Katzman hired veteran director William Beaudine for the East Side series due to his established success at leading movie youngsters and this quite effective Monogram release is the initial effort with Beaudine at the helm. The mother of young Muggs McGinnis (Gorcey) shares with him a letter received from his late father's close friend, "Uncle" Pete, a wealthy Texan, in which Pete tells of an impending visit by him and his daughter Judy to the McGinnis home in New York where the rancher expects to meet for the first time the five brothers and the sister Annabelle of Muggs, non-existent siblings invented by the widow McGinnis in order to receive Pete's financial support over many years. Muggs conscripts his East Side roustabout cohorts as his family, with Glimpy (Huntz Hall) dressed as Annabelle, and when Uncle Pete and Judy arrive in New York, confused jollity ensues, until a local thug plots to expose the impersonation as a means of obtaining some of Pete's wealth for himself. The film, produced with a virtually non-existent budget, has a virtually non-existent script, as well, with ad libbing contributed by most of the cast, notably Gorcey with his rather fascinating employment of malapropisms, all very compatible to Beaudine's loose-reined directorial mode. His relaxed methods must also take responsibility for some ragged performing, and there is need for more efficient editing, but this comedic affair eschews the wonted wartime jingoism that marks the series, and Hall is enormously and unexpectedly hilarious in his gender bending role, joining the other members of the cast in patent enjoyment of playing in this entry.

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.

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 as a film is notable for two reasons. First Noah Beery, Sr., a villain in countless westerns is playing a good guy for a change. Secondly in this East Side Kids outing we get a chance to see Huntz Hall in drag.

What should be good news for Leo Gorcey's mother has Martha Wentworth depressed and Gorcey wants to know why. They're getting a visit from his father's old friend Uncle Pete Monahan as played by Beery and his daughter Amelita Ward. While the father settled on the East Side of New York, Beery went to Texas and got fame and fortune and always sends a little money the McGinniss family way for special occasions. And Wentworth has gilded the lily. She's not just had one special occasion, she's had seven more and now how to account for them.

That's easy as Gorcey gets others of his gang to fill in as kids. And for the one girl we just get Huntz Hall into drag. Sounds easy enough.

Things go wrong when the local crook Rick Vallin makes Beery and Ward out as rubes for an easy mark. That's where the street smart East Side Kids go into action.

Clancy Street Boys is done with the usual posh production values that so characterized a Monogram Studio product. The plot, well why didn't Gorcey get one of the neighborhood girls for the masquerade. Answer is that would have killed the gag of Hall in drag. And also they wouldn't need to explain Sammy Morrison as an adopted McGinniss or as Beery puts it, 'a maverick from another herd'.

Dopey, but with a certain charm as the East Side Kids save Beery and Ward from what could be a last roundup.

This East Side Kids film shows where the group of actors are heading with the franchise. While Bobby Jordan was initially the leader of the gang, his screen time kept decreasing as Leo Gorcey's and Huntz Hall's increased. Here, Jordan is present...but seems to have nothing to do. So, in many ways it seems a lot like the later Bowery Boys films.

In this story, Mugs (Gorcey) finds out that his Uncle Pete (Noah Beery) is coming to town...which would be great if it wasn't for a few lies. Little did Mugs know that his father long ago told Pete he had seven kids....and this rich Texas uncle has been sending birthday money to all seven for many years and Mugs' mother has been pocketing it! To save face, Mugs decides to create six siblings---including Glimpy (Hall) as a girl and Sunshine Sammy Morrison one of the kids, even though he's black! Amazingly, the uncle believes it...and insists on painting the town red with Mugs and the family. Not surprisingly, eventually the truth comes out...and there are dire consequences.

This is worth seeing just to see the tall and gangly Huntz Hall playing a girl. It's far from intellectual fare...but manages to elicit a few laughs. The biggest deficit are the way overdone Texas accents out of the uncle and his daughter...they really laid in on thick!!