Figure 1.--This still from "Crime School" shows Braden (Humphrey Bogart) with Frankie (Billy Halop) and other boys. Here the boys wear their reform school uniforms.Frankie wears a uniform in reform school.

"Crime School" is another reformatory film starred Humphrey Bogart in a role very much like Jimmy Cagney's in "Mayor". The boys were played by members of the Dead End Kids. I remember Bobby Jordan played one of the inmates. He was issued a uniform with trousers too big for him in the waist; they kept falling down to his ankles if he didn't hold his pants up. In one scene during morning roll call on the assembly grounds of the reform school, the warden (played by a rather stout actor) notices Bobby's trousers sinking to the shoes during calisthenics. The warden summons him, front and center, and demands to know what the big idea is. Bobby expalins that his trousers are too big in the waist, and the warden's solution is to send him to the cook to be fattened until the trousers fit! Fortunately for Bobby, Humphrey Bogart is listening to all this, and tells the warden to "make the pants fit the boy, not the boy fit the pants."

Filmology

This is one of famous Warner Brothers Dead End Kids films, made in 1938-39. The date of "Crime School" is 1938. "Crime School" is another reformatory film starred Humphrey Bogart in a role very much like Jimmy Cagney's in "Mayor".

Cast

The boys were played by members of the Dead End Kids. I remember Bobby Jordan played one of the inmates. Again it stars the Billy Halop, one of the original Dead End Kids, as a boy called Frankie Warren.

Dead End Boys

The Dead End Kids were also called the East Side Kids and Bowary Boys. There were five main characters. Leo Gorcey (1917-69) was the leader of the Dead End Kids. He continued his foilm career into the 1960s. Huntz (Henry) Hall (1919-99) played Sach he also persued a film career into the 90s. Billy Halop (1920-76) only appeared in two of the Dead End Kids filns, "Dead End" (1937) and "Angels with Dirty Faces" (1938). He later served in the US Army as a Sergeant stationed in the Special Servicesduring World War II. He was discharged in 1946 and returned to Hollywood. He was in "Dangerous Years" with Marilyn Monroe. He had difficuklty finding future roles, but did appear in radio and television. Bobby Jordan (1923-65) wasone of the youger Dead End Kids. He worked in Hollywood through the 1950s. Bernard Punsly (1923-2004) was the last srvuiving Dead End Kid. He appeared in "Angels with Dirty Faces" and "Hell's Kitchen." Unlike the other boys, he gave up acting after the series and became a doctor.

Plot

The plot involves an attack on a junkman by the Dead End Kids, and as a result all the boys are sent to reform school. The superintendant of state reformatories, Mark Braden (played by Humphrey Bogart), visits the reform school and discovers that it is being badly run. The cruel warden Cooper (played by Cy Kendall) is fired, and Braden takes over the running of the school. He also falls in love with Frankie's sister, Sue Warren (played by Gale Page). The fired warden blackmails one of the boys to hide the fact that he has been involved in budgetary illegalities, and the boys manage to escape. Morgan, the ex-warden, tries to get Braden fired. but after a confrontation Morgan is exposed as a crook and arrested.

Costuming

One of the boys was issued a uniform with trousers too big for him in the waist; they kept falling down to his ankles if he didn't hold his pants up. In one scene during morning roll call on the assembly grounds of the reform school, the warden (played by a rather stout actor) notices Bobby's trousers sinking to the shoes during calisthenics. The warden summons him, front and center, and demands to know what the big idea is. Bobby expalins that his trousers are too big in the waist, and the warden's solution is to send him to the cook to be fattened until the trousers fit! Fortunately for Bobby, Humphrey Bogart is listening to all this, and tells the warden to "make the pants fit the boy, not the boy fit the pants."

Dead End Kids Series

The Dead End and related productions are probably the best known films based on the subject of juvenile delenquency. The films were based on a play written Sidney Kingsley (1934). The play "Dead End" was produced on Broadway (1935-37). For the production the producers chose kids off the streets of New York rather than actors. Hollywood producer Samuel Goldwyn and famed director William Wyler saw the play decided to make a film version (1937). Apprently the Hollywood kids under contract were to clean cut for the role. So Goldwyn brought six of the boys (Halop, Jordan, Hall, Punsly, Dell, and Leo Gorcey) to Hollywood and made the only United Artist's film in the series--"Dead End" (1937). The boys apparently en riot during the shoot, running a truck into a sound studio. The film was a hit, but Goldwyn washed his hands of the boys and sold the film rights to Warner Brothers. As a result the other five films were Warner Brother films. And after the main films there were other reincarnations into te 1950s: The East Side Kids, The Little Tough Guys, and The Bowery Boys. 1958.

Created: 4:39 PM 12/17/2004
Last updated: 4:39 PM 12/17/2004