Little Tough Guys

The Little Tough Guys (later billed as 'The Dead End Kids and Little Tough Guys') were a group of actors who made a series of films and serials released by Universal Studios from 1938 through 1943. Many of them were originally part of The Dead End Kids, and several of them later became members of The East Side Kids and The Bowery Boys.

History

The urban drama Dead End became both a successful play and a hit movie, featuring six young actors playing streetwise guttersnipes: Billy Halop, Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Gabriel Dell, Bobby Jordan, and Bernard Punsly. The troupe became known as The Dead End Kids and starred in a series of features for Warner Brothers.

Little Tough Guys

In 1938, Universal borrowed the Dead End Kids (except Gorcey and Jordan) for a juvenile-delinquency drama called Little Tough Guy. Universal adopted this as a brand name, and turned the film into a series of 'Little Tough Guys' features. The studio filled out the cast with David Gorcey (Leo's younger brother) and Hally Chester.

The next three films did not include any of the original Dead End Kids. Little Tough Guys in Society (1939) was more of a lightweight comedy, while the next two, Newsboys' Home and Code of the Streets (1939), were more dramatic. Jackie Cooper starred in Newsboys' Home, but was not a member of the team. Only David Gorcey and Hally Chester remained from the first film, Little Tough Guy. This was the beginning of the members of the team changing on almost a film-to-film basis. Eleven actors drifted in and out of the series, including Frankie Thomas, Charles Duncan (who was originally hired to play Leo Gorcey's role in the play Dead End), and Billy Benedict.

When Warners released Bobby Jordan from his contract, Universal quickly signed him to join the rest of gang. Now, with five of the original six Dead End Kids on the payroll, Universal revised the billing to read "The Dead End Kids and Little Tough Guys". In total, the Little Tough Guys made 12 feature films, and three 12-chapter serials. Leading player Halop joined the armed forces and was replaced by Jordan for the final film in the series, Keep 'Em Slugging, released in 1943.

Shemp Howard of the Three Stooges appeared in Give Us Wings, Hit The Road and Keep 'Em Slugging. Huntz Hall cited Howard as a major influence when his later "Bowery Boys" series shifted to all-out slapstick comedy.

There was still a market for these tough-teen films, and most of the Little Tough Guys principals wound up at Monogram Pictures as The East Side Kids and The Bowery Boys; see these Wikipedia entries for notes.

Filmography

Year	Movie	Team Name	Notes
1. 1938	Little Tough Guy	None Listed
2. 1938	Little Tough Guys in Society	Little Tough Guys
3. 1939	Newsboys' Home	Little Tough Guys
4. 1939	Code of the Streets	Little Tough Guys
5. 1939	Call a Messenger	Dead End Kids and Little Tough Guys
6. 1940	You're Not So Tough	Dead End Kids and Little Tough Guys
7. 1940	Junior G-Men	Dead End Kids and Little Tough Guys	12-Chapter Serial
8. 1940	Give Us Wings	Dead End Kids and Little Tough Guys
9. 1941	Hit the Road	Dead End Kids and Little Tough Guys
10. 1941	Sea Raiders	Dead End Kids and Little Tough Guys	12-Chapter Serial
11. 1941	Mob Town	Dead End Kids and Little Tough Guys
12. 1942	Junior G-Men of the Air	Dead End Kids and Little Tough Guys	12-Chapter Serial
13. 1942	Tough As They Come	Dead End Kids and Little Tough Guys
14. 1943	Mug Town	Dead End Kids and Little Tough Guys
15. 1943	Keep 'Em Slugging	Dead End Kids and Little Tough Guys

External links

Preceded by 'The Dead End Kids' 1937-1939	'Little Tough Guys' series 1938-1943	Succeeded by 'The East Side Kids' 1940-1945

History