B-Western Wednesdays: Bowery Buckaroos (1947)

Lawman Luke Barlow (Russell Simpson) rides his horse right into that familiar address at 3rd & Canal—home of Louie Dumbrowski’s (Bernard Gorcey) Sweet Shop.  Sheriff Barlow is looking for a Louie, but the man on the wanted poster answers to “Louie the Lout” …who nevertheless bears a striking resemblance to Mr. D.  Later, Louie explains to Terrence Aloysius "Slip" Mahoney (Leo Gorcey) and the gang that he’s facing a hangman’s noose because Barlow wants him for a murder rap.  Twenty years earlier, Louie resided in the sleepy hamlet of Hangman’s Hollow, New Mexico, where he was partners in a gold mine with Pete Briggs…but Briggs was gunned down before he could enjoy the fruits of his and Louie’s labors, and Louie was fingered as the killer.  Not so, Louie claims: the murderer was in actuality Blackjack McCoy (Norman Willis), but the decades-old charge has kept “The Lout” from going back and sharing the map to the mine with Briggs’ daughter Katherine (Julie Gibson).

Slip decides to take the advice of “Horace Greedy” and go West, young man…go West.  The map to the mine has been in Louie’s possession all these years—it’s drawn on his back.  But since Louie’s not going to take any chances due to his being unwelcome in Hangman’s Hollow, a duplicate is drawn onto the back of Horace Debussy “Sach” Jones (Huntz Hall).  With the rest of the gang—Bobby (Bobby Jordan), Whitey (William “Billy” Benedict), and Chuck (David Gorcey)—in tow, Slip and Sach set out to both clear Louie’s name and restore the family fortune to Katherine…encountering Indians, outlaws, and the usual Bowery Boys shenanigans along the way.  It’s almost as if this were ripped from the pages of the pulp magazine Hair-Raising Western Tales!

I know it seems like I’m cheating a bit by featuring Bowery Buckaroos (1947)—the eighth entry in the popular Monogram Bowery Boys franchise—as this week’s B-Western Wednesdays entry…but since it is a Monogram picture, I don’t think you can argue about its “B” origins.  (Monogram was most assuredly one of the queens in the “B” hive.)  Plus, it has an indisputable Western setting, so…ipso facto, Q.E.D.

Besides, Bowery Buckaroos is one of my favorite Bowery Boys comedies.  I attribute this to the novelty of the situation; though it requires a major suspension of disbelief to swallow Louie’s past as an outlaw (as Chuck observes, "Louie, you was never further West than Tenth Avenue..."), the Boys were never funnier than when they were the proverbial fish-out-of-water.  (Their arrival in New Mexico is punctuated by their legendary jalopy being decked out like a covered wagon, with the gang singing a song about their adventure to the tune of “Oh, Susanna.”)  Slip and the boys acclimate themselves to their new surroundings fairly quickly…and really—there’s not much difference between Blackjack and his henchmen and the gangsters the Boys encountered in practically every one of their vehicles.

Buckaroos opens with an amusing novelty number performed by Bernard Gorcey entitled “Louie the Lout” (written by Eddie Maxwell, who also wrote the words to “Two-Gun Tillie”—sung by Julie Gibson in the film).  The reaction from Louie’s critics (a.k.a. the other members of the gang) is not uniformly positive:

LOUIE: When I sing that song...it brings a lump right to my throat...

CHUCK: Too bad...you should have gotten the lump first...

LOUIE (pointing to his heart): It hits me right here...

WHITEY: You should get hit...but not there...

LOUIE: That song, it sends me...that's what it does, it sends me...

BOBBY: It sends you...but not far enough...

I’ve noticed that in many of the early Bowery Boys flicks that the supporting gang members often get bright bits of comic business; Billy Benedict benefits enormously from this, as a number of jokes are based on Whitey’s inability to read.  In drawing a copy of the map onto Sach’s back, Whitey inquires "How do you spell 'x'?"  "Just like you sign your name,” deadpans Chuck.  Later in the film, when Sach has been kidnapped by McCoy’s goons in attempt to get the map (Sach has stupidly shown it to Indian Joe [Iron Eyes Cody], who works for McCoy), the gang discover his absence the next morning.

Get a load of Billy Benedict's facial expression (he's over Huntz Hall's left shoulder): "I think I've found Mrs. Whitey!"

Sach did, however, leave a note…and when Slip asks Whitey to read it to him, Whitey looks at him incredulously: “Are you kiddin’?”  Perhaps because Huntz Hall is off somewhere else in the film, Benedict gets the opportunity to really shine; later in the series, Gorcey and Hall would dominate the center stage while members like Bennie Bartlett and David Gorcey just seemed to be around to remind you they were still a gang.  That’s why Benedict left the franchise after completing Crazy Over Horses (1951), and why Bowery Buckaroos would be the swan song for Bobby Jordan, who had grown tired of taking a backseat to Leo and Huntz’s antics.

Buckaroos is also a good showcase for Gabriel Dell…who, with the exception of Hard Boiled Mahoney (1947—another favorite of mine), was usually cast as a one-time member of the gang now making his way in the adult world (he was the bridge between the Boys and the outside characters).  Gabe is sent on ahead to pose as The Klondike Kid, a gambler who ingratiates himself with Blackjack and his mob…and his performance here demonstrates why Dell had one of the more impressive careers outside of the group (he had prominent roles in two television sitcoms, 1972’s The Corner Bar and 1977’s A Year at the Top, in addition to being a member of the comic repertory company on Steve Allen’s show).  I like his running gag of noting “I read it in a seed catalog,” an expression I have been known to use at appropriate moments.

Bowery Buckaroos was co-written by two scribes who were regular contributors to Bowery Boys movies—Edmond Seward and Tim Ryan (who also appeared in many of the vehicles in small supporting roles)—and helmed by the most prolific director of the franchise, William Beaudine.  It’s a rib-tickling Western spoof staffed with familiar character faces (Russell Simpson, Minerva Urecal, Norman Willis, Iron Eyes Cody, Chief Yowlachie) and until it turns up again in the rotation on The Greatest Cable Channel Known to Mankind™ your best bet is purchasing it on the Warner Archive set The Bowery Boys, Volume 2.

My Love of Old Hollywood Horseathon: Crazy Over Horses (1951)

This essay is Thrilling Days of Yesteryear’s contribution to the Horseathon, an event being sponsored by the irrepressible Page at My Love of Old Hollywood from May 25-28.  For a list of participants and the movies discussed, click here.

With the release of Crazy Over Horses in 1951, Monogram Pictures Corporation marked the halfway point of one of the longest running movie series in the history of cinema.  The Bowery Boys, a series of films spotlighting the misadventures of an aging gang of juvenile delinquents (led by stars Leo Gorcey—as Terence Aloysius “Slip” Mahoney—and Huntz Hall, aka Horace Debussy “Sach” Jones), would be the focus of forty-eight B-pictures produced between 1946 and 1958.  The series had its origins as far back as 1937, when Gorcey, Hall, Bobby Jordan, Gabriel Dell, Bernard Punsley and Billy Halop appeared in Samuel Goldwyn’s production of Dead End…and the success of that film prompted Warner Brothers to hire “the Dead End Kids” for even more gritty juvenile dramas, notably Angels With Dirty Faces (1938).  The members of the group would later make a number of films both at Universal (as the Little Tough Guys) and Monogram (as The East Side Kids); the Bowery Boys series came about when Gorcey, dissatisfied with his treatment (and salary) in the East Side Kids pictures, revamped the concept with manager Jan Grippo to feature him and Hall as the stars.

The Bowery Boys films are an acquired taste for many filmgoers (sort of along the lines of boiled peanuts).  Their content often ran the gamut from urban melodrama to wacky slapstick comedy, but for many people (myself included, since I grew up watching the films both on WCHS-TV in Charleston, WV and later on Chicago’s WGN) they’re a guilty pleasure despite their low budgets and absurd plots.  In Crazy Over Horses, Slip and Sach—along with the other members of the “gang,” Whitey (Billy Benedict), Chuck (David Condon) and Butch (Bennie Bartlett)—are “hired” by sweet shop owner Louie Dumbrowski to collect an outstanding debt owed to him by a stable owner named Flynn (Tim Ryan), who barely makes ends meet boarding horses and repairing furniture.  Flynn is keeping tabs on a horse called “My Girl,” but because the men who left the equine in his care haven’t paid the feed bill in six months, Flynn talks the boys into accepting the nag as payment on the debt.

Louie’s reaction to the news that he is now the proud owner of a thoroughbred is not a positive one…and in fact, when three gangsters—played by Ted de Corsia, Allen Jenkins and Michael Ross—show up at his establishment and offer him $500 for My Girl, he’s all-too-willing to sign on the dotted line.  Slip, on the other hand, is convinced that something is not on the up-and-up—and despite an offer of $1000; he nixes the idea of selling the horse.  Because the gangsters are not able to obtain what they want through financial channels, they simply switch My Girl with their own race horse, “Tarzana.”  The plan, you see, is to run My Girl as Tarzana all along—ignorant of the switcheroo, the odds on Tarzana would enter longshot territory and de Corsia and his gang would clean up after placing a king-sized bet (all planned by de Corsia’s kingpin boss, played by Russell Hicks).  A series of horse-switching commences back-and-forth before the gang finally manages to get the right horse (My Girl) and with Sach as jockey, the horse is entered into the race, where it manages to beat Tarzana in an exciting climax, foiling the bad guys’ nefarious plans.

Because it’s better constructed (story-wise) than most Bowery Boys vehicles, Crazy Over Horses manages to be a fairly entertaining little romp despite more than a few weaknesses.  It doesn’t break any new comedy ground, for instance—the whole “horse switching” plot is highly reminiscent of the Marx Brothers’ A Day at the Races, only Horses has to pad out its sixty-five minute running time with the device, not always to its benefit.  The film also suffers from two sequences involving unfortunate racial humor: one bit has Chuck and Butch distracting Tarzana’s groom (so that Slip and Whitey can switch the horses), played by Smoki Whitfield, with a pretend game of craps (ouch).  Then another horse-switch is attempted by Sach, who has a conversation with the same groom…only Sach is in blackface (double ouch).  (This last bit is sometimes trimmed when the film is shown on television, for obvious reasons.)

Those insensitivities aside, there are some fitfully funny moments in Horses—mostly involving the chemistry between Gorcey’s Slip and Hall’s Sach.  I’ve always been a big fan of Leo’s; he had a wonderful comic persona (the wise guy who made malapropisms a fine art) and demonstrated that he was an accomplished talent even outside of the Bowery Boys (he was a regular on Bob Burns’ radio show, and also appeared alongside Groucho Marx on Blue Ribbon Town, where he often called the host “Marxie”).  I don’t share the same affinity for Hall, however; I always found his character a bit abrasive and annoying—but with Gorcey beside him as a counterweight, he wasn’t too difficult to take.  Hall has some moments in Horses where you’d jump at the chance to strangle him with a bridle at first opportunity…and yet there are amusing scenes such as this conversation with stable owner Flynn:

SLIP: We’re from the Mahoney Collection Agency…I’m Mahoney, da collector…you owe our client, Louie Dumbrowski, $250 plus interest—which we’re willin’ to disintegrate…plus court impoundments…now, of course, we really don’t wanna take ya to court as it might cause ya a lotta inconveyance…

FLYNN: I don’t understand, Mr. Mahoney…I explained all that to Louie this morning…business has been very bad…

SACH (gritting his teeth and acting tough): Will ya stop with that hearts and flowers…we want that money!  You gonna give us that money?  I’m gonna tear you apart… (He lunges for Flynn) Gimme that money, you… (To Slip) Tough enough, Chief?

SLIP: Keep yourself in tow, Lassie…

FLYNN: As I was saying…business is very bad…

SLIP: Well, we can depreciate that fact, Mr. Flynn…but…couldn’t ya just give us a little…collateral payment?

SACH: Collateral payment?  We want money!

FLYNN: I wish I could, Mr. Mahoney…I work very hard in trying to sell this old furniture… (Sad, somber music plays on the soundtrack) I just make a bare living…if you give me a little more time, I’ll get the money somewhere…I don’t want to go to court…I’ll pay…believe me, I’ll pay!

SACH (blubbering and kneeling in front of Slip): Will you give us a little more time?  What do you want from us, blood?  We don’t make any money…just mending this furniture, and doing this, and doing that…we buy old things…will you give us a little more time…we don’t make…my wife’s sick…my baby’s going to the mountains for the summer…please…give us a little more time…will ya? Give us some time… (He stops crying and says to Flynn) Last time I asked for time I got six months!

There’s also some hilarity when Sach and Slip, looking out of an opening at Flynn’s stable, watch as his daughter Terry (Gloria Saunders) teaches My Girl a trick of picking up Terry’s handkerchief with its teeth.  (This is how the gang later discovers that the horses have been switched, by the way.)  Both Slip and Sach are quite taken with Terry, and experience a little initial confusion when Flynn tells them that’s “My Girl” (meaning the horse, not his daughter) and that they’re welcome to take her as payment on the debt.  (“She’ll be nice to have around the store,” brays Sach.)  Once the matter is cleared up, Terry is impressed that Slip knows his horse flesh (having pegged My Girl as a thoroughbred) and Slip replies “Oh…a little…I used to be an exercise boy.”

“You could do with a little exercise now,” cracks Sach, which gets him a rap in the face that would do Moe Howard proud.

Tim Ryan, who plays Flynn, was quite an influential figure in the world of the Bowery Boys; he played any number of small roles in many of the films (News Hounds, Here Come the Marines) and his extensive background in comedy allowed him to script several entries as well, including some of the better outings like Trouble Makers, Hold That Line…and Crazy Over Horses.  In vaudeville and early radio, he worked in a double act known as “Tim and Irene”—the Irene was, of course, Irene Ryan…who achieved TV immortality as Granny on The Beverly Hillbillies.  Horses was directed by the legendary William "One-Shot" Beaudine, who probably directed more Bowery Boys outings than any other director...in fact, an oft-told show business story had Beaudine riding herd on one of the BB films and at one point during filming, when production went on late through the night and tempers were frayed he said out loud to no one in particular, "You'd think there was someone out there waiting for this!"

If you’re going to cast gangsters in your film—and let’s face it, every Bowery Boys film had to have gangsters—you’d definitely want TDOY faves Ted de Corsia and Allen Jenkins in your corner.  The only downside is that Jenkins doesn’t have stronger material than he should, but he’s still a welcome presence.  In the Bowery Boys films, Gorcey and Hall pretty much got the lion’s share of the laughs and everyone else was left to fend for themselves; this infighting is the reason why Horses was the final outing for William “Billy” Benedict, who had been playing “Whitey” since the series began in 1946.  (I’ve stated previously on the blog that “Whitey” was my favorite of the gang…mock me though you will. His absence from the series was a sad one, even if there were still a few goodies to come.)  Leo’s brother David, whose only purpose in these films was to stand in the background (usually in tandem with Bennie Bartlett) and try to look interested in what was going on in order to maintain the illusion that Leo and Huntz had a “gang,” changed his name from “Gorcey” to “Condon” (his mother’s maiden name) with this picture as well in the hopes that it might kickstart his career…but no such luck.

Crazy Over Horses was also the first film to abandon the montage of New York City that had introduced the previous films in the series, instead featuring caricatures of Slip and Sach in whatever situation the film happened to center on (this one featuring the two of them with the horse).  It foreshadowed the direction the series was headed (Gorcey and Hall as a comedy duo that later morphed into an ersatz Three Stooges, particularly when that team’s former director-writer Edward Bernds joined Monogram in 1953 and started working on the Bowery Boys pictures) and inched the franchise closer and closer to the zany comedy that many fans recognize as its trademark.  If you’re a fan, Horses remains one of the Bowery Boys’ most entertaining vehicles.