''Boys of the City'' (also known as ''The Ghost Creeps'') is a 1940

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

comedy/thriller film directed by

Joseph H. Lewis Joseph H. Lewis (April 6, 1907 – August 30, 2000) was an American B-movie film director whose stylish flourishes came to be appreciated by auteur theory-espousing film critics in the years following his retirement in 1966. In a 30-year direc ...

. It is the second

East Side Kids The East Side Kids were characters in a series of 22 films released by Monogram Pictures from 1940 through 1945. Many of them were originally part of The Dead End Kids and The Little Tough Guys, and several of them later became members of The ...

film and the first to star Bobby Jordan,

Leo Gorcey Leo Bernard Gorcey (June 3, 1917– June 2, 1969) was an American stage and film actor, famous for portraying the leader of a group of hooligans known variously as the Dead End Kids, the East Side Kids and, as adults, The Bowery Boys. Gorcey was ...

, and

Ernest Morrison Ernest Fredric Morrison (December 20, 1912 – July 24, 1989) was an American child actor, comedian, vaudevillian and dancer who also performed under the stage name Sunshine Sammy Morrison and was the only black member of the ''East Side Ki ...

Plot

To escape the heat of the city and a court sentence for malicious mischief, the East Side kids agree to visit a summer camp in the Adirondacks. En route, their car breaks down and they are reluctantly given accommodations in the home of Judge Malcolm Parker. The Judge, under indictment for bribery, has much to fear. His life, as well as that of his niece Louise has been threatened by a gang of racketeers; his companion, Giles, has accused him of embezzling Louise's fortune; and his sinister housekeeper, Agnes, blames him for the death of her mistress, Leonora. The Judge's fears are compounded when he meets Knuckles Dolan, the boys' guardian, whom he had unjustly sentenced to death, only to have his verdict reversed and Knuckles exonerated. Later that night, when Louise is kidnapped and the Judge found strangled, Giles and Simp, the Judge's bodyguard, accuse Knuckles of the murder, but the boys capture Simp and Giles and determine to find the murderer themselves. Muggs and Danny discover a secret panel in the library wall and enter a passage where they find Louise's unconscious body and glimpse the figure of a fleeing man. Knuckles captures the man, who identifies himself as Jim Harrison of the district attorney's office. Amid the confusion, the real killer takes Louise captive, but the boys track him down and unmask Simp. Harrison then identifies the bodyguard as the triggerman seeking revenge on the Judge. With the crime solved, the boys can finally leave for their summer camp.

Cast

The East Side Kids

* Bobby Jordan as Danny Dolan *

as Muggs * Hal E. Chester as Buster *

Frankie Burke Frankie Burke (June 6, 1915 – April 7, 1983) was a Hollywood actor, best known for his appearance as a member of The East Side Kids. Early life Burke was born Frankie Vaselle and grew up in Brooklyn, New York. His name was changed whe ...

as Skinny * Sunshine Sammy as Scruno *

Donald Haines Donald Haines (May 9, 1919 – February 20, 1943) was an American child actor who had recurring appearances in the ''Our Gang'' short subjects series from 1930 to 1933. He appeared in ''Our Gang'' during the early sound days along with Nor ...

as Peewee *

David Gorcey David Gorcey (February 6, 1921 – October 23, 1984) was an American actor and the younger brother of actor Leo Gorcey. Gorcey is best known for portraying "Chuck Anderson" in Monogram Pictures' film series The Bowery Boys, and "Pee Wee" in i ...

as Pete *

Eugene Francis The East Side Kids were characters in a series of 22 films released by Monogram Pictures from 1940 through 1945. Many of them were originally part of The Dead End Kids and The Little Tough Guys, and several of them later became members of The B ...

as Algy Wilkes

Other cast

Vince Barnett Vince Barnett (July 4, 1902 – August 10, 1977) was an American film actor. He appeared on stage originally before appearing in more than 230 films between 1930 and 1975. Early years Barnett was born July 4, 1902, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylva ...

as Simp *

Inna Gest Inna Gest (1921–1964) was a Ukrainian-born film actress. In Hollywood she played the female lead in several films, mainly westerns. Dixon p.117 Increasingly cast in smaller parts she retired from acting after 1948. Selected filmography * ''Fast ...

as Louise Mason * Dave O'Brien as 'Knuckles' Dolan *

Minerva Urecal Minerva Urecal (born Florence Minerva Dunnuck; September 22, 1894 – February 26, 1966) was an American stage and radio performer as well as a character actress in Hollywood films and on various television series from the early 1950s to 1 ...

as Agnes * Dennis Moore as Giles *

Forrest Taylor Edwin Forrest Taylor (December 29, 1883 – February 19, 1965) was an American character actor whose artistic career spanned six different decades, from silents through talkies to the advent of color films. Early years Taylor was born in Bl ...

as Judge Malcolm Parker *Alden 'Stephen' Chase as Jim Harrison *

Jerry Mandy Jerry Mandy (June 5, 1892 – May 1, 1945) was an American film actor. He appeared in 114 films between 1923 and 1945. He was born in Utica, New York and died in Hollywood, California from a heart attack. Selected filmography * ''North Sta ...

as Cook *

George Humbert George Humbert (born Umberto Gianni; July 29, 1880 – May 8, 1963) was an Italian-born American actor who appeared in more than 100 films between 1918 and the 1950s. He emigrated to the United States as a steerage passenger on board the Italian ...

as Tony

Production

This film was a direct follow-up to

. After completing the pilot film for the series, producer

Sam Katzman Sam Katzman (July 7, 1901 – August 4, 1973) was an American film producer and director. Katzman produced low-budget genre films, including serials, which had disproportionately high returns for the studios and his financial backers. Ea ...

was able to convince former

Dead End Kids The Dead End Kids were a group of young actors from New York City who appeared in Sidney Kingsley's Broadway play ''Dead End'' in 1935. In 1937, producer Samuel Goldwyn brought all of them to Hollywood and turned the play into a film. They prov ...

Bobby Jordan and

to join the series. Katzman also brought in Gorcey's younger brother

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

, and former

Our Gang ''Our Gang'' (also known as ''The Little Rascals'' or ''Hal Roach's Rascals'') is an American series of comedy short films chronicling a group of poor neighborhood children and their adventures. Created by film producer Hal Roach, also the ...

star and

Vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

entertainer "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison. Morrison had already known Katzman prior to joining the series. While this film is technically a sequel to the previous film, some unexplained changes are made (namely the addition of "Muggs", "Scruno", and "Buster"). Most of the cast from the previous film did not return. Bobby Jordan replaced Harris Berger in the role of "Danny", and would retain the role for a large portion of the series' run. Jack Edwards was originally slated to return as "Algernon Wilkes", but immediately declined after being offered a better paid part elsewhere.

took his place the day before filming began. Francis says he was paid $66 a week and the film was shot in five days. New York City exteriors were done at the Roach Studio, with interiors done on a soundstage on Gower St next to Columbia. Francis:

I knew what I was getting into. It was Gower Gulch-bottom of the barrel. The cliche in Hollywood at the time was if you were working in Gower Gulch you’re either on your way up or on your way down... They’d block it out so we knew where we were supposed to walk. Sometimes that was the trouble with the picture. Everyone would pile in a scene like some kind of free-for-all. It looked like it was ad-libbed or at least that's how it seemed to me. I’m a guy who likes rehearsing but they didn’t believe in it. I don’t think Leo Gorcey could ever rehearse. He was pretty wild and you never knew what was going to happen... There was a lot of ad-libbing but he scenes and storyline were not substantially changed You’d never get the picture done otherwise. We didn’t have to be word perfect just approximate... I did know that ''Boys of the City'' was terribly shot. You could see the flashlight reflection of a candle during one scene! No one cared. It was junk. They were poverty row films and no one wanted to be in them.

Hal E. Chester returned, but as his character was killed off in the previous film, he plays a different character here. This would be his last East Side Kids film. In addition to Chester,

, and Dave O'Brien all returned, and each reprised their role from the previous film. This would be Burke's last East Side Kids film. After his departure, the character of "Skinny" was given to Haines, while "Peewee" was given to

. Filming started in June 1940.

Reception

The plot of the film was reused a year later in ''

Spooks Run Wild ''Spooks Run Wild'' is a 1941 American horror comedy film and the seventh film in the East Side Kids series. It stars Bela Lugosi with Leo Gorcey, Bobby Jordan and Huntz Hall. It is directed by Phil Rosen, in his first and only outing in the se ...

'' and again four years later in ''

Crazy Knights ''Crazy Knights'' (also known as ''Ghost Crazy'') is a 1944 American comedy horror film directed by William Beaudine and starring Billy Gilbert, Shemp Howard and Max Rosenbloom.Rigby p.256 Plot Billy Gilbert, Shemp Howard and Dave Hammond (Bern ...

''.

References

External links

*
Review of film
at ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Boys Of The City 1940 films American black-and-white films American haunted house films Films directed by Joseph H. Lewis American comedy thriller films Monogram Pictures films Films produced by Sam Katzman 1940s comedy thriller films East Side Kids 1940s American films