''High Society'' is a 1955
comedy film
A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending ( black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the o ...
directed by
William Beaudine
William Washington Beaudine (January 15, 1892 – March 18, 1970) was an American film actor and director. He was one of Hollywood's most prolific directors, turning out films in remarkable numbers and in a wide variety of genres.
Life and car ...
and starring the comedy team of
The Bowery Boys
The Bowery Boys are fictional New York City characters, portrayed by a company of New York actors, who were the subject of 48 feature films released by Monogram Pictures and its successor Allied Artists Pictures Corporation from 1946 through 19 ...
.
The film was released on April 17, 1955, by Allied Artists and is the 37th film in the series. It is the only film in the series to receive an
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
nomination, albeit through being mistaken for another film with the same title.
Plot
Sach receives news that he is the heir to the Terwilliger Debussy Jones fortune. Accompanied by his pals Slip and Louie, he arrives at the Jones mansion to review the legal papers needed for him to claim his new fortune. However, Sach and Slip discover that the rightful heir, the young Terwilliger III, is being cheated out his inheritance by the miscreant duo of Stuyvesant Jones and Clarissa. Sach and Slip, with the help of their fellow Bowery Boys, save the day and restore the heir’s inheritance.
Cast
The Bowery Boys
*
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 ...
as Terence Aloysius "Slip" Mahoney
*
Huntz Hall
Henry Richard "Huntz" Hall (August 15, 1920 – January 30, 1999) was an American radio, stage, and movie performer who appeared in the popular " Dead End Kids" movies, including ''Angels with Dirty Faces'' (1938), and in the later " Bowery ...
as Horace Debussy "Sach" Jones
*
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 Charles "Chuck" Anderson (credited as David Condon)
*
Bennie Bartlett
Floyd B. Bartlett, known professionally as Benny Bartlett or Bennie Bartlett (August 16, 1924 – December 26, 1999), was an American child actor, musician, and later a member of the long-running feature-film series ''The Bowery Boys''.
Biog ...
as Butch Williams
Additional cast
*
Bernard Gorcey
Bernard Gorcey (9 January 1886 – 11 September 1955) was a Russian-born American actor. He began in Vaudeville, performed on Broadway, and appeared in multiple shorts and films. He portrayed ice cream shop proprietor Louie Dumbrowski i ...
as Louie Dumbrowski
*
Amanda Blake
Amanda Blake (born Beverly Louise Neill, February 21, 1929 – August 16, 1989) was an American actress best known for the role of the red-haired saloon proprietress "Miss Kitty Russell" on the western television series ''Gunsmoke''. Along with ...
as Clarissa Jones
*
Dayton Lummis
Dayton Lummis (August 8, 1903 – March 23, 1988) was an American film, television and theatre actor. He was perhaps best known for playing the role of General Douglas MacArthur in the 1955 film ''The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell''. Lummis d ...
as Stuyvesant Jones
*Ronald Keith as Terwilliger Debussy "Twig" Jones III
*
Gavin Gordon as Frisbie
*
Dave Barry
David McAlister Barry (born July 3, 1947) is an American author and columnist who wrote a nationally syndicated humor column for the ''Miami Herald'' from 1983 to 2005. He has also written numerous books of humor and parody, as well as comi ...
as Palumbo, the pianist
*
Paul Harvey
Paul Harvey Aurandt (September 4, 1918 – February 28, 2009) was an American radio broadcaster for ABC News Radio. He broadcast ''News and Comment'' on mornings and mid-days on weekdays and at noon on Saturdays and also his famous ''The Rest o ...
as Henry Baldwin
Cast notes
Chuck (
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 ...
) and Butch (
Bennie Bartlett
Floyd B. Bartlett, known professionally as Benny Bartlett or Bennie Bartlett (August 16, 1924 – December 26, 1999), was an American child actor, musician, and later a member of the long-running feature-film series ''The Bowery Boys''.
Biog ...
) only appear at the beginning and end of this film.
Academy Award gaffe
For the
29th Academy Awards
For the 29th Academy Awards, the Best International Feature Film was introduced as a competitive category, instead of only a Special Achievement Award. The first winner in this new category was Federico Fellini's ''La Strada'' with Anthony Qu ...
, ''High Society'' was accidentally included on the ballot in category for the
Academy Award for Best Story
The Academy Award for Best Story was an Academy Award given from the beginning of the Academy Awards until 1956. This award can be a source of confusion for modern audiences, given its co-existence with the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenpl ...
. The error took place because another film with the same title – the
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...
production of the 1956
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway and in film.
Born to ...
musical ''
High Society'' starring
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...
,
Grace Kelly
Grace Patricia Kelly (November 12, 1929 – September 14, 1982) was an American actress who, after starring in several significant films in the early to mid-1950s, became Princess of Monaco by marrying Prince Rainier III in April 1956.
Kelly ...
and
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the " Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular entertainers of the 1940s, 1950s, and ...
– was in release.
Edward Bernds and
Elwood Ullman
Elwood Ullman (May 27, 1903 — October 11, 1985) was an American film comedy writer most famous for his credits on The Three Stooges shorts and many other low-budget comedies.
Career
A native of Memphis, Tennessee, Ullman chose a writing caree ...
, the screenwriters for The Bowery Boys comedy, acknowledged their nomination was a mistake and successfully requested their removal from the Academy Award ballot.
Home media
Warner Archives released the film on made-to-order DVD in the United States as part of ''The Bowery Boys, Volume Two'' on April 9, 2013.
See also
*
List of American films of 1955
A list of American films released in 1955.
The United Artists film '' Marty'' won the Academy Award for Best Picture for 1955.
A–B
C–D
E–H
I–L
M–R
S–Z
See also
* 1955 in the United States
External links
1955 filmsat ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:High Society (1955 Film)
1955 films
American black-and-white films
Bowery Boys films
1955 comedy films
1950s English-language films
Films directed by William Beaudine
Allied Artists films
American comedy films