So up till now, we knew Slip's real name was Terrence Aloysius Mahoney, and Sach was Horace Debussey Jones. In this picture, we learn that Chuck is the nickname for Charles Anderson, something even Sach didn't know, so we all found out at the same time. If Butch's real name was ever mentioned in one of these stories I'm not aware of it, so I guess I'll just have to pay attention to the ones I haven't seen yet.
Well Chuck was well on his way to having some significant screen time and speaking lines in a Bowery Boys flick until he was quickly discovered working undercover as a newspaper reporter at the State Penitentiary and got beaten to a pulp by inmate Big Greenie (Michael Ross). The Boys can't leave their pal unavenged, so they come up with the bright idea of getting arrested for a jewelry heist and getting sent to the Pen to do their own brand of undercover investigation. Trouble is, their mentor from 'The Blade', Cy Bowman (Lyle Talbot), takes charge of the boys' jewelry haul and uses it to pay off a gambling debt. So Slip (Leo Gorcey), Sach (Huntz Hall) and Butch (Benny Bartlett) are now in prison for the long haul.
Followers of the Bowery Boys will know that everything turns out for the best in the end, and this one has them in their usual share of hi-jinks before the story's resolution. This time out, Slip doesn't offer up much in the way of his usual malapropisms, so it's up to Sach to take up some of the slack with his own goofy antics. The topper though had to be inmate Hank (Harry Tyler), a prison lifer who spent the past twenty two years digging an escape tunnel direct to the warden's office. He could have been a Bowery Boys founding member.
The role of prison warden Oswald was handled by the familiar era character actor Percy Helton, who probably had the most meaningful line of any Bowery Boys movie when he said of his newest prisoners - "You better have their heads examined." Helton would return in a couple of years portraying the owner of Clancy's Café, site of the remodeled location that replaced Louie's Sweet Shop. Back at the original Louie's, take note of the price of coffee and hot chocolate at a dime a cup, and malts going for thirty five cents. Don't look for those prices at Johnny Rocket's any time soon.
Well Chuck was well on his way to having some significant screen time and speaking lines in a Bowery Boys flick until he was quickly discovered working undercover as a newspaper reporter at the State Penitentiary and got beaten to a pulp by inmate Big Greenie (Michael Ross). The Boys can't leave their pal unavenged, so they come up with the bright idea of getting arrested for a jewelry heist and getting sent to the Pen to do their own brand of undercover investigation. Trouble is, their mentor from 'The Blade', Cy Bowman (Lyle Talbot), takes charge of the boys' jewelry haul and uses it to pay off a gambling debt. So Slip (Leo Gorcey), Sach (Huntz Hall) and Butch (Benny Bartlett) are now in prison for the long haul.
Followers of the Bowery Boys will know that everything turns out for the best in the end, and this one has them in their usual share of hi-jinks before the story's resolution. This time out, Slip doesn't offer up much in the way of his usual malapropisms, so it's up to Sach to take up some of the slack with his own goofy antics. The topper though had to be inmate Hank (Harry Tyler), a prison lifer who spent the past twenty two years digging an escape tunnel direct to the warden's office. He could have been a Bowery Boys founding member.
The role of prison warden Oswald was handled by the familiar era character actor Percy Helton, who probably had the most meaningful line of any Bowery Boys movie when he said of his newest prisoners - "You better have their heads examined." Helton would return in a couple of years portraying the owner of Clancy's Café, site of the remodeled location that replaced Louie's Sweet Shop. Back at the original Louie's, take note of the price of coffee and hot chocolate at a dime a cup, and malts going for thirty five cents. Don't look for those prices at Johnny Rocket's any time soon.