The "Dead End Kids" - Tommy Traditional Cache
The "Dead End Kids" - Tommy
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"Tommy" Played by Billy Halop, was one of the original "Dead End
Kid" actors for the stage play and movie "Dead End".
In the filthy slums of New York, wealthy people have built luxury
apartments there because of the view of the picturesque East River.
While they live in opulence, the destitute and dirt poor live
nearby in crowded, filthy tenements.
At the end of the street is a dock on the East River; to the left
are the luxury apartments and to the right are the slums. The Dead
End Kids, led by Tommy Gordon (Billy Halop), are a petty gang of
street urchins who are already well onto a path to a life of crime.
Members of the gang besides Tommy include, Dippy (Huntz Hall),
Angel (Bobby Jordan), Spit (Leo Gorcey), T.B. (Gabriel Dell), and
Milty (Bernard Punsly), the new kid on the block in search of
friends. Spit is a bit malicious with a cruel streak and initially
bullies the newcomer and takes his pocket change. However, Tommy
eventually lets Milty join the gang and turns out to be both a
loyal and generous friend.
Halop, in an interview in his later years, he claimed that he was
paid more than the other 'Dead End' actors, which had contributed
to bad feelings in the group, and that he hated the name 'Dead End
Kids'.[2] He also played the vicious bully Flashman in the 1940 Tom
Brown's School Days opposite Cedric Hardwicke and Freddie
Bartholomew.
After serving in World War II, Halop found that he had grown too
old to be effective in the roles that had brought him fame. At one
point, he was reduced to starring in a cheap East Side Kids
imitation at PRC studios, Gas House Kids (1946). Diminishing film
work, marital difficulties, and a drinking problem eventually ate
away at Halop's show business career.
After becoming a Registered Nurse, Halop supplemented his nursing
income with film and television roles, including the recurring role
of Bert Munson on All in the Family
William "Billy" Halop Died in 1976 at the age of 56.
In total the various teams that began life as 'The Dead End Kids'
made 89 films and three serials for four different studios during
their 21 year long film career. The team was awarded a star on
Hollywood's Walk of Fame, which can be found at the corner of La
Brea and Hollywood. One notable aspect of the group's history is
their transition from stark drama to comedy. When they began, in
"Dead End" and their other early films, their characters were
serious, gritty, genuinely menacing young hoodlums. But by the
height of their career, their movies were essentially comedies,
with the Kids depicted as low-class but basically harmless, likable
teens - comic caricatures of their former selves.
As always, be careful and replace the cache as
found!
* * * * Congratulations to Polkajen for the Solo F-T-F * * *
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