"The funniest hit the tenement terrors have ever made!" was the advertising tagline for Clancy Street Boys (1943), which starred the East Side Kids four years down the line after their introduction by Monogram Studios as a low-budget answer to Warner Bros.' Dead End Kids. By now Leo Gorcey, Bobby Jordan and Huntz Hall from the Dead End group had joined the East Side gang, and the overlapping groups would soon evolve into the Bowery Boys.

Clancy Street Boys marked the first time the East Siders played strictly for laughs, and was the first episode in the series to be directed by William Beaudine, who showed a definite flair for handling the guys in several movies. The story has Gorcey as Muggs McGinnis convincing the other "Kids" to pose as his siblings when a wealthy uncle (Noah Beery, Sr.) pays a visit. The reason for the charade? Muggs' mom (Martha Wentworth) has told her uncle that she has seven children, hoping he will continue to offer financial support. Hatchet-faced Huntz Hall gets into drag to pass as sister "Annabelle," while African-American Ernest Morrison is introduced as an adopted brother. The supporting cast includes Lita Ward, who would soon become Mrs. Leo Gorcey off screen.

Producer Sam Katzman was noted for his meager budgets and fondness for single takes, which lends the "East Side" movies a relaxed, anything-goes atmosphere with frequent ad-libbing. In one of the more amusing moments of Clancy Street Boys, the boys tip their hats and, turning to the camera, say "Excuse us" to the audience before going into a huddle.

Beaudine, a prolific filmmaker from the silent era through the 1960s, had the distinction of being the film industry's oldest active director when he died at age 78 in 1970. He worked in almost every genre and earned notoriety for directing Mom and Dad (made in 1944 but not released until 1957), a controversial sex-education film that showed the actual birth of a baby.

Producers: Sam Katzman, Jack Dietz, Barney A. Sarecky (associate)
Director: William Beaudine
Screenplay: Harvey Gates
Cinematography: Mack Stengler
Art Direction: Dave Milton
Editing: Carl Pierson
Principal Cast: Leo Gorcey (Muggs McGinnis), Huntz Hall (Glimpy Freedhoff), Bobby Jordan (Danny), Bennie Bartlett (Bennie), Lita Ward (Judy), Rick Vallin (George), Martha Wentworth (Mrs. McGinnis) .
BW-66m.

by Roger Fristoe