Brooks on Books: Looking at the Bowery Boys

There's a reason I titled this post "Looking at the Bowery Boys." Richard Roat's book "Hollywood's Made-To-Order Punks" is a heartfelt tribute to the actors who inhabited the Dead End Kids, Little Tough Guys, East Side Kids, and Bowery Boys series as well as a decent filmography. What it is not is a comprehensive text history of the cast or the films. There are a ton of great pictures though, and the book does its job.

As a relative newcomer to Bowery Boys fandom, I found that this book both surpassed my expectations and came up short. I got more photos than I expected and enjoyed them more than I could have hoped. On the other hand, I didn't learn as much about the Bowery Boys as I hoped.

One of my main goals going into "Hollywood's Made-To-Order Punks" was to find out what the heck happened to Billy Benedict, AKA "Whitey," who abruptly left the series without explanation. Well, at least it felt abrupt to me as I followed along with Turner Classic Movies' sequential screenings of the Bowery flicks. There's a nice biographical sketch of Benedict, a few head shots, and some warm memories the author shares of his own personal relationship with the actor. But there is no explanation of why he left or under what circumstances. This is a pretty good encapsulation of what the book is about. It delivers what it does but is far from comprehensive, nor is it intended as such.

Here is what you DO get in "Hollywood's Made-To-Order Punks": A brief essay about the films of the gangs in their various incarnations, followed by a series of brief castmember bios and selected filmographies (starting with the more significant players, then filling in some of the supporting members and even the "Lost Players" Roat couldn't track down), a general photo gallery, a chronological look at the films, and a brief list of trivia questions.

I don't think this is Roat's full-time vocation, and I don't want to be too harsh here, but I do wish he had offered a little more in the "Feature Films" section. Each entry contains a release date, an excerpted "Variety" review, and a photo or movie poster reproduction from the film in question. Occasionally there are extra "Notes" with more tidbits about the movie, and I would have loved to have seen many more of those.

Roat clearly knows these guys, and I get the feeling he has a little more he could share. Many of the castmember entries are peppered with Roat's personal anecdotes and experiences with the performers. They provide a unique point of view for the book and make it something richer than a mere photo book or a mere filmography. It's not a cheap book, and I was left wanting just a bit more, but I still recommend it for any Bowery Boys fan who can appreciate the personal slant and the photographs. It's not a comprehensive history or a critical look at the films, but maybe some other book out there provides that.