Keep 'Em Slugging
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Christy Cabanne
Huntz Hall
Bobby Jordan
Gabriel Dell
Norman Abbott
Evelyn Ankers
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
With summer vacation starting, teenage gang leader Tommy Banning lectures his cohorts about helping the war effort by going straight and getting legitimate jobs, rather than working the rackets. Unfortunately, due to their juvenile delinquency records, the gang has little luck in finding work. Sheila, Tommy's sister, goes to Frank Moulton, the head of the shipping department at the department store where she works, and asks him to hire Tommy, but he refuses unless she agrees to go out with him. Later, Jerry Brady, Sheila's boyfriend, arranges a job for Tommy with Moulton. Tommy immediately falls for salesgirl Suzanne Booker, but their attempt to go out on a date is sabotaged when they are joined at the cinema by his friends, Albert "Pig" Gum, String and Ape. Later, Tommy gets Pig a job working in a parking lot. After two more stock clerks are drafted into military service, Tommy suggests to Mr. Curruthers, the head of the store, that he replace them with out-of-work teenagers, so the store hires String and Ape. Meanwhile, Moulton meets with gangster Duke Redman, who complains that Moulton has not been setting him up with enough business out of the department store. Moulton suggests that Redman recruit Tommy into his gang, so the gangster arranges for the youth to meet sexy café singer, Lola Leverne. She convinces Tommy to come her café, where Redman offers him "work." Tommy refuses and threatens to expose the gangster if anything happens at the store. Moulton then frames Tommy in a jewelry theft. After Tommy is placed in jail, Sheila quits her job, which greatly upsets Jerry, who is actually Curruthers' son. After being bailed out of jail by Jerry, Tommy returns home and becomes enraged when he learns that his mother and sister think he is guilty. After meeting with his gang, Tommy goes to Lola's café to speak with Redman, and sees Moulton talking to the singer. He follows them to Redman's hideout, where they are preparing to hijack a silk shipment from the department store. After the robbery, Tommy and his gang pin the gangsters in their office with a water hose until the police arrive. Tommy is rewarded with Moulton's job at the store, while Pig, String and Ape go to work in the shipping department, and Jerry and Sheila are happily reunited.
Director
Christy Cabanne
Cast
Huntz Hall
Bobby Jordan
Gabriel Dell
Norman Abbott
Evelyn Ankers
Elyse Knox
Frank Albertson
Don Porter
Shemp Howard
Samuel S. Hinds
Mary Gordon
Milburn Stone
Joan Marsh
Joseph Crehan
Wade Boteler
Paul Mcvey
Joe King
Minerva Urecal
Arthur Hoyt
Cliff Clark
Alice Fleming
Dorothy Vaughan
William Gould
Frank O'connor
Mira Mckinney
Janet Shaw
David Durand
Ernie Adams
Milton Kibbee
Fern Emmett
Jimmy Dodd
Harry Holman
Dick Chandlee
Budge Patty
Johnny Walsh
Lew Kelly
Ben Erway
Joey Ray
Tony Warde
Peter Michael
Harryette Vine
Caroline Cooke
Rex Lease
Bob Hill
Howard Mitchell
Bob Spencer
Jack C. Smith
Roy Brent
Crew
Bernard B. Brown
Ralph M. Delacy
R. A. Gausman
John Goodman
Robert Gordon
Edward Handler
Paul Neal
Ben Pivar
E. R. Robinson
H. J. Salter
William Sickner
Ray Snyder
Gilbert Valle
Brenda Weisberg
Vera West
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working title of this film was Bad Company. The film's opening credits read: "The Dead End Kids and the Little Tough Guys in Keep 'Em Slugging." Hollywood Reporter reported in November 1942 that actor Gene Reynolds, who had previously been cast in the film, was being replaced in the role of "Tommy Banning" by Bobby Jordan. Hollywood Reporter also stated that actor Don Porter was given a two-week delay in his military service so that he could appear in this film. Budge Patty was an eighteen-year-old junior tennis champion at the time of this film, according to Hollywood Reporter. Keep 'Em Slugging was the final film in Universal's "Dead End Kids/Little Tough Guys" series. For additional information on these series, consult the Series Index and the entries for Crime School and Little Tough Guy in AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1931-40; F3.0873 and F3.2534.
