While Thousands Cheer
Cast & Crew
Leo C. Popkin
Kenny Washington
Mantan Moreland
Pete Webster
Jeni Le Gon
Reginald Fenderson
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Kenny Harrington, the star football player of Gilmore College, leads his team to many victories, raising hopes that Gilmore will play in the "Peach Bowl," the championship playoffs of the Western conference. Unknown to Kenny, Downey, the head of a gambling syndicate, has placed a $100,000 bet against the Gilmore team and has sent his henchman, Green, to see to it that Kenny does not play in the upcoming game. When Green and Johnson, head of the west coast offices of the gambling syndicate, find Kenny at the Collegiate Café and offer him $25,000 to leave the team until after the Peach Bowl, Kenny, his pal Phil Harrington and other college students throw them out of the café. Later, Phil throws a party at Johnson's café, where a brawl breaks out when he cannot pay the bill. When Kenny and his trainer, Nash, learn of the riot, they rush to the café and help Phil and the other students escape. After Green and Johnson blackmail Kenny, threatening to reveal that he was responsible for knocking a waiter at the café unconscious, Kenny agrees to drop out of the team's game against Carlton College. Just before the game, however, Kenny decides to play, and he helps his team win. To get back at Kenny for double-crossing them, the gamblers bribe Rose, a "college widow," to lure him and Phil to their hideout, where they plan to hold them captive. As the game between Gilmore and Union gets underway, Myra, Kenny's sweetheart, and her pal Daisy confront Rose and force her to tell them where Phil and Kenny are being held. With help from other members of Kenny's team and from the police, Myra and Daisy go to the hideout and arrive in time to save them. The gangsters are placed under arrest, and Kenny is rushed to the football field, where he eventually leads the team to victory. With Gilmore's place in the Peach Bowl playoffs assured, Kenny and Myra plan their wedding.
Director
Leo C. Popkin
Cast
Kenny Washington
Mantan Moreland
Pete Webster
Jeni Le Gon
Reginald Fenderson
Lawrence Criner
Monte Hawley
Florence O'brien
Ida Belle Kauffin
Bud Harris
Earl Hall
John Thomas
Reginald Anderson
Jack Spears
Alfred Grant
Edward Thompson
Crew
Martin G. Cohn
Sara Francis
Gordon Griffith
Harry Levette
Joseph O'donnell
Paul Palmentola
Marcel Picard
Harry M. Popkin
Clark Ramsey
Arthur C. Ringer
George D. Ringer
Harry Ross
Cliff Ruberg
Clifford Sanforth
Herman Schoff
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
A working title for this film was Gridiron Graft. It was reviewed in The Exhibitor in December 1941 under the title As Thousands Cheer. The film was re-released in 1945 as Crooked Money. The Daily Variety review complimented Million Dollar Productions for having brought to the screen the story of Kenny Washington, "the colored All-American [who] put the University of California at Los Angeles on the gridiron map." Washington graduated from UCLA in 1940, and became one of the first blacks to play in the National Football League following World War II. He played with the Los Angeles Rams and other professional football teams following his record-breaking stint at UCLA.
