The first of the long-running "Bowery Boys" series is also probably the weakest in plot, basically the same characters of "The East Side Kids" series with new names and locations. The newly monikered Slip (Leo Gorcey) obviously doesn't want to work, going from flower delivery boy to ink remover pitchman to construction site digger (a job that only lasts two minutes) and finally to process server. He joins pal Sach (Huntz Hall) in that profession, serving everybody from a chorus girl (trying to avoid him while performing) to the gigantic Mike Mazurki. Of course, there's a criminal element here, involved with Slip's sister (Pamela Blake), which provides the only attempt at a linear plot.The slightly more than an hour film is mostly enjoyable because of Slip's "slip of the tongue" malapropisms which are sometimes hysterical, sometimes stupid and sometimes non-sensical. The film provides mostly "moments" rather than the great atmosphere of the aging youth of the lower east side that would prevail for another 11 years in 40 plus movies. While most of the gang appears to be mid-late 20's, "Whitey" Billy Benedict for some reason looks much older. Bernard Gorcey, who always popped up in the oddest places when the series began to travel, doesn't appear as Louie here, looking very different as a bookie. Ironically, Louie's ice cream shop is one of the major settings, but his character is not even mentioned.

You either like the Bowery Boys films with their low brow humor or you don't. I like them. They're silly, funny, and light hearted. Slip gets and loses one job after another for being too hot tempered and quick with his fists but since his sister who he lives with has a steady job he doesn't worry about it. That is, until she gets fed up and insists he get a steady job. He first thinks he's going to make a bundle as a street peddler selling Pierce's Peerless Stain Remover. In this skit, Gorcey well demonstrates how very good he was at patter. Of course, the peddler scam doesn't work out and he then gets a job at the repossession firm that Sach is working at (somewhat surprisingly Sach has a steady job). They get the assignment of finding a couple of crooks, Patsy Clark and the crook known as The Pidgeon. Slip tells the boys that in tracking down Patsy they'll first make a list of the possibilities and then "It's just a process of illumination." Slip does indeed find Patsy who turns out to be a towering, violent and menacing crook played by Mike Mazurki. There are a number of pretty funny bits in the movie but my favorite was the scene at the high class nightclub, the 'High Hat' where Slip takes his girlfriend as part of a car repo job. After hearing from Slip that "money is no objection," the snooty waiter recommends a 1928 champagne. Slip and his girlfriend are mightily annoyed and insist that the waiter bring something newer than that.

This is the very first of the true "Bowery Boys" pictures (not confusing them with earlier films where they were billed as "The Dead End Kids" and "The East Side Kids"). From here on into the late 1950s, Leo Gorcey (as Terrence Aloysius "Slip" Mahoney) and Huntz Hall (as Horace Debussy "Sach" Jones) would gradually become more of a comical duo and take center stage over the rest of their gang members.For me, LIVE WIRES is a promising start to this revamped series. Leo Gorcey plays his usual short-fused self who can't seem to hold down a job because he keeps resorting to punching people in the nose. A highlight of the film comes when he tries to sell a fake liquid stain removing product on the streets of the city. His faithful sister keeps after him, and eventually he and his buddy Sach land jobs as men who repossess unpaid-for merchandise (such as automobiles). The slapstick ensues as Slip and Sach get stuck having to confront a large-sized but simple-minded gangster (played by Mike Mazurki), who beats up on them. For fans of Huntz Hall, he is rather underused in this debut entry and it's mostly Leo Gorcey's show, but Leo acquits himself very well. Things would change as the films went on with Sach becoming on equal footing with Slip. What's odd here too is that the gang hangs out at "Louie's Ice Cream Parlor" in this movie, but the actor who would go on to play Louie himself (Bernard Gorcey, Leo's father) is cast in another part. **1/2 out of ****

Live Wires (1946) ** 1/2 (out of 4) The first of forty-eight films in The Bowery Boys series follows familiar grounds but in the end the film delivers enough cheap laughs to make it worth seeing. In the film 'Slip' Mahoney (Leo Gorcey) keeps getting fired from one job after another due to his short temper and willingness to throw a punch. This eventually gets under the skin of his sister who pretty much gives up on him but Slip finds work as a skip tracer and hopes that this will get him on the right path. This first film in the series could easily be mistaken for one of the East Side Kid entries as there's really not much difference. This is certainly to be expected but the one big difference here is that the budget appears to be slightly higher and the overall production seems to have stepped up a notch. The 65-minute running time begins to wear a little thin towards the end but fans of the group will probably stay entertained throughout. The opening credits read "Leo Gorcey and The Bowery Boys", which is pretty much correct as there's no doubt the film belongs to Gorcey and it's pretty clear that this was an attempt to take everything over. At least in this first entry the "gang" takes a backseat to Gorcey's one-man show. That might sound like a negative thing but Gorcey can certainly handle carrying the film and he ends up delivering a fun and fast performance. He continues the mangling of big words, which was quite familiar by this point in his career but as childish as it is I can't help but laugh at it. The hot temper stuff would seem to be growing old but he still manages to put some fire behind it and makes it fun. Huntz Hall, Mike Mazurki, Bobby Jordan, William Benedict and William Frambes bring up the support and aren't too bad even if the screenplay doesn't do them any favors. The screenplay itself is pretty familiar stuff and it never tries to be too original but it still works due to the train that is Gorcey. The highlight of the film is the sequence where Gorcey tries to get a break into the "stain removal" business.