Actor. His career spanned four decades and he is best remembered as the leader of the "Eastside Kids", the "Dead End Kids", and "The Bowery Boys". The son of an Irish Catholic and a Russian Jewish immigrant who were vaudevillian actors, he got his start in films with an appearance in William Wyler's "Dead End" (1937). He then became one of the busiest actors in Hollywood during the following twenty years, starring as various characters in seven "Dead End Kids"" films between 1937 and 1939, as 'Ethelbert "Muggs" McInnis/McGinnis/Maloney' in twenty-one "east Side Kids" films between 1940 and 1945, and as 'Terence Aloysius "Slip" Mahoney' in forty-one "Bowery Boys" films between 1946 and 1956. His "Bowery Boys" "Slip" was noted for his malapropisms, delivered in a thick Brooklyn accent, such as: "a clever seduction" for "a clever deduction", or "I depreciate it!" for "I appreciate it!", "I regurgitate" for "I reiterate", and "optical delusion" for "optical illusion". In 1944 he had a recurring role in the radio show "The Pabst Blue Ribbon Town" that featured Groucho Marx. Following the death of his father in 1955, he became an alcoholic and left the "Bowery Boys" over a pay dispute and was replaced by Stanley Clements for the last seven features. He did very little acting after that, other than a bit part in the 1963 comedy "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World", and an appearance with his old sidekick, Huntz Hall, in a pair of low budget films, "Second Fiddle to a Steel Guitar" (1966) and" The Phynx" (1970). In 1967 he published his autobiography, "An Original Dead End Kid Presents: Dead End Yells, Wedding Bells, Cockie Shells, and Dizzy Spells". He died from liver failure just one day shy of his 52nd birthday.
Actor. His career spanned four decades and he is best remembered as the leader of the "Eastside Kids", the "Dead End Kids", and "The Bowery Boys". The son of an Irish Catholic and a Russian Jewish immigrant who were vaudevillian actors, he got his start in films with an appearance in William Wyler's "Dead End" (1937). He then became one of the busiest actors in Hollywood during the following twenty years, starring as various characters in seven "Dead End Kids"" films between 1937 and 1939, as 'Ethelbert "Muggs" McInnis/McGinnis/Maloney' in twenty-one "east Side Kids" films between 1940 and 1945, and as 'Terence Aloysius "Slip" Mahoney' in forty-one "Bowery Boys" films between 1946 and 1956. His "Bowery Boys" "Slip" was noted for his malapropisms, delivered in a thick Brooklyn accent, such as: "a clever seduction" for "a clever deduction", or "I depreciate it!" for "I appreciate it!", "I regurgitate" for "I reiterate", and "optical delusion" for "optical illusion". In 1944 he had a recurring role in the radio show "The Pabst Blue Ribbon Town" that featured Groucho Marx. Following the death of his father in 1955, he became an alcoholic and left the "Bowery Boys" over a pay dispute and was replaced by Stanley Clements for the last seven features. He did very little acting after that, other than a bit part in the 1963 comedy "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World", and an appearance with his old sidekick, Huntz Hall, in a pair of low budget films, "Second Fiddle to a Steel Guitar" (1966) and" The Phynx" (1970). In 1967 he published his autobiography, "An Original Dead End Kid Presents: Dead End Yells, Wedding Bells, Cockie Shells, and Dizzy Spells". He died from liver failure just one day shy of his 52nd birthday.
Bio by: William Bjornstad
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