Bobby Jordan gave the tough-kid gang a more vulnerable face, and we like him best as part of that noisy company. His sensitivity is valuable; the boys' polished comic timing can make their delinquency difficult to take seriously.
Fi1m perspective
In Dead End (1937), Bobby Jordan's Angel joins the boys' bustle and slang with the confidence of someone who knows the company. Alongside Billy Halop, Huntz Hall, Leo Gorcey and Gabriel Dell, he helps make the gang funny, quick and rather pleased with itself. We were amused rather than frightened, because their elbows, slang and comic timing make the gang look too pleased with itself to be dangerous. Wyler's film needs a more disturbing glimpse of what these boys might become. Humphrey Bogart supplies the menace they cannot.
Jordan's particular contribution is the suggestion that a tough manner does not make a boy invulnerable. His reticence gives us a reason to watch him among louder companions. He had played Angel in the 1935 Broadway production of Dead End, then transferred to the film with the other boys. In Michael Curtiz's Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), he plays Swing in another gang whose ensemble work matters. We prefer that film for the warmth James Cagney and Pat O'Brien bring to its moral questions, though its insistent melodrama and creaking dialogue need tolerating.
Nor was every opportunity dependent on keeping the gang together. A Slight Case of Murder (1938) gave him a solo supporting role as Douglas Fairbanks Rosenbloom alongside Edward G. Robinson. He also took the central role of Tommy Banning in Keep 'Em Slugging (1943), a Little Tough Guys entry. Those parts complicate the idea that he was simply an interchangeable boy in a recurring line-up. The group work still gives us the clearest reason to seek him out.
The continuing comedy series eventually gave him less to do. He joined the East Side Kids films from 1940, then played Bobby in Live Wires (1946), the first Bowery Boys film. His parts in that series grew smaller, and he left after eight entries. Later work was sporadic, chiefly television guest roles and a few features. For Jordan, start with Dead End and enjoy the boys' company; just do not expect to be afraid of them.
Biography
Bobby Jordan (1923–1965) was an American actor best known as a member of the Dead End Kids. He made his Broadway debut as a replacement in Street Scene (1929) and originated the role of Angel in Sidney Kingsley's Dead End (1935), appearing in the first season and part of the second before leaving in November 1936. He reprised the part in the 1937 film adaptation directed by William Wyler.
Following Dead End, Jordan appeared with the group at Warner Bros. in films such as A Slight Case of Murder (1938) and They Made Me a Criminal (1939). He later starred in the East Side Kids series from 1940 and joined the Bowery Boys for several films after the Second World War, during which he served in the US Army. He continued working in film and television into the early 1960s, with credits including episodes of Bonanza and Rawhide.
