Leo Gorcey Talks about His Dad: "Louie Dumbrowsky"

Ask a fan who their favorite Bowery Boy is, and the results are generally polarized: about half pick Leo; about half pick Huntz (while a few pick Billy "Whitey" Benedict, and --fewer still -- the likes of Eddie "Blinky" LeRoy!). But most everyone is in agreement in their universal adulation for "Louie Dumbrowsky," the sawed-off, sputtering Sweet Shop proprietor played by Leo's real-life father, Bernard Gorcey! In our 10th post, Leo pays tribute to the thespian talents of the elder Gorcey, and remarks about the tragedy of his father's untimely demise in a car accident in 1955 -- an event that sounded the "death knell" to the popular film series!
You can see all my Bowery Boys videos at http://bowery-bijou.blogspot.com/

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Bowery
• Boys
• Leo
• Bernard
• Gorcey
• Huntz
• Hall
• Louie
• Dumbrowsky
• Billy
• Benedict

[xtowntraffik]

I loved these videos but why keep showing the introduction? It wastes time

[brabon1]

his fathers death destroyed leo and he turned the the bottle...he even sounds drunk during these clips

[dplomin1954]

YOU can tell that Leo loved his Dad. Bless them both. For theater historians, the fact that his Dad was in the landmark, long running show: ABIE'S IRISH ROSE, and his son was a lead actor in the 1940's in a long running series of films would make any family proud. I wish that it didn't end so tragically, and that Leo could have coped with his Dad's death. Not many could though. Thank you for the clip!

[meimeiswan]

INTRO IS WAY TOO LONG. Thanks for posting these bowery boys interviews.

[fmazzar]

Leo had a hard time and I appreciate what he left us as a legacy and understand his human failings.

[twochaudio]

he made the mistake ...

[jlovebirch]

Interesting snippet. Did not know he did any recorded interviews. It mentions his book, published in 1967 so, this must have been done during the last 2 years of his life.  Leo was well into the process of drinking himself into an early grave and sure sound groggy and out of it here.

[TheFrontrowkid]

How Louie Dumbrosky managed to stay in business with his sweet shop with nobody but a bunch of freeloading overgrown teenagers is a mystery in itself. Bowery Boys were probably the most popular comedy teams with kids at Saturday matinees because Monogram always included one of their films with every western that they produced.

[jobe69]

Whats true and Sad is that back in those days 1955 seatbelts were not in most cars if any... so surviving any major crash was not too likely...I loved Louie and the Dead End Kids .. Part of my upbringing

[MisterMasterShafter]

It's true. When Leo's dad was killed in '55, Leo was devastated and took to the bottle and went downhill from there. He's clearly drunk in parts of "Crashing Las Vegas" in '56, which would be his last film with the gang.

[JubalCalif]

Leo & his pappy were both very talented performers. How sad that Bernard was killed in that car crash. I too have read that it devastated poor Leo & he was never the same, becoming a heavy drinker. I agree with the other poster that poor Leo does indeed sound drunk in this interview. May they both rest in peace...and THANK you for posting this fascinating clip! :)

[prchristman]

The more Bernard Gorcey a Bowery Boys film had, the better that film was. Watch for him in Charlie Chaplin's "Great Dictator" too.

That is an interesting tombstone, with the masks of tradegy and comedy, and particularly the curtain going up at 1884 and down at 1955 (see 2:30). A full life bringing joy to a lot of people.