BAD BOY
US, 1939, 70 minutes, Black-and-white.
Johnny Downs, Rosalind Keith, Helen Mac Kellar, Spencer Williams, Archie Robbins, Holmes Herbert.
Directed by Herbert Meyer.
Bad Boy is a small film from 1939, the only film directed by Herbert Meyer. It is a moralising story, something of a pessimistic ending, a reliance on hope and prayer. Downs is an earnest young man who lives with his devoted widowed mother, Helen Mac Kellar. Offered the prospect of a job in the city in engineering, he leaves home, does very good work, is promoted. However, one of his colleagues, Steve Carson (Archie Robbins) leads the young man astray, betting on the races, taking into a nightclub where is infatuated with a rather arrogant singer, Madalyn (Rosalind Keith).
The young man spends his salary on the singer, falsifies accounts to cover expenses and is fired, betrayed by Steve Carson and sent to prison. His devoted mother sells her house, giving all the money to Steve Carson who, allegedly, gets her son out of prison. The young man is disillusioned, tramps the city for a job but fails, his mother getting a cleaning job.
This hardens his determination, going to see Steve, encountering what are called “business engineers�, racketeers, joins the company, takes charge, is financially successful, buying a home for his mother, introduced again to the singer, marrying her. She is a gold-digger of the worst kind and almost immediately the marriage breaks, Steve betrays him, the police are after him – shootouts.
The cast is interesting: Johnny Downs retiring from films in the mid-50s but hosting a children’s television show in San Diego to the late 60s, moving into real estate. Rosalind Keith had only a 10 year film career and retired in 1944.
Of particular interest is the presence of Spencer Williams. He appears as a chauffeur for the central character, befriends him and his mother, arranges the servants in the new household, is disillusioned with his boss but, ultimately takes a bullet for him. It is interesting to see an African- American character in such prominence in the late 1930s and not a stereotype or a figure of fun. He is a substantial character in the screenplay, accepted by the main characters. In fact, Spencer Williams made a number of films for black audiences, especially the religious drama, The Blood of Jesus in 1941. On television, he appeared as Amos in the controversial Amos ‘n Andy.
The film had production difficulties – as explained in the only reviewer’s comment on the IMDb, correspondence with Joseph Breen and the administration of the Production Code – rather astounding to read now:
From the IMDb
Joe Breen Steps In
21 September 2005 | by horn-5
In a letter, dated May 18, 1939, from Joseph I. Breen (Production Code Administrator-Director? of the 'Motion Picture Producers & Distributors of America, Inc.') to Producer/Writer Richard C. Kahn, Mr. Breen found a whole lot of things he didn't like (and wasn't going to allow) in the shooting script of THE UNCROWNED QUEEN. (The title was changed to BAD BOY when released later that year.) Joe Breen allowed that "while the story could be made in conformity with the Production Code, it will be necessary to follow carefully the suggestions set forth hereafter, in order to eliminate the numerous objectionable details which make this story, in its present form, unacceptable." Generally, censor Breen advised that the story should be dealing with racketeers rather than old-style gangsters; care should be used not to overemphasize the profits which arise from illegal activities such as racketeering; and there should be no suggestion that there is a sex affair between Madelon and Steve.
And, then Joe proceeded to eliminate nearly every scene, beginning with scene 7 and advising that the world "CH..K (this one is on the site's can't use list, also)should be eliminated from this scene and any other scene in which it is used.
Getting down to brass tacks, Breen states: "the sounds of Johnny being whipped should be held to a minimum - send us (Production Code office) the lyrics to any song Madelon sings - no scenes showing men giving girls money - there can be nothing objectionable in Madelon's costuming, singing or dancing - it is not satisfactory to show Madelon in panties and brasierre and the least she can wear is a slip, with her body covered adequately in all of her scenes - there should be nothing in the dialogue that suggests Madelon has undressed while Johnny is in the room - while Madelon is putting on her stockings there should be no undue exposure of her person nor should her legs be shown above the knees - don't use the "kicking legs" montage - don't imply that Steve and Madelon are engaged in a sex affair - change the shyster lawyer Avery, who cheats'Johnny and his mother out of two thousand dollars, to some other undefined profession - delete "God" from Avery's speech - delete "bumped off" from Steve's speech - please exercise restraint to the kissing in scene 184 - please exercise restraint to the drinking and drunkenness in scene 192 - the girl's speech in scene 197 should not be suggestive of a sex affair between Steve and Madelon - the man's speech about the honeymoon joke in scene 199 is definitely unacceptable and MUST be DELETED - restraint on the kissing between Steve and Madelon in scene 202, and no physical contact between them beyond this scene - delete "damned" in Madelon's speech in scene 203 - delete George's use of the word "mob" in scene 248 - delete Steve and Madelon kissing in scenes 253, 255 and 259 - avoid undue brutality in the fight in scene 267 - avoid undue gruesomeness when Johnny is shot in scene 282."
Breen then starts page 4 off with a lecture: "In scene 295, the whole business of the detective being shot and killed must be deleted in toto. The Production Code prohibits the showing of police dying at the hands of criminals. We recommend that you avoid this shooting entirely by having the detective slugged rather than shot." (A suspicion that the PCA censors wrote more scenes in this period of film-making than the credited writers would not be unfounded.)
Joe winds up by "suggesting" that: "in scene 304 avoid gruesomeness in the shooting death of Terry - in scene 351 change the announcers dialogue to get away from any suggestion that the detective had been killed - change the word "gangster" in scene 311 to "racketeer"", and in scene 323 please avoid gruesomeness in Johnny's death
scene." And then Breen advises Kahn that...you will have in mind that our final decision on the acceptability of your story is based upon our review of the finished film."
But he did write "Cordially Yours" above his signature.
