1943 Universal
Keep 'Em Slugging is a 1943 American film starring the Little Tough Guys and directed by Christy Cabanne for Universal Pictures.
PLOT:
Summer vacation usually means that local teenagers will be working for crooked concessions at the carnival. Teenage gang leader Tommy Banning warns his own gang to stay away from the carnival, and take legitimate jobs to replace men who have gone to war. Unfortunately most gang members have criminal records for juvenile delinquency, and can't get jobs in the working world. When Tommy's sister Sheila asks her boss, Frank Moulton, at the Carruthers' department store where she works, he agrees to hire Tommy only if she goes on a date with him. Sheila won't do that, but her boyfriend Jerry Brady gets Tommy a job at the store. Tommy is smitten by salesgirl Suzanne Booker, and they go on a movie date together. At the theater, some of Tommy's gang (Pig, String, and Ape) turn up and noisily disrupt the movie. Soon enough Pig, String, and Ape all have jobs.
Moulton is in league with a gangster, Duke Rodman, who deals in stolen merchandise. Rodman is disappointed in Moulton for not giving him enough business. Moulton gives him the names of Tommy and his gang. After using glamour girl Lola Laverne as bait, Tommy meets with Rodman but won't steal goods from the department store. Moulton frames Tommy for stealing a piece of jewelry. Tommy goes to jail and his sister, in protest, quits her job. Jerry gets Tommy out of prison, but the Banning family still thinks he is guilty of the theft.
The gang learns that Rodman plans to rob a silk shipment at the department store. Tommy and the gang detain the Rodman gangsters with a fire hose until the police arrive. As a reward for catching the gang and stopping the robbery, Tommy gets Moulton's job at the store, the rest of the gang start working in the shipping department, and Jerry and Sheila reconcile.
THE DEAD END KIDS:
Huntz Hall as Pig
Bobby Jordan as Tommy Banning
Gabriel Dell as String
Norman Abbott as Ape
PRESSBOOK
KEEP 'EM SLUGGING
PRESSBOOK
