The Boy Friends

The Boy Friends is a series of American Pre-Code comedy short films produced by Hal Roach and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer between 1930 and 1932.^[1] Based around the comic adventures and escapades of a group teenagers and young adults, the series was spun off from the long-running Our Gang short film series (also known as The Little Rascals).^[2]

Fifteen shorts were produced by Roach for The Boy Friends series, which was succeeded in 1932 by The Taxi Boys series.^[3]^[4]

Production

Like the Our Gang shorts of the time, The Boy Friends films are two-reel short subjects produced by Hal Roach through Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. They feature teenaged and young adult actors - including some, particularly Mickey Daniels and Mary Kornman, who as children had starred in the early silent Our Gang shorts. Grady Sutton was also a lead player in the series. Daniels and Sutton appear in every short, while Kornman appears in all but one (1932's You're Telling Me). Each short took roughly one week to film, with four-man th intervals between principal photography on each production.^[5]

Roach released three The Boy Friends films in 1930: Doctor's Orders, Ladies Last, and Bigger and Better. The series added seven installments in 1931: Blood and Thunder, High Gear, Love Fever, Air Tight, Call a Cop, Mama Loves Papa, and The Kickoff. Finally, 1932 saw the release of the last five films: Love Pains, The Knockout, Too Many Women, Wild Babies, and You're Telling Me.^[6] At least some of the films in the series took place at Elmira College, an actual school located in Roach's home town of Elmira, New York.

Characters

Mickey (Mickey Daniels): The main character. Appears in all entries.
Mary (Mary Kornman): Mickey's girl friend. Appears in all entries except You're Telling Me.^[7]
Grady "Alabam" Sutton (Grady Sutton): Mickey's best friend and sidekick. Appears in all entries.
Dave (David Sharpe): Mickey and Grady's friend. He is their rival in his first short. Last appears in Call a Cop!
Gertie (Gertrude Messinger): Dave's love interest. Last appears in The Kick-Off.
Dorothy (Dorothy Granger): Alabam's love interest. Last appears in Love Fever.
Betty (Betty Bolen): Alabam's love interest. Appears in Air-Tight, Mama Loves Papa, The Kick-Off!, Love Pains, The Knockout, You're Telling Me and Wild Babies.^[7]
Jacqui (Jacqueline Wells): Appears in The Knockout and You're Telling Me.

Filmography

1930

Doctor's Orders^[8]
Bigger and Better^[9]
Ladies Last^[10]^[11]

1931

Blood and Thunder
High Gear
Love Fever
Air-Tight
Call a Cop!
Mama Loves Papa
The Kick-Off!

1932

Love Pains
The Knock-Out
You're Telling Me
Too Many Women
Wild Babies

References

^ Wood 2017.
^ Ward, Richard Lewis (August 15, 2006). A History of the Hal Roach Studios. SIU Press. p. 78. ISBN 978-0-8093-8806-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
^ "The Boy Friends". www.lordheath.com. Retrieved July 4, 2025.
^ "The Taxi Boys". www.lordheath.com. Retrieved July 4, 2025.
^ Hall, Chapin (February 28, 1932). "THOSE MERRY SOULS OF HOLLYWOOD; Mark Sennett, Harold Lloyd and Others Are Determined to Make the Old World Chuckle -- Further Items". nytimes.com. Retrieved July 4, 2025.
^ Ward, Richard Lewis (August 15, 2006). A History of the Hal Roach Studios. SIU Press. pp. 187–189. ISBN 978-0-8093-8806-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
^ ^a ^b Hall, Chaplin (March 20, 1932). "HOLLYWOOD AND POLITICS; Prohibition No Dead Issue -- New Tripod Means Saving of $1,000,000 a Year". nytimes.com. Retrieved July 4, 2025. It is difficult to find girls who look unsophisticated. They may be, but the camera can't tell. Out at the Roach lot they have been looking for two such youngsters for a series known as "The Boy Friends" comedies. Out of 350 applicants, 25 were selected for tests and none came up to the Hollywood requirements of unsophistication. So the studio went back to two girls who had graduated from "Our Gang," Mary Kornman and Betty Bolen.
^ http://www.lordheath.com/Doctors_Orders.html
^ http://www.lordheath.com/Bigger_And_Better.html
^ "Ladies Last". tcmdb. prod.tcm.com. Archived from the original on December 19, 2020. Retrieved July 4, 2025.
^ http://www.lordheath.com/menu1_310.html

Sources

Wood, Bret (2017). "Introduction to the Boy Friends Shorts". Turner Classic Movies. Archived from the original on November 9, 2017. Retrieved March 1, 2019.

External links

[FOOTNOTEWood2017-1] Wood 2017.

[2] Ward, Richard Lewis (August 15, 2006). A History of the Hal Roach Studios. SIU Press. p. 78. ISBN 978-0-8093-8806-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)

[lordheath/BoyFriends-3] "The Boy Friends". www.lordheath.com. Retrieved July 4, 2025.

[lordheath/TaxiBoys-4] "The Taxi Boys". www.lordheath.com. Retrieved July 4, 2025.

[nytimes/merry-souls-5] Hall, Chapin (February 28, 1932). "THOSE MERRY SOULS OF HOLLYWOOD; Mark Sennett, Harold Lloyd and Others Are Determined to Make the Old World Chuckle -- Further Items". nytimes.com. Retrieved July 4, 2025.

[6] Ward, Richard Lewis (August 15, 2006). A History of the Hal Roach Studios. SIU Press. pp. 187–189. ISBN 978-0-8093-8806-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)

[nytimes/Hall/1932/03/20-7] Hall, Chaplin (March 20, 1932). "HOLLYWOOD AND POLITICS; Prohibition No Dead Issue -- New Tripod Means Saving of $1,000,000 a Year". nytimes.com. Retrieved July 4, 2025. It is difficult to find girls who look unsophisticated. They may be, but the camera can't tell. Out at the Roach lot they have been looking for two such youngsters for a series known as "The Boy Friends" comedies. Out of 350 applicants, 25 were selected for tests and none came up to the Hollywood requirements of unsophistication. So the studio went back to two girls who had graduated from "Our Gang," Mary Kornman and Betty Bolen.

[8] ttp://www.lordheath.com/Doctors_Orders.html

[9] ttp://www.lordheath.com/Bigger_And_Better.html

[tcmdb/614295-10] "Ladies Last". tcmdb. prod.tcm.com. Archived from the original on December 19, 2020. Retrieved July 4, 2025.

[11] ttp://www.lordheath.com/menu1_310.html

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