The Boy Friends is a Serial film series of American Pre-Codecomedyshort films released between 1930 and 1932.[1] The series consists of fifteen films and was spun off from the long running Our Gang film series (also known as The Little Rascals).
The Boy FriendsSerial film series was succeeded by The Taxi Boys series.[2][3]
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 teenage 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).
A week is devoted to the filming of each, then a lay-off of four weeks before renewed shooting.[4]
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.[citation needed] 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.[5]
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.[5]
Jacqui (Jacqueline Wells): Appears in The Knockout and You're Telling Me.
1 2 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.
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