why boys go wrong: gangsters, hoodlums and the natural history of delinquent careers

8/10/2019 Why Boys Go Wrong: Gangsters, Hoodlums and the Natural History of Delinquent Careers

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Why Boys Go Wrong: Gangsters, Hoodlums and the Natural History of

Delinquent Careers

Richard Maltby

The street, the sidewalks swarm with people. Pushcarts range along the

curb; the proprietors hawking their wares to all passersby. In the store

windows bordering the street is a bizarre assortment of dry goods,

cheeses, condiments and liquors, and from opened doorways and cellars

issue a host of smells even more provocative. People elbow each other for

passage along the sidewalk while others pause to bargain loudly with the

pushcart peddlers. The shrill notes of a hurdygurdy are heard down the

street and from somewhere overhead in the solid block of dingy si! floor

tenements comes the strident noise of a radio out of control. " street car

clangs its way along among the pushcart peddlers and their customers #

from another direction a heavy truck lumbers along spreading the dust and

dirt of the street in its wake. The boys in the side street at their game of

ball give way before it, but in the ensuing traffic are able in some way to

continue their play.$

This description of an innercity street scene might have come from the screenplay of

The Public %nemy &$'($), *ead %nd &$'(+) or "ngels with *irty aces &$'('), all of

which open with a scene establishing their environment of urban poverty. It is instead

the beginning of a manuscript entitled -The ommunity / " 0ocial 0etting for the

1otion Picture,2 written in *ecember $'(3 by Paul 4. ressey as a draft of 5oys,

1ovies and ity 0treets, a pro6ected but eventually unpublished volume in the Payne

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und investigations into -1otion Pictures and 7outh.23 8ike many of the other

scholars in the Payne und pro6ect, ressey was a product of the 9niversity of

hicago:s school of urban sociology, the dominant academic institution developing

sociological enquiry in the 9nited 0tates in the $'3s.( <is book, which was to be

6ointly authored by rederic Thrasher, aimed to e!tend his previous work on

commercialized recreation, The Ta!i*ance <all, by constructing a -natural history2

of the neighbourhood movie theatres in a section of 1anhattan from which had come

-many of =ew 7ork>s youthful gunmen and desperados of recent years,2 including

some notorious from coast to coast for their association -with organized crime of the

worst forms.2? ressey:s study aimed to place movies and their effects in the conte!t

of -the social backgrounds, the personal dynamics,2 and -the characteristic conditions

of life2 of the boys in this urban environment.@ Pursuing an elliptical course through

the gang history of hicago and the influence of Aames agney:s hoodlum heroics,

this essay follows ressey:s pro6ect in e!amining the relationship between cinematic

and sociological discourses on delinquency and criminality in the $'(s.

8ike many $'(s crime movies, The Public %nemy &$'($) begins with an

e!plicit statement of authorial intentB -It is the intention of the authors of The Public

%nemy to honestly depict an environment that e!ists today in a certain strata CsicD of

"merican life, rather than to glorify the hoodlum or the criminal.2 It is frequently

argued that this -rhetoric of civic responsibility2 was an empty and largely cynical

gesture intended to appease critics concerned at the movies: socially destabilising

effects.E This interpretation, however, places an ahistorical emphasis on the often

claimed but seldom demonstrated -subversive2 effects of these movies, and simplifies

their comple! and contradictory position within the discourses on criminality

circulating at the time of their release. ontemporary reviews treated The Public

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%nemy’s claim to provide -a picture of gangland as it really is # a sociological study

of the entire situation as it e!ists in hicago2 more seriously.+ Feviewer "ndrG

0ennwald:s description of Harner 5ros.: motive in making The Public %nemy as

-laudable2 may have been ironic, but his assessment of its central performances as

-remarkably lifelike portraits of young hoodlums # a hard and true picture of the

unheroic gangster2 was typical of reviewers: endorsements of the movie:s claims to

realism. In the =ational 5oard of Feview 1agazine, Aames 0helley <amilton took

the movie:s claim to be -something of a sociological document, presenting # its story

and characters as a problem which the country must # solve2 seriously enough to

debate the value of its contribution to to the public discourse on the causes of

criminality.'

The studio was not, of course, primarily seeking to produce a sociological

treatise, any more than it intended to produce a -subversive2 movie. Its aim was to

produce the -roughest, toughest, and best of the gang films to date,2 avoiding any

sentimentality in the representation of its amoral characters.$ The editorial position

e!pressed in the movie:s opening and closing titles provided a plausible defence for

its -vigorous and brutal assault upon the nerves2; without such a defence, the picture

could not have been widely e!hibited.$$ The motion picture industry was well aware

that it needed to address the persistent criticism that movies were a source of

inspiration for criminal behaviour and knowledge of criminal technique, in both its

general statements of intent and its 6ustification of individual pictures. "s I have

detailed elsewhere, industry leaders had on previous occasions countered allegations

that movies were -the basic cause of the crime waves of today,2 and recognised the

economic and political necessity of 6ustifying the content of its products as

simultaneously harmless and socially responsible.$3 The requirement to present The

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Public %nemy as a contribution to social debate was not something tacked on to the

end of the pro6ect to fool the censorious, but an integral part of the movie:s process of

construction.

Jn E Aanuary $'($, *arryl . Kanuck, head of production at Harner 5ros., sent

ol. Aason 0. Aoy, *irector of the 0tudio Felations ommittee &0F) of the 1otion

Picture Producers and *istributors of "merica, Inc. &1PP*") a draft copy of the

script of The Public Enemy. "nticipating the likely censorship difficulties that its

sub6ect matter would present, Kanuck sought to 6ustify the movie:s -biography of a

couple of young gentlemen from hicago2 as a contribution to public debate. In

addition to its insistence on -the futility of crime as a business or as a profit,2 he

argued that The Public %nemy carried -a secondary theme, that

PFJ<I5ITIJ= is not the cause of the present crime wave mobs and

gangs have e!isted for years and years 5%"90% of environment and the

only thing that PFJ<I5ITIJ= has done is to bring these unlawful

organizations more noticeably before the eye of the public. F%P%"8 of

the %ighteenth "mendment could not possibly stop FI1% and

H"F"F%. The only thing that can 0TJP same is the betterment of

%=LIFJ=1%=T and living conditions in the lower reasons [sic]. In

other words, -The Public %nemy2 is the story of two boys who know

nothing but FI1%, 0T%"8I=4, <%"TI=4 "=* MI88I=4, and they

both come to their death in the picture because of their activities # Jur

picture is going to be a biography more than a plot. # I feel that if we can

sell the idea that # J=87 57 T<% 5%TT%F1%=T J

%=LIFJ=1%=T "=* %*9"TIJ= for the masses can we overcome

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the widespread tendency toward lawbreaking / we have then punched

over a moral that should do a lot toward protecting us.$(

In search of a way of promoting the movie that would disarm its potential critics, or

else ensure that protests would enhance its bo!office performance rather than damage

it, Kanuck:s argument had to be plausible enough to earn the endorsement of at least

some reviewers and other contributors to public debate, such as educators,

criminologists and sociologists. It also had to be integral to both the structure of the

movie and its publicity. The movie:s self6ustification lay in the combination of its

claim to historical and factual accuracy, its re6ection of the -sentimental, preachy

type2 of plot -in which a Nmoll: saves the day for 6ustice and humanity,2 its

substitution of -handsome youths whose looks belie their evil deeds2 for the

-outmoded2 caricatures of crooks as -blue6owled monsters with cauliflower ears and

flattened noses,2 and in its representation of an environmental account of the causes

of criminality, which echoed both the conclusions and the method of the most recent

sociological research in its presentation of -an intense biographical document.2$?

*uring the late $'3s, the 9niversity of hicago Press published several ma6or

works on the role played by environment and personality in the development of

criminal behaviour, particularly among the young. 8ed by Fobert %. Park and %rnest

H. 5urgess and e!plicitly deriving their terminology from the study of natural history,

the hicago school of sociology conceived the city as an ecological system, sub6ect to

-the selective, distributive, and accommodative forces of the environment2 that

distributed and segregated a city:s population, encouraging the evolution of what Park

termed -natural areas,2 each with their own -peculiar selective and cultural

characteristics.2 $@ 9nder these ecological influences, some -natural areas2 would

assume the character of a -moral region,2 in which a distinctive moral code diverging

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from the city:s norm operated.$E The *arwinism underlying this analysis was

encapsulated by <arvey Korbaugh in The 4old oast and the 0lum in $'3'B

The slum gradually acquires a character distinctly different from that of

other areas of the city through a cumulative process of natural selection

that is continually going on as the more ambitious and energetic keep

moving out and the unad6usted, the dregs, and the outlaws accumulate.$+

The most fully elaborated application of the concept of the -moral region2 occurred in

lifford 0haw:s studies of -delinquency areas.2 0haw demonstrated that rates of

truancy, 6uvenile delinquency and adult felony were sub6ect to high geographical

variation in different areas of hicago, with the highest rates found in -interstitial2

areas in transition from residential to business or industrial use, and -characterized by

physical deterioration, decreasing population, and the disintegration of the

conventional neighborhood culture and organization.2$ <e maintained that the

intrusion of business and industry into residential areas caused -a disintegration of the

community as a unit of social control,2 which was intensified by -the influ! of foreign

national and racial groups whose old cultural and social controls break down in the

new cultural and racial situation of the city.2

In his $'?3 book on the ecology of delinquency and crime, 0haw argued that in

these interstitial areas, where there e!isted -the greatest disparity between the social

values to which the people aspire and the availability of facilities for acquiring these

values in conventional ways,2 crime might become -an organized way of life,2 the

means by which people attempted to acquire -the economic and social values

generally idealized in our culture.2 "dolescent boys in such areas knew that many

criminals became rich and powerfulB -their clothes, cars, and other possessions are the

unmistakable evidence of this fact.2 or such boys, the gangster represented the only

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available model of "merican success, and this knowledge helped determine -the

character of their ideals.2$' This was particularly true, the hicago sociologists

argued, for the children of immigrants, who e!perienced an increasing amount of

personal disorganization as a result of trying to live in two social worlds with

conflicting valuesB

The child cannot live and conform in both social worlds at the same time.

The family and colony are defined for him in his "merican contacts by

such epithets as -dago,2 -wop,2 -foreign,2 and the like. <e feels the loss

of status attached to his connection with the colony. # In his effort to

achieve status in the "merican city he loses his rapport with family and

community. onflicts arise between the child and his family. 7et by virtue

of his race, his manner of speech, the necessity of living in the colony, and

these same definitive epithets, he is e!cluded from status and intimate

participation in "merican life. Jut of this situation # arises the gang,

affording the boy a social world in which he finds his only status and

recognition.3

or the most part, the hicago sociologists were more concerned with the gang than

the gangster. In his $'3+ book The 4ang, which for decades remained -the basic work

concerning the gang as a form of social organization,2 rederic Thrasher used the

term -gangster2 only once to refer to aponelike criminals -at the top2 of organized

crime. Thrasher:s central concern was with the gang as an adolescent phenomenon,

occupying a period -between childhood, when he is usually incorporated in a family

structure, and marriage, when he is reincorporated into a family and other orderly

relations of work, religion, and pleasure. # the gang appears to be an interstitial

group, a manifestation of the period of read6ustment between childhood and

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maturity.23$ Hhile gangland included -most of the underworld districts2 within its

borders, it was inhabited by adolescent gangs rather than by adult criminals, and

Thrasher argued that there was -no hard and fast dividing line between predatory

gangs of boys and criminal groups of younger and older adults.2 In gangland, argued

Thrasher, boys learned demoralizing personal habits, familiarity with criminal

techniques, and a philosophy of life that facilitated further delinquency, merging

imperceptibly into a life of hardened criminality for some gang members. hicago:s

crime was rooted in the adolescent gang -as its basic organized unit, no matter how it

may have become elaborated into rings and syndicates,2 and almost all of hicago>s

supposed $, professional criminals had received gang training.33

1embers of the hicago 0chool frequently suggested that social phenomena

had a -natural history,2 in order to give temporal shape to the proposition that the

ecological forces of the city e!ercised a determining influence on the lives of its

inhabitants.3(

Hhen applied to an individual presented as a representative case history,

as 0haw did in his studies of The AackFoller &$'(), The =atural <istory of a

*elinquent areer &$'($) and 5rothers in rime &$'(), the conception of a -natural

history2 served as a determining condition of the biography under consideration.3? In

0haw:s analysis, criminal behaviour was not the result of individual depravity, mental

deficiency or psychopathology, but a response to -the cultural disintegration which

has resulted from the natural processes involved in the growth and e!pansion of the

city.23@ 0haw identified delinquency as an effect of the mutual alienation of adolescent

males and conventional social organization, a symptom of -the gulf between residents

of slum communities and the larger society.2 riminal careers resulted from the

combined effect of boys drifting into delinquency as a way of life and the re6ection of

the convicted delinquent by conventional society. "lienation was a consequence of

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powerlessness, and crime, delinquency and social disorganization, were in turn

-comple! products of alienation and the forces related to it.23E

"lthough 0haw and Thrasher made e!tensive use of firstperson accounts to

dramatise the sociological phenomena they e!amined, they viewed the delinquents

they studied as constructs of the city and ascribed them very little individual agency in

the process of their own social construction. Their proposition that the gang culture of

6uvenile delinquency bred the adult gangster through a continuum of demoralization

from truancy, vulgarity, smoking and crap shooting to 6ackrolling &mugging),

bootlegging and murder became common sociological wisdom in the second quarter

of the century. Hhen Thrasher suggested that the hoodlum might develop into either

-a seasoned gangster or a professional criminal,2 however, he was making a semantic

distinction in keeping with its generally accepted meaning of the term prior to $'[email protected]+

*uring the $'3s, however, the meaning of the term -gangster2 was shifting

significantly as the organisational, discursive and social structures of criminality

changed. The word was of late nineteenthcentury "merican coinage &the J!ford

%nglish *ictionary:s earliest etymological reference is in $'E), and referred most

commonly to the imbrication of criminality and machine politics in lowincome areas

of ma6or cities.3 In his $'3+ book The 4angs of =ew 7ork , <erbert "sbury

proclaimed that the gangster -has now passed from the metropolitan scene,2 having

e!isted for the previous decade -mainly in the lively imaginations of industrious

6ournalists.23' -There are now no gangs in =ew 7ork,2 "sbury declared, -and no

gangsters in the sense that the word has come into common use.2 The -gangs2

described by newspapers in the $'3s bore little resemblance to the -great brawling,

thieving gangs2 of the late nineteenth centuryB

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They are gunmen and burglars, but none of their killings and stealings

have anything to do with gang rivalry or questions of gang 6urisdiction #

Their operations lack the spectacularity of the deeds of the old timers, and

probably will continue to lack it until they have been touched by the

magic finger of legend.(

8egend was, however, actively constructing a revised mythology of the gangster as

businessman around the figure of "l apone, -the <oratio "lger lad of Prohibition,2

principally through a style of press reporting -not shy about printing higher truths

which transcended mere fact.2($ "s *avid Futh notes, the inventors of the post$'3@

gangster:s public image were 6ournalists -who moved easily from medium to

medium2B

-actual2 6ournalistic accounts relied on imaginative con6ecture and

regularly included material, from the dialogue at ultrasecret meetings to

the unuttered thoughts of dying men, beyond the range of even the most

capable reporter. -ictional2 accounts # invariably claimed authenticity,

asserting the author>s intimate knowledge of gangland, highlighting the

use of shady underworld consultants, or incorporating wellknown real

settings and events.(3

The shift in the meaning of -gangster2 to embrace the Prohibitioninspired model

represented by apone was both gradual and contradictory. Hhile eulogising apone

as -the greatest and most successful gangster who ever lived,2 the anonymous author

of $'(:s O 1arks the 0pot maintained that -what is significant is that he really is a

gangster , as much so as the celebrated 1onk %astman and 5ig Aack Kelig of =ew

7ork. "s a youth he was himself a member of their notorious ive Points gang, and



the difference between him and all other gangsters is that he is possessed of a genius

for organization and a profound business sense.2((

"cademic accounts of -the empire of gangland2 also emphasised its historical

continuities with the neighbourhood criminal gangs of the $'s as strongly as they

dwelt on the changes in gang activity brought about by Prohibition. In his $'3' study,

Jrganized rime in hicago, undertaken under the auspices of the hicago school

and published as part of the Illinois rime 0urvey, Aohn 8andesco argued that

organized crime had not originated with prohibition, and that the underworld

providing hicagoans with alcohol displayed crucial continuities in gang leadership

and gang activity, and above all in the -unholy alliance between organized crime and

politics,2 that had e!isted thirty years earlier.(?

Thrasher described municipal politics as a comple! of personal relationships

and mutual personal obligations -which make service in the interest of an impersonal

public and an abstract 6ustice very difficult.2(@ In the slum districts of gangland, wrote

<arvey Korbaugh, the immigrant vote was -a commodity upon the market #

controlled by the bosses and kings of the colony, marshalled, if need be, with the aid

of gangs and automatics, and traded to the higherups for petty political favors.2(E

8ocal politicians actively cultivated gangs, providing some of them with clubrooms

and protection from prosecution, so that when they came of age they would become

loyal members of the local political machine. "s an e!ample of the way that gang

influence was enlisted in the support of political machines, Thrasher cited the history

of Fagen:s olts, an -athletic club2 sponsored by a district politician, operating for

twentyfive years as both a political organisation which bred -aldermen, police

captains, county treasurers, sheriffs # some of whom have made good records in

public service,2 and an effectively lawless gang so well protected from punishment

$



that its members -succeeded pretty well in terrorizing their immediate community.2 (+

This protection, in turn, reinforced the gang:s political powerB most visibly, a gang

leader:s ability to influence a district election result was rewarded with immunity

from effective punishment for the most serious of crimes, including rioting and

murder. -It has become customary in hicago to refer to these gangsters as immune

criminals,2 declared Thrasher. -The immunity which the politician confers is not

without its effect upon gang boys, who are prospective gangsters.2( 0uch immunity,

indeed, was most frequently e!ercised in e!cusing the daytoday criminal activities

of adolescent gang members.('

The pattern of mutual obligation between politicians, municipal officials and

criminal gangs had long constituted a significant part of the history of gangs as both

"sbury and the hicago sociologists understood them. Thrasher and 8andesco,

however, recognised that as well as augmenting the power of criminal gangs to

corrupt public officials, the vast profits to be made from bootlegging had introduced

-a different and more sinister form of relation between the gangster and the

politician,2 creating -the commercialized gang of today2B

=eighborliness and friendly relations recede to the background.

Jperations in crime and political protection from its consequences are no

longer local but citywide. Immunity is no longer obtained by friendship,

but from graft. Jrganized crime and organized political corruption have

formed a partnership to e!ploit for profit the enormous revenues to be

derived from lawbreaking. # while neighborhood criminal gangs can

rely only on the influence of the local politician, mercenary criminal

gangs have understandings with the highest sources of protection in the

county, the city, and certain of the nearby towns and villages.?

3



The -commercialized gang2 was ceasing to be a neighbourhood group and becoming

instead -a feudal group of professional gunmen formed to e!ploit the business of

crime # a retinue of mercenaries held together by need of protection and e!pectation

of profits.2?$

In his discussion of -The 4ang and Jrganized rime,2 Thrasher distinguished

three types of criminal gangs, identifying the most -successful and permanent type,2

as the -1aster 4ang.2 The principal business of these gangs was bootlegging, but

many were also involved in robbery or the promotion of gambling or prostitution. The

names of the -ten to twenty2 such gangs operating in hicago -are sufficient to strike

terror into the hearts of the peaceful residents of the districts where they hold sway.2 ?3

Typical of such groups was the Lalley gang, which had been in e!istence for over fifty

years. rom the $+s, it had controlled the ifteenth 0treet district politically and

socially, maintaining Irish hegemony in the district in the face of 4erman, Aewish and

0outhern Italian immigration, and having -an element of genuine leadership and loyal

following2 in the neighbourhood.?( rom the mid$'s to $'3 the gang was led by

-the feared and fearless dictator of the district,2 Patrick Paddy the 5ear Fyan, who

added -labor slugging2 to the gang:s mi!ture of criminal and political activities.??

Hhen Fyan was assassinated in Aune $'3 by another member of the gang, leadership

passed to his protGgGs Terry *ruggan and rankie 8ake, who moved into beer

trafficking, eventually controlling half a dozen breweries in partnership with brewing

magnate Aoseph 0tenson, and providing apone:s mentor Aohn Torrio with a model of

successful collaboration between bootleggers and respectable business. The -wizened

and dwarfish2 *ruggan and -big and bulllike2 8ake were boyhood friends who

dressed alike and became known to the tabloid press as -the *amon and Pythias of

gangland2; they were less flatteringly described by Aohn Mobler as -the comic turn of

(



hicago gangland, a vaudeville brother act about to break into a songanddance

routine.2?@

"lthough *ruggan and 8ake feature in recent histories of organized crime

only as minor characters, they were the first gangsters to distribute beer on a large

scale in hicago after Prohibition, and the first gangsters to be pursued by the ederal

government for unpaid ta!es, and their e!ploits were prominently reported in the

hicago press.?E 5efore Torrio established his cartel, the Lalley 4ang continued its

criminal activities, and both *ruggan and 8ake were arrested for robbery and

hi6acking in the early $'3s, although their political connections ensured they were

never brought to trial. 5y $'3?, however, bootlegging had made them millionaires,

and *ruggan boasted to the press that even the lowliest member of his gang wore silk

shirts and rode in chauffeurdriven Folls Foyces. They were both imprisoned for

contempt of court in Auly $'3?, but served their year:s sentence in considerable

comfort after -the usual considerations and conveniences2 had been afforded to the

local authorities, coming and going from ook ounty 6ail -almost as freely as though

they were living at a hotel.2?+ *uring hicago:s -beer wars2 of the mid$'3s,

*ruggan and 8ake largely succeeded in maintaining a profitable neutrality, but they

were indicted on federal ta! charges in $'3, and eventually sentenced in $'(3.?

"ccording to "ugust Lollmer, the foremost police reformer of the period, The

Public Enemy was a -more or less a correct depiction of events which transpired in

hicago recently, and may be said to follow very carefully one of the notorious

characters of that city from his infancy to his last hour on earth.2?' It was based on an

unpublished novel, Beer and Blood , written by Mubec 4lasmon and Aohn 5right.@

4lasmon was a pharmacist, drugstore owner and minor bootlegger in hicago in the

$'3s. 5right worked for him, and with 4lasmon:s encouragement wrote 5eer and

?



5lood out of their e!periences. In later interviews, 5right described the original story

as including -every aspect of the hicago underworld, Italians, Irish, Aewish, Polish,

with no group:s particular methods and interests specified.2@$ Kanuck, chose to focus

the movie on the single story of -NThe Public %nemy: and his friend,2 which he

thought was -the most commercial and easiest to adapt2 of the book:s several

plotlines.@3 Harner 5ros. bought the rights to 5eer and 5lood, but never published it,

instead producing a tiein novelisation of the movie plot rewritten by an anonymous

studio writer.@( 5eer and 5lood was a light fictionalisation of the newspaper history

of the beer wars, and the screenplay adapted incidents from that history into the lives

of its two protagonists. 5right claimed that the character of Tommy Powers was based

on -an Irish hoodlum of our acquaintance,2 and the movie:s press book e!plicitly

identified the two protagonists as -the *amon and Pythias of gangland2B@?

Those who know their postLolstead hicago history will immediately

recognise in the characters of Tom Powers and 1att *oyle the well known

hicago underworld figures of rankie 8ake and Terry *ruggan, who

operated the first breweries and beer trucks after prohibition.@@

The first half of The Public %nemy presented a plausible -natural history2 of

characters resembling *ruggan and 8ake, particularly in their relationship with Paddy

Fyan. Tommy and 1att:s delinquent careers, however, bore a generic resemblance to

those of most of hicago:s -commercialized gangsters2 of the $'3s, and traced the

gangster:s evolution described by 8andesco in the individualised terms of what

amounted to a composite biography, entirely consonant with the hicago school:s

analysis and hardly less factual than those of the hicago press. The commercialized

gangsters of the $'3s were almost all born between $'3 and $'', achieving their

brief media celebrity in their midtwenties.@E *ion J:5anion, for instance, was born

@



in $'3, and at the age of nine moved to hicago to live with his grandparents after

the death of his mother. 8iving in a =orth 0ide district known at different times as

Milgubbin or 8ittle <ell, he became an altar boy at <oly =ame athedral and 6oined

the 6uvenile division of the 1arket 0treet gang, where he acquired his education in

petty thievery and mayhem and made the acquaintance of Lincent -0chemer2 *rucci,

4eorge -5ugs2 1oran, and %arl A. Ha6ciechowski, aka <ymie Heiss. "t $+, he was

imprisoned in the hicago <ouse of orrection for theft, and two years later for

assault and possession of a deadly weapon. 0ubsequently, he became a -slugger2 in

hicago:s newspaper circulation wars, took control of the ?3nd and ?(rd wards and

entered the bootlegging business, while continuing to pursue his career as a burglar

and safecracker. J:5anion:s delinquent career matches that of Tommy Powers quite

closely, although according to the movie:s chronology Tommy would be much closer

in age to Ha6ciechowski, who was born in $'.

The second half of Tommy:s biography borrows freely from the -factual2

accounts of the J:5anion gang:s e!ploits, incorporating several identifiable incidents

from newspaper reports of the lives of J:5anion, Heiss, and 8ouis -Two4un2 &or

occasionally -Three4un2) "lterie.@+ 1ost famous of these was the $'3( death of

0amuel -=ails2 1orton in a riding accident, and the subsequent e!ecution of the

horse by either J:5anion or "lterie.@ "fter J:5anion:s assassination in =ovember

$'3?, "lterie vowed revenge by proposing a publicly staged shootout with

J:5anion:s killers, akin to Tommy:s attack on 0chemer 5urns: headquarters,

declaring that he would -get two or three of them before they get me.@' Heiss, 1oran

and *rucci made several spectacular but unsuccessful attempts on the lives of Torrio

and apone, demonstrating their public reputation as -rowdy Irish in temperament if

not in fact.2E Heiss was notorious for his evil temper and impulsiveness, and reports

E



that he once pushed an omelette into a girlfriend:s face were cited as the source of

The Public Enemy:s infamous grapefruit incident. <is assassination in the first

-machinegun nest2 murder in Jctober $'3E was recreated in the killing of 1att

*oyle &%dward Hoods). The Public %nemy:s other references to -actual2 events

involved the activities of other gangsB the robbery of the bond warehouse copied an

unsuccessful attempted robbery of the 1orand 4overnment warehouse by members

of the 0outh 0ide J:*onnell gang in $'3E, while Tommy:s kidnapping from hospital

invoked one of the many unsuccessful assassination attempts on =ew 7ork gangster

Aack -8egs2 *iamond.

The wellread viewer would, therefore, have been able to recognise the

movie:s references to several notorious underworld characters, whose names and

deeds were, as the press book declared, only -thinly disguised in the cast of

characters.2 There are, however, two more substantial points to be made from these

references. irstly, the adaptation omitted any discussion of the mutually dependent

relationship between organised criminality and municipal politics, which occupied a

central place not only in the hicago sociologists: analysis but also in 5right and

4lasmon:s source novel. 4angster movies consistently avoided any substantial or

detailed representation of what the sociologists regarded as the core element enabling

gangster activity, local political protection, in favour of their representation of the

spectacle and melodrama of criminal performance. To that e!tent, criticisms such as

Aames 0helley <amilton:s that gangster pictures were -merely entertainment # a

sensational pastime,2 providing -nothing but thrills and horrors, and some

amusement,2 were unarguable.E$

+



0econdly, all the -actual2 events alluded to in the movie / however invented

those events might originally have been / refer to criminal groupings other than the

aponeTorrio gang, which is conventionally credited with the organization of

hicago:s bootlegging into a business. Father, they refer to gangsters belonging to an

earlier mode of criminal behaviour rooted much more in the neighbourhood and the

criminal traditions of the gangs described by Thrasher and "sbury. "lthough

contemporary reports represented J:5anion and his followers as offering Torrio and

apone -their only challenge for domination of the city,2 they were depicted in the

public discourse of criminality as figures of local colour rather than as businessmen.

The anonymous $'( publication O 1arks the 0pot described J:5anion as the

underworld:s -most fantastic and picturesque personality,2 a -parado!ical mi!ture of

ferocity and sentimentality # a typical neighbourhood gangster from boyhood,2

whose -power resulted from the application of methods quite unlike those of Aohnny

Torrio and apone. # Torrio was a businessman first and a gangster second.

J:5anion was a gangster. # Jne didn:t want trouble; the other was always looking

for it.2 9nlike the commercialized gang that apone inherited from Torrio,

J:5anion:s gang -was built on friendship, with pecuniary considerations secondary.

J:5anion depended upon his pals, and his pals depended upon him.2E3 -To his way of

thinking humanity was divided into two classes / Nright guys: and Nwrong guys.:2E( To

8andesco, J:5anion:s propensity for uncalculated random acts of violence was

childishly irresponsible, and J:5anion himself -6ust a superior sort of Nplugugly.:2E?

0ummarising these accounts, *avid Futh suggests that the conflict between apone

and the =orthside gang was represented as -one between two systems, the former

mercenary and businesslike, the latter based on Nfriendship, loyalty and affection.:2 E@

The gangster philosophy articulated in The Public %nemy was closely aligned to the



personal and neighbourhood loyalties of *ruggan, J:5anion or Heiss, rather than to

Torrio or apone:s e!pediency. "lthough the movie:s biographical sub6ect shifted

from the comparatively inconspicuous Lalley 4ang to the more flamboyant

=orthsiders, it was a quite precise depiction of a particular type of gangster,

progressing in his delinquent career through the several levels of a neighbourhood

gang culture before 6oining a -1aster 4ang.2 Tommy inherited his -passionless

savagery,2 his -sunny brutality2 and his impulsiveness and lack of organizational

prowess from press accounts of J:5anion and Heiss, and the declining tradition of

gangster practice they represented.

In the authorial discourse of its opening and closing titles, The Public %nemy

identified its protagonist as a -hoodlum2 rather than a -gangster.2 Indeed, for a movie

invariably considered an urte!t of the genre, it is remarkable that the term -gangster2

occurs only once in the movie, in a newspaper headline describing the funeral of

-noted gangster N=ails: =athan.2 The word -hoodlum2 dates from the $+s and is

most likely of alifornian origin, meaning -a youthful street rowdy; Na loafing youth

of mischievous proclivities:; a dangerous rough2. 1ore e!actly, rederic Thrasher

suggested that the hoodlum was a protocriminal, not yet the fullyformed entityB

If the younger undirected gangs and clubs of the gang type, which serve as

training schools for delinquency, do not succeed in turning out the

finished criminal, they often develop a type of personality which may well

foreshadow the gangster and the gunman. " boy of this type may best be

described as a hoodlum, the sort of -hero2 who is e!tolled in most

unsupervised gangs of younger adolescents.EE

The Public %nemy’s identification with 8ittle aesar and 0carface as the trilogy of

-classic2 early $'(s gangster movies has encouraged a reading of its plot as if it

'



portrayed the rise and fall of a commercialised gangster. 9nlike 8ittle aesar or

0carface, however, The Public %nemy does not depict the acquisition, e!ercise or loss

of power, and Tommy remains -a classically ordinary criminal,2 untroubled by either

ambition or any desire to escape the neighbourhood.E+ Instead, The Public %nemy

traces Tommy:s hoodlum career. Throughout the movie, Tommy and 1att:s criminal

activities remain at a mundane level. Their earliest attempt at adult criminality is a

semicomic disaster, when Tommy:s panicking at seeing a stuffed bear in a fur shop

results in the deaths of a friend and a cop. He see them stage a successful warehouse

robbery and threaten a bartender in their work as =ails =athan:s -trouble squad,2 but

their more e!treme acts of violence are both instances of personal revenge enacted

against defenceless victimsB Fa6ah the horse and Putty =ose. They occupy a

subordinate role in the bootlegging business, not an organisational one, obeying

instructions rather than giving them. *espite Tommy:s apparent status as =ails and

Paddy:s favoured son, he can do nothing to hold the gang together on his own after

=ails: death and their business operation collapses, leaving Fyan at the mercy of

0chemer 5urns and willing to quit the racket.

Tommy does become a member of the nouveau riche, dressing and driving in the

style to which Terry *ruggan:s gang became accustomed, and visiting as ritzy a

nightclub as Harner:s set budget would allow, but his wardrobe and money bring him

little evident satisfaction, either with women or in his attempts at family

reconciliation. "pparently incapable of domesticity / 1att says he is -not the

marrying kind2 / Tommy seeks to treat women as a form of property, a means to

display his new affluence, along with clothes and cars. 9nlike cars, however, women

disrupt his homosocial relationships. Tom twice disturbs the development of 1att and

1aisie:s romanceB in the Hashington "rms hotel when he interrupts their noisy

'



lovemaking in the room ne!t door, and at the night club, when he drags 1att away

from his marriage celebration to kill Putty =ose. Hhen Mitty:s attempts at domesticity

start -getting on my nerves,2 he trades up for a more lu!urious model, but while

4wen -ain:t no ord,2 he seems to have trouble with her gearsB

TommyB "ll my friends think that things are different between us than

they are. They think they know me pretty well, and they don:t think

I:d go for a merrygoround.

4wenB # *o you want things to be different, to please your

boyfriendsQ

TommyB =o, but how long can a guy hold outQ I:d go screwy.

8ater in this scene / the most awkward in the movie / 4wen describes the character

she is attracted toB -# you:re so strong. 7ou don:t give, you take. Jh, Tommy, I

could love you to death.2 <er description matches that paraded in the movie:s adverts,

of -men who take whatever they desire from life .. e!pensive cars .. e!pensive women

.. all theirs for the commandingR2 but such an account hardly fits Tommy:s conduct in

the movie. "lways subordinate to Tommy:s need for revenge and his obedience to

Fyan, 4wen herself disappears from the screen after =ails: death and, significantly, is

not part of the family reunion at the hospital.E The contradictions in their relationship

/ she smothers him in her breast while telling him how dominant and aggressive he is

/ are never resolved, and their relationship is never consummated, since 1att

interrupts them with the news of =athan>s death, and Tommy is deprived of the social

and se!ual opportunity 4wen presents because he has to go and shoot a horse. Tommy

and 1att remain -boys2 throughout the movie and Tommy:s psychological

immaturity is most vividly demonstrated in his relationships with womenB he is

'$



-Tommy boy2 and -my baby2 to his mother, -big boy2 to Mitty, a -spoiled boy2 and a

-bashful boy2 unable to articulate his desire to 4wen, and a -fine boy2 to Aane, the

older woman who -takes care2 of Paddy:s -boys2 when they are hiding out.

In several respects, The Public %nemy gestures towards an Jedipal drama.

Tommy:s father makes only one appearance in the movie, when he emerges from the

house in police helmet and suspenders, to beat Tommy for stealing some roller skates.

<is silence intensifies the symbolic identity as both ather and the 8aw bestowed on

him by his improbable costume. <e is subsequently absent from the movie, an

absence e!plained in the $'$+ scene &-If your pa was alive I wouldn:t care so much2)

but which is perhaps better accounted for by the $'$@ robbery, in which Tommy

shoots the cop who is chasing them.E' or the remainder of the movie, the law is

present only through the appearance of the garrulous Jfficer Patrick 5urke, who tells

1ike that -the worst part2 of Tommy:s delinquency -is that he:s been lying to his

mother.2 The absent figure of the 8aw is thus combined with the absent figure of the

ather, who might complete and secure the family unit. Hithout him, the family is

selfdestructive. Tommy and his elder brother 1ike fight in every scene they share

until Tommy is in hospital, and 1ike disrupts every opportunity for family harmony,

hitting Tommy three times and breaking the furniture on two occasions. + or all his

moral rectitude, 1ike is afforded no authority in the movie, and Tommy:s

dysfunctional family embodies the relationship between delinquency and the absence

of -normal2 family conditions indicated in all the contemporary sociological studies.+$

The Public %nemy:s family melodrama stages a conflict between the two

social worlds of the second generation immigrant. The movie:s Jedipal narrative

dramatises the family conflicts generated by the process of "mericanization, in which

traditional structures of family and community authority disintegrated under the

'3



pressure of what <arvey Korbaugh called the -cosmopolitanism of the slum.2+3 That

the drama of the secondgeneration immigrant child was enacted as an Irish"merican

story conformed to a pattern of cultural succession, hybrid identity and ethnic disguise

common to moviemakers, gangsters and the sub6ects of lifford 0haw:s -natural

histories,2 whose Polish and Aewish immigrant identities were concealed behind their

"nglicised names.+( Aust as the "nglicised immigrant Aews %mmanuel 4oldenberg

and riedrich 1uni 1eyer Heisenfreund established their <ollywood careers by

playing Fico 5andello and Tony amonte, many gangsters themselves practised a

form of transposable ethnic disguise in their choice of alternate identities, in which

"nglicisation was only one element. or part of the $'3s, "l apone was better

known by his alias, "l 5rown.+? 1ore intricately, Polish atholic %arl Ha6ciechowski

acquired the apparently Aewish nom de guerre <ymie Heiss, while 8ouis "lterie was

born 8eland Larain and had a brief professional bo!ing career under the name -Mid

<aynes.2 -1achine 4un2 Aack 1c4urn, a prime suspect in the 0t. Lalentine:s *ay

1assacre, was born Lincenzo 4ebardi, and also travelled as Aames *e1ora, while

Aames lark, one of the massacre victims, was born "lbert Mashellek and was

allegedly a fullblooded 0iou!. In 5eer and 5lood, when Tommy asks -Hhere does

the Polak get the 5urns monikerQ,2 his companion responds, -<ell, a name ain:t no

indication o: what a guy is.2+@

In the movies, this ethnically fluid form of "mericanization enabled actors to

perform ethnicities other than their own, but also facilitated the creation of more

generalised signifiers of a nonspecific ethnicity in peformance, encapsulated by

Variety:s description of agney as -a deese, dose and dem, chipontheshoulder, on

themake e!ample of young "merica.2+E 1ediating mass commercial culture through

their peer groups, young secondgeneration immigrants adapted these signifiers to

'(



specify their own hybrid ethnicity and reconcile their foreign origins with "merican

identities, using shared strategies of participation, identification and interpretation of

the movies in their neighbourhood.++

In its plot and character delineation, The Public %nemy attempted to render its

protagonist unattractive, but the picture:s most problematic element was also its most

significant commercial achievementB the creation of a new star in Aames agney. To

an even greater e!tent than was true of %dward 4. Fobinson:s performance in 8ittle

aesar, agney:s screen persona was defined by his first starring performance, and

both agney and his studio were occupied in negotiating its limitations for much of

the $'(s.+ The actor remained ostentatiously uncomfortable with the e!tent to which

his audience appeal restricted his roles, and fought his typecasting more or less

unsuccessfully throughout his career. The studio, however, was faced with the related

issue of containing the specific commercial appeal of his rebellious, iconoclastic

behaviour / what Variety called his -youbedamned personality2 and -roughneck

character work2 / within an acceptable narrative framework.+'

"lmost alone among the ma6or stars of lassical <ollywood, agney:s appeal

was almost e!clusively to -the boys who go for the gangster stuff,2 an urban male

audience identified by 8incoln Mirstein as -the "merican ma6ority # the semiliterate

lower middle class,2 who apparently found no an!iety in recognising themselves in

agney. Feviewing Taxi!, his fourth starring picture, Lariety noted that -agney so

closely approaches the way the average citizen in moments of everyday stress would

like to act that it seems to be one of the strongest bonds between the actor and the

witnessing men.2$ agney:s appeal to the semidelinquent rapidly became trade press

folklore. ertainly, some of his most disreputable fans accepted the authenticity of his

performance. The boys Paul ressey interviewed believed that both agney and

'?



Fobinson were slum boys who had -made good in a big way in the movies.2 agney

was rumoured to have -used his Ndukies: &fists) to scare Aewish movie magnates into

giving him a chance,2 and the gang boys: -conviction that these two actors are

products of the local community is abetted by the feeling that their acting is a perfect

depiction of styles of conduct approved among the street boys of the community.2 3

"fter his first starring role, agney did not play a gangster / that is, a

character making his living through organised criminal activity and in armed conflict

with the police / until "ngels with *irty aces in $'(. In the series of performances

that followed The Public %nemy, however, he played characters who behaved very

much as gangsters behaved / gamblers, con artists, e!gangsters and reformed

criminals / establishing a close correlation between his own performative idiolect and

that of the -gangster type.2( In this sequence of early roles he became the mediated,

heroic embodiment of the -social type2 identified by Thrasher and 0haw as the

hoodlum.?

8ike the men whom Aohn 8andesco described frequenting neighbourhood

gambling houses, agney appeared -goodnatured, welldressed, adorned and

sophisticated, and above all, # "merican, in the eyes of the gang boy.2@ <is

mannered performance of ethnic urbanity provided a model of behaviour that was

both easily imitated and immediately recognisable precisely because it was codified as

a set of reiterable gestures. The ease with which agney:s hoodlum hero could be

stylistically imitated e!acerbated an!ieties that such gestures were merely the most

visible signs of the gangster:s influence over a continuum of unsupervised adolescent

behaviour.

Hithin a year of The Public %nemy:s release, agney:s influence on the

movies: representation of 6uvenile delinquency was evident. Feviewing FMJ:s Are

These Our Children, Fichard <anser described it as -a sort of adolescent Public

'@



%nemy,2 bringing -the wellknown gangster theme down to the schoolboy level.2 %ric

8inden:s -gestures, his mannerisms, and even his speech continually bring to mind

agney:s potent performance in The Public %nemy.2E 8ike The Public %nemy, "re

These Jur hildrenQ told a quasiJedipal secondgeneration immigrant story in

which the protagonist, %ddie 5rand &8inden) was already thoroughly "mericanized,

while the representation of immigrant ethnicity was displaced onto secondary

characters, most notably <eine Mrantz, %ddie:s adoptive father figure &Hilliam

Jrlamond), who preserves old country values in the pickles and sausages he sells in

his delicatessen. %ddie is a -good boy2 led on a downward path fuelled by alcohol,

6azz dancing and racketeering friends until he kills <eine in a drunken rage, and is

sentenced to death. Promoted by the 1PP*" among civic and women:s groups as -a

powerful preachment against liquor, loose living and the evil consequences of bad

companions,2 the movie ran foul of several state censor boards and other

representatives of the civically responsible audience, who complained that -its

detailed portrayal of the wild life among high school students2 and -suggestive love

making between into!icated boys and girls,2 would -lower the moral values of those

who see the picture.2+

"re These Jur hildrenQ presented a psychological e!planation for %ddie:s

precipitate descent into criminality rather than a sociological one. The burden of the

movie:s an!iety, however, was placed by its title on the typicality of %ddie:s

e!perience. <owever unrealistic the movie:s suggestion that staying out late, drinking

and promiscuity led ine!orably to patricide was as an account of actual delinquent

behaviour, it was symptomatic of a bourgeois parental concern that despite their

upbringing, their own children could be easily led astray by bad companions or

influences, including what %.H. 5urgess called -the commercialization of

'E



stimulation2 in the recreational life of the "merican city. The fear that adolescence

was in itself a cause of delinquency, and that bourgeois children, too, might become

hoodlums by imitating the gestural practices of the urban proletariat, promoted the

policing of adolescence in all social classes.' "n environmentalist account of

delinquency, by contrast, held some comfort for middleclass parents, since it located

the problem as resulting from conditions unlike those in which they brought up their

own children. The gradual ascendancy to sociological orthodo!y of an

environmentalist e!planation of delinquency based on the hicago school:s research

was echoed in <ollywood:s intermittent return to the sub6ect throughout the $'(s, in

movies that also made evident agney:s definitive influence over the performance of

delinquency.' In The 1ayor of <ell &Harner 5ros., $'((), agney reformed both his

character and his performance to become -a bigfisted big brother of boys gone

wrong,2 by playing a -cheap wardheeler2 who turns his sinecure at a reform school

into a crusade to improve conditions. Hhile the movie:s depiction of endemic

corruption and racketeering in municipal politics was more e!plicit than in any of the

movies of the gangster cycle &agney tells a politician, -I:m telling you what I want,

and I:m gonna get it, or else I:ll take my votes and peddle them elsewhere,2) agney:s

character was accorded an implausible innocence of the conditions of 6uvenile

detention. *espite what must have been his backstory education in 6uvenile gangs

and adolescent athletic clubs, he appears to know nothing of what reform school

teaches its inmates. 1ore importantly, agney is absent from the moodsetting first

third of the movie and from the prison riot at the end, when he is confined out of

harm:s way in an outofstate hotel room, absolved of any responsibility for the plot:s

development. These contradictions in character and action detach agney from the

'+



movie:s principal action, separating his performance of gangster manners from the

activity of the gang.

The 1ayor of <ell:s advertising campaign invited audiences to see -the producers

of I "m a ugitive tear the taboo from another forbidden theme # a theme more

terrific than The Public %nemy.2'$ In 6ustifying the movie to the 0F, Kanuck had

used familiar argumentsB -This is a story of reformation / reformation of young boys

/ reformation of terrible conditions e!isting in some reform schools today.2'3 The

1PP*" had qualms over the movie:s title and some of its action, as well as what

0F *irector Aames Hingate identified as -the e!press purpose of the producer to

make a picture that will attract public thought and criticism to the problem presented,2

an intention, Hingate noted, that -presages difficulties for us.2'( These difficulties

were most succinctly e!plained by the 1PP*":s anadian representative, olonel

Aohn ooper, reporting on anadian censors: criticisms of "re These Jur hildrenQB

They reasoned that if we say our pictures are intended for entertainment

and not for education, we cannot depart from this argument on occasion to

ask that a picture be passed for its educational value. In other words, they

tell us that we cannot have our pie and eat it.'?

The position that The Public %nemy:s authorial intention had sought to occupy, of

contributing to public debate, was denied to subsequent movies on the grounds that it

transgressed their cultural function as entertainment. The industry:s solution to this

conundrum was to limit its commentary to the initial e!position of a social problem,

which was then individualised and resolved through a fantastical act of benevolence.

In The 1ayor of <ell, for e!ample, a benign 6udge forgives the inmates: rioting and

manslaughter and hands the reform school back to agney, despite his criminal

record. "bove all, the administrators of the Production ode insisted that the

'



conditions from which the problem emanated be not represented as endemic, but as

the result of the actions of bad individuals, and therefore remediable. "t worst, this

caused their products to be denounced as unrealistic, which was, after all, what they

were supposed to be.

In $'(+, 0amuel 4oldwyn:s production of *ead %nd demonstrated the

commercial viability of -ameliorative environmentalism,2 offering a 9topian solution

to urban crime in the architect hero:s dreams of tearing down the tenements and

building -a decent world where people could live decent and be decent.2'@ 0idney

Mingsley:s play had been a 5roadway success in $'(@, but was not adapted for the

movies for two years, in part because of anticipated censorship difficulties. Hhen

FMJ was considering buying the play in $'(@, Production ode "dministration

*irector Aoseph 5reen pointed to the conundrum the anadian censors had mentioned

three years previouslyB

Jur e!periences with political censor boards indicate that they are

disposed definitely to oppose pictures showing children engaged in crime.

# in the present instance the social values of the play are so definitely

dependent upon the showing of the criminal activities of the kids that

there would be no play without showing these activities and,

consequently, no important social document.

'E

The 4oldwyn adaptation was nevertheless strongly promoted on the basis of its social

commentary, declaring in its press book that -*ead %nd cries aloud to "merica to

suffocate its criminals in the cradle. It beseeches 0ociety to do something to alleviate

the diseasebreeding tenements in which its future citizens are asked to grow

strong.2'+ Its advertising also featured endorsements from civic leaders as well as

6ournalists, and 0enator Fobert . Hagner, who had strenuously propounded the

''



environmentalist argument in seeking passage of housing legislation to initiate a

ma6or programme of slum clearance, was a prominently displayed guest at *ead

%nd:s =ew 7ork premiere.

*ead %nd:s principal attraction was -the si! incomparable urchins imported

from the stage production,2 who provided the closest representation of the gangs

described by Thrasher that <ollywood had yet seen, in the most unambiguous

representation of the hicago school:s e!planation of the origins of criminalityB -The

Mingsley theme is that tenements breed gangsters, and no one does anything about it.

The vicious cycle continues with each succeeding crop of children, thwarted in their

growth of any sense of social responsibility by the pressure of vicious environment.2 '

The *ead %nd Mids were promoted as authentic products of the inner city, -=ew 7ork

tenement kids2 imported for the movie from -their slum homes.2'' Their early

popularity, like their invented -slumdom to stardom2 histories, closely echoed

agney:s. Feviewing the Mids: Harner 5ros. movie, rime 0chool, the =ew 7ork

Aournal"merican reported that -The same 0trand audiences that used to tear down

the theater doors in the days of the early agneys were out in full force yesterday #

and practically drowned out the dialogue on the screen with their approving hoots and

applause.2$ <aving picked up their contracts from 4oldwyn, Harners developed a

pro6ect with the ingredients 4oldwyn had originally wanted for *ead %nd itself,

casting agney opposite the 6uveniles imitating his delinquent performance style.$$

"ngels with *irty aces &Harner 5ros., $'() retains elements of Thrasher:s

depiction of gang life in the behaviour of the *ead %nd Mids and the presentation of a

gang tradition passed on from one adolescent generation to another. Its representation

of Focky 0ullivan:s &agney) integration into the neighbourhood, and his familiar and

affectionate relationship with ather Aerry onnolly &Pat J:5rien) suggests what Aohn

$



8andesco described as -the genuine popularity of the gangster, homegrown in the

neighbourhood gang, idealized in the morality of the neighbourhood.2$3 " reformist

social agenda was, however, an integral element of this -6unior gangster,2 cycle,

evident not only in the movie:s publicity but woven firmly and in detail into its

structure.$( ombined with the celebration of agney:s performance style, this

requirement committed the movie to an incoherent and contradictory representation of

agney:s character, in particular in his relationship with the *ead %nd Mids: for

whom he is -both a pariah and a role model to aspire to.2 $? The movie:s pressbook

seemed to revel in these contradictions, simultaneously editorialising its -strong social

message2 that -the children of the slums # be given the helping hand that will spell

for them the difference between a good life and a life of crime,2 and advertising its

unmatched depiction of the -glamour of gangsterism.2$@

The problems the industry faced in imitating *ead %nd were indicated by

press reports in late $'(+ that some =ew 7ork schoolchildren had begun to copy one

of the more violent incidents in the movie, scarring their classmates with -the mark of

the squealer,2 which seemed to offer anecdotal confirmation of the most sensational

hypotheses of the movies: bad influence.$E 0uch reports gave substance to 5reen:s

concerns that, as -virtually every studio2 set about acquiring a -boys gang2 in early

$'(, they would produce a cycle as dangerous to the industry:s public relations as the

gangster movies of $'(($.$+ The P" introduced an amendment to the Production

ode:s regulations on crime, stipulating that -pictures dealing with criminal activities

in which minors participate or to which minors are related, shall not be approved if

they incite demoralizing imitation on the part of youth.2$ Hhile this resolution was

not in force until after "ngels with *irty aces was completed, the movie

$$



substantially accommodated its concerns by separating the gangster:s performance

from any recognisable form of criminal activity.

In negotiations over the script, the Production ode "dministration insisted

that the Mids -be kept as far as possible from any actual scenes of crime,2 presenting

the studio with the task of representing the Mids: pro!imity to crime without showing

them participating in any criminal activity themselves.$' In conforming to this

requirement, "ngels with *irty aces develops two discrete plot lines. In one, Focky

finds himself a gangster without a gang, e!cluded from the undefined criminal

activities of razier &<umphrey 5ogart) and Meefer &4eorge 5ancroft), and in conflict

with the forces of organized crime throughout the movie. In the other, he renews old

neighbourhood friendships and socialises with the *ead %nd Mids, who have no direct

contact with Focky:s dealings with his e!associates. Their only access to Focky:s

criminal activities, indeed, is through the newspaper stories they read in their boiler

room basement. These reports seem to be about a third Focky, very different from the

charming, comic and sympathetic character they eat lunch and play basketball with. $$

The movie:s montage sequences and newspaper headlines represent this third strand,

not otherwise present in the movie:s action, in which -Two4un Focky 0ullivan,

wellknown gangster and badman,2 is reported as ruling the city through his

mysterious, unspecified power over -corrupt officialdom.2 The movie remains set

firmly inside the domain protected by ather Aerry:s moral authority, and the

-outside,2 where the Mids are -surrounded by the same rotten corruption and crime

and criminals2 for them -to look up to and revere and respect and admire and imitate2

e!ists only in the mediated form of newspaper stories, which take place in a -real2

world not inhabited by the movie:s characters. Father than -e!posing the rackets,2

$3



Aerry confronts and then manipulates the mediated image of the gangster, as

personified by parts of agney:s performance.

"ngels with *irty aces internalises the Production ode:s discourse and enacts a

drama of selfregulation, in which the gangster conforms to the ode:s requirement

that he -turn yellow2 / the most consistent demand of the 0F in the $'(($ cycle /

because the moral reformer, constructed in the P":s selfimage, asks him to.$$$ Aerry

asks Focky to -have the heart2 to go the electric chair screaming for mercy, so that the

Mids will -despise your memory.2 Focky must renounce his public persona and unify

and redeem his character through a final duplicitous act of heroic cowardice to ensure

that the Mids will repudiate him and the values he represents. Hith the institutional

force of both the atholic hurch and the P" behind him, Aerry insists that Focky

hasB

been a hero to these kids and hundreds of others all through your life and

now you:re going to be a glorified hero in death, and I want to prevent

that, Focky. They:ve got to despise your memory. They:ve got to be

ashamed of you.

Focky pleads for his dignityB

7ou:re asking me to throw away the only thing I:ve got left, the only thing

they haven:t been able to take away from me,

but to no avail, for this debate is conducted to ensure the triumph of ather Aerry:s

moral narrative over the glamorous spectacle of agney:s performance.

"ngels with *irty aces thus contains the movies: influence on delinquency

within itself, both in the sense that this is the sub6ect of the movie, and in the manner

in which the an!iety of influence is resolved within the movie:s morally victorious

$(



narrative. The movie:s ending marks the final recuperation of agney:s decadelong

performance of glamorous criminality within the solipsistic world prescribed by the

Production ode, where redemption was attainable only through the compensating

moral values of suffering and punishment, and the appropriate moral lessons were

absorbed by all those onscreen / whatever alternative conclusions actual audiences

may have reached.

In accordance with the prohibition on criminal activities that might -incite

demoralizing imitation on the part of youth,2 in The "ngels Hash Their aces &$'(')

the Mids themselves became agents of reform, fighting civic corruption. Hithin the

year, they were at military academy &Jn *ress Parade), a prelude to their meritorious

wartime service fighting "!is spies in 8et:s 4et Tough &$'?() and the Aunior 41en

series &$'??(). In the longrunning series and serials in which they appeared as the

8ittle Tough 4uys, the %ast 0ide Mids and the 5owery 5oys, they turned the

representation of delinquency into an interminable comedy of bad manners, ever more

divorced from its sociological and cinematic origins. "fter more than a decade of

generic dilution, the descendants of The Public %nemy were finally rendered

harmlessly entertaining to the 6uvenile audiences to whom they appealed. $$3

$?



$@



$ Paul 4. ressey, -The ommunity / " 0ocial 0etting for the 1otion Picture,2 in 4arth 0. Aowett, Ian

. Aarvie and Mathryn <. uller, hildren and the 1oviesB 1edia Influence and the Payne und

ontroversy &ambridgeB ambridge 9niversity Press, $''E), $((. This passage is also quoted in

<enry Aames orman, Jur 1ovie1ade hildren &=ew 7orkB 1ac1illan, $'((), 3@$.3 The full te!t of -The ommunity / " 0ocial 0etting for the 1otion Picture2 is published in hildren

and the 1ovies, along with a detailed account of the pro6ect:s vicissitudes.

( -or well over a decade after the end of the irst Horld Har hicago sociology was, in effect,

"merican sociology.2 *ennis 0mith, The hicago 0choolB " 8iberal ritique of apitalism &=ew 7orkB

0t. 1artin:s Press, $'), 3.

? ressey, -The ommunity,2 $((.

@ ressey, -The ommunity,2 3(.

E Aonathan 1unby, Public %nemies, Public <eroesB 0creening the 4angster from 8ittle aesar to Touch

of %vil &hicagoB 9niversity of hicago Press, $'''), @$.

+ Harner 5ros. press book for The Public %nemy

"ndrG 0ennwald, -Two Thugs,2 =ew 7ork Times, 3? "pril $'($, 3+

' Aames 0helley <amilton, -0ome 4angster ilms,2 =ational 5oard of Feview 1agazine &1ay $'($),

reprinted in rom Suasimodo to 0carlettB " =ational 5oard of Feview "nthology, $'3$'?, ed.

0tanley <ochman &=ew 7orkB 9ngar, $'3), $??.

$ Lariety review of The Public %nemy, 3' "pril $'($.

$$ Lariety review of The Public %nemy.

$3 Foger H. 5abson, -rime Haves,2 5abson:s Feports 0pecial 8etter, "pril $'3'. 1y e!tended

discussion of this issue is in Fichard 1altby, -The 0pectacle of riminality,2 in Liolence and "merican

inema, ed. A. *avid 0locum &=ew 7orkB Foutledge, 3$), $$$@3.

$( Kanuck to Aoy, Aanuary E, $'($, P" Public %nemy ase ile. Typography in original. Harners

bought the story, -5eer and 5lood,2 on *ecember $, $'(. The inal 0creenplay by <arvey Thew was



dated Aanuary $, $'($, and shooting began in ebruary.

$? Harner 5ros. press book for The Public %nemy.

$@ F.*. 1cMenzie, -The %cological "pproach to the 0tudy of the <uman ommunity,2 in Fobert %.

Park and %rnest H. 5urgess, The ity &hicagoB 9niversity of hicago Press, $'3@, $'E+), E(, ++.$E Park, The ity, ?@.

$+ Korbaugh, $3'.

$ lifford F. 0haw, with the ollaboration of rederick 1. Korbaugh, <enry *. 1cMay and 8eonard 0.

ottrell, *elinquency "reasB 0tudy of the 4eographic *istribution of 0chool Truants, Auvenile

*elinquents, and "dult Jffenders in hicago &hicagoB 9niversity of hicago Press, $'3'), 3?.

$' lifford F. 0haw and <enry *. 1cMay, Auvenile *elinquency and 9rban "reasB " 0tudy of

*elinquency in Felation to *ifferential haracteristics of 8ocal ommunities in "merican ities

&hicagoB 9niversity of hicago Press, $'?3, rev edn $'E'), ($@(3.

3 Korbaugh, $+E+.

3$ Aames . 0hort, Ar., Introduction to rederic 1. Thrasher, The 4angB " 0tudy of $,($( 4angs in

hicago &abridged edn. hicagoB 9niversity of hicago Press, $'E( / orig pub $'3+), lii; Thrasher, (3.

33 Thrasher, 3$, 3E+, 3'$.

3( Aon 0nodgrass, -The AackFollerB " ifty7ear ollow9p,2 9rban 8ife $$B? &Aanuary $'(), ??$.

3? lifford F. 0haw, The AackFollerB " *elinquent 5oy:s Jwn 0tory &hicagoB 9niversity of hicago

Press, $'(); lifford F. 0haw in collaboration with 1aurice %. 1oore, The =atural <istory of a

*elinquent areer &hicagoB 9niversity of hicago Press, $'($); lifford F. 0haw, with the assistance

of <enry *. 1cMay and Aames . 1c*onald, 5rothers in rime &hicagoB 9niversity of hicago

Press, $'().

3@ 0haw, 5rothers in rime " (@'.

3E Aames . 0hort, Ar., -Introduction to the Fevised %dition,2 in 0haw and 1cMay, Auvenile

*elinquency and 9rban "reas, !lvii!lviii.



3+ Thrasher, 3@+, my emphasis.

3 *erivative and competing terms proliferated in the early twentieth centuryB -gangland2 dates from the

$'$s, while -racketeer,2 -gangsterism2 and -gangsterdom2 were creations of the $'3s press.

3'

<erbert "sbury, The 4angs of =ew 7orkB "n Informal <istory of the 9nderworld &=ew 7orkB Mnopf,

$'3+, reprinted 8ondonB "rrow, 33), !iv. In $'?, "sbury published -"n Informal <istory of the

hicago 9nderworld2 primarily concerned with the preProhibition period, under the title 4em of the

Prairie &=ew 7orkB Mnopf, reprinted as The 4angs of hicago, =ew 7orkB Thunder:s 1outh Press,

33).

( "sbury, !v!vi.

($ red *. Pasley, "l aponeB The 5iography of a 0elf1ade 1an &8ondonB aber, $'EE Cfirst published

$'($D), ($+, Hilliam <elmer with Fick 1atti!, Public %nemiesB "merica:s riminal Past, $'$'$'?

&=ew 7orkB heckmark, $''), 3.

(3 Futh, @.

(( "nonymous &<al "ndrews), O 1arks the 0potB hicago 4ang Hars in Pictures &hicagoB 0pot

Publishing, $'(). httpBwww.!marksthespot.com. &my emphasis)

(? Aohn 8andesco, Jrganized rime in hicagoB Part III of The Illinois rime 0urvey $'3' &hicagoB

9niversity of hicago Press, $'E), 3++.

(@ Thrasher, (3$.

(E Korbaugh, $('.

(+ Thrasher, ($.

( Thrasher, (33, (3E+.

(' Thrasher, (3'.

? 8andesco, $', 3$.

?$ 8andesco, $$, 3?@.

?3 Thrasher, 3', (.

http://www.x-marksthespot.com/

http://www.x-marksthespot.com/



?( 8andesco, $E'.

?? O 1arks the 0pot; Thrasher, 3''.

?@ O 1arks the 0pot; Aohn Mobler, aponeB The 8ife and Horld of "l apone &8ondonB oronet, $'+$),

'.?E In the hicago rime ommission:s first list of Public %nemies, which ran to 3 names, 8ake was

listed at no. 33 and *ruggan at 3(.

?+ Thrasher, 3'(.

? *ruggan and 8ake:s partnership dissolved in the early $'(s, and the Lalley gang effectively ceased

to e!ist after Prohibition. "fter their release, 8ake moved to *etroit and became president of a coal and

ice company, dying in $'?+. *ruggan:s health deteriorated and he died in poverty in $'@?.

?' "ugust Lollmer, memo to Hill <ays, "pril 3 $'($, The Public %nemy case file, P" "rchives.

Lollmer, hief of Police in 5erkeley, ", was the author of the Illinois 0tate rime ommission report

on the hicago police.

@ The typescript of the novel, 5eer and 5loodB The 0tory of a ouple o: Hrong 4uys,2 by Mubec

4lasmon and Aohn 5right &nd, (? pages), is held in the Harner 8ibrary of the Hisconsin enter for

ilm and Theater Fesearch.

@$ 8ee 0erver, 0creenwriterB Hords 5ecome PicturesB Interviews with Twelve 0creenwriters from the

4olden "ge of "merican 1ovies &Pittstown, =A, 1ain 0treet Press, $'+), +?.

@3 Patrick 1c4illigan and Paul 5uhle, Tender omradesB The 5ackstory of the <ollywood 5lacklist

&=ew 7ork, 0t. 1artin>s Press, $''+), $($; 0erver, +?.

@( Mubec 4lasmon and Aohn 5right, The Public %nemy &=ew 7orkB 4rosset and *unlap, $'($). Harners

sold the novelisation rights to 4rosset and *unlap for U? on 1arch 3 $'($. The book was published

on 1arch 3, several weeks before the movie:s release, and sold $+, copies. <enry ohen,

-Introduction,2 in The Public %nemy, ed. <enry ohen &1adisonB 9niversity of Hisconsin Press,

$'$), $(.



@? 0erver, +?; -Harner 5ros. press book for The Public %nemy. Terry *ruggan features, along with

apone and several other actual hicago criminals, as an incidental character in 5eer and 5lood. Tom

also emulates a notorious incident in *ruggan:s history when he assaults a 6ournalist in 6ail.

@@

-Aames agney and *istinguished ast seen here in a thrilling melodrama of the *ark Powers.2

Harner 5ros. Press 5ook for The Public %nemy.

@E The one e!ception among the group of hicagobased figures discussed here was Aohn Torrio, who

was born in $3 and -retired2 after a nearfatal shooting in $'3@ at the age of ?+.

@+ Fobert J:onnor, the actor who plays Paddy Fyan, bears a resemblance to some of the e!tant

photographs of *ion J:5anion.

@ Hilliam <elmer suggests that -the murder of the horse appears to be pure myth, possibly based on a

passing comment by harles 4regston in the hicago #aily $e%s for =ovember $', $'3?.2 <elmer,

Public %nemies, 3.

@' The hostile public response to these comments allegedly led Heiss to tell 1oran to order "lterie out

of hicago and back to his ranch in olorado. " figure of no further consequence in crime history,

"lterie was shot to death in hicago in $'(@.

E <elmer, @?.

E$ <amilton, $?E.

E3 O 1arks the 0pot.

E( Pasley, ?$. In the movie, Paddy Fyan e!plains to Tom and 1att, -0o far as Paddy Fyan is concerned

there:s only two kinds of people # right and wrong.2

E? 8andesco, '(.

E@ Suoted in Futh, $($3.

EE Thrasher, 3+(.

E+ ohen, The Public %nemy, $'.



E In the screenplay, Tommy returns to 4wen:s apartment after 1att is killed, only to discover that she

has left him &in the source novel, she has left him for another woman). In the novel, it is his own se!ual

betrayal of Paddy with Aane, 4wen:s desertion, and the belief that -everything has slipped out from

under him2 that -impel him in rage and disgust on his final errand.2 ohen, The Public %nemy, 3,

$E?.

E' In the novel, Tommy:s father is killed by a criminal while on duty.

+ 5oth the source novel and the script e!plicitly identify 1ike as a war hero; ironically, Tom and 1att

are given 6obs delivering legal alcohol to pharmacies because of their boss: admiration for 1ike:s war

record. ohen, The Public %nemy, 'E.

+$ or a summary of these studies, see Aohn 1. 4illette and Aames 1. Feinhardt, urrent 0ocial

Problems &=ew 7orkB "merican 5ook ompany, $'((), E+@+.

+3 Korbaugh, $@$.

+( 0haw gave the five second generation Polish immigrants in Brothers in Crime the names Aohn,

%dward, Aames, 1ichael and arl 1artin.

+? In The Foaring Twenties &$'('), the Irish"merican actor Paul Melly plays a spaghettieating

gangster called =ick 5rown. 0ee Futh Lasey, The Horld "ccording to <ollywood, $'$$'(' &%!eterB

9niversity of %!eter Press, $''+), $?(?.

+@ Suoted in ohen, The Public %nemy, $'.

+E Variety review of Taxi!, $3 Aanuary $'(3.

++ 8izabeth ohen, 1aking a =ew *ealB Industrial Horkers in hicago, $'$'$'($ &ambridgeB

ambridge 9niversity Press, $''), $??+.

+ "nticipating protests against the movie and its cycle, Variety recognised that agney -won:t find it

easy to follow this performance2 because it was likely to typecast him. Lariety review of The Public

%nemy, 3' "pril $'($.

+' Lariety review of 8ady Miller, 3 Aanuary $'(?.



8incoln Mirstein, -Aames agney and the "merican <ero,2 <ound and <orn, @ &"prilAune $'(3),

?EE+, quoted in Fobert 0klar, ity 5oysB agney, 5ogart, 4arfield &Princeton, =AB Princeton

9niversity Press, $''3), $3; Lariety review of *elicious, 3' *ecember $'($. agney:s lack of appeal

to female audiences is evidenced by the dearth of stories on him in fan magazines, notable Photoplay.$ Variety review of Ta!iR, $3 Aanuary $'(3.

3 ressey, -The ommunity,2 $$.

( Hhether or not 5right and 4lasmon were principally responsible for agney:s casting as Tom

Powers, as 5right persistently claimed, his star persona was formed in significant part by their work as

the writer of his ne!t four movies, 0mart 1oney, 5londe razy, Ta!iR and The rowd Foars.

? Thrasher, 3+(.

@ 8andesco, 3$.

E Fichard <anser, review of "re These Jur hildrenQ in the 5uffalo Times, $( =ovember $'($.

8inden:s second movie appearance was on loan to Harner 5ros. in The Cro%d &oars, in which he

played Aames agney:s younger brother.

+ Trotti to Aoy, telegram, 3 Jctober $'($, "re These Jur hildrenQ P"; Aoseph 5reen to 0amuel

5riskin, FMJ, $ ebruary $'(+. "re These Jur hildrenQ P".

5urgess, -Introduction2 to ressey, The Ta!i*ance <all, n.p.

' Aoseph . Mett, Fites of PassageB "dolescence in "merica $+' to the Present &=ew 7orkB 5asic

5ooks, $'++), 3@E.

' agney:s influence is evident in the performances of rankie *arro in The 1ayor of <ell and Hild

5oys of the Foad &both $'(( / *arro had played 1att *oyle as a child in The Public %nemy), 1ickey

Fooney in 141:s The *evil Is a 0issy &$'(E), and Boys To%n &$'(), and the *ead %nd Mids.

'$ Harner 5ros. pressbook for The 1ayor of <ell.

'3 3E Aanuary $'((, Kanuck to Hingate, The 1ayor of <ell file P".

'( $ 1arch $'((, Hingate to Aulia Melly, The 1ayor of <ell file P".



'? ol. Aohn ooper, head of the 1PP*" office in anada, to ol. Aoy, 3? Aune $'(3, "re These Jur

hildrenQ P".

'@ 0klar, +@.

'E

5reen to 5en Mahane, FMJ, E =ovember $'(@, *ead %nd file P"'+ *ead %nd press book.

' Lariety review of *ead %nd, ( "ugust $'(+.

'' *onita erguson, -1ovie of the HeekB *ead %nd,2 The 8iterary *igest, ? 0eptember $'(+, ?. The

actors in fact all came from upper or middleclass =ew 7ork families, and most of them had careers as

child actors before *ead %nd. Myle richton, -1adetoJrder Punks,2 ollier:s 3' Auly $'('B $(V. I

am grateful to Mevin %sch for these references.

$ Suoted in 0klar, +@.

$$ rankie 5urke:s playing of the boy Focky mimics agney:s performance mannerisms e!actly.

$3 8andesco, $E'.

$( 1otion Picture <erald, 3' Jctober $'(.

$? ran 1ason, "merican 4angster inemaB rom 8ittle aesar to Pulp iction &8ondonB Palgrave,

33), ?@.

$@ -%ditorial,2 in "ngels with *irty aces pressbook &$'().

$E -Aust 8ike the 1ovies,2 8iterary *igest, $$ *ecember $'(+, ?.

$+ " partial listing of *ead %nd:s immediate imitations, e!cluding those featuring the *ead %nd Mids

themselves, would includeB 5oy of the 0treets, released in *ecember $'(+ and starring Aackie ooper,

which Lariety described as 1onogram:s most ambitious production to date and which won Parents:

1agazine medal for the best movie of the month; Feformatory &olumbia, released Aune $'(), with

Aack <olt and rankie *arro; 5oys Town &141, released 0eptember $'(), with 0pencer Tracy and

1ickey Fooney; and Auvenile ourt &olumbia, released 0eptember $'().



$ 5reen and <armon to <ays, =ovember 3( $'(, 1PP*" 1icrofilm "rchive; 1PP*" interoffice

memo 3 *ecember $'( re rime in 1otion Pictures, 1PP*" 1icrofilm "rchive.

$' 5reen, memorandum "pril @, $'(, "ngels with *irty aces case file, P".

$$

I am indebted 1ichael 1eneghetti, unpublished essay -"ngels of 0elfFegulationB "ngels with *irty

aces and the P",2, &9niversity of Iowa, 3$) for this description of Focky:s character, and more

generally to his insightful analysis of Angels for several of the arguments in this section.

$$$ Pat J:5rien:s more than passing physical resemblance to Aoseph 5reen as crusading atholic ather

Aerry may be as coincidental as Fobert J:onnor:s resemblance to *ion J:5anion.

$$3 "fter *ead %nd, the Mids were signed to a twoyear contract by 4oldwyn, who then sold them on to

Harner 5ros. They made si! movies for Harners in $'((', including They 1ade 1e a riminal and

<ell:s Mitchen. In $'(, 9niversal borrowed 5ernard Punsley, <untz <all, 5illy <alop and 4abriel

*ell to make 8ittle Tough 4uy. In late $'(', Harners dropped their contracts after the release of Jn

*ress Parade, and 9niversal picked up these four as the core of the 8ittle Tough 4uys series for eight

further movies and three $3part serials made between $'(' and $'?(. rom $'? to $'?@, 0am

Matzman produced the -%ast 0ide Mids2 for 1onogram, featuring some of the same actors and 8eo

4orcey. In $'?E, 4orcey revamped them as the -5owery 5oys2 in a series of ? movies running until

$'@ and built around the comedy duo of 4orcey and <all. *avid <ayes and 5rent Halker, The ilms

of the 5owery 5oys &=ew 7orkB itadel Press, $'?).

why boys go wrong: gangsters, hoodlums and the natural history of delinquent careers

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