Bobby Jordan
Though he was the youngest, Jordan was the first of the boys who made up the Dead End Kids to work in films with a role in a 1933 Universal short. In 1935, he became one of the original Dead End Kids by winning the role of Angel in Sydney Kingsley's Broadway drama Dead End about life in the slums of the east side of New York City. The play was performed at the Belasco Theatre and ran for three years with over 600 performances. He appeared for the first season and the beginning of the second but left in mid-November 1936. He returned in time to join the others in 1937 in Hollywood, California to make the movie version of the play, starring big names such as Humphrey Bogart, Joel McCrea, Sylvia Sidney, and Claire Trevor. Following the making of Dead End, Jordan found himself "released" from his contract at Goldwyn, and, subsequently, he appeared at Warner Brothers with the rest of the Dead End Kids. After one year, Warners released most of them, but kept Leo Gorcey and Jordan as solo performers. Jordan appeared (as "Douglas Fairbanks Rosenbloom") in Warner's Damon Runyon comedy A Slight Case of Murder (1938) and at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in Young Tom Edison (1940). In 1940, Jordan appeared in the film Military Academy and accepted an offer from producer Sam Katzman to star in a new tough-kid series called "The East Side Kids." Leo Gorcey soon joined him, then Huntz Hall, and the trio continued to lead the series through 1943, when Jordan entered the United States Army during World War II as a foot soldier in the 97th Infantry Division. He was subsequently involved in an elevator accident, when the elevator fell five floors, that forced him to have surgery to remove his right kneecap.
High Tor
(3rd Sailor)
Kid Dynamite
(Danny Lions)
Let's Get Tough
(Danny Connors)
Mr. Wise Guy
(Danny Collins)
Pride of the Bowery
(Danny)
They Made Me a Criminal
(Angel)
Dust Be My Destiny
(Jimmy Glenn)
Reformatory
(Pinkey Leonard)
A Slight Case of Murder
(Douglas Fairbanks Rosenbloom)
Dead End
(Angel)
Angels with Dirty Faces
(Swing)
Spooks Run Wild
(Danny)
Bowery Blitzkrieg
(Danny Breslin)
The Man Is Armed
(Thorne (as Bob Jordan))
Ghosts on the Loose
(Danny)
Spook Busters
(Bobby)
Crime School
(Lester 'Squirt' Smith)
Boys of the City
(Danny Dolan)
Flying Wild
(Danny Graham)
Bowery Bombshell
(Bobby)
Bowery Buckaroos
(Bobby)
Angels Wash Their Faces
(Bernie Smith)
Smart Alecks
(Danny Stevens)
Treasure of Monte Cristo
(Tony Torecelli)
Dracula: A Cinematic Scrapbook
(Danny (archive footage))
Swingtime in the Movies
(Crime School Kid (uncredited))
Hell's Kitchen
(Joel "Joey" Richards)
In Fast Company
(Bobby)
On Dress Parade
(Cadet Ronny Morgan)
Off the Record
(Mickey Fallon)
Hedda Hopper's Hollywood No. 4
(Self)
'Neath Brooklyn Bridge
(Danny Lyons)
Adventures of the Flying Cadets
(Jinx Roberts)
Give Us Wings
(Rap)
Mr. Hex
(Bobby)
My Bill
(Reginald Colbrook)
The Matchmaking Marshal
(Steven 'Steve' Manson)
You're Not So Tough
(Rap)
Kid Millions
(Tourist (uncredited))
Young Tom Edison
(Joe 'Joey' Dingle)
That Gang of Mine
(Danny Dolan)
Clancy Street Boys
(Danny)
Junior Army
(Jockey)
Bowery Champs
(Bobby Jordan)
Live Wires
(Bobby)
News Hounds
(Bobby)
Keep 'Em Slugging
(Tommy)
Secret of Outlaw Flats
(Sandy Smith)
Destroyer
(Sobbing Sailor)
The Eddie Cantor Story
(Customer)
Hard Boiled Mahoney
(Bobby)
Military Academy
(Dick Hill)
The Beginning or the End
(Radioman on Tinian Receiving A-Bomb Message)
Dragnet
Rawhide
The Millionaire
(Press Agent)
Lux Video Theatre
(Boy at Piano)
Richard Diamond, Private Detective
(Connie Thorpe)
M Squad
(Car Lot Employee)
The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok
Casey Jones
(Billy Mapes)
Maverick
(Willy)
Route 66
(Garage Attendant (uncredited))
Maverick
(Bank Teller (uncredited))
77 Sunset Strip
(Auto Mechanic (uncredited))
Bonanza
(Thug #2)
The Odd Couple
(Doris Atkins)
The Adventures of Boston Blackie
(Waiter (uncredited))