Bowery Champs

Did You Know?

• It was filmed under the title Mr. Muggs Meets a Deadline.
• While on leave from military duty, Bobby Jordan visited the set during its filming and he was written into the film (as himself) at the last minute.
• The film marks Jimmy Strand's last East Side Kids film, while it includes Leo Gorcey's father, Bernard, as Mr. Johnson, the taxi driver.

Plot

Gypsy Carmen, a former Broadway star, had recently filed for divorce from her husband, nightclub owner Tom Wilson. She demanded the return of securities she owned before their marriage. Wilson claimed the securities were missing, and Gypsy pulled a gun from her purse and aimed it at him. A shot came through the window of his house. Wilson fell dead, and Gypsy fled in panic.

Jim Lindsey, the star reporter for the American Express paper, was at an auction bidding on oriental rugs when the murder happened, so he missed the story. Muggs McGinnis, a copy boy at the paper, decided to cover it for him. Muggs asked Glimpy to drive him to the Wilson house in the paper's delivery car. They snuck in through an open window and listened as police questioned Wilson's mistress, Diane Gibson, an entertainer at the nightclub, and Ken Duncan, Wilson's manager. Duncan recalled Gypsy threatening Wilson's life. The police lieutenant said a .38 caliber bullet killed Wilson. The houseboy reported that right after the murder, he saw a woman in a fuzzy coat and funny hat hail a yellow cab with a dented fender.

After buying his rug, Jim heard about the murder and rushed to the Wilson house. Meanwhile, Muggs, Glimpy, and the other East Side Kids went to the taxi stand. The driver told them he had taken a woman in a fuzzy coat to the Stephens apartment building, where Gypsy lived. As Muggs and the boys drove there, police arrived at the taxi stand, questioned the driver, and sent a car to arrest Gypsy. When Muggs and the boys questioned Gypsy, she insisted she was innocent. Spotting the police car pulling up outside, Muggs told Skinny to put on Gypsy's hat and coat and race away in the newspaper's car.