Ann Sheridan and James Cagney
November 26, 1938: Angels with Dirty Faces premieres. To paraphrase a much more recent saying, Everybody thinks they're a gangster until they face James Cagney.
In 1920, William "Rocky" Sullivan and Jerry Connolly are New York boys who commit a petty robbery. Jerry gets away, but Rocky is caught by the police, and goes to reform school. He doesn't reform, and grows up to be a criminal played by Cagney. Jerry is "scared straight" by the experience, and grows up to become a priest played by Pat O'Brien.
In 1935, Rocky is arrested for armed robbery. His lawyer and co-conspirator, Jim Frazier (Humphrey Bogart), asks him to take the blame for the robbery. In exchange, he will keep Rocky's share of the robbery, $100,000 (about $2.1 million in 2022 money), safe until he is released. Rocky agrees, and is sentenced to 3 years in prison.
After serving his sentence, Rocky returns to his old neighborhood, and rents a room in a boardinghouse run by Laury Martin (Ann Sheridan). He goes to Frazier's casino. Frazier promises to have the $100,000 ready by the end of the week, and he gives Rocky $500 spending money.
Rocky has his pocket picked by a gang of teenagers. In various films, these actors, always together, would be known under various names: The East Side Kids, the Bowery Boys, or, as they are here, the Dead End Kids. Rocky tracks them down to his old childhood hideout, and gives them what-for. They admit to an admiration of Rocky's reputation and criminal lifestyle. After retrieving his wallet and all the money therein, Rocky invites them to dinner.
While they are eating, Jerry arrives, and asks the gang why they have not been playing basketball. Laury expresses her concern over the potential negative influence Rocky may be having on the gang, which is echoed by Jerry.
Frazier's goons try to kill Rocky, but he escapes. He finds Frazier, raiding his house at gunpoint and stealing $2,000 and a ledger. Rocky then brazenly approaches Frazier's business partner, Mac Keefer (George Bancroft), and requests $100,000 in trade for Frazier's release. With no other option, Mac agrees and pays Rocky, but as Rocky leaves, Mac informs on him to the police. Rocky is arrested, and sets about mocking the police for their lack of evidence, even goading them to ring his lawyer (Frazier).
Frazier approaches Mac and learns of Rocky's arrest. He informs Mac that Rocky is in possession of the ledger. This forces Frazier to tell the police it was all a "misunderstanding" -- Bogart was not yet big enough of a star to play actual tough guys -- and Rocky is released.
Jerry buys time on a radio station to expose corruption in New York. Rocky tries unsuccessfully to stop Jerry, as he knows the other mobsters won't take kindly to what his friend the priest is trying to do. Rocky isn't trying to protect himself, he's trying to protect Jerry. To this end, Rocky kills Frazier and Keefer. After escaping the casino, he makes his way to an abandoned warehouse, where he is forced to kill a police officer. A standoff ensues with the police.
Jerry tells the police that he can get Rocky to surrender peacefully. Instead, Rocky takes Jerry hostage, but is shot in the leg by the police as he tries to escape. He is convicted of murder, and sentenced to death in the electric chair.
Right before his scheduled execution, Rocky tells Jerry he's not afraid to die. Jerry tells him to at least pretend to be scared, but he refuses, because his reputation is all he has left. In the end, though, he begs for mercy. His execution is shown only in shadow: The Hays Code meant that Rocky had to pay for all he'd done, but the public shouldn't actually see it happen.
The gang read in the newspaper of how Rocky "turned yellow." Soapy (Bill Halop), the gang's leader, asks Jerry if it's true. Jerry tells them it is, and says, "Come on, boys: Let's go say a prayer for a boy who couldn't run as fast as I could." He knows the cliché: "There but for the grace of God go I."
The film was nominated for 3 Academy Awards: Best Actor for Cagney, Best Director for Michael Curtiz, and Best Original Story by Rowland Brown. However, none won. It's hard to argue they were robbed, though. Spencer Tracy won for playing a different priest, the real-life Father Edward Flanagan (who was still alive), in Boys Town. Frank Capra won for directing You Can't Take It With You. And Boys Town also won for Best Original Story, by Eleanore Griffin and Dore Schary.
Cagney and O'Brien remained close friends until the end. In 1983, Cagney had a stroke, and was confined to a wheelchair. Still, CBS offered him the role of an elderly ex-boxer in the TV-movie Terrible Joe Moran. He wasn't sure he could do it, so he called O'Brien, who yelled, "Do it, Cagney! It's medicine!" and slammed the phone down.
O'Brien died a few days later, but Cagney took the role, and the film aired on March 27, 1984, with scenes from his 1932 boxing movie Winner Take All used to portray the younger Moran. Two years later, Cagney was dead. He did not die a coward.
Sadly, Ann Sheridan, known for her foxiness as "The Oomph Girl," died of cancer in 1967, only 52 years old.
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November 26, 1938 was a Saturday. Impressionist Rich Little and Florida Congressman Porter Goss were born.
These college football games were played:
* Rivalry: Number 2 Texas Christian University (TCU), with Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Davey O'Brien, beat Southern Methodist University (SMU), 20-7 at Ownby Stadium in Dallas.
* Number 3 Duke beat Number 4 Pittsburgh, 7-0 at Duke Stadium (now Wallace Wade Stadium) in Durham, North Carolina.
* Rivalry: Number 6 Oklahoma beat Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State), 19-0 at Lewis Field (now Boone Pickens Stadium) in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
* Number 7 Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie-Mellon University) beat North Carolina State, 14-0 at Riddick Stadium in Raleigh, North Carolina.
* Rivalry: Number 11 Holy Cross beat Boston College, 29-7 at Fenway Park in Boston.
* Number 13 Dartmouth were upset by Stanford, 23-13 at Stanford Stadium in the San Francisco suburb of Palo Alto, California.
* Number 17 Texas Tech beat Marquette, 21-2 at Tech Field (now Jones Stadium) in Lubbock, Texas.
* Rivalry: Fordham beat New York University (NYU), 25-0, in front of 50,000 at Yankee Stadium.
* Rivalry: Army beat Navy, 14-7 at Municipal Stadium (later John F. Kennedy Stadium) in Philadelphia.
* Florida beat Alabama A&M (now Auburn), 9-7 at Fairfield Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida.
* Rivalry: The University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) beat Mississippi State, 19-6 at Scott Field (now Davis-Wade Stadium) in Starkville, Mississippi.
* Rivalry: Tulane beat Louisiana State (LSU), 14-0 at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
* Baylor beat Rice, 21-6 at Rice Field in Houston.
* Montana beat Arizona, 7-0 at Arizona Stadium in Tucson.
* Rivalry: Oregon State beat Oregon, 14-0 at Multnomah Stadium (now Providence Park) in Portland.
* Rivalry: Washington beat Washington State, 26-0 at Husky Stadium in Seattle.
* Idle this week: Number 1 Notre Dame, Number 7 USC, Number 9 California, Number 14 Southern California (USC); and, having completed their schedules, the entire Big Ten Conference, including Number 8 Minnesota, these schools in the New York Tri-State Area: City College of New York (CCNY), Rutgers and Princeton.
Two days before, on Thanksgiving, Number 5 Tennessee beat Kentucky, 46-0 at Shields-Watkins Field (now Neyland Stadium) in Knoxville, Tennessee. Also that day, Number 10 Cornell and the University of Pennsylvania played to a tie, 0-0 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.
Among New York area schools playing on Thanksgiving: Manhattan College lost to Villanova, 20-0 at the Polo Grounds; and Columbia lost to Brown, 36-27 at Brown Stadium in Providence, Rhode Island.
USC and Cal tied for the Pacific Coast Conference title, but USC beat Cal for the tiebreaker. The following week, USC beat Notre Dame. USC went on to beat Duke in the Rose Bowl. St. Mary's, of the San Francisco Bay Area, beat Texas Tech in the Cotton Bowl. Minnesota won the Big Ten Conference title, but did not go to a bowl game.
Tennessee won the Southeastern Conference title. Oklahoma won the Big Six Conference title. Tennessee beat Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl. TCU won the Southwest Conference title, and beat Carnegie Tech in the Sugar Bowl. TCU and Tennessee split the polls for the National Championship.
Baseball was out of season. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. There were 2 games in the NHL. The New York Americans beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 6-4 at the old Madison Square Garden. And the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-0 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
And in English soccer, North London team Arsenal went to Yorkshire, and played Middlesbrough to a draw, 1-1 at Ayresome Park.
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