The Bernard Punsly Centennial

That’s right! Bernard Punsly (1923-2004)! Why aren’t you celebrating? Why aren’t you ALREADY celebrating?

Punsly’s claim to fame was that he was the last surviving member of the Dead End Kids. He was also a cast member of the D.E.K. spinoff The Little Tough Guys, in which he played a character named “Ape”, a handle which expressed something about his size. He often played a soft hearted lummox who was lured or tricked into the dark side as a scofflaw.

Punsley was the son of a New York tailor. As early as age eight he was in a Broadway play called I Love an Actress (1931). He often downplayed his interest in show business, claiming it was a fluke brought about on account of the stage success of Dead End (1935), and that would appear to be true. As it happens, he was in I Love an Actress alongside his mother, Bea Punsly. Apparently they came as a set, and SHE was the one with show biz aspirations. I can’t find any other credits for her, besides subbing in Dead End, however.

Apart from playing W.C. Fields’ caddy in The Big Broadcast of 1938, all of Punsly’s films are either Dead End Kids films, Little Tough Guys pictures, or movies featuring cast members from those series without being so branded. The movies he appeared in are Dead End (1937), Crime School (1938), Little Tough Guy (1938), Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), They Made Me a Criminal (1938), Hell’s Kitchen (1939), The Angels wash Their Faces (1939), On Dress Parade (1939), You’re Not So Tough (1940), Junior G-Men (1940), Give Us Wings (1940), Hit the Road (1941), Mob Town (1941), Sea Raiders (1941), Junior G Men of the Air (1942), Tough As They Come (1942), Junior Army (1942), and Mug Town (1943), He was scheduled to continue his role as Ape in Keep ’em Slugging (1943), but went into the army to serve in World War Two instead. The part of Ape was taken over by Norman Abbott, Bud Abbott’s nephew.

Service as an army medic during the war proved a stepping stone to Punsly realizing his lifelong dream of becoming a doctor. When the war was over he studied at the Medical College of Georgia and got his M.D. He went on to work in Los Angeles area hospitals and private practice for decades.

For more on the history of show business,consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, for more on classic comedy please check out my book: Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube. And stay tuned for my upcomingElectric Vaudeville: A Century of Radio and TV Variety.