Benny Bartlett

Floyd B. Bartlett, known professionally as Benny Bartlett or Bennie Bartlett (August 16, 1924 – December 26, 1999), was an American child actor, musician, and later a member of the long-running feature film series The Bowery Boys.

Biography

Career Benny Bartlett's first stage role was when he was ten days old. He became a musical prodigy, playing the trumpet at age four, directing and singing with his own dance orchestra on radio. He made his debut in motion pictures in 1935, appearing in the RKO musical Millions in the Air (1935), in which he had a piano specialty. The next year he appeared in a short for Paramount, singing "An Old-Fashioned Mill," which he had composed at the age of nine. The studio signed him to a contract soon afterward. Paramount had plans for Bartlett: syndicated columnist Mollie Merrick reported that the "eight-year-old" Bartlett (he was really 11) would star in the title role of Tom Sawyer, Detective opposite co-star Elizabeth Patterson. The project was shelved—perhaps because Paramount had already fudged Bartlett's age—and the film was ultimately made with Billy Cook as Sawyer and new find Donald O'Connor as Huckleberry Finn. Bartlett began appearing with many of Paramount's biggest stars, and became such a hot property that he was often loaned out to other studios. Columbia featured him in an Andy Clyde short, Swing, You Swingers! (1938), in which he played an adolescent bandleader; he received billing as "Benny Bartlett and His Band."

Later career By the early 1940s, Bartlett had outgrown child roles and was playing incidental parts in feature films like Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943, as a theater call boy). He was also working in Monogram's East Side Kids comedies.

Bartlett joined the military during World War II. After his enlistment was over, he resumed his acting career at PRC, where he co-starred in the Gas House Kids comedies, an imitation of The Bowery Boys with Our Gang alumni Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer and Tommy Bond. Bartlett was billed second and was quite prominent in the Gas House Kids vehicles; he played his trumpet in Gas House Kids Go West (1947). He might have continued there indefinitely, but the PRC studio was absorbed by a larger company and the series was discontinued. William Beaudine, who had directed Bartlett in Gas House Kids Go West, remembered Bartlett's comic skills and recruited him for the Bowery Boys. He was usually billed as "Bennie Bartlett" (and once, erroneously, as "David Bartlett," mistaken for co-star David Gorcey).

Bartlett left the series in 1949 and was replaced by Buddy Gorman, a utility player in the East Side Kids/Bowery Boys franchises. When Gorman left the series to get married in 1951, Bartlett returned. He remained with the series until 1955, but with his participation and dialogue sharply curtailed. Leo Gorcey even addressed him facetiously on screen as "No Lines" and "Blabbermouth," and in one film (Paris Playboys) he had no dialogue at all. Bartlett did try to break away from the series (he has a bit in the 1954 Alfred Hitchcock thriller Rear Window, and he accepted small roles on television). He may have stayed with the Bowery Boys as a favor to director Edward Bernds, or perhaps Bartlett's contract simply ran out; in any event, when Bernds left the series after Dig That Uranium, so did Bennie Bartlett.

He gave up his acting career in 1958 and became a professional realtor, reverting to his given name of Floyd B. Bartlett.

Selected filmography

Millions in the Air (1935) - Kid Pianist Timothy's Quest (1936) - Jimmy The Sky Parade (1936) - Jimmie Allen - Age 9 (uncredited) Thirteen Hours by Air (1936) - Waldemar Pitt III The Princess Comes Across (1936) - Ship's Bellhop (uncredited) Poppy (1936) - Boy (uncredited) The Texas Rangers (1936) - David Three Married Men (1936) - Percy Mullins Time Out for Romance (1937) - Orville Healy Maid of Salem (1937) - Timothy - Her Son Let Them Live (1937) - Mike Easy Living (1937) - Newsboy (uncredited) Exclusive (1937) - Boy (uncredited) Danger – Love at Work (1937) - Junior Pemberton Bulldog Drummond's Revenge (1937) - Cabin Boy Penrod and His Twin Brother (1938) - Chuck Sons of the Legion (1938) - Red O'Flaherty Gang Bullets (1938) - Billy Jones Just Around the Corner (1938) - Milton Ramsby The Great Man Votes (1939) - Davy McCarthy The Family Next Door (1939) - Rufus Pierce Mickey the Kid (1939) - Joe Fisher Honeymoon in Bali (1939) - Jack, Singing Telegram Boy What a Life (1939) - 'Butch' Williams Our Neighbors – The Carters (1939) - Junior Carter Alias the Deacon (1940) - Willie Clark Let's Make Music (1941) - Tommy Meet John Doe (1941) - Red (uncredited) Men of Boys Town (1941) - Older Homeless Boy (uncredited) Tillie the Toiler (1941) - Glennie Code of the Outlaw (1942) - Tim Hardin Between Us Girls (1942) - Boy (uncredited) Kid Dynamite (1943) - Beanie Miller He Hired the Boss (1943) - Jimmy Clancy Street Boys (1943) - Benny Follow the Band (1943) - Cootie A Lady Takes a Chance (1943) - Henry (uncredited) Nobody's Darling (1943) - Julius aka The Deacon Fired Wife (1943) - Bellboy (uncredited) Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943) - Page Boy (uncredited) Her Adventurous Night (1946) - Horace The Adventures of Don Coyote (1947) - Ted Riley Gas House Kids Go West (1947) - Orvie Gas House Kids in Hollywood (1947) - Orvie Big Town After Dark (1947) - McGonigle (uncredited) Angels' Alley (1948) - Harry 'Jag' Harmon Heart of Virginia (1948) - 'Breezy' Brent Jinx Money (1948) - Butch The Babe Ruth Story (1948) - Newsboy (uncredited) Smugglers' Cove (1948) - Butch Trouble Makers (1948) - Butch Fighting Fools (1949) - Butch Hold That Baby! (1949) - Butch Any Number Can Play (1949) - Tommy Smith (uncredited) Angels in Disguise (1949) - Butch Master Minds (1949) - Butch Cheaper by the Dozen (1950) - Joe Scales (uncredited) Southside 1-1000 (1950) - Eddie, Bellboy Crazy Over Horses (1951) - Butch Hold That Line (1952) - Butch (Credited as David Bartlett) Belles on Their Toes (1952) - 'Bubber' Beasley (uncredited) Here Come the Marines (1952) - Butch Feudin' Fools (1952) - Butch No Holds Barred (1952) - Butch Jalopy (1953) - Butch The Girls of Pleasure Island (1953) - Marine (uncredited) Loose in London (1953) - Butch Clipped Wings (1953) - Butch Private Eyes (1953) - Butch Paris Playboys (1954) - Butch The Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters (1954) - Butch Rear Window (1954) - Man with Miss Torso (uncredited) Jungle Gents (1954) - Butch Bowery to Bagdad (1955) - Butch High Society (1955) - Butch Spy Chasers (1955) - Butch Jail Busters (1955) - Butch Dig That Uranium (1956) - Butch