Lili Kardell and Joan Bradshaw in LOOKING FOR DANGER (Allied Artists, 1957)

Huntz Hall gets star billing in this the fourth to the last of Allied Artists' patented Bowery Boys comedies, in which, once again, Stanley Clements stands in for the much missed Leo Gorcey, who had left the series the previous year. In a flashback to their adventures in the last war, the boys infiltrate the Casablanca household of Sultan Sidi-Omar (Michael Granger), who is a Nazi spy. His fiancée, the lovely Shareen (Lili Kardell), is also a spy, however for the allied cause. And so it goes. "Sach" rolls his "r's" menacingly pretending to be German and slapstick ensues, latter-day Bowery style. Nothing to get too excited about, but kinda fun if in the mood.

                                

From Norrkjöping, Sweden (rather than Stockholm as is usually claimed) Lili Kardell appeared quite a bit on television but was better known as one of James Dean's girlfriends. "I was like his sister," a sobbing Lili told the Swedish press when Dean got himself killed in his brand new Porsche. Sadly, Miss Kardell did not enjoy a long life, either, dying at the age of only 50 in New York City in 1987.

                               

Among the obligatory harem girls in Looking for Danger we find Texas-born starlet Joan Bradshaw, who someone at the IMDb actually believes became a top Hollywood producer confidante of Steven Spielberg. Perhaps. If true, though, the now 74-year-old Miss Bradshaw will probably enjoy the rather revealing photo I shall post below. Va Va Voom, madam producer is all I can say!

This Joan Bradshaw, anyway, hailed from Houston, was Miss Texas and danced on television's Arthur Murray Party when actress Jean Simmons allegedly suggested she give Hollywood a try. In May if 1961, she became the third wife of producer Frank Ross, following in the footsteps of Jean Arthur and Joan Caulfield. The newlyweds honeymooned in Palm Springs. 

                                     

 

  

  

The Home of BOBBY JORDAN

6224 Leland Way, Hollywood, CA

Former East Side Kids and Bowery Boys regular Bobby Jordan had fallen on hard times and was sharing a small apartment with his mother in this building when he died from cirrhosis of the liver at age 42 in 1965. 

                                      

Betty Caldwell (Jinx Money, 1948)

A former employee of the Iowa Hardware Mutual Insurance Co. in her hometown of Mason City, IA and the young wife of Air Force Captain Truman Caldwell, Betty Caldwell (nee Chapman and born 1923) had begun her show business career the usual way: in local Little Theater. She became a model and a cover girl and was "The Girl of the Future" of the Southern California Industrial Exposition in 1945 when discovered, screentested and awarded a 7-year contract by independent producer Hunt Stromberg. Her only role of any importance while with Stromberg was on loan to United Artists for the episodic On Our Merry Way 1948), in which she appeared in a segment opposite Fred MacMurray. It wasn't enough and, divorced from Captain Caldwell, she married a San Fernando Valley hotel owner and retired to raise their two daughters. She passed away at the age of 79 at Toluca Lake, CA, in 2002.

Jinx Money (Monogram, 1948)

The folks back in Mason City, Iowa, were very proud of their native Hollywood star, Betty Caldwell, and Jinx Money earned quite a few write-ups. Sadly, Betty's actual performance was nothing much to write home about. She plays a moll but, naturally, the comedy is a vehicle for the ubiquitous Bowery Boys, who this time took money laundering to a whole new level. As the money-hungry girlfriend of John Eldredge's gambler (“my mink is more than a year old,” she complaints to her beau) Betty is mostly seen in Sheldon Leonard's smoky dive and Eldredge's typical Monogram Pictures flat and, frankly, looks like she could use some fresh air. Unlike popular B-Movie regular Wanda McKay, who turns up as a very glamorous-looking Salvation Army lass. Jinx Money, a typical Bowery Boys movie -- not the best but far from the worst -- proved Betty Caldwell's final film.