The first of 48 Bowery Boys movies released from 1946 to 1958. In 1945, when East Side Kids producer Sam Katzman refused to grant Leo Gorcey's request to double his weekly salary, Gorcey quit the series, formed his own production company (owning 40% of it) with his agent Jan Grippo called Jan Grippo Productions, revamped the format including getting rid of the teen-aged stories, and rechristened the series The Bowery Boys (i.e., "Leo Gorcey and The Bowery Boys").
This was the first film in what became known as the "Bowery Boys" series. It is not known if creators Jan Grippo and Leo Gorcey were aware that "Bowery Boys" was originally the name of a notorious gang in the 19th Century.
The early films in the "Bowery Boys" series were a mixture of crime, social drama and comedy. As the series progressed, the films moved toward straight comedy.
This new series was under the control of Leo Gorcey and his agent, Jan Grippo. Even for this first entry in the series, some (not all) of the promotional material listed the cast as "Leo Gorcey and The Bowery Boys."
The original story for this Poverty Row production was written by Dore Schary. Approximately five years later, Schary would replace Louis B. Mayer as the head of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, one of the most powerful executive positions in Hollywood.