Vitals

Humphrey Bogart as Hugh “Baby Face” Martin, gangster

New York City, Summer 1937

Film: Dead End
Release Date: August 27, 1937
Director: William Wyler
Costume Designer: Omar Kiam

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

After his breakthrough screen role as the menacing Duke Mantee in The Petrified Forest (1936), Humphrey Bogart followed it up the next year as another swaggering gangster in Dead End (1937), adapted from Sidney Kingsley’s hit play—which had premiered 90 years ago today, on October 2, 1935.

The play had run for 687 performances on Broadway, so bringing it to the screen became a passion project for producer Samuel Goldwyn and director William Wyler. Goldwyn spent a then-staggering $165,000 for the rights, bracing himself for battles with the Hays Office to keep the play’s thematic grit intact. He even hired the “Dead End Kids”, the scrappy young actors from the stage version, though their chaotic behavior on set soon had Goldwyn regretting it and he later sold their contract to Warner Brothers, where—under names like the East Side Kids and Bowery Boys—they made more than 60 films across the next two decades. Despite his dedication to replicating the realism that made the play a success, the famously fastidious Goldwyn also clashed with Wyler, who had the set decorated with actual garbage to recreate an actual slum atmosphere.

Goldwyn first hoped to cast James Cagney or George Raft as the central gangster “Baby Face” Martin, but the role ultimately went to Humphrey Bogart—already 37 years old at the time, though it still feels like watching a “young” Bogie.

Returning to his old neighborhood under the Queensboro Bridge with his lieutenant Hunk (Allen Jenkins), Martin seeks out his former girlfriend Francey (Claire Trevor), now a syphilic ex-prostitute—a detail that was among the many censorship hurdles Goldwyn anticipated. “I bet she got married, huh? Nah. Maybe she died? Nah, not Francey—she had too much sense,” Martin muses, before instructing the Dead End Kids with his own brand of hard-won street wisdom:

When you fight, the idea is to win, it don’t matter how… and a stocking full of sand and rocks is good for that. And if it don’t woik, a knife will.

Unlike the beleaguered Goldwyn, Bogart got along well with the real-life Dead End Kids, and he’d reunite with them the following year in Dead End Kids: Crime School (1938) and Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) alongside James Cagney.

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What’d He Wear?

Baby Face Martin’s pride in his appearance reflects the longstanding correlation between perceived underworld success and flashily expensive style. He remarks to the kids that his suit was “custom-tailored… a hundred and fifty bucks,” after shooting out his shirt cuff: “look, silk, twenty bucks!”

The three-piece suit is woven in a light-colored and lightweight worsted two-toned twill with a pale windowpane overcheck. The double-breasted jacket has a 6×2-button arrangement with a full wrap that was fashionable during the 1930s—among those who could afford it. The contemporary silhouette builds up the chest and shoulders with straight padding and wide, sharp peak lapels (each detailed with a buttonhole), nipped at the waist, and close through the hips with a ventless skirt though flaring out slightly to continue a full fit through the trousers. He never unbuttons the jacket, so we only see the very edge of his single-breasted waistcoat’s neck-line. The straight hip pockets are jetted to avoid breaking the clean lines of the suit with flaps, and Martin dresses his breast pocket with a rakishly folded white linen pocket square that stands high above the welt. The sleeves are finished with four-button cuffs.

Like the waistcoat, the jacket covers much of the trousers so we can only see that they have side pockets and turn-ups (cuffs), but contemporary trends and consistent tailoring suggest that they’re almost certainly pleated and held up with suspenders (braces).  The cuffed bottoms break over the tops of his black leather cap-toe oxfords, which Martin offers up to the Dead End Kids for a shine—also flashing his dark dress socks made of thin silk.

Martin’s shirt and tie arguably distinguish his outfit most from a legitimate businessman of the era, preferring the eye-popping flash of a colorful silk shirt to more conservative white, light-blue, or subdued stripes that remain conventional for business dress. The black-and-white photography prevents us from likely ever knowing the true color of Martin’s shirt, but the deep shade of silk shirting would have shined on the streets of his old slums to make it clear he’s arrived—in every sense of the word. A tab collar further distinguishes the look, neatly securing the collar in place under the small four-in-hand knot of his tri-color downhill-striped silk tie.

His hat is surprisingly subdued, made from a light-colored felt with a narrow self-band and a self-edged short brim.

Martin’s refined Deco-style wristwatch features an elongated rectangular case with a white (or otherwise light-colored) rectangular dial, strapped to a narrow brown leather bracelet the same width as the case. He wears it on his left wrist, the same hand as the pinky ring that an NYPD officer admires during the finale: “diamond ring… look at that rock!”

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What to Imbibe

“Two gins, double,” Hunk orders for him and Martin at the Italian restaurant to help Baby Face drown his sorrows after being firmly dismissed by his mother. The bartender pours from a bottle adorned with the fictional “Putnam’s Finest Dry Gin” label, which also appeared in films of the period like Hitchcock’s 1941 comedy Mr. & Mrs. Smith. (This should not be confused with the later 20th century Spanish dry gin brand Pitman.)

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The Gun

During the final act, Martin draws a snub-nosed revolver from the folds of his suit for his last stand among the fire escapes and alleyways of the slum. The free-hanging ejector rod suggests a Colt, specifically the Colt Detective Special, which was introduced in 1927 specifically for use as a “belly gun” among plainclothes policemen but quickly found popularity on the other side of the law for its blend of concealment, reliability, and power via six .38 Special cartridges loaded into its swing-out cylinder.

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How to Get the Look

“Baby Face” Martin dresses to make an impression on his old neighborhood, strutting in a custom-tailored three-piece suit with a tab-collared silk shirt framing his striped tie, diamond ring gleaming from his pinky, and glossy black oxfords.

• Lightweight worsted two-color twill suit with a pale windowpane overcheck:
  • Double-breasted 6×2-button jacket with wide peak lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and ventless back
  • Single-breasted waistcoat (vest)
  • Pleated trousers with side pockets and turn-ups/cuffs
• Medium-colored silk shirt with tab collar
• Three-color downhill-striped silk tie
• Black polished leather cap-toe oxford shoes
• Dark thin silk socks
• Light-colored trilby with narrow self-band and short self-edged brim
• Diamond pinky ring
• Elongated rectangular-cased dress watch with white rectangular case and narrow brown leather strap

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Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

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The Quote

Nothin’ for nothin’, kid.