This Jack Boyle short story is considered by many to be one of his best stories. Remember, this film was released in 1922, long before political correctness, when the world was still hard and real. Even though the main character is Boomerang Bill we have listed this film here because it was originally written as a Boston Blackie story by Jack Boyle.

This is an excerpt from the original Boston Blackie story by Jack Boyle that was adapted for Boomerang Bill.

"Boomerang Bill!" exclaimed a well dressed youth, nudging the arm of Boston Blackie, who sat beside him on a park bench. "Poor broken-down old bum, peddling pencils for a jitney a throw! I hear he lives in Eye You's old den in the alley, along with the Chink's little girl and yellow dog, since the old man died. Bill looks like he's turned half-Chink himself, don't he? And they say he was once a real crook. Lord, they musta broke his nerve right over at Quintin Prison to have brought him to this! Did you know him in the old days when he was all white, Blackie? The well dressed youth impatient at Blackies abstract silence repeated "did you know him?" "Did I know him?" As Boston Blackie repeated the question, reel after reel of swiftly moving pictures unfolded before him. The characters in them lived and moved, and spoke again as once, in reality, they had lived, moved, spoken and loved. And this is the resurrected drama of the past that was relived in Boston Blackie's memory as he paused after the question: I knew him when he was a better man than either of us--Which he may be to-day. But he must have a yellow streak persisted the youth. "A prison jolt can change a a white man into that" -- with a jerk of his thumb toward the peddler. "Prison did not make Boomerang Bill what he is," answered Blackie quietly. "A baby with brown eyes that should have been blue like Bill's own, did it. He lost everything that makes life livable and has found in its stead and what you call a little Chink girl he calls 'Annie' and a yellow dog. They love him and he loves them. And he sells pencils because not long ago, he promised a little girl he would never do another crooked trick. "Yes kid," Blackie said, "Boomerang Bill is a man of his word."

Walk of Fame:

Lionel Barrymore has a star on the Walk of Fame in the Motion Pictures Category, Star Rank 464.
The address is 1752 Vine Street, between Hollywood and Yucca, east side, GPS 34.102760,-118.326551.