Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US) second-rate.

1941		B. Schulberg What Makes Sammy Run? (1992) 277: I can keep him in louse parts till he’s a dead pigeon in pictures.
1991		Carole Case Down the Backstretch: Racing and the Amer. Dream 26: [Low level jockeys] were restricted . . . to what was called ‘the louse ring’ where the chauffeurs for the millionaires and the help stayed.