One early Our Gang short, Lodge Night (1924), revolves around the kids forming a parody club based on the Ku Klux Klan (though the Black children are still allowed to join). Our Gang also had its roots in an aborted Roach short-subject series revolving around the adventures of a black boy called "Sunshine Sammy", played by Ernie Morrison. I remember always carrying a special torch in my heart for the show all through my teen years and early adulthood. Sidney Kibrick, the younger brother of Leonard Kibrick, played Butch's crony, Woim. In 1963, Hal Roach Studios, by then run by Roach's son Hal Jr, filed for bankruptcy. The Rascal revival was on, and it continues this day. [2], As children aged out of their roles, they were replaced by new children, usually from the Los Angeles area. Beard was cast as a baby in many films before signing a five-year contract to play Stymie in Our Gang. My dancing teacher talked my mother into letting me go to New York City, where I wound up leading the band at the Edison Hotel and caught the eye of theOur Gangcasting director. Porky or Buckwheat? Just like a family. [56], Among notable Our Gang imposters is Jack Bothwell, who claimed to have portrayed a character named "Freckles",[56] going so far as to appear on the game show To Tell the Truth in the fall of 1957, perpetuating this fraud. Starting in 1928, Our Gang comedies were distributed with phonographic discs that contained synchronized music-and-sound-effect tracks for the shorts. The Little Ranger was the first Our Gang short to be produced in-house at MGM. [36] The MGM entries are considered by many film historians, and the Our Gang children themselves, to be lesser films than the Roach entries. He did undergo surgery, after which he dropped down to 140 pounds and then 110, but the end result was disastrous. Paramount Global subsidiary CBS Media Ventures, through King World Productions, owns the rights to the Little Rascals trademark and has all other media rights to the 1929-1938 Roach shorts, which constitute The Little Rascals television package, with certain territory exclusions controlled by Cinematographische Commerz-Anstalt. Most casual fans of Our Gang are particularly familiar with the 19361939 incarnation of the cast: Spanky, Alfalfa, Darla, Buckwheat, and Porky, with recurring characters such as neighborhood bullies Butch and Woim and the bookworm Waldo. Even the big stars had to chase around and audition; it seemed like a rat race to me, with no security. Of being part of The Little Rascals, he added, I enjoyed it. Here's a video from AOL talking about The Little Rascals reunion, looking at the cast then and now: . He was honorably discharged from active duty, receiving a National Defense Service Medal and a Good Conduct Medal. The Lee family traveled from Texas to Culver City, California. Hatley and Shield's jazz-influenced scores, first featured in Our Gang with 1930s Pups is Pups, became recognizable trademarks of Our Gang, Laurel and Hardy, and the other Roach series and films. In 1934, the Switzers traveled to California to visit family and, as fate would have it, went on a sightseeing tour to Hal Roach Studios, where the Our Gang shorts were filmed. While Harold would eventually be relegated to the role of a background player, Carl, nicknamed "Alfalfa," eventually replaced Scotty Beckett as Spanky's sidekick. They were born from the 1922-1938 Our Gang shorts from MGM. A slightly different version was later released on their third studio album, Groovin' . The scooter was given to Laughlin by his parents only two weeks prior to the accident. In 2023, ClassicFlix will restore the "silent-era" Our Gang catalogue, with any available elements (some from this era are considered lost films)[74]. [22] A reviewer wrote of the Farina character depicted as female though played by a male child[23] in Photoplay: "The honors go to a very young lady of color, billed as 'Little Farina.' I was a curious kid, and I got a charge out of Stan Lauren, and he knew it. [37] The children's performances were criticized as stilted and stiff, their dialogue being recited instead of spoken naturally. One by one, the original Rascals were phased out as they reached adolescence; had they stayed on, their appearances might have affected the innocence of the shorts. Carl Dean Switzer was born on Aug. 7, 1927, in Paris, Illinois. Alfalfa was played by Carl Switzer in many of the shorts from 1934-40. George Robert Phillips McFarland was born October 2, 1928, in Dallas. There he attended public school and attempted a life of normalcy. He was an actor, known for The Little Minister (1922), Roaring Roads (1935) and Uncle Tom's Uncle (1926). A struggling novice syndication agent named Charles King purchased the television rights to The Little Rascals in the bankruptcy proceedings and returned the shorts to television. After years of gradual cast changes, the troupe standardized in 1936 with the move to one-reel shorts. [46] The two separate packages of Our Gang films competed with each other in syndication for three decades. 1979 brought The Little Rascals Christmas Special, an animated holiday special produced by Murakami-Wolf-Swenson, written by Romeo Muller and featuring the voice work of Darla Hood (who died suddenly before the special aired) and Matthew "Stymie" Beard. They were born from the 1922-1938 'Our Gang' shorts from MGM. He had a habit of grabbing things and, in doing so, his mother warned, Spanky, mustnt touch! In later years, he was affectionately called Spank.. Two further Hallmark DVD collections featured ten shorts apiece and were released in 2003 and 2005, respectively. The company's licensing only lasted for a short period. Cooper is known today for portraying Perry White in the 19781987 Superman movies, and for directing episodes of TV series such as M*A*S*H and Superboy. As a result, Lee nicknamed Porky by the studio joined the cast as Spankys little brother. Later that year, the first 10 Cabin Fever volumes were re-released on VHS with new packaging, and the first two volumes were released on DVD as The Little Rascals: Volumes 12. The Little Rascals Save the Day (titled The Little Rascals 2: Rascals' Beginning in development) is a 2014 American direct-to-video comedy film released by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.Succeeding the 1994 film, it is the second feature film adaptation of Hal Roach's Our Gang, a series of short films of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s (many of which were broadcast on television as The . In January 1958, it was reported that while he was getting into his car in Studio City, someone fired a bullet at him, which crashed through the window and hit him in the right arm. [33] After delivering the Laurel and Hardy feature Block-Heads, Roach also ended his distribution contract with MGM, moving to United Artists and leaving the short-subjects business. Pal got his start as Tige in theBuster Brownseries in the 1920s. [76] The television rights for the MGM Our Gang shorts belong to Warner Bros. Television Distribution, and the video rights to Warner Home Video. [47] It starred the voices of Patty Maloney as Darla; Peter Cullen as Petey and Officer Ed; Scott Menville as Spanky; Julie McWhirter Dees as Alfalfa, Porky and The Woim; Shavar Ross as Buckwheat, and B.J. The colloquial usage of the term Our Gang led to its becoming the series' second (yet more popular) official title, with the title cards reading "Our Gang Comedies: Hal Roach presents His Rascals in"[20] The series was officially called both Our Gang and Hal Roach's Rascals until 1932, when Our Gang became the sole title of the series. He was able to turn his life around, though, and after rehabilitating, he appeared as a guest star on Sanford and Son and The Jeffersons, and had a recurring role on Good Times as Monty. In 1978, he appeared in The Buddy Holly Story as a member of the backstage crew at the Apollo Theatre, wearing his trademark bowler hat. [66] When the campaign did not meet its fundraising goal, other sources of financing were sought for the restorations. Menu. The Roach-produced The Little Rascals shorts (1922-1938) are currently owned by Halcyon Studios who manages the copyrights as well as theatrical and home video releases, while CBS Media Ventures (via King World Entertainment) owns the television distribution rights to the Roach era shorts. Well, here's the answer. "The Little Rascals" redirects here. Even though it was a job, we had a pretty good time making those comedies. [41] Allied Artists' television department, Interstate Television, syndicated the films to TV in 1954.[42][43][44]. the little rascals, originally known as Our Gang, have stirred up irresistible trouble ever since the short comedies debuted . The biggest Our Gang stars then were Ernie Morrison as Sunshine Sammy, Mickey Daniels, Mary Kornman, and Allen Hoskins as little Farina, who eventually became the most popular member of the 1920s gang[21] and the most popular black child star of the 1920s. The series also broke new ground by portraying white and black children interacting as equals during the Jim Crow era of racial segregation in the United States.[1]. She left the series in 1933 after making 24 pictures. Doug Mosher Published: September 25, 2020. Laughlin did the voice himself. Is there a connection between the nightclub, a sinister religious group, and a dispersed bunch of radicals . Another 1930 short, Teacher's Pet, marked the first use of the Our Gang theme song, "Good Old Days", composed by Shield and featuring a notable saxophone solo. Most early shorts were filmed outdoors and on location and featured a menagerie of animal characters, such as Dinah the Mule. Rounding out the popular Our Gang favorites were Spanky, Buckwheat, Stymie, and of course Petey, the dog. In fact, with friend and manager Rick Saphire, he embarked on a college tour to do just that. It regards a group of children who hang out at a club house with a strict rule against girls. The girl was, in his opinion, overly made up and overly rehearsed, and Roach waited for the audition to be over. He aged out of the gang at age 12. The stress of directing child actors forced Robert McGowan to take doctor-mandated sabbaticals for exhaustion,[25] leaving his nephew Robert A. McGowan (credited as Anthony Mack) to direct many shorts in this period. They were born from the 1922-1938 Our Gang shorts from MGM. Mickey Daniels was one of the most Rascals to appear most frequently in Hal Roachs original Our Gang shorts, with between 70 and 80 appearances spanning 1932 to 1935. Starting in 1928, Our Gang comedies were distributed with phonographic discs that contained synchronized music-and-sound-effect tracks for the shorts. Appearing under the official name of Chubby, he starred in a total of 19 short films over the course of two years, but his time in the cast was cut short by the fact that he was continually putting on more weight despite his attempts not to do so. Some time in late 1958 or early 1959, according to Film Daily, Switzer agreed to train a hunting dog for Moses Stiltz. As the profit margins continued to decline owing to double features,[32] Roach could no longer afford to continue producing Our Gang. The early talkie Railroadin' was never part of the television package because its soundtrack (recorded on phonographic records) was considered lost, although it was later found and restored to the film. A new book offers a different perspective on the feisty crew of kids. Jackie Cooper left Our Gang in early 1931 just before another wave of cast changes: Farina Hoskins, Chubby Chaney, and Mary Ann Jackson all departed a few months afterward. Laughlins character Froggy was known for his strange, guttural voice, which sounded like a frogs croak thus a nickname was born. Many of us remember the film shorts of these first child stars of Hollywood, Spanky, Alfalfa, Buckwheat and Darla, today we flashback on the Little Rascals. The kids from The Little Rascals each had their own distinct personality and image that earned them their nicknames. It was during this time that he acquired the circled eye. 9. The first twelve volumes of Cabin Fever's The Little Rascals VHS set were released on July 6, 1994, followed by nine more on July 11, 1995, coinciding with the theatrical and home video releases of Universal's 1994 feature. The television rights to the silent Path Our Gang comedies were sold to National Telepix and other distributors, who distributed the films under titles such as The Mischief Makers and Those Lovable Scallawags with Their Gangs. Hal Roach noted how much the 18-month-old toddler looked like Our Gang star Spanky McFarland, also from Texas. In the mid-1950s, when the Our Gang comedies were syndicated on television as The Little Rascals, McFarland hosted an afternoon children's show, The Spanky Show, on KOTV television in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The Our Gang Collection. In the late 1940s, he created a new film property in the Our Gang mold and forfeited his right to buy back the name Our Gang to obtain permission to produce two Cinecolor featurettes, Curley and Who Killed Doc Robbin. then-and-now look at the original Little Rascals. After he left the film shorts, Thomas enlisted in the U.S. Army when he was just 23 years old. But he says he was looking out his office window one day and watched some kids fighting over a stick they were going to use for a game they were going to play. [40] The strips in The Dandy ended three years after the demise of the Our Gang shorts, in 1947. If youve ever wondered what happened personally and professionally to the actors fromThe Little Rascals,the wait is over. I honestly believed that the show had in some way "shaped me" and made me a better person. Roach tested it at several theaters around Hollywood. Laughlin rose to fame at the age of 8, joining Our Gang in 1940. [48] The Little Rascals was a moderate success for Universal, bringing in $51,764,950 at the box office.[49]. [26] New faces included Bobby Hutchins as Wheezer, Harry Spear, Jean Darling and Mary Ann Jackson, while stalwart Farina served as the series' anchor. He was 64. The band had no connection with the actual Our Gang series. After outgrowing Our Gang, Hood continued her education in high school, where she organized a vocal group called the Enchanters. From main characters to minor roles and cameos, these characters are a big part of what made the film so great.

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