Favorite Our Gang short - that's a toughie. Each era of the series had at least one that really stood out. "Teacher's Pet" is a classic, a perfect blend of storytelling, comedy, memorable characters, and even a little bit of drama. Anything with toddler Spanky is great in my book. The Scotty Beckett years are especially delightful. The Spanky-Alfalfa years of the mid-late 30s are the ones people seem to find most recognizable (and marketable - I have yet to see any Wheezer Hutchins merchandise!). Yes, even the MGM era has a few (and I do mean "a few") gems.
I've been fortunate enough to see the majority of the silent shorts, and find them quite enjoyable. Though I did feel there was a minor void in the series after Mickey Daniels left. The addition of Jackie Cooper in the early sound era filled that hole. And Spanky McFarland filled it again after Cooper left.
As far as favorite Rascals go... that's not much easier to decide on. Each kid brought something special to the table. But I had to choose a favorite, I'd probably go with Stymie. As soon as he enters a scene you can't help but smile.
A few points/responses to the discussion:
- Leonard Maltin's book (by the way, co-author Dick Bann deserves A LOT of credit for the behind the scenes information featured) is definitely worth picking up. The only downside is that it hasn't been updated in over 20 years (about the same amount of time Our Gang ran in theaters!) A nice companion piece to the book is this very informative website put together by Bob DeMoss. It hasn't been updated in some time, but last I heard Mr. DeMoss is planning on putting his new findings into a book of his own.
http://theluckycorner.com- Speaking of books, one on Alfalfa is currently in the works. I'm hoping it will show people just how much of a talent he was. I would recommend checking out one of the films Alfie (as his friends affectionately called him) made as an adult. He was a darn good character actor, and probably could have done bigger things if he had lived longer.
- As for Alfie's death, it is believed by many that no knife was ever pulled. Rather, Bud Stiltz (the man who shot Alfie) committed murder. Stiltz was the only one who made the knife claim; all other witnesses had no recollection of Alfie pulling any sort of a weapon. A knife was found near Alfie's body, but it is believed that if fell out of his pocket. Whatever the case, the court ruled Stiltz acted in self-defense. Still quite sad.
- For the most part, the kids all got along fine. Spanky and Alfalfa were actually pretty chummy. On the other hand, their fathers loathed each other. You see, Spanky had been the series' biggest star before Alfalfa came along. Some form of jealousy was bound to show up - though rarely from the kids. I don't think many of them even knew that they were such big stars.
- The Our Gang impostors is a rather confusing topic. There were several Our Gang knock-offs produced during the silent era (Mickey McGuire, Hey Fellas!, Buster Brown, McDougall Alley Kids, Big Boy - the latter of which was produced by the White brothers). None of these series had a strong legacy. But because Our Gang still remains popular, it's easy for ex-child actors from these rival series to assume they were one of Roach's Rascals. One fellow, actor-producer 'Lucky' Brown, insists that he was an Our Ganger. But he has recollections of appearing in the shorts with Mickey Rooney. Conclusion: he was part of the McGuire gang.
Additionally, the Roach staff sent out a script to various small towns so that they could produce their own independent Our Gang film. This is where the female Farina came into play. A local city hired her to portray Farina in a fake Our Gang short. But how was she to know it was fake?
Bill English is a different case. From what I've heard, he actually had a mental illness that him believe he really was Buckwheat. Another sad story. He's since passed on.
Not sure what the story behind "The Our Gang Band" was.
- I've seen several of the McGuire comedies. If you're into surreal films that aren't especially funny (but somewhat memorable), check them out. The series was actually based on a popular comic strip (Toonerville Folks). The silent entries are the strangest - they rely heavily on cartoonish gags. The same sort of gags found in Larry Semon comedies (the late Semon was apparently a gag writer for McGuire). The talkies were clearly made on a lower budget. A few Rascals showed up in these shorts - Breezy Brisbane, Shirley Jean Rickert, and Donald Haines, among others. Chubby Chaney also reportedly appeared in one shortly after leaving Our Gang.
- The Baby Burlesks, on the other hand, are pretty uncomfortable to watch. That's all I'll say.
- Jules White did try to copy Our Gang in 1954. 'The Mischief Makers' seemed to be a cross between an updated group of Rascals and an attempt at redoing White's earlier Big Boy comedies (little "High Pockets" seems to be modeled after Malcolm "Big Boy" Sebastion). Only one entry in this series ("Kids Will Be Kids") was produced. It's regarded by many as the worst short Columbia put out. But hey, Emil Sitka's in it!
- "The Our Gang Story" documentary is definitely worth seeing. You can find a copy on Amazon for practically nothing. It features quite a few nice clips, including one of the Rascals meeting Mussolini's son!
- I actually didn't think the 1994 Rascals movie was too bad. Flawed, definitely. It could have benefited from having the new set of Rascals playing themselves rather than already existing characters (then again, how do you sell a Rascals movie without Alfalfa or Buckwheat in it?) There were a few brief moments where the kids were allowed to be 'natural' (Buckwheat and Porky's scenes come to mind). Ex-Our Gangers like Tommy Bond and Eugene Jackson were reportedly upset about not being asked to be involved with the film, at least as consultants. Director Penelope Spheris was unaware that so many Rascals were still living at the time (I guess she never got her hands on Leonard Maltin's book). There had been some talk of getting Spanky McFarland for a cameo, but he passed on during pre-production stages. But overall, I feel the film recaptured the general essence of what the Gang was about - kids being kids - getting into mischief and having fun. Not a bad attempt, IMHO.
- I've seen "The Little Rascals Save the Day" once. I'm sure the filmmakers' hearts were in the right place, but one has to be cautious when reviving something like Our Gang. Overall, the kid actors seemed too professional. Most are fine actors, sure. But part of the original series' charm was that the kids were able to act naturally. On the plus side, it's the only Rascals reboot to feature Kennedy the Cop (though he's re-written as a semi-villain, for some reason)! If you're an Our Gang fan, it's worth seeing at least once. But I'm sure your kids will like it more than you.
- Other Rascals reboots included an animated Christmas special (featuring the voices of Stymie Beard and the late Darla Hood), a Saturday morning cartoon produced by Hanna-Barbera (and featuring such talents as Peter Cullen, Shavar Ross, and Patty Maloney), an off-Broadway musical (which featured such up-and-coming talents as Dule Hill and Jenna Von Oy), a TV pilot produced by Norman Lear (and featuring a young Gary Coleman as "Stymie"), and a series of commercials for Jell-O Gelatin Pops (featuring a young Seth Green as "Alfalfa").
- Besides "Curley" and "Who Killed Doc Robbin," Roach attempted to revive the Gang in 1955 to coincide with the series' move to television. A film was never made, but a series of Dell Comics were released. Speaking of comics, Walt Kelly produced a successful series of Our Gang comics for MGM during the 1940s. I'm not a big comic book person, but I quite enjoyed these. Two comic series were produced in the UK during the late-30s/early 40s - "Our Gang" and "Stymie and his Magical Wishbone" (yes, Stymie had his own comic series).
(And speaking of "Curley," did you know that star Larry Olsen is the older brother of Susan 'Cindy Brady' Olsen?)
- Projects that never got off the ground included a sequel to the 1990s Rascals movie, several new live action TV series (apparently, there was a series called "The New Our Gang" that actually did air briefly), a movie titled "The Big Rascals" (older versions of the Gang, I'm guessing), and "Crook's Incorporated." "Crook's" was written by Hal Roach in 1935 and was pitched to MGM as a possible Our Gang feature. Charley Chase, Thelma Todd, and Patsy Kelly were set to costar. A year later, Roach wound up starring the kids in a different feature - "General Spanky."
Guess there's not much more I can say except... "Gimme the high-sign!" (too bad there isn't an emoticon for that).
