I'll look around for that book by Jackie Lynn Taylor, HH. Thanks for posting the page! I'm always on the lookout for books by the performers. Do you recommend this one?
I don't know that I'd recommend it, unless you can get it for a pittance. The used copies available on Amazon are typically in the $50-$100 range, and that's way too much for this light weight 75 page spiral bound publication. The Leonard Maltin book is considerably meatier, more polished, and complete -- and it's usually available at a significantly lower price.
When the Taylor book came out (1970), it was the only thing available focusing on the Gang. As a novelty, it's nice to have, and was certainly interesting enough to thumb through in the day. But the focus of the biographies is out of balance and sketchy. Obviously, Taylor wrote about those she could find easily, and tended to ignore those outside of her sphere. One of the final pages of the book is called "Jackie's Ten Most Wanted," which was a request asking the reader for any information available to help her find ten specific "lost" gang members. Believe it or not, Jackie's "wanted" list included Joe Cobb, Tommy Bupp, Mary Ann Jackson, Spanky McFarland, Dorothy DeBorba, and Jerry Tucker. That gives you some idea of the level of research that went into the book.
Not that the book is junk -- it's definitely a unique oddity for the diehard Gang fan -- but it's not particularly enlightening or interesting, and it doesn't appear to be highly accurate. One thing that I always questioned is the chapter about Buckwheat, which includes a picture of young William Thomas playing the role, but identifies the Buckwheat in the picture as being James Frazier, and then goes on to address Frazier's current life. This is not too much different from the 1981 20/20 Buckwheat piece airing shortly after the death of William Thomas, in which a seemingly random gentleman was identified as being Buckwheat. At the time, it was clear that 20/20 hadn't done their homework, as most Gang fans were fully aware that the gent on the screen was an imposter. Eventually, 20/20 made a retraction, after William Thomas Jr (who was an up and coming actor at the time) came forth with evidence that his father had been the young actor highlighted in the 20/20 film clips, and that the person being interviewed was a fake. Enough said.
