They were such a wild success that according to Zocalo, they eventually made the jump to television, and became "The Little Rascals." By the time "The Little Rascals" run came to an end, 23 years had passed and 220 films had been made. March 25, 2014 The Little Rascals Save The Day/Initial release Does Netflix have the Little Rascals? 1:57. On June 14, 2011, Vivendi Entertainment re-released seven of the eight DVD's from RHI/Genius Products' The Little Rascals The Complete Collection as individual releases. Roach produced the final two-reel Our Gang short, a high-budget musical special entitled Our Gang Follies of 1938, in 1937 as a parody of MGM's Broadway Melody of 1938. The 1930 Our Gang short Pups is Pups was an inductee of the 2004 National Film Registry list. Television syndication package of the classic 1929-1938 shorts from the "Our Gang Comedies" movie series.Television syndication package of the classic 1929-1938 shorts from the "Our Gang Comedies" movie series.Television syndication package of the classic 1929-1938 shorts from the "Our Gang Comedies" movie series. The Little Rascals: Carl Alfalfa Switzer Was the Target of a Shooting a Year Before His Murder, The Little Rascals: By 1959, Much of Our Gang Was Running into Tough Sometimes Deadly Times, The Little Rascals: Norman Chaney, Who Preferred Chubsy-Ubsy, Had a Short and Sad Life. [25] The first two entries of the season in fall 1933, Bedtime Worries and Wild Poses (which featured a cameo by Laurel and Hardy), focused on Spanky and his hapless parents, portrayed by Gay Seabrook and Emerson Treacy, in a family-oriented situation comedy format similar to the style later popular on television. We didn't care that our folks -or even grandparents- had watched it. We didn't care that it showed an old fashioned simpler time we couldn't relate to. In 2009, Warner Home Video released all 52 MGM Our Gang shorts in a compilation titled The Our Gang Collection: 19381942 (though it contains the 194344 shorts as well) for manufacture-on-demand (MOD) DVD and digital download. The set is available by mail order and digital download as part of the Warner Archive Collection, and is available for purchase via the iTunes Store. 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. [37] The children's performances were criticized as stilted and stiff, their dialogue being recited instead of spoken naturally. After he left the film shorts, Thomas enlisted in the U.S. Army when he was just 23 years old. They are grouped by the era during which they joined the series. The kids from The Little Rascals each had their own distinct personality and image that earned them their nicknames. We went to school together, played together, laughed together. The Buckwheat character was originally a female, portrayed by Matthew Stymie Beards younger sister, Carlena. Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations. He had a stroke on Jan. 3, 1981, sustained head injuries from falling down a flight of stairs, and succumbed to pneumonia five days later. After the girl and her mother left the office, Roach looked out of his window to a lumberyard across the street, where he saw some children having an argument. Carl was dubbed Alfalfa and, over the course of the films, he became best friends with Spanky and, of course, was always pursuing Darla. In 2006, Fantagraphics Books began issuing a series of volumes reprinting the Our Gang stories, mostly written and drawn by Pogo creator Walt Kelly. [46] The two separate packages of Our Gang films competed with each other in syndication for three decades. The following is a listing of selected Our Gang comedies, considered by Leonard Maltin and Richard W. Bann (in their book The Little Rascals: The Life and Times of Our Gang) to be among the best and most important in the series. Billie Thomas as Buckwheat remained in the cast until the end of the series as the sole holdover from the Roach era. For example, Norman Chaney ("Chubby"), Matthew Beard ("Stymie"), and Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas all won contests to become members of the gang: Chaney replaced Joe Cobb, Beard replaced Allen Hoskins ("Farina"), and Thomas replaced Beard. 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. He signed on to release future products through the newly formed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which released its first Our Gang comedy in September 1927. Rivkin, who discovered her as a child, cast her in The Bat her last film role in 1959. As MGM retained the rights to the Our Gang trademark after buying the series, the Roach-produced sound Our Gang films were re-released to theaters and syndicated for television under the title The Little Rascals. 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. A slightly different version was later released on their third studio album, Groovin' . On May 29, 1936, when he was only 21, Norman died of myocarditis, which is an inflammation of the heart muscle. What is the Spanish language plot outline for The Little Rascals (1955)? In 1994, Amblin Entertainment and Universal Pictures released The Little Rascals, a feature film based loosely on the series and featuring interpretations of classic Our Gang shorts, including Hearts are Thumps, Rushin' Ballet, and Hi'-Neighbor! These were released as "Famous Kid Comedies," as Official could not use "Our Gang". 235236. Since 1937, Our Gang had been featured as a licensed comic strip in the UK comic The Dandy, drawn by Dudley D. Watkins. In 1930, Roach began production on The Boy Friends, a short-subject series which was essentially a teenaged version of Our Gang. The characters of Alfalfa, Spanky, Buckwheat, Porky, Darla, Froggy, Butch, Woim, and Waldo were especially well known. [29] McGowan returned two years later to direct his Our Gang swan song, Divot Diggers, released in 1936. Director Fred C. Newmeyer helmed the first pilot film, entitled Our Gang, but Roach scrapped Newmeyer's work and had former fireman Robert F. McGowan reshoot the short. Maksymilian Faktorowicz, who foundedMax Factor & Company in Los Angeles, drew the circle. Under the terms of the sale, Roach was required to remove the MGM Lion studio logo and all instances of the names or logos "Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer", "Loew's Incorporated", and Our Gang from the reissued film prints. Discovery through Turner Entertainment. Mickey Daniels was born on October 11, 1914 in Rock Springs, Wyoming, USA. Producer/creator Hal Roach re-bundled 79 of the shorts to make The Little Rascals TV series, which is still broadcast today. For years afterward, Blackhawk Films released 79 of the 80 Roach talkies on 8mm and 16 mm film. [2], As children aged out of their roles, they were replaced by new children, usually from the Los Angeles area. Even though it was a job, we had a pretty good time making those comedies. 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. I signed the contract in 1935 when I was three years old and did my first Our Gangfilm a year later.. Our Gang would be used by MGM as a training ground for future feature directors: Sidney, Edward Cahn and Cy Endfield all worked on Our Gang before moving on to features. According to IMDB, Daniels was living pretty large during his time on the show, making $37 per week when he started and up to $175 per week when he left (or more than $2,500 in todays dollars). [57] Another is Bill English, a grocery store employee who appeared on the October 5, 1990, episode of the ABC investigative television newsmagazine 20/20 claiming to have been Buckwheat. The single was one of the earliest released in stereo, as 7-inch singles generally were in mono. Darla is mostly remembered for her coquettishness, as she often was the object of affection for Alfalfa, Butch, and Waldo. Halcyon acquired these after absorbing Hal Roach Studios in 1988, and both Roach's estate and Cabin Fever Entertainment in the late 1990s. A MOD release of General Spanky on DVD was also released by Warner Archive in 2016.[65]. Our Gang (also known as The Little Rascals or Hal Roach's Rascals) is an American series of comedy short films chronicling a group of poor neighborhood children and their adventures. Turner Entertainment acquired these assets in 1986 when its founder, Ted Turner, purchased the pre-May 1986 MGM library; Turner merged with the former Time Warner in 1996. Starting in 1928, Our Gang comedies were distributed with phonographic discs that contained synchronized music-and-sound-effect tracks for the shorts. After Beard left the series at the tender age of 10, he went on to score some minor roles in such feature films as Captain Blood (1935) and The Return of Frank James (1940) with fellow child star and Our Gang alum Jackie Cooper. In spring 1929, the Roach sound stages were converted for sound recording, and Our Gang made its "all-talking" debut in April 1929 with the 25-minute film Small Talk. If youve ever wondered what happened personally and professionally to the actors fromThe Little Rascals,the wait is over. 2:25. I was a curious kid, and I got a charge out of Stan Lauren, and he knew it. However, in 2005 Blake became much more famous for his personal life when he was tried and acquitted of the 2001 murder of his second wife, Bonnie Lee Bakley. Our Gang entered another transitional period, similar to that of the mid-1920s. When he was 31 years old he met a tragic death. Her tenure, with the "Little Rascals" was from 1935 to 1941. As to where Hal Roach came up with the concept for Our Gang,Do You Rememberturned to film historian Leonard Maltin, who also wrote the bookThe Little Rascals: The Life and Times of Our Gang. I wouldnt take a million dollars for the experience, and I wouldnt take a penny to do it again.. Ive never played a part over 19. The boy who played the only Black Little Rascal was Matthew Beard. Blake got his break at 9 years old when he began playing Mickey in Our Gang, after replacing Porky. Tommy Bond and Wally Albright left in the middle of 1934; Jackie Lynn Taylor and Marianne Edwards would depart by 1935. She notoriously dated Christian Brando, Marlons son, while she was with Blake. When the gang finds this out, they beat up on the kid, only to discover that his father is a cop. Travis Tedford played Spanky, the president of the "He-Man Woman-Haters Club." When it was over, it was over. [34] Casting his replacement was delayed until after the move to MGM, at which point MGM rehired McFarland.[35]. Michael James Gubitosi, aka Robert Blake, was born on Sept. 18, 1933, in Nutley,New Jersey. TheLittle Rascals, which debuted on television in 1955, introduced a band of ragtag children to the world. Retaining McFarland, Matthew Beard, Tommy Bond, and Jerry Tucker, the revised series added Scotty Beckett, Wally Albright, and Billie Thomas, who soon began playing the character of Stymie's sister "Buckwheat," though Thomas was a male. Before he joined Our Gang, McFarland modeled childrens clothing for a Dallas department store. Gordon Douglas served as Meins's assistant director, and Fred Newmeyer alternated directorial duties with Meins for a handful of shorts. They would watch us shoot and we would watch them shoot. When did the Little Rascals first come out? 8.8K views, 33 likes, 2 loves, 6 comments, 59 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from Little Rascals History: Who Said "Otay"? In Follies of 1938, Alfalfa, who aspires to be an opera singer, falls asleep and dreams that his old pal Spanky has become the rich owner of a swanky Broadway nightclub where Darla and Buckwheat perform, making "hundreds and thousands of dollars.". More Details Watch offline We can all sleep peacefully tonight. Among the most notable are The Kiddie Troupers, featuring future comedian Eddie Bracken; Baby Burlesks, featuring Shirley Temple; the Buster Brown comedies (from which Our Gang received Pete the Pup and director Gus Meins); and Our Gang's main competitor, the Toonerville Trolley-based Mickey McGuire series starring Mickey Rooney. Early in 1935, new cast members Carl Switzer and his brother Harold joined Our Gang after impressing Roach with an impromptu musical performance at the studio commissary. They were born from the 1922-1938 'Our Gang' shorts from MGM. The false ending was used for dramatic effect, in which the character Chloe says about the character who committed suicide, while the song is playing in the background. . 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. Many also appeared in a group cameo appearance in the all-star comedy short The Stolen Jools (1931). December 31, 1922. I have no regrets. 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. The Little Rascals. The MGM limousine stops coming to your house, he recounted, and you wonder why the world has ceased loving you so suddenly at age seven. In school he was teased by other students, causing him to note, Kids can be mean. As Darla was reported as saying in aDYRprofile of her, I was born in a small town in Oklahoma and I guess my mother wanted to get out of there, because she took me to Oklahoma City and signed me up with a dancing teacher. By the end of 1941, Darla Hood had departed from the series, and Spanky McFarland followed her within a year. I didnt quit Hollywood. The Our Gang series was a success from the start, with the children's naturalism, the funny animal actors, and McGowan's direction making a successful combination. Who are the names of the Little Rascals? Lots of times our sets would be next to Laurel and Hardys on the same stage. We were just a group of kids who were having fun. William Thomas Jr. was born on March 12, 1931, in Los Angeles. Thomas first appeared in the 1934 Our Gang shorts as a background player. She left the series in 1933 after making 24 pictures. [citation needed] Monogram Pictures and its successor, Allied Artists, reissued the films to theaters beginning in 1950. [2] Douglas, in particular, had to streamline his films, as he directed Our Gang after Roach halved the running times of the shorts from two reels (20 minutes) to one reel (10 minutes). The folk-rock group Spanky and Our Gang was named for the troupe because lead singer Elaine "Spanky" McFarlane's last name was similar to that of George "Spanky" McFarland. The following is a listing of the primary child actors in the Our Gang comedies. Although its been called the first series to feature kids as the stars the original members were not household names. [25] Lacking a replacement, Hal Roach persuaded him to stay on for another year. [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. Some of the lines I had to say I didn't like, but I never look at it like that. For more of these throwback videos, check out our YouTube Channel! At the time, Norman was 311 and weighed 113 pounds. Me and my friends (Really- everyone in my class practically!) In 2014, Universal Pictures released a direct-to-video film, The Little Rascals Save the Day. The girl was, in his opinion, overly made up and overly rehearsed, and Roach waited for the audition to be over. 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. Sadly, though, that life was short-lived. Laughlins character Froggy was known for his strange, guttural voice, which sounded like a frogs croak thus a nickname was born. Roach changed distributors from Path to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) in 1927, and the series entered its most popular period after converting to sound in 1929. The Little Rascals. Under the supervision of Charley Chase, work began on the first two-reel shorts in the new "kids-and-pets" series, to be called Hal Roach's Rascals, later that year. Beard was cast as a baby in many films before signing a five-year contract to play Stymie in Our Gang. When did little rascals 2 come out? [39] The final short was Dancing Romeo, which was released on April 29, 1944 (as an MGM Miniature, not an Our Gang comedy). On May 31, 1938, Roach sold MGM the Our Gang unit, including the rights to the name and the contracts for the actors and writers, for $25,000 (equal to $481,265 today). As the shorts moved from silent films into the sound era, cast member Joe Cobb had aged out and Hal Roach, with director Robert F. McGowan, were looking for a heavy-set replacement. As part of a month-long tribute to Hal Roach Studios, Turner Classic Movies televised a 24-hour marathon of Roach Our Gang shorts both sound films and silents on January 45, 2011. Permalink. To learn much more about George Spanky McFarland as told by a close friend, please click here. Actor | The Little Minister. He was replaced by Mickey Gubitosi, better known asRobert Blake. That same year, Darla Hood, Patsy May, and Eugene Lee as Porky joined the gang. Before surgery, he weighed 300 pounds while standing only 4 feet, 7 inches tall. 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. Neither he nor any other Our Gang children received any residuals or royalties from reruns of the shorts or licensed products with their likenesses. Stars Wally Albright Sherwood Bailey Bobbie 'Cotton' Beard [4] The success of The Little Rascals paved the way for King's new company, King World Productions, to grow into one of the largest television syndicators in the world. [1], Senior director Robert F. McGowan helmed most of the Our Gang shorts until 1933, assisted by his nephew Anthony Mack. Inspired by Hal Roach's "Our Gang" series. However, by 1934, many movie theater owners were increasingly dropping two-reel (20-minute) comedies like Our Gang and the Laurel & Hardy series from their bills and running double feature programs instead. 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. Loads more TV Themes at: http://teeveesgreatest.webs.com/Our Gang (also known as The Little Rascals or Hal Roach's Rascals) is a series of American comedy sh. Less notable imitations series include The McDougall Alley Gang (Bray Productions, 19271928), The Us Bunch and Our Kids. The MGM-produced Our Gang shorts, General Spanky, and the rights to the Our Gang name are owned by Warner Bros. They were born from the 1922-1938 Our Gang shorts from MGM. 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. To escape his acting career, he changed his name to Gordon Lee after his favoriteOur Gangdirector, Gordon Douglas. In later years, many adults falsely claimed to have been members of Our Gang. Featuring Our Gang alumni Mickey Daniels and Mary Kornman among its cast, The Boy Friends was produced for two years, with fifteen installments in total. The Little Rascals (1994) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. Five-year-old Lee had a growth spurt in early 1939, outgrowing 10-year-old McFarland. And he realized after a while that hed been looking at them for a long, long time and that they had captured his attention. Even though it's been off the air for years, Our Gang or The Little Rascals holds a special place in many American's hearts. An unsatisfied McGowan abruptly left after Wild Poses. [16] Other minorities, including Asian Americans Sing Joy, Allen Tong (also known as Alan Dong), and Edward Soo Hoo; and Italian American actor Mickey Gubitosi (later known as Robert Blake), were depicted in the series with varying levels of stereotyping. The show included a studio audience and appearances by other celebrities such as James Arness. The original Petey was an American Pit Bull Terriernamed Pal, the Wonder Dog. All About ThemIncluding Farina", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Our_Gang&oldid=1151917965, This page was last edited on 27 April 2023, at 01:42. Get ready to dive into TV history and take a then-and-now look at the original Little Rascals. The Little Rascals television show, which debuted in 1955, introduced a band of ragtag children to the world. The Little Rascals never left her after all those years, with Darla enthusing, I had a very happy childhood. Marvin Hatley had served as the music director of Hal Roach Studios since 1929, and RCA employee Leroy Shield joined the company as a part-time musical director in mid-1930. Lee retired and became analternative school educator at Broomfield High School inColorado. (2003) Itinerant Filmmakers and Amateur Casts: A Homemade, Academy Award for Best Short Subject (One Reel), The Pac-Man/Little Rascals/Richie Rich Show, "Life & Times (Interview with Donald Bogle). September 10, 1922 Our Gang/First episode date Where can I watch the original Little Rascals? Yes the original came out in the 1930's. Arianne Bwa Kilo on Sep 6, 2014. By 1936, Hal Roach began debating plans to discontinue Our Gang until Louis B. Mayer, head of Roach's distributor MGM, persuaded Roach to keep the popular series in production. He was only 31. After Lucenay (the dogs owner) was fired from Our Gang, he retired to Atlantic City. The MGM Our Gangs today appear periodically on the Turner Classic Movies cable network. His contract was not renewed in 1931, so he and his family moved back to Baltimore. Watch The Little Rascals | Netflix The Little Rascals 1994 | Maturity Rating: All | 1h 22m | Kids As Alfalfa tries to charm Darla, a group of pint-sized mischief-makers land in all sorts of antics. Well, here's the answer. [8], The African-American characters have often been criticized as racial stereotypes. Robert A. McGowan was credited for these shorts as "Robert McGowan"; as a result, moviegoers have been confused for decades about whether this Robert McGowan and the senior director of the same name at Roach were two separate people. A new kid moves into town and is soon bullying little Jackie. Producer/creator Hal Roach re-bundled 79 of the shorts to make The Little Rascals TV series, which is still broadcast today. Scotty Beckett departed for a career in features (he returned in 1939 for two shorts, Cousin Wilbur and Dog Daze). The Little Rascals home video rights were then sold to Hallmark Entertainment in 1999, who released the DVDs without an official launch while cleaning out their warehouse in early 2000. If this doesnt do it for me, nothing will., In the end, he left show business and became a dog breeder and hunting guide. After leaving the series in 1940, he was the victim of typecasting and struggled to find roles. Cooper proved to be the personality the series had been missing since Mickey Daniels left and was featured prominently in three 1930/1931 Our Gang films: Teacher's Pet, School's Out, and Love Business. The film is based on the "Our Gang" series of short films from the '20s, '30s, and '40s. Syndication. He was posthumously honored with a star on Hollywoods Walk of Fame in January 1994. In 1993, Republic Pictures Home Video sold the home video rights for the 80 sound Roach shorts and some available silent shorts to Cabin Fever Entertainment. Its hard for a child actor to start working again. These shorts marked the departure of Jackie Condon, who had been with the group from the beginning of the series. Most early shorts were filmed outdoors and on location and featured a menagerie of animal characters, such as Dinah the Mule. [36] Tommy Bond, Darwood Kaye, and Alfalfa Switzer all left the series in 1940, and Billy "Froggy" Laughlin (with his Popeye-esque trick voice) and Janet Burston were added to the cast. He also was famously seen on Dallas highway billboards and in print advertisements for Wonder Bread. Beard reflected, I took to him from the start. Hopefully, this doesn't end wit. Some shorts around this time, particularly Spook Spoofing (1928, one of only two three-reelers in the Our Gang canon), contained extended scenes of the gang tormenting and teasing Farina, scenes which helped spur the claims of racism, which many other shorts did not warrant. The names of the actors and actresses who portrayed each character are included below as well, so use this The Little Rascals character list to find out who played your favorite role. He was 64. This led to rumors of an Our Gang/Little Rascals "curse", rumors further popularized by a 2002 E! [41] Allied Artists' television department, Interstate Television, syndicated the films to TV in 1954.[42][43][44]. Starting in 1922, the Our Gang shorts (also known as The Little Rascals) were an iconic part of the early days of film. The Mack-directed shorts are considered among the lesser entries in the series. Hallmark colorized a few Our Gang shorts and released them across 8 VHS tapes. The attendees were very receptive, and the press clamored for "lots more of those 'Our Gang' comedies." Little Rascals shorts were also shown. The video contained three previously released shorts and the previously unreleased silent short Dog Heaven; the VHS tape was also available in a gift set with a Pete plush doll.[60]. The Little Rascals, originally known as Our Gang, first debuted in 1922, chronicling a group of ragtag neighborhood kiddos and their adventures. When he first started making the shorts way back in 1921, they were shown in theaters ahead of the main picture. During the making of what would be his final film,The Defiant Ones(1958), he told a newspaper, I look just like I did when I was a kid. 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. The films were otherwise offered unedited. Laughlin rose to fame at the age of 8, joining Our Gang in 1940. 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. Scripts were written for the shorts by the Hal Roach comedy writing staff, which included at various times Leo McCarey, Frank Capra, Walter Lantz, and Frank Tashlin, among others. Beard played the role of Little Rascal, Stymie. 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. Sidney Kibrick, the younger brother of Leonard Kibrick, played Butch's crony, Woim. Yet, the story of Our Gang is no Hollywood fairy tale. Robert McGowan, burned out from the stress of working with the child actors, had as early as 1931 tried to resign as producer/director of Our Gang. He died on January 28, 1946.