235236. She had fond memories of her days being a little rascal and died of a heart attack in 2003. Unlike the mid-1920s period, McGowan sustained the quality of the series with the help of the several regular cast members and the Roach writing staff. 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). By the time he was in high school, he had retired from acting. 2:26. 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. 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. There is evidence[54] that Our Gang-style productions were filmed in small towns and cities around the country using local children actors in the 1920s and 1930s. [61][62] This set includes all 80 Hal Roach-produced Our Gang sound short films. He later became Spankys best friend and graduated to the leader of the group. He and his brother, Harold, became famous in their hometown for their musical talents. Sadly, though, that life was short-lived. The Our Gang Collection. The kids in the original Little Rascals were between 4 and 9 years old. For other uses, see, For a detailed listing of the Our Gang child actors, recurring adult actors, directors, and writers, see, 19261929: New faces and new distributors, 19932011: Cabin Fever/Hallmark VHS and DVD releases, 20212022: ClassicFlix restorations and releases, Maltin & Bann, p. 119. 9. A spin-off based on the live-action Our Gang comedy shorts, it was broadcast as part of The Pac-Man/Little Rascals . 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. After Ernie, Mickey and Mary left the series in the mid-1920s, the Our Gang series entered a transitional period. March 25, 2014 The Little Rascals Save The Day/Initial release Does Netflix have the Little Rascals? His trademark was a bald head, crowned by an oversized derby hat. My wife knew of my background, otherwise I was happy to conceal the Porky tag until the last few years.. 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. Im always a teenager and there havent been many jobs until recently. 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. Another was Robert Blake, who found great success in the 1960s and 1970s as an actor, with films like In Cold Blood (1967) and television shows like Baretta (197578), which netted him an Emmy Award. Some time in late 1958 or early 1959, according to Film Daily, Switzer agreed to train a hunting dog for Moses Stiltz. I wouldnt take a million dollars for the experience, and I wouldnt take a penny to do it again.. Beard played the role of Little Rascal, Stymie. Lots of times our sets would be next to Laurel and Hardys on the same stage. [2], As children aged out of their roles, they were replaced by new children, usually from the Los Angeles area. The nickname is said to have come from his mother, who urged him not to misbehave in Roachs office. 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. Halcyon acquired these after absorbing Hal Roach Studios in 1988, and both Roach's estate and Cabin Fever Entertainment in the late 1990s. 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 kids wer. He is one of the most memorable and recognizable Little Rascals. Their legend continued on the big screen in the 1994 Universal release, The Little Rascals, which was a feature film loosely based on interpretations of those classic Our Gang shorts. 30. "[15], Despite the stereotyping and racial gags, Our Gang's integrated cast caused it to be disliked by certain theater owners in the southern United States. The sound discs for Railroadin' had been lost since the 1940s, and a silent print was available for home movie release until 1982, when the film's sound discs were located in the MGM vault and the short was restored with sound. 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. By all accounts available, none of the former child stars were ever paid a cent in residuals from this, despite the substantial profits netted. The MGM Our Gangs today appear periodically on the Turner Classic Movies cable network. [50] The Snopes.com website debunks the rumor of an Our Gang curse, stating that there was no pattern of unusual deaths when taking all of the major Our Gang stars into account, despite the deaths of a select few. 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. At the time, Norman was 311 and weighed 113 pounds. 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. 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. When Roach sold Our Gang to MGM, he retained the option to buy the rights to the Our Gang trademark, provided he produced no more children's comedies in the Our Gang vein. As a result, Lee nicknamed Porky by the studio joined the cast as Spankys little brother. Ross Albert Peter Teschner Music by William Ross Production companies Amblin Entertainment KingWorld Filmed Entertainment Distributed by Universal Pictures Release date August 5, 1994 (1994-08-05) Running time 82 minutes[1] Country Inspired by Hal Roach's "Our Gang" series. 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 characters in this series are well-known cultural icons, and identified solely by their first names. Producer/creator Hal Roach re-bundled 79 of the shorts to make The Little RascalsTV series, which is still broadcast today. 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. then-and-now look at the original Little Rascals. She notoriously dated Christian Brando, Marlons son, while she was with Blake. When I was a kid in the '70s (B.C.= Before Cable) they used to play THE LITTLE RASCALS on TV after school. Porky or Buckwheat? 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. 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. In 1977, Norman Lear tried to revive the Rascals franchise, taping three pilot episodes of The Little Rascals. Eventually Our Gang talent scouting employed large-scale national contests in which thousands of children tried out for an open role. [1], Senior director Robert F. McGowan helmed most of the Our Gang shorts until 1933, assisted by his nephew Anthony Mack. Many series entries were trimmed by two to four minutes, while others (among them Spanky, Bargain Day, The Pinch Singer and Mush and Milk) were cut to nearly half of their original length. Production continued at Roach until 1938, when the Our Gang production unit was sold to MGM, where production continued until 1944. 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. 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. MGM prepared to distribute its own Our Gang shorts to television in 1957,[45] and offers for the shorts to stations began to be made in 1958. 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. [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). Copy link. 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. [41] Allied Artists' television department, Interstate Television, syndicated the films to TV in 1954.[42][43][44]. Ive never played a part over 19. [34] Casting his replacement was delayed until after the move to MGM, at which point MGM rehired McFarland.[35]. [19] Theater owners then were wary of booking shorts focused on a black boy,[19] and the series ended after just one entry, The Pickaninny, was produced. The skits were filmed to be shorts so the kids would remember their lines easier. [30] Roach agreed, producing shorter, one-reel Our Gang comedies (ten minutes in length instead of twenty). 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. A cover of the song "Good Lovin '" was used in 1988 the film Salsa. Under its new name, The Little Rascals enjoyed renewed popularity on television, and new Little Rascals comic books, toys, and other licensed merchandise were produced. The film focused more on the adult leads (Phillips Holmes and Rosina Lawrence) than the children and was a box office disappointment. The company's licensing only lasted for a short period. In an interview on Tom Snyder's The Tomorrow Show in 1974, Matthew Beard said of his time in the series that "I feel it was great. Most of the collection uses the 1994 restorations, while 16 shorts are presented with older Blackhawk Films transfers as their remastered copies were lost or misplaced during preparations.[63][64]. Like the television prints, Blackhawk's Little Rascals reissues featured custom title cards in place of the original Our Gang logos, per MGM's 1949 arrangement with Hal Roach not to distribute the series under its original title. 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. [39] The final short was Dancing Romeo, which was released on April 29, 1944 (as an MGM Miniature, not an Our Gang comedy). As he explained in 1953, Dont get me wrong. 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. RHI Entertainment and Genius Products released an eight-disc DVD set, The Little Rascals the Complete Collection, on October 28, 2008. Here's what the cast, including Raven-Symon, the Olsen twins, and Blake McIver Ewing, are up to now. [31] No further Our Gang features were made. Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations. "[14] In a separate interview, Ernie Morrison stated, "When it came to race, Hal Roach was color-blind. William Thomas Jr. was born on March 12, 1931, in Los Angeles. I didnt quit Hollywood. Carl was dubbed Alfalfa and, over the course of the films, he became best friends with Spanky and, of course, was always pursuing Darla. [51], The children's work in the series was largely unrewarded in later years, although Spanky McFarland was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame posthumously in 1994. Overall, the Our Gang films produced by MGM were not as well-received as the Roach-produced shorts had been, largely due to MGM's inexperience with the brand of slapstick comedy that Our Gang was famous for, and to MGM's insistence on keeping Alfalfa, Spanky, and Buckwheat in the series as they became teens. Directed by Penelope Spheeris, the celebrity cameos led by the Olsen Twins,Whoopi Goldberg,Mel Brooks,Reba McEntire,Daryl Hannah,Raven-Symon, and Donald Trump really stole the show. They were born from the 1922-1938 'Our Gang' shorts from MGM. He signed on to release future products through the newly formed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which released its first Our Gang comedy in September 1927. ClassicFlix, a company specializing in releasing classic films and TV series on home media, licensed the home video rights to Hal Roach's Our Gang sound shorts from their current owners, Sonar Entertainment. [68] Five further volumes followed through June 2022, comprising the rest of the Hal Roach era shorts through 1938 and also including new restorations of those shorts.[69][70][71]. Ward as Butch and Waldo. [2] The children, some too young to read, rarely saw the scripts; instead, McGowan would explain the scene to be filmed to each child immediately before it was shot, directing the children using a megaphone and encouraging improvisation. A MOD release of General Spanky on DVD was also released by Warner Archive in 2016.[65]. 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. Mickey Daniels. 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. Starting in 1942, MGM licensed Our Gang to Dell Comics for the publication of Our Gang Comics, featuring the gang, Barney Bear, and Tom and Jerry. While out delivering newspapers on the back of his friends scooter near his home in La Puente, California Laughlin was fatally struck by a speeding truck. 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. She was also the voice of the mermaid in the "Chicken Of The Sea" TV commercials. 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. The scooter was given to Laughlin by his parents only two weeks prior to the accident. The Little Rascals, originally known as Our Gang, first debuted in 1922, chronicling a group of ragtag neighborhood kiddos and their adventures. Ironically, this would end up being a preview of what would ultimately be in store for him. I used to follow him around the lot, hed buy me ice cream and one day he said, Well, give this kid a derby. Thats why it never fit me; it belonged to Stan Laurel.. Other Our Gang members appearing in the early sound shorts included Buddy McDonald, Clifton Young, and Shirley Jean Rickert. 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. One of the saddest lives among all the members of Our Gang was undoubtedly Norman Chaney, who was better known as Chubsy-Ubsy. After years of gradual cast changes, the troupe standardized in 1936 with the move to one-reel shorts. Discovery through Turner Entertainment. Glove Taps also featured the first appearance of Darwood Kaye as the bespectacled, foppish Waldo. Other members in these years included Mary Ann Jackson's brother Dickie Jackson, John "Uh-huh" Collum, and Tommy Bond. Permalink. Chubby: [to the teacher he has a crush on] You can call me Chubsy-Ubsy if you want to. Many of these shorts include early appearances of Jerry Tucker and Wally Albright, who later became series regulars. The Rascals' "Good Lovin '" was used in 1983 the film The Big Chill. Darla Hood was born on November 8, 1931, in Leedey, Oklahoma. The Little Rascals (1994) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. One notable exception was Jackie Cooper, who was later nominated for an Academy Award and had a career as an adult actor. At the same time, eight Little Rascals shorts were pulled from the King World television package altogether. When he was recruited to appear in theOur Gangcomedies later that year,Hal Roachsimply left it on, creating one of the most recognized dogs in film history. Blackhawk Films was acquired in 1983 by National Telefilm Associates, later renamed Republic Pictures. We didn't care that it was black and white. 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.. He was only 31. When did the Little Rascals first come out? In 1983, with the VHS home video market growing, Blackhawk began distributing Little Rascals VHS tapes through catalog orders, with three shorts per tape. He was born October 18, 1914 in Cambridge, Maryland. I would have stayed in Hollywood if I could have gotten picture jobs.. The original Petey was an American Pit Bull Terriernamed Pal, the Wonder Dog. In later years, many adults falsely claimed to have been members of Our Gang. Ernie Morrison was, in fact, the first black actor signed to a long-term contract in Hollywood history[7] and the first major black star in Hollywood history. And he realized after a while that hed been looking at them for a long, long time and that they had captured his attention. What is the Spanish language plot outline for The Little Rascals (1955)? An unsatisfied McGowan abruptly left after Wild Poses. The result of a glandular problem, Chaney's weight continued to increase. The franchise began in 1922 as a silent short subject series produced by the Roach studio and released by Path Exchange. [37] The children's performances were criticized as stilted and stiff, their dialogue being recited instead of spoken naturally. 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]. 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 . [citation needed]. The 1930 Our Gang short Pups is Pups was an inductee of the 2004 National Film Registry list. [56] Bracken's official biography was once altered[56] to state that he appeared in Our Gang instead of The Kiddie Troupers, although he himself had no knowledge of the change. The final Roach-produced short in the Our Gang series, Hide and Shriek, was his final short-subject production. 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. It has been covered by many artists, including the Young Rascals themselves in other languages. Television broadcast", "WAUGH and On and On #1: Neither Fish Nor Fowl", "Monogram Will Enter Short Subjects Field with 39 Reissues Made by M-G-M", "Same Client, Same Vidpix On Second Go-Around", "Metro Readies Short Subjects Bundles for TV", Business Data for The Little Rascals (1994), Urban Legends References Page: 'Our Gang' Curse, "Complete National Film Registry Listing - National Film Preservation Board - Programs - Library of Congress", Joyce Haber, a Gossip Columnist Known for Barbed Commentaries, "Former child actress Mollie Barron dies", "The Little Rascals DVD news: Little Rascals Box Set Announced", "The Little Rascals DVD news: Box Art for The Little Rascals The Complete Collection", "DVD Talk Review: The Little Rascals: The Complete Collection", "Laurel & Hardy Vivendi Press Release Addenda", "WarnerBros.com | General Spanky | Movies", "ClassicFlix's Little Rascals Preservation & Restoration Project For Blu-ray", "Update: The Little Rascals - The ClassicFlix Restorations, Vol. The boy who played the only Black Little Rascal was Matthew Beard. 1 - ClassicFlix", "Little Rascals: The ClassicFlix Restorations Volume 1, The (Blu-ray Review)", "The Little Rascals: The ClassicFlix Restorations, Volume 4 (1933-1935)", "In the Heat of the Night hits 4K on 4/19, plus The Untouchables, The Sleeper Must Awaken, Peter Robbins RIP & more", "ClassicFlix: First Look at New Restoration of The Little Rascals Volume 6", "Qintex Entertainment to Sell Virtually All of Its Assets", "The Little Rascals - The Complete Collection (Centennial Edition) Blu-ray - ClassicFlix", "Warner Bros. to Run Most of Turner's Entertainment Units", "Our Gang. By then, all but 11 of the Roach-era sound films were available on home video. Tommy Bond and Wally Albright left in the middle of 1934; Jackie Lynn Taylor and Marianne Edwards would depart by 1935. Who doesnt remember the shock of freckles on Alfalfas nose and the lock of hair that stood up on his head? List ranges from Waldo's Dad to Twin #1 and more. Cabin Fever began pressing DVD versions of their first 12 Little Rascals VHS volumes, with the contents of two VHS volumes included on each DVD, but went out of business in 1998 before their release. 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. These productions did not appear to be affiliated with Hal Roach, but often used storylines from the shorts of the period, and sometimes went so far as to identify themselves as being Our Gang productions. After video rights for the classic MGM library reverted to their new owners, Turner Entertainment/Warner Bros., in the late 1990s, four of the MGM Our Gang shorts appeared as bonus features on Warner Bros.-issued classic film DVD releases. Stymie enjoyed making the films and, more importantly, the sense of equality that Roach insisted on when it came to his productions. I have no regrets. Yes the original came out in the 1930's. Arianne Bwa Kilo on Sep 6, 2014. Dorothy DeBorba joined the cast of Our Gang in 1930 in Pups is Pups. She is best remembered for her elaborate hairstyles and bows on the series. Mickey was the first to go in Thundering Fleas, followed shortly behind by Mary in The Fourth Alarm and Johnny Downs in Chicken Feed after a long absence. Starting in 1928, Our Gang comedies were distributed with phonographic discs that contained synchronized music-and-sound-effect tracks for the shorts. The Little Rascals, which debuted on television in 1955, introduced a band of ragtag children to the world. On August 26, 1997, a limited-edition volume, For Pete's Sake, was released in honor of the Rascals' 75th anniversary with an introduction from original cast member Tommy "Butch" Bond and "Petey," the dog from the 1994 feature. In the 1994 feature-film remake of The Little Rascals, Petey is an American Bulldog. 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. (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). He died on August 20, 1970 in San Diego, California, USA. William Robert Laughlin was born on July 5, 1932, in San Gabriel, California. [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. [9] Unfortunately, Daniels career never took off after the shorts. But Buckwheat slowly morphed into a boy. I remember always carrying a special torch in my heart for the show all through my teen years and early adulthood. From 1982 to 1984, Hanna-Barbera Productions produced a Saturday morning cartoon version of The Little Rascals, which aired on ABC during The Pac-Man/Little Rascals/Richie Rich Show (later The Monchichis/Little Rascals/Richie Rich Show). Billie Thomas as Buckwheat remained in the cast until the end of the series as the sole holdover from the Roach era. His final television performance was in 1993, playing himself in the opening of the Cheers episode Woody Gets An Election. He died shortly thereafter, in June of that year, of a heart attack. The children had all taken sticks from the lumberyard to play with, but the smallest child had the biggest stick, and the others were trying to force him to give it to the biggest child. We were just a group of kids who were having fun. I was a curious kid, and I got a charge out of Stan Lauren, and he knew it. The King World/CBS Little Rascals package was featured as exclusive programming (in the United States) for the American Movie Classics network from August 2001 to December 2003, with Frankie Muniz hosting. 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. Hal Roach noted how much the 18-month-old toddler looked like Our Gang star Spanky McFarland, also from Texas. [citation needed] Monogram Pictures and its successor, Allied Artists, reissued the films to theaters beginning in 1950. These were released as "Famous Kid Comedies," as Official could not use "Our Gang". To escape his acting career, he changed his name to Gordon Lee after his favoriteOur Gangdirector, Gordon Douglas. To learn much more about George Spanky McFarland as told by a close friend, please click here. A number of groups, companies, and entities have been inspired by or named after Our Gang. 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. We can all sleep peacefully tonight. On Oct. 16, 2005, at the age of 71, he lost his battle with lung and brain cancer.
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