Early Days Productions

EARLY DAYS PRODUCTIONS

THE LITTLE RASCALS

According to Roach, the idea for Our Gang came to him in 1921, when he was auditioning a child actress to appear in one of his films. The girl was, in his opinion, overly made up and overly rehearsed, and Roach patiently waited for the audition to be over. After the girl and her mother left the office, Roach looked out of his window to a lumberyard across the street, where he saw a group of children having an argument. The children had all taken sticks from the lumberyard to play with, but the smallest kid had taken the biggest stick, and the others were trying to force him to give it to the biggest kid. After realizing that he had been watching the kids bicker for 15 minutes, Roach thought a short film series about kids just being themselves might be a success.

1922-1944

Members:

Roach silent period

Ernie "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison(December 20, 1912 – July 24, 1989)
(1922–1924)

Mickey Daniels
(October 11, 1914 - August 20, 1970) (1922–1926)

Mary Kornman
(December 27, 1915 – June 1, 1973)
(1922–1926)

Jackie Condon
(March 25, 1918 – October 13, 1977)
(1922–1928)

Allen "Farina" Hoskins
(August 9, 1920 – July 26, 1980)
(1922–1931)

Joe Cobb
(November 7, 1916 - May 21, 2002)
(1922–1929)

Jay R. Smith
(August 29, 1915 – October 5, 2002)
(1926–1929)

Jean Darling
(born August 23, 1922)
(1926–1929)

Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins
(March 29, 1925 - May 17, 1945)
(1926–1933)

Mary Ann Jackson
(January 14, 1923—December 17, 2003)
(1927–1931)

Pete the Pup
(September 6, 1929- January 28, 1946)
(1930–1938)

Roach talkie period

Norman "Chubby" Chaney
(November 1, 1914 – May 29, 1936)
(1929–1931)

Jackie Cooper
(September 15, 1922 – May 3, 2011)
(1929–1931)

Donald Haines
(9 May 1918 - 22 February 1943)
(1929-1933)

Dorothy DeBorba
(March 28, 1925 – June 2, 2010)
(1930–1933)

Matthew "Stymie" Beard(January 1, 1925 – January 8, 1981)
(1930–1935)

Jerry Tucker
(born November 1, 1925)
(1931–1938)

George "Spanky" McFarland
(October 2, 1928 – June 30, 1993)
(1932–1942)

Dickie Moore
( Born September 12, 1925)
(1932-1933)

Tommy Bond
(September 16, 1926 – September 24, 2005)
(1932–1934 as Tommy, 1937–1940 as "Butch")

Scotty Beckett
(October 4, 1929 – May 10, 1968)
(1934–1935)

Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas
(March 12, 1931 – October 10, 1980)
(1934–1944)

Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer
(August 7, 1927 – January 21, 1959)
(1935–1940)

Darla Hood
(November 4, 1931 – June 13, 1979)
(1935–1941)

Eugene "Porky" Lee
(October 25, 1933 – October 16, 2005)
(1935–1939)

Darwood "Waldo" Kaye
(September 8, 1929 - May 15, 2002)
(1937-1940)

MGM period

Mickey Gubitosi (Robert Blake)
(b. September 18, 1933)
(1939–1944)

Billy "Froggy" Laughlin
(July 5, 1932 - August 31, 1948)
(1940–1944)

Janet Burston
(January 11, 1935 – March 3, 1998)
(1940–1944)

The first cast of Our Gang kids was recruited primarily from children recommended to Roach by studio employees, including photographer Gene Kornman's daughter Mary Kornman, their friends' son Mickey Daniels, Roach child actor Ernie "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison, and family friends Allen "Farina" Hoskins, Jack Davis, Jackie Condon, and Joe Cobb. Most of the early shorts were shot outdoors and on location, and also featured a menagerie of comic animal characters, such as Dinah the Mule.

After Sammy, Mickey, and Mary left the series in the mid-1920s, the Our Gang series entered a transitional period. McGowan was often sick and unable to work on the series, leaving nephew Robert A. McGowan (credited as Anthony Mack) to direct many of the shorts from this period. The Mack-directed shorts are considered to be among the lesser entries in the series. New faces included Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins, Harry Spear, Jean Darling, and Mary Ann Jackson, while stalwart Farina served as the series' anchor.

At this point, Wally Albright and Jackie Lynn Taylor joined the gang, as did Billie Thomas, who within a few months of joining would begin playing the character of Stymie's sister "Buckwheat" (even though Thomas was a male). The Buckwheat character morphed subtley into a male in 1935 after Stymie left the series. The same year, Carl Switzer and his brother Harold joined the gang after impressing Roach with an impromptu performance at the studio commissary, the Our Gang Cafe, which was open to the public. While Harold would eventually be relegated to the role of a background player, Carl, nicknamed "Alfalfa", became Scotty Beckett's replacement as Spanky's sidekick. Darla Hood and Eugene "Porky" Lee also joined the gang in 1935.

As the profit margins continued to decline due to double features, Roach could no longer afford to continue producing Our Gang. However, MGM did not want the series discontinued, and agreed to take over production. Porky was replaced in 1939 by Mickey Gubitosi, later better known by the stage name of Robert Blake. Butch, Waldo, and Alfalfa all left the series in 1940, and Billy "Froggy" Laughlin (with his Popeye-esque trick voice) and Janet Burston were added to the cast. By the end of 1941, Darla had also departed from the series, and Spanky followed her within a year. Buckwheat remained in the cast until the end of the series as the only holdover from the Roach era. When six of the 13 shorts released between 1942 and 1943 sustained losses rather than turning profits, MGM discontinued Our Gang, releasing the final short, Dancing Romeo, on April 29, 1944.

For more information about The Little Rascals please visit: Wikipedia

The Little Rascals' Selected Filmography

1923 The Champeen
1923 Derby Day
1924 High Society
1925 Your Own Back Yard
1925 One Wild Ride
1929 Cat, Dog & Co.
1929 Small Talk
1930 The First Seven Years
1930 Pups Is Pups
1930 Teacher's Pet
1930 School's Out
1931 Love Business
1931 Little Daddy
1931 Fly My Kite
1931 Dogs Is Dogs
1932 Readin' and Writin'
1932 The Pooch
1932 Hook And Ladder
1932 Free Wheeling
1932 Birthday Blues
1933 The Kid From Borneo
1933 Mush and Milk
1933 Bedtime Worries
1934 Hi'-Neighbor!
1934 Mama's Little Pirate
1935 Beginner's Luck
1935 Our Gang Follies of 1936
1936 Divot Diggers
1936 Bored of Education
1936 General Spanky
1937 Reunion in Rhythm
1937 Glove Taps
1937 Hearts Are Thumps
1937 Rushin' Ballet
1937 Night 'n' Gales
1937 Mail and Female
1937 Our Gang Follies of 1938
1938 Three Men in a Tub
1938 Hide and Shriek
1939 Alfalfa's Aunt
1939 Cousin Wilbur
1940 Goin' Fishin'
1940 Kiddie Kure
1942 Going to Press

Early Days Productions: The Little Rascals 02/25/2012

Full Movie: Came the Brawn (1938)

Initially, fickle Darla declared that she would not go out with neighborhood bully Butch until he started behaving like a gentleman. This week, however, Darla is ga-ga over "muscle men" in general and self-styled wrestler Alfalfa in particular. Alfalfa is set to defend his championship title in a fixed bout against the "Masked Marvel"—in reality, the wimpy Waldo. But what Alfalfa doesn't know is that a revenge-seeking Butch has traded places with Waldo. - Edited from Wikipedia

Also at this time, the Our Gang kids acquired an American Pit Bull Terrier with a ring around his eye; originally named "Pansy", the dog soon became known as Pete the Pup, the most famous Our Gang pet. New Roach discovery George "Spanky" McFarland joined the gang in 1931 at the age of three and, excepting a brief hiatus during the summer of 1938, remained an Our Gang kid for the next eleven years. At first appearing as the tag-along toddler of the group, and later finding an accomplice in Scotty Beckett in 1934, Spanky quickly became Our Gang's biggest child star. He won parts in a number of outside features, appeared in many of the now-numerous Our Gang product endorsements and spin-off merchandise items, and popularized the expressions "Okey-dokey!" and "Okey-doke!