And one degree of Wally Albright.
Dorris Bowdon (died last month) is mostly remembered for her role as Rose of Sharon in John Ford’s “The Grapes of Wrath.” Zoila Conan (died in May) had no significant acting career, but she did appear in the “Our Gang” short *“The First Round-Up” (1934), playing Wally’s mother. Ironically she actually outlived Wally and most of the kids. Wally (Albright) was the leader of the camping party that was going to spend “a week, maybe longer” at Cherry “Crick.” Wally also had walk-on role in “Grapes of Wrath” (1940), playing the kid who had bragged (lying) about his family having had fried chicken to eat at the work camp.
*.” I think the most memorable scene in that one is where Spanky and Scotty start making jelly sandwiches, with really HUGE pieces of bread. The gang, hungry after leaving their food behind (except for Stymie), then raided Scotty and Spanky’s food after Scotty offers to share.
**Stymie had brought food, but his sister *Buckwheat had stowed away, and eaten it all.
***In this version played by Willie Mae Taylor, who had taken over the role started by Stymie’s real life sister Carlena. Billie Thomas, the “real” Buckwheat appears briefly in the beginning as an unnamed chap giving a big grin and showing those big expressive eyes as he empties the gang’s water. He would later assume the role of Buckwheat, and at least once early on was referred to as “she.”
