I was watching the one where Wheezer hates his new baby brother (or sister), 'cause he’s getting all the attention.
Wheezer)Mommy I’m hungry
Mommy) I called you three times for breakfast you didn’t get up. So you’ll go without
Daddy) But honey that’s harsh
Mommy) If he’s hungry he can get it himself.
So the next thing you know you see flames from the burning pancakes 4 year old wheezer is trying to cook, just inches from the actors face
Then he decides to take it back to the hospital. So the nurse at the hosptial calls the mother and tells her and the mothers’ reaction is “Well fix Wheezer.”
So the Wheezer comes home and the mother and his older sister are crying and Wheezer goes back to the hospital to get his baby brother bck and the nurse says “Sorry it’s too late, I sent hm back to heaven.”
Can you imagine anyone now-a-days trying to screw with a kid’s mind that much. They’d be calling it pyschological child abuse
They had another short where they have the kid actors ACTUALLY SMOKING a cigar. This was so funny. Can you imagine them letting a kid do that today.
LOL
There are a lot of racial elements in them but everyone is somehow stereotyped. All the girls are basically Mae West clones, and junior fluzzies. They have the fat kid, the dumb kid, the rich kid, the tough kid, the spoiled kid.
And don’t forget that great club the “He-Man Women Hater’s Club.”
About 5 years ago I bought a DVD collection and was pleasantly surprised at how well they held up. Our Gang and The Little Rascals was a huge part of my childhood (I’m 42,so they were still being shown in the early-mid 70s.)
I read (years ago, sorry no cite) the Alfalfa was a little shit. One of the directors told him that as soon as he (Alfalfa) was 18 he was going to beat the shit out of him. Played practical jokes on the set, etc.
He was finally shot to death trying to collect a gambling debt from his friend. (Sic’d his dogs on the guy, who shot him. Courts said self defense.)
Again this is from memory, no cite.
AND when Darla sang it was to me like fingernails on a chalk board. God it was awful!
Jerry Tucker, one of the lower-level gang members said pretty much that. Also, Alfalfa’s brother Harold, who also appeared occasionally as an extra, committed suicide.
Maybe, maybe not. This actually happened twice. In Free Eats (1932), Tiny Lawrence, who played the larger fidget, was smoking a cigar. I suspect he was actually an adult.
Similarly, in Tiny Troubles (1939) Jerry Maren, played a midget crook, who had disguised himself as a baby, that the gang had taken home after abandoning Alfalfa’s real little brother in the park. :eek: He was definitely an adult.
Carl ‘Alfalfa’ Switzer appeared in a small part in the John Wayne vehicles The High And The Mighty and Island in the Sky. I believe his tag-line in the latter was ‘Whatever’s customary…’
Pssst! Also it was actually “street car conductor”
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That’s right. And when a blacksmith asks Brisbane the same thing a little later on, Brisbane says, “Boy, do they pick up the nickels!”
(Footnote:In a book by Art Linkletter, he ssaid that kids he asked did not want to become President someday. Little kids thought Washington or Lincoln was still in office. An older kid said, “Because no matter what happens, it’s all your fault!”)
Found it. Forgotten Babies. I didn’t remember it correctly back in 2009. A little girl falls off a chair, and Spanky says, ‘Why, it’s good enough for you! That’s what you get for being smart!’ The link is cued to the scene (12:15). It’s at the end where Spanky put all the kids in cages (and one in a commode).
Another line I use from that one is, ‘Remarkable!’
True, but at the time of that post he was unidentifed aside from the listed moniker. He wasn’t publicly identified and confirmed until about 10 years ago.
It’s possible that silent bit part player Sing Joy/Sonny Boy Loy was Hispanic, although he played an Oriental. The available records on his life are at confusing and contradictory.
I was fond of the one where the gang, to raise money for something, held a variety show in somebody’s dad’s barn. Problem was, EVERYBODY except Froggie was in the show. He came to the show, but nothing they did was able to get him to buy a glass of lemonade (complimentary crackers, a space heater under his chair). It’s too hot for lemonade.
My favorite is the one entitled Second Childhood. The gang interact with a rich, grumpy old lady who is a hypochondriac. They get her to get some exercise, sing at the piano, and take part in a chase around her house with the gang and her servants. They all end up falling into a fountain together and she is greatly invigorated and cheered up.
Has anyone seen Spanky’s screen test? Here it is, and it’s weapons-grade cute. I think they re-used the footage later in one of the episodes.
The grumpy old lady actually calls Alfalfa “Carl” (his real name) in that ep. In real life, she was losing her eyesight, and they did some really crafty camera work and editing to work around that. She also played Grandma Joad in the 1940 “Grapes of Wrath,” very different sort of role.
Side trivia note about “The Grapes of Wrath:” The only time that grapes are mentioned is when Grandpa Joad talks about them. The actor’s name. . . Charlie Grapewin (Uncle Henry from “Wizard of Oz.”)
