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Post by mtw12055 on Apr 27, 2019 21:08:58 GMT -5
Alfalfa's New Look - From that weird period where Spanky and Buckwheat weren't around. In their place are Henry "(the original) Spike" Lee and Philip Hurlic.
Darla thinks that Alfalfa dresses like a dork. Sadly, Alfalfa is still unable to realize that Darla isn't worth his time. In fact Porky, in a moment of wisdom, suggests, "D'ouldn't 'ou bocus on dome girl not do shallow?" Unable to understand what Porky is saying, Alfalfa ignores him and decides to use his allowance to pay for a makeover. The Rascals head over to a local clothing store where the manager, Otto Stile (Franklin Pangborn), attempts to give the lovesick fool a new look.
A revolutionary (for the time) montage follows showing Alfalfa emerging from the dressing room multiple times, each with a new outfit. And in each instance, the Rascals are seen shaking their heads in disapproval. Among the proposed looks are the Captain Bligh, the Chaplin Tramp, and a horribly, horribly offensive Chinese stereotype. Otto even tries making Alfie look like Greta Garbo. This oddly excites Spike, but makes Alfalfa grimace.
Alfalfa's eyes eventually set on a sharp suit and hat, which Otto refers to as the Cagney, See? This wins the approval of the others. Alfie accepts the outfit, and everyone heads out - save for treasurer Porky, who is left in charge of paying. Porky spends much of the rest of the short digging for the money in his pocket. Franklin Pangborn delightfully hams up the frustration and shock as Porky pulls out several random items, including some marbles, a mackerel, and a copy of War and Peace.
Meanwhile, the neighborhood girls begin to swoon over Alfalfa. "Oh, he's just like a hoodlum!," they proclaim. The attention goes to Alfalfa's head, and he begins to act out the part of a Warner Brother's tough guy - complete with New York accent, see? He even talks Spike and Philip into helping him give Butch a "nice fresh pineapple, see?"
During their plans, Darla interrupts to compliment Alfie on his new look, but the response she gets is, "Beat it, sister. We're busy, see?" Darla runs home to have a good cry and doesn't appear again for the rest of the film.
Alfalfa sends "the boys" over to Butch. Spike and Philip drop off a pineapple from the local grocer on Butch's doorstep. Spike wonders, "Say, supposin' he prefers grapefruit." Philip chimes in, "Orders is orders." They shrug their shoulders, ring Butch's doorbell, and hide behind a bush. Butch, who has just woken up from a nap, opens his door and accidentally steps on the pineapple with his bare feet. He hollers in pain and insists that he'll "sock the guy who did this." The guys report back to Alfalfa, who seems to be growing less and less mentally stable. He creepily walks around the Gang's clubhouse muttering nonsense like, "What do you hear, what do you say?", "Always remember, don't be a sucker," and "Laury Martin? That little fresh kid with the pigtails?" A sinister look appears on his face when his pals inform him that Butch "got the pineapple, alright." Alfalfa then discusses his plans to knock over a candy store.
The conversation is interrupted by Butch and Woim, who arrive to give Alfalfa a beating. How they found out he was behind the pineapple is not explained; with only half a minute left in this one-reeler, director Nate Watt simply said, "Eh?" Otto and Porky also show up, with the former irritated that Alfalfa's allowance consists only of a few onions. They're soon joined by Alfalfa's mother, who is unhappy to hear he's been playing gangster, Mr. Hood, who wants to give the young lad a "stomach ache in the head" for making his daughter cry, and even Spike and Philip are angry since they've realized they won't be getting their candy.
Everyone chases after Alfalfa, aside from Porky, who pops up in the foreground to say, "'ats all, bolks!" to the bewildered audience.
This oddball entry almost made MGM not want to buy the series from Roach. But once Roach offered L. B. Mayer a nice fresh pineapple, how could the major studio boss refuse, see?
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Post by malaria on Apr 28, 2019 7:00:41 GMT -5
Mild O/T: My wife had a HS classmate named Shelton Lee... later to be known as Spike. The yearbook pic is hilarious. EDIT: I miss the era of the huge 'fro. Happily, it may be coming back. As ever, I digress.
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Post by mtw12055 on May 6, 2019 1:41:05 GMT -5
Hello, Fellow Citizen (1944) - A remake of HI’-NEIGHBOR! from the end of the MGM era, and with all of the fun of the original sucked right out. For instance, the ‘rounding up the Gang’ scene from the earlier film is replaced with the Rascals merely ringing each other’s doorbells and politely extending an invitation for a play date.
Froggy is upset when his girl Marilyn leaves him to ride on rich kid Gerald’s shiny new... bicycle. The Our Gang writers were apparently told by higher ups that a fire engine would encourage audiences to waste material that needed to go to Uncle Sam.
The Gang kids go about constructing their own four person bicycle, and are all set for a big race against Gerald, until a random middle aged married couple who had been watching the action unfold gives a speech about treating each other with kindness, or something. Everyone shakes hands and agrees to be friends, and the movie patrons are left wanting their money back.
The strain on the Our Gang actors definitely shows in this film. Billy Laughlin hardly makes any effort to do his Froggy voice, leading to quite a bit of inconsistency with his dialogue. The others look pretty bored. In fact during the bike construction sequence, Buckwheat can clearly be seen reading a book on CB radio operation rather than working.
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Post by malaria on May 7, 2019 19:59:24 GMT -5
LOLOL.
Another Day, Another Dalit: The magician from A Lad 'n a Lamp throws a smoke bomb which transports the Gang to pre-partition India. Spanky tries to get the Congress Party to incorporate the He-Man Woman-Haters Club, but is rebuffed because he doesn't speak Hindi or Punjabi. Jawaharlal Nehru gets some laughs from the Gang by standing on his head, a perfect yoga posture, but nearby Indians are offended. The Mahatma happens by and tries to feed the gang his beloved goat curds, but the Gang, not knowing of his exalted reputation, throws the curds back in Gandhi's face, claiming that the concoction is in fact mush. Roach felt it was "too obscure", and Hatley was unable to gin up a few good sitar tunes, so it went to the cutting-room floor.
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rascalstooge
Full Member
10 years this coming November.
Posts: 237
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Post by rascalstooge on Jun 21, 2019 9:43:13 GMT -5
Mischief, Music and Mink: Sick of hearing stories of Spanky, Alfalfa, Buckwheat, Porky and Waldo playing hooky, the head administrator (Vernon Dent, in his only appearance with the Gang) tries making the boys into jazz musicians. Under music teacher Norma David (Marjorie Deanne), Spanky plays piano, Alfalfa trumpet, Buckwheat Bass, Porky Drums, and Waldo percussion. To make the boys look good, they are dressed up in mink-collared jackets (Porky wears a fox furpiece). Darla-wearing her usual stuff-leads the band, named Sweet Music. After a couple of songs the boys start to rebel and cause a riot, throwing their jackets around (Porky's piece lands on Miss David's face), then they smash the instruments. The exasperated administrator next calls it quits and the boys are playing hooky again the next day. Also featuring Otto Fries, in one of his last roles, as the truant officer. (1937)
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Post by shirleymurphy on Jul 8, 2019 9:14:54 GMT -5
An episode where Dorothy DeBorba and Darla Hood fight to the death in a giant tub of soft serve ice cream?
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Post by myhomeo on Aug 6, 2019 12:56:03 GMT -5
Al Falfa, Secret R.A.S.C.A.L.
A planned Saturday morning spy spoof from the 1960's featuring puppets playing the original Rascals. Alfalfa would be 'Top Agent Al Falfa,' daring superspy from R.A.S.C.A.L. acting under orders from Commander Spanky and ably assisted by Junior Agents Porky and Buckwheat. He would contend against the dreaded Doctor Butch and his robot servant W.O.I.M, as well as nefarious mad scientist Wal-Do. Beautiful but treacherous double-agent Darla would play both sides of the field.
The pilot was reportedly dreadful and all plans for further episodes were cancelled.
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rascalstooge
Full Member
10 years this coming November.
Posts: 237
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Post by rascalstooge on Oct 5, 2020 13:31:31 GMT -5
An episode where Dorothy DeBorba and Darla Hood fight to the death in a giant tub of soft serve ice cream? Personally I'd pull for Dorothy.
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Post by malaria on Feb 1, 2021 18:33:49 GMT -5
Causes blindness, no? NINE TOO OLD: Farina has the gang bring their animals to the Supreme Court to confound the justices who've been striking down FDR's New Deal legislation. Justice McReynolds has the Gang rounded up and put into a sinister-looking chamber, but is eventually told by a clerk that there's been no gas in the chamber of years, whereupon Petey runs out and chases McReynolds into the far distance. A pie-throwing contest ensues, and Van Devanter loudly declaims "GIVE ME ONE PIE," whereupon he gets one right in the mush. Mr, Justice Roberts initially declines to buy A Nice Doorknob (tm) but has a change of heart, and eventually the New Deal legislation goes through en masse. Roach found it funny but too overtly political, so on the cutting-room floor it landed, sad to say. It coulda been a contendah.
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Post by tboneator64 on May 7, 2021 13:20:33 GMT -5
Insurrection, NO GO! (1944)
In yet another rejected idea for a late era MGM ‘Our Gang’ short, the ‘Our Gang’s’ mission was to go to DC in order to prevent an impending insurrection of the Capitol Building by the Dewey Decimal Dudes, who were absolutely "punctuated" by FDR’s apparent landslide defeat of Thomas Dewey.
However, upon the gang’s arrival (How the gang learned of the impending insurrection was never explained, due to the script never making it past the first draft, not to mention that the writing simply stunk!), they discover that the insurrection business had already sorted itself out with the Dewey Decimals, who were apparently far more interested in perusing the Capitol Library’s contents than committing any serious invasion of the Capitol Building, and besides, they had no desire to be “rounded up,” so to speak.
It probably didn’t help that several of the Decimal Dudes had actually voted for FDR, instead! They weren’t exactly a unified bunch, and were thus, divided and "fractioned!"
Everyone involved also decided the whole concept of insurrection on sacred DC ground was just too unbelievable and appalling to film (Not to mention the ludicrous location budget that would have been incurred for a 10 minute short!), let alone release to the wartime public!!
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rascalstooge
Full Member
10 years this coming November.
Posts: 237
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Post by rascalstooge on Jul 12, 2021 13:47:55 GMT -5
An episode where Porky and Buckwheat fight over who originated "Otay".
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Post by myhomeo on Jul 21, 2021 14:49:23 GMT -5
The OUR GANG Tijuana Bibles
Popular during the Depression years and lasting until the mid-Sixties, Tijuana Bibles, also sometimes known as eight pagers, were crudely drawn pornographic comic strip books created and distributed via various semi-legal means and sold 'under-ground' to a mostly male audience. They generally spoofed pop culture of the time, with popular cartoon characters, movie stars, and public figures depicted having sex in brief vignettes.
Despite clearly being too young for such activities, the Gang starred in a handful of these books over the years. Some of the earliest made no attempt to caricature the various young actors, instead just depicting a generic group of youngsters. Others were more faithful to the films, with a couple of the better-known stars such as Jackie Cooper, Spanky, and Pete the Pup even being featured in solo stories.
The stories were brief, perfunctory, and crude in the extreme, being little more than excuses to set up the 'action.' One very early eight-pager takes off on the 'kids ape adults' plotline from the silent era, with the kids setting up their own brothel. A number of stories revolve around the ol' swimmin' hole. In one, the boys discover a number of girls or young women (the art is inconsistent) swimming nude, steal their clothes, and demand the women's favors for their return. Another has rival star Shirley Temple spying on the boys swimming nude, becoming aroused, and servicing the entire Gang. Of course, one eight-pager had Alfalfa and Butch taking turns with an unimpressed Darla and Waldo proving himself the better man. Jackie, now a famous movie star, pays off Miss Crabtree to have sex with him, while Baby Spanky hooks up with Mae West in a truly unlikely pairing.
The stories are rather startling and one frankly hopes the actors never saw them.
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Post by mtw12055 on Jul 24, 2021 13:45:54 GMT -5
Unforgotten Babies (1942) - Low on ideas and desperate for at least one, the writers decided to remake “Forgotten Babies,” with a near adolescent Spanky once again having to babysit a group of youngsters. The gimmick, however, was that all of the babies from the previous film would reprise their roles.
Spanky and Our Gang (no, not that one) open a daycare center for the neighborhood kids. Spanky decides to entertain everyone with a version of “Tarzan.” After Spanky hams up his no longer cute retelling of the tale, we’re treated (I use the term lightly) to a fantasy sequence that was actually filmed on one of the “Tarzan” movie sets at MGM. Even Cheeta makes a cameo. Unfortunately, Buckwheat is put in a rather embarrassing costume... that’s right, a tree costume. It seems the writers took a liking to the talking trees scene from “The Wizard of Oz,” and hoped to reference it here, but the ten minute running time forced the Buckwheat Tree’s dialogue to be chopped down.
The rest of the film is a big PSA on household safety measures. Each of the not-babies causes “trouble”, leading to one of the Gang wagging a finger. Murlin Powers climbs a flight of stairs... but Mickey yells at him for not using the handrail.
Janet refers to Madeline McGowan’s attempt at standing on a chair to as a “no-no.” Buckwheat gets upset with Cotton for using a vacuum cleaner without adult supervision.
Unfortunately, no one could find Dickie Hutchins. Instead of a kid who says “Remarkable!”, we’ve got that guy from “Time Out for Lessons” who only speaks in jitterbug jive. He spends much of the film following Froggy around and exclaiming “Yeah, man!” and “Come on, you little apple!” to him for no reason.
Spanky McFarland quit the series the day after production on “Unforgotten Babies” wrapped. I can’t imagine why.
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Post by mtw12055 on Jul 30, 2021 1:56:56 GMT -5
Your Gang (1922): Hal Roach wasn’t quite sure what direction he wanted to take his Rascals in. Roach sought the advice of French auteur Jean Luc Pierre DuBerry, who was employed by the studio during a stay in America. His idea was to have the kids be the ones watching the audience instead of the other way around. The result was a very strange film with the cast sitting around and staring into the camera for the entire two reels.
DuBerry improvised scenarios for imaginary movie patrons, and encouraged the kids to react to his words. For instance, DuBerry would say, “Uh oh! Someone’s leaving to use the Men’s Room!” The gang would angrily yell at the camera, leading to one of those clever H. M. Walker title cards. Insulting the crowd in the form of obscene gestures was heavily encouraged. Let’s just say the kids went a little overboard with those gestures - DuBerry taught everyone how to flip off a person in French.
Roach hated the results and promptly fired DuBerry. DuBerry went on to become a writer for the knock-off series “We Group”. The pilot film had the kids yell at a wall as the paint on it slowly dried.
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Post by myhomeo on Oct 9, 2021 14:43:57 GMT -5
The Little Rascals - CW
Some time ago, the CW attempted an adaption of the Gang inspired more by the 1995 movie than the vintage shorts and depicting the kids as 'teens' played by actors in their early to mid twenties.
Plotlines involved Darla plotting to seduce Waldo into marrying her while also trying to seduce Alfalfa into murdering him, Butch and Woim getting mixed up in a Satanic cult, Jackie having an affair with his teacher Miss Crabtree, and Spanky, Mickey, Froggy and Buckwheat streaking the town after their clothes are stolen at the swimmin' hole.
Ultimately, however, it was decided the rights were too expensive.
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