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Post by mickeygubitosifan on Jan 19, 2011 2:51:55 GMT -5
And here, in another Baby Burlesk, is a boy who appeared in several of them. Does he look like another possible Roach loan-out? I'm not sure who this is pictured here. Georgie Smith's name has come up, but it doesn't quite look like him to me.
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Post by RJH on Jan 19, 2011 3:12:45 GMT -5
Yeah, I messed that up. Farina, Stymie, and Buckwheat cover all but three shorts. Also, there were only four films between Farina's departure and Spanky's arrival.
Theluckycorner.com website isn't positive Philip Hurlic was in Our Gang Follies of 1938, so he may have been in only three films. In Cousin Wilbur he refuses Buckwheat's offer to join the All 4 One Club on the grounds that no one could tell if he had a black eye.
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Post by mickeygubitosifan on Jan 27, 2011 16:09:35 GMT -5
When it comes to "'Our Gang' out of Our Gang", one of my favorite examples is the 1935 movie O'Shaughnessy's Boy, which reunited Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper on-screen four years after the release of The Champ. Not only was Jackie Cooper cast as one of the film's main players (Stubby O'Shaughnessy), but George McFarland was chosen to play the part of Stubby in some of the early scenes, when the character was younger. Wally Albright and Dickie Jones also had small roles in the movie, so it turned out to be a real cast party of Gangsters past and present.
Another of my favorites is My Bill, a 1938 motion picture starring Dickie Moore; in fact, this movie was my introduction to Dickie Moore as an actor. The cast also includes Tommy Bupp in a small role, and Bobby Jordan of Dead End Kids fame.
Perhaps my favorite full-length feature to have an Our Gang actor in the cast is Disney's Pinocchio, with Dickie Jones in the title role. I never would have recognized his voice if I didn't know who was speaking, though. Appearing alongside Dickie Jones in the movie is Frankie Darro as the voice of Lampwick, who among his many, many roles in 1920s and '30s cinema had a part in the 1934 film No Greater Glory, which also featured Donald Haines as part of the cast.
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Post by zootmoney on Jan 27, 2011 19:36:03 GMT -5
The same year Frankie Darro was in Pinocchio, 1940, he was also in "On The Spot," which was Mary Kornman's final film:
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Post by mickeygubitosifan on Jan 28, 2011 0:50:20 GMT -5
Mary Kornman, retired in 1940. I wonder how big of a star she could have become had she not chosen to retire from the big screen in her mid-twenties.
Another film connection between Frankie Darro and The Gang is the 1925 movie The Midnight Flyer, which includes Elmo Billings as a member of its cast. Then there's Little Mickey Grogan, from 1927; Frankie Darro plays Mickey, and Lassie Lou Ahern is Susan. In the 1934 silver screen version of Little Men, Frankie Darro was virtually surrounded by Our Gang alumni: David Durand, Dickie Moore, Tommy Bupp, Dickie Jones, George Ernest and Jackie Lynn Taylor all were parts of the ensemble.
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Post by bigshotjones on Jan 28, 2011 13:15:30 GMT -5
"Mokey" (1942) has several "Our Gang" members. And "Grapes of Wrath" (1940) has one-line uncredited roles by Wally Albright and Shirley Coates. In fact, although they are not in the same scene together, Coates's line is a response to Wally's.
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Post by mickeygubitosifan on Jan 28, 2011 15:28:26 GMT -5
"Mokey" (1942) has several "Our Gang" members. That's very true! I've never seen the movie, but IMDB lists Bobby Blake, Cordell Hickman, Billie Thomas, Shirley Coates, Vincent Graeff and Frank Lester Ward as being among its cast. I hadn't previously heard of Paul Graeff and I don't think that he appeared in any Our Gang shorts, but it seems reasonably safe to deduce that he is Vincent's older brother. His birth date is given as January 15, 1930 (about a year and a half before Vincent's), and according to his IMDB profile page, he died only last February. And "Grapes of Wrath" (1940) has one-line uncredited roles by Wally Albright and Shirley Coates. In fact, although they are not in the same scene together, Coates's line is a response to Wally's. I've never seen The Grapes of Wrath, but I know that it's considered a classic. I'll probably catch it on Turner Classic Movies one of these days when they headline a tribute to John Ford, and now I'll know to look for the Our Gang cameos, as well. :-)
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Post by bigshotjones on Jan 28, 2011 16:00:32 GMT -5
The Graeff brothers appear in at least one scene together. Very strong familial resemblance.
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Post by mtw12055 on Jan 28, 2011 17:24:36 GMT -5
Didn't Allen "Farina" Hoskins do a film with Frankie Darro? I think the title was "Mayor from Hell".
I saw a trailer on TCM's website for a Joe E. Brown film which co-starred Hoskins (billed simply as "Farina") not too long after "Our Gang".
I don't know if these were mentioned yet, but "Kids Millions" (with Eddie Cantor and Ethel Merman) has a good handful of the Gang in it. There's also a technicolor finale featuring the kids.
Dickie Moore and Jackie Lynn Taylor appeared together in "Little Men". And I seem to recall hearing that Dickie Moore and Scotty Beckett did a film together, but the title escapes me right now.
There were also times where the Gang appeared in films playing their classic characters. The other day I saw a Charley Chase short titled "Four Parts" (Charley actually plays 10 parts in this film) that featured a funny cameo by Matthew Beard (playing his usual "Stymie" character, costume, derby, and all). Tommy Bond appeared with Chase in "I'll Take Vanilla" (which Bond sites as the first time he played a Butch-like character), and Carl Switzer (like Stymie, he plays his usual "Alfalfa" character, costume and all) shows up briefly in the Chase short "Life Hesitates at 40". Judging by the editing of Alfalfa's scene, it looks like it might have initially been longer.
Spanky McFarland plays "Spanky Miller" in the Wheeler and Woolsey comedy "Kentucky Kernels". This particular Spanky character is somewhat unlikeable, as opposed to the lovable grouch from "Our Gang". Though I did enjoy Wheeler and Woolsey's knocks at Spanky's "okey-dokey" catch phrase. Sadly, Spanky's performance in "Kernels" is generally regarded as being his weakest. I have to admit that I agree with others on that statement. However, this can be understood, as Spanky generally hated being loaned to other studios. I wouldn't be surprised if he felt uncomfortable working at RKO.
Eugene Jackson also worked with Wheeler and Woolsey in "Dixiana", though he plays a slave named "Cupid" rather than his Our Gang character, while Donald Haines had a bit as a messenger boy in the Wheeler and Woolsey film "The Nitwits".
Mickey Daniels, Ernie Morrison, Joe Cobb, and Jackie Condon all appeared in "The Battling Orioles", and Mickey, Joe, Ernie, Andy Samuel, and two unknowns played an Our Gang-like group in the Charley Chase short "The Fraidy Cat".
Spanky and Alfalfa reprised their classic roles in "Johnny Doughboy", and Alfalfa occasionally reprised the role of his classic character (or play a similar character) in some of his very early post-Rascal films.
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Post by mickeygubitosifan on Jan 28, 2011 18:36:50 GMT -5
The Graeff brothers appear in at least one scene together. Very strong familial resemblance. It seems that Paul Graeff acted alongside Our Gang personnel in most of his movies. In Paul's second film, Sweet and Low-Down (1944), Dickie Moore held a significant role. In A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Paul again appeared with his brother Vincent, as well as peripheral Gangsters Paul Hilton and Harry Harvey, Jr. The 1945 movie Nob Hill followed the lead of its predecessors by again putting the Graeff brothers in the same cast.
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Post by bigshotjones on Jan 28, 2011 22:46:22 GMT -5
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Post by mickeygubitosifan on Jan 29, 2011 0:38:01 GMT -5
Didn't Allen "Farina" Hoskins do a film with Frankie Darro? I think the title was "Mayor from Hell". Yes! The 1933 movie was called The Mayor of Hell, and featured an impressive ensemble of kid stars even apart from Frankie Darro and Allen Hoskins. Names like Mickey Bennett, Raymond Borzage and Jack McHugh dotted the cast list. There's even another Our Gang actor in the mix (and a favorite of mine), Andy Shuford. I don't know if these were mentioned yet, but "Kids Millions" (with Eddie Cantor and Ethel Merman) has a good handful of the Gang in it. There's also a technicolor finale featuring the kids. They must really have wanted to recreate The Gang in this one! Wally Albright, Matthew Beard, Tommy Bond, Sonny Bupp, Tommy Bupp, John Collum, Cullen Johnson, Dickie Jones, Leonard Kibrick and Jackie Lynn Taylor, all together in one film that wasn't an Our Gang production. That's an even bigger mini-reunion than Little Men or Mokey. Mickey Daniels, Ernie Morrison, Joe Cobb, and Jackie Condon all appeared in "The Battling Orioles", and Mickey, Joe, Ernie, Andy Samuel, and two unknowns played an Our Gang-like group in the Charley Chase short "The Fraidy Cat". On IMDB, the roles that the four Gangsters played in Battling Orioles are each listed as "Our Gang Member". I don't know how official that designation is, but it's interesting to think that The Gang may have already been so iconic in the early 1920s as to inspire cameo appearances in other films as Our Gang characters. I'm not sure why, but Andy Samuel isn't mentioned with the other Gangsters on the IMDB entry for The Fraidy Cat.
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Post by mtw12055 on Jan 29, 2011 13:17:35 GMT -5
I'm not sure why, but Andy Samuel isn't mentioned with the other Gangsters on the IMDB entry for The Fraidy Cat. My guess is who ever put the cast listings for that film up on IMDB wasn't familiar with Samuel. Just slightly off topic, but sometimes people will avoid digging up information on people already in cast listings and just make assumptions about whom they play in a film. For instance, at one point IMDB listed Andy as playing the role of "Toughey" in "The Sun Down Limited", while now it lists "Sonny Boy" Warde in the role!
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Post by mickeygubitosifan on Jan 29, 2011 16:08:04 GMT -5
I can definitely see a similarity in the appearance of the two Graeffs, even if the images aren't of the sharpest quality. As you said, it's one of those things that would become much more apparent in real time. Thinking of Andy Shuford, I was reminded of the movie When a Feller Needs a Friend, which Andy Shuford is featured in alongside of Jackie Cooper's starring role as Eddie, who has a lame leg. Andy plays Eddie's cousin Froggie, who kind of bullies Eddie when he thinks that none of the grownups are looking. Jackie Cooper's role is one that fits in well with Our Gang history, playing a character in a situation a bit reminiscent of the one that Dickie Moore goes through in Free Wheeling. Donald Haines also has a part in When a Feller Needs a Friend.
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Post by dadat231 on Jan 30, 2011 13:06:17 GMT -5
They must really have wanted to recreate The Gang in this one! Wally Albright, Matthew Beard, Tommy Bond, Sonny Bupp, Tommy Bupp, John Collum, Cullen Johnson, Dickie Jones, Leonard Kibrick and Jackie Lynn Taylor, all together in one film that wasn't an Our Gang production. That's an even bigger mini-reunion than Little Men or Mokey.
I've never been able to find Sonny Bupp in Kid Millions. However, if you look closely, you can also find Donald Haines and if you look real close, and quickly, you can find Sid Kibrick too.
In the 1937 film Love is on the Air you can find Marianne Edwards, Jerry Tucker, Sonny Bupp, George Billings, Tommy Bupp, and Dickie Jones.
Boy's Town has the Kibrick brothers, Donald Haines, and Jerry Tucker.
You can find Jerry Tucker, Tommy Bupp, Scotty Beckett and Dickie Jones in The Devil's Party.
One more - if you watch The Great O'Malley you'll see George Billings, the Kibrick boys, and the Bupp brothers.
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