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Post by myhomeo on Aug 24, 2016 15:34:27 GMT -5
'Axis Sissies'- Another MGM War Effort short, this one has Spanky, Mickey, Froggy, Buckwheat, and Janet kidnapped by German agents and forced to appear in a Nazi propaganda production. At gunpoint, they appear on stage dressed as, respectively, Goering, Hitler, Siegfried, a 'degenerate' American jazz performer, and Brunhilde. Though they struggle through the first few moments of the production as written, at the last second they denounce the Nazis and shout their support for the USA, only to be gunned down. It all turns out to be a horrible nightmare Froggy's having.
Possibly inspired by the popular Donald Duck short 'Der Fureher's Face,' in which Donald has a nightmare about being a Nazi, the script was ultimately rejected as too dark and downbeat.
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Post by myhomeo on Aug 24, 2016 16:15:34 GMT -5
Came up with this awhile back and used it in another thread, but might as well log it here too.
'Swain Lake'- Alfalfa's hiding out in the clubhouse from Butch and Woim, a problem since he has a movie date with Darla. He persuades a reluctant Spanky to go talk to her for him and tell her a good story for why he can't make it. On his way to Darla's house, however, Spanky passes a secluded lake in a wooded area and discovers Butch and Woim swimming in the raw. Seeing his chance, he steals their clothes, returning with them to the clubhouse to assure Alfalfa he won't have to worry about the bullies for a while. A relieved Alfalfa heads to meet Darla (Taking another route, of course), only to find her standing on her doorstep with a picnic basket. Ever changeable, she's decided it's too nice a day to spend indoors watching some movie, so she's decided they're going to have a picnic lunch in the woods by the lake. A suddenly terrified Alfalfa has no choice but to go along with her.
Once at the lake, everything looks all right at first, but when Darla leaves Alfalfa alone, he's surprised by an unclad and furious Butch and Woim, who've been hiding in the bushes ever since discovering their clothes have been stolen. They think Alfalfa's to blame and plan to pummel him in revenge for their predicament, but are forced to duck back into the underbrush when they hear Darla coming. Alfalfa quickly realizes he's safe as long as he sticks close to Darla but this is complicated by her repeated demands he collect firewood, get some water from the lake, etc. Meanwhile, Butch and Woim continue to lurk nearby, waiting for their chance. Eventually, Alfalfa sings a song while Darla accompanies him on the ukulele. As it happens, he's standing under a hornet's nest so the two bullies start tossing rocks to try to knock it down. They finally succeed, only for the nest to miss Alf and roll into the bushes where they're hiding. Screeching, they race to the lake, where their howls of pain and furious splashing about are misinterpreted by Darla as 'rude and vulgar horseplay.' To Alfalfa's considerable relief, she decides they should go somewhere else where they won't be bothered by such crude carryings-on.
While there was some concern from the Hays Office, the main reason the short went unmade was Tommy Bond's continued unavailability; he was busy making a musical with Nelson Eddy. There was some consideration for rewriting it with Dickie Jones' character 'Spike' but it was ultimately shelved in hopes they could do it when Bond was available again. The series was sold to MGM, however, and the script remained unused.
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Post by tboneator64 on Sept 3, 2016 11:02:55 GMT -5
Came up with this awhile back and used it in another thread, but might as well log it here too. 'Swain Lake'- Alfalfa's hiding out in the clubhouse from Butch and Woim, a problem since he has a movie date with Darla. He persuades a reluctant Spanky to go talk to her for him and tell her a good story for why he can't make it. On his way to Darla's house, however, Spanky passes a secluded lake in a wooded area and discovers Butch and Woim swimming in the raw. Seeing his chance, he steals their clothes, returning with them to the clubhouse to assure Alfalfa he won't have to worry about the bullies for a while. A relieved Alfalfa heads to meet Darla (Taking another route, of course), only to find her standing on her doorstep with a picnic basket. Ever changeable, she's decided it's too nice a day to spend indoors watching some movie, so she's decided they're going to have a picnic lunch in the woods by the lake. A suddenly terrified Alfalfa has no choice but to go along with her. Once at the lake, everything looks all right at first, but when Darla leaves Alfalfa alone, he's surprised by an unclad and furious Butch and Woim, who've been hiding in the bushes ever since discovering their clothes have been stolen. They think Alfalfa's to blame and plan to pummel him in revenge for their predicament, but are forced to duck back into the underbrush when they hear Darla coming. Alfalfa quickly realizes he's safe as long as he sticks close to Darla but this is complicated by her repeated demands he collect firewood, get some water from the lake, etc. Meanwhile, Butch and Woim continue to lurk nearby, waiting for their chance. Eventually, Alfalfa sings a song while Darla accompanies him on the ukulele. As it happens, he's standing under a hornet's nest so the two bullies start tossing rocks to try to knock it down. They finally succeed, only for the nest to miss Alf and roll into the bushes where they're hiding. Screeching, they race to the lake, where their howls of pain and furious splashing about are misinterpreted by Darla as 'rude and vulgar horseplay.' To Alfalfa's considerable relief, she decides they should go somewhere else where they won't be bothered by such crude carryings-on. While there was some concern from the Hays Office, the main reason the short went unmade was Tommy Bond's continued unavailability; he was busy making a musical with Nelson Eddy. There was some consideration for rewriting it with Dickie Jones' character 'Spike' but it was ultimately shelved in hopes they could do it when Bond was available again. The series was sold to MGM, however, and the script remained unused. In some ways, this premise almost seems plausible (Right down to the "why" it was never made!), and in my opinion, could have made for a pretty funny short! Well done! CHEERS!
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Post by tboneator64 on Oct 4, 2016 11:35:39 GMT -5
Our Gang Follies Of (Insert Year) - After having made a number of successful musical shorts, Hal Roach decided to take things one step further and add an innovation that would include blank spots in the footage to allow for new musical segments to be inserted. The idea was to always keep things fresh and up to date, while not using up too much footage. However, it was determined that the end (?) results would have been a bizarrely disjointed mess, thus this idea was wisely shelved!
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Post by myhomeo on Nov 22, 2017 15:15:13 GMT -5
Tom and Jerry Meet The Little Rascals: A proposed direct-to-DVD cartoon in which the cat and mouse duo would be injected into The Little Rascals' world. The plan was for Tom to be Darla's pet cat, who tries to sabotage Alfalfa's attempts to court the winsome miss so he can have all her attention. Jerry, a romantic at heart, tries to play Cupid. There was some discussion about making Spike a version of Pete the Pup, perhaps even explaining the eye-ring as the result of a prank played by Tom, while Butch the cat was going to be Butch the bully's pet. There was also a suggestion Butch the bully might have a fear of mice that Jerry would exploit.
While ideas were tossed around, the concept never made it to script form due to the lackluster performance of THE LITTLE RASCALS SAVE THE DAY.
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Post by myhomeo on Mar 8, 2018 13:47:06 GMT -5
A DOG'S BREAKFAST - The first draft of 'Tale of A Dog,' it involved the Gang's dog, Smallpox, running away. When people see the Gang looking for him, the Gang explain they're trying to catch Smallpox, which has gotten loose in Greenpoint. Which would then lead to many humorous complications.
Ultimately, the script was rejected for not being tedious and dreary enough.
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Post by mtw12055 on Jun 8, 2018 18:19:24 GMT -5
The Not-So Little Rascals (1988) - In this reunion movie, the now much older Rascals attempt to break out of a senior citizen's home. Spanky, still grimacing and scheming after all of these years, gets the ball rolling. Spanky wants to go fishing like he did when he was a kid, but his strict nurse (Dee Wallace) isn’t letting it happen. While griping with some of the other residents, we learn that the home isn’t especially fond of Jackie Cooper writing love poems to Miss Crabtree’s daughter (the bingo caller, played by Pia Zadora). Dickie Moore is in danger of having a permanent neck problem unless he gets some genuine playtime in (shuffleboard just isn’t cutting it). Porky, still having speaking problems, is fed up with having to take speech lessons. Mary Ann Jackson doesn’t like having to be helped around all of the time. She evens tries to bite a male nurse (Martin Short) when he helps her out of bed. (“Saaaay. You’re a vicious little thing, you are.”)
Sunshine Sammy, Johnny Downs, and Pineapple want to put together a musical act for Friday’s entertainment night, but they’re told that singing and dancing at their age could be disastrous. They are instead forced to listen to a young volunteer group perform some “newfangled rap numbers.”
When Spanky overhears the volunteer group’s discussion of a Spring Break retreat to the lake, he talks his fellow ex-Rascals into sneaking out in the middle of the night to join in on the fun. Shirley Jean Rickert brings her puppy, Pete the Pup XVIII, along. Jay R. Smith even sneaks a flask from his nurse’s pocket to drink on the road. The seniors recreate the wobbly wagon from the old days, complete with a mule pulling it. But after an accidental encounter with Jay’s flask, the mule runs off.
Lucky for them, Waldo has an idea. He ties the seniors’ wheelchairs together and constructs a giant sail to pull the chairs along. The wind turns out to be bit stronger than he’d planned, and the wheelchair riding Rascals are taken on a fast-paced cruise through town. But once at the lake, everyone agrees that they haven’t had so much fun in years. More fun occurs as the Rascals relive their old days with some fishing and swimming. Dorothy DeBorba even gets to jump in a mud puddle. The Gang even starts to warm up to the kid volunteers, who teach Janet Burston how to rap and Sunshine Sammy how to break dance.
Back at the home, Butch and Woim, upset that they’ve been left out of the fun, snitch on Spanky and co. Nurse Wallace alerts police captain Edgar Kennedy, Jr. (Dan Aykroyd), who heads down to the lake with a police squad to capture the elderly Rascals. A sped-up, slapstick-y chase between the cops and the geezers ensues, with some very obvious stunt doubles filling in for the Rascals.
Once rounded up and taken back home, the staff threatens to punish the Rascals (thankfully, not with a spanking, but instead with diminished privileges). The normally silent Gary Jasgur stands up and gives a speech about how the seniors need to be able to enjoy themselves more. In a contrived, rushed ending, the staff simply agrees to his suggestion.
Jerry Tucker plays the rich, mean-spirited owner of the retirement home, whom we later learn is being forced into retirement himself by his business partner/son. While somewhat out of place, it’s actually a rather well-written subplot, and a rare dramatic role for Jerry.
Poor Joe Cobb is saddled with a subplot in which he attempts to score extra banana pudding from the dining room. A lame imitation of a similar gag in "Official Officers." Jean Darling is only heard briefly during a phone conversation with Mary Ann. Apparently, she’d figured such a lousy script was no reason for her to leave Dublin for the States. She wound up recording her lines into a recorder and mailing the cassette to the producers.
Hal Roach can briefly be spotted as a senior resident drinking a carton of milk (which has Harry Spear's picture on it).
Audiences were disappointed that certain favorites, such as Alfalfa, Buckwheat, Darla, Froggy, and Stymie, were not in the movie. King World discussed getting the early ‘80s cast of Saturday Night Live (all in heavy make-up) and Nick Stewart (as “Stymie”) as fill-ins, but the idea was quickly shot down. There is some debate as to why the idea never fully materialized. Some sources claim that getting Eddie Murphy would have blown half of the film’s budget. Others say Spanky McFarland threatened to walk if any of those phonies were involved.
The script called for a poignant scene where a paralyzed Mickey is moved to tears when he’s served hash for dinner by the staff, a reminder of his youth. Blake refused to cry. He instead insisted on dunking his server’s head in a nearby toilet as punishment for such a lousy meal. “If I was in a home, it’s what I would have done,” he said in a later interview. The idea was deemed both brutal and nonsensical. Blake was quietly let go from production shortly thereafter, and his scenes were scrapped.
In another interview, Tommy Bond was asked if anything good came out of the movie. He thought about it for a moment, and then replied, “Yes, the director said most of us didn’t look old enough to pass for seniors. I thought that was a nice compliment.”
Leonard Landy was more up front. When asked about his thoughts, he responded with a classic “Phooey!”
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Post by mtw12055 on Mar 29, 2019 16:50:11 GMT -5
The Bowery Rascals (1947) - This reunion movie was put together by PRC in hopes of launching a series of teenaged Our Gang films. In it, the Rascals act as ace driver Waldo’s pit crew in a drag race. But when Waldo is hospitalized following a mysterious racing accident, it’s up to Spanky and Alfalfa to take over. The Gang rebuilds Waldo’s vehicle after conning Larry (Johnny Arthur), the local deli owner, out of his life savings. The next race is a success thanks to a special fuel that’s Alfalfa created. Rival Butch catches wind of the secret weapon and talks his girl Darla into getting Alfie to talk with the help of her flirtatious charms. The scheme works, much to the dismay of Spanky, who proceeds to smack a yelping Alfalfa with his hat while murdering the King’s English through bad insults. Thankfully, all goes well in the end. Spanky and Alfalfa win the race, Larry gets his money back, Waldo miraculously recovers, and the theater audience’s insomnia is cured.
This was obviously an attempt at cashing in on Monogram’s Bowery Boys series, complete with casting the Rascals as Bowery clones - Spanky and Alfalfa as Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall, Johnny Arthur as Louie Dumbrowski, etc. Unfortunately, Buckwheat and Porky were saddled with the Butch and Chuck roles, and only appear in a couple of scenes. Neither has a line of dialogue. In fact in one of their scenes, it’s clear that they’ve literally been painted on the scenery. With dull direction, a poor script, and negative reactions from disappointed Gang fans, no more entries were ordered.
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Post by malaria on Mar 30, 2019 7:14:17 GMT -5
CRUTCHTOWN-- The water mysteriously drains out of Toluca Lake in the midst of a heat wave and terrible drought parching Culver City. Seedy PI Jackie (Cooper) Gittes is compelled to get involved in the plot when a femme fatale (Mary Ann Jackson) appears in his office and (after saying "boop-boop-a-doop") hits him with a lawsuit, which she soon withdraws. Jackie notices town water being dumped into the ocean at odd hours. He confronts a Water and Power bureaucrat (Billy Gilbert), who assures him that the problem is simply "whooping cough." But Jackie continues his investigation, and one night, he's discovered near a reservoir by Water & Power goons Butch and Woim. The Woim maliciously slits his nostril. Finally Jackie gets a sitdown with the power-broker behind all of these shenanigans, Noah Crutch, who peculiarly insists that Jackie "find the girl," whom Jackie is certain is "prettier than Miss McGillicuddy." Jackie locates Shirley Jean Rickert, but is confused by her relationship to Mary Ann, who turns out to be Crutch's daughter. Jackie angrily insists on learning the relationship between Shirley Jean and Mary Ann, and slaps Mary Ann until she tearfully reveals, "she's my sister AND my daughter, and also Topsy and Uncle Tom's Uncle." In a crucial final scene, Jackie confronts the evil Crutch, but the scene ends with Cotton and Spanky bumnping into each other and making the weep-wah sound. Jackie's sidekick Chubby says, "forget it Jack... it's Crutchtown." Roll credits.
Roach wanted Bob Towne as script doctor, but Towne was otherwise engaged, so the project was placed in turnaround... but resurrected to critical acclaim decades later, albeit with slight plot alterations and a different cast.
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Post by mtw12055 on Apr 2, 2019 5:06:15 GMT -5
TED TURNER PRESENTS AN OUR GANG 50th ANNIVERSARY EXTRAVAGANZA (1988) - Hoo, boy, what a train wreck of a television experience this was. Following his recent acquiring of the MGM film library, Ted Turner decided to pay special tribute to his favorite era of the Our Gang series - the post-Roach films. Lucky for him, those were the only Our Gang films he had access to; plus with 50th birthday of the Metro period approaching, it only seemed obvious to highlight it.
Airing only once on TBS at 4AM, the special is hosted by Robert Blake from the set of his latest movie IN COLDER BLOOD, a sequel to the 1960s classic. Robert gives the usual maudlin speech about the old days, slightly concealed by his tough guy exterior, before introducing a series of clips from some of his favorite moments. For the next hour, we're treated to classic (?) moments from BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, JR., DAD FOR A DAY, CALLING ALL KIDS, GOOD BAD BOYS, and other erm... gems.
Oh, don't worry, there are also interviews with some of the former Rascals. Unfortunately, Tommy Bond's segments show absolutely no footage from his Our Gang days, as a lawsuit against Turner involving residuals for was being dealt with at the time. A special reunion between Tommy Bond and Sid Kibrick is held via satellite. Tommy goes on and on about how much fun he and Sid had playing the bullies, but Sid's only response is, "Yeah, Butch." First time viewers may think that this is a callback to the "Woim" character, but in truth, Sid was busy selling a house in Beverly Hills at the time, and frankly found the interview to be a distraction.
A rare interview with Janet Burston is featured. Unfortunately, the producers made the mistake of meeting Janet in the midst of lunch hour at the Denny's she was then working at. Janet's comments are barely audible under the noisy chatter of hungry customers demanding the waitress get their cheeseburgers and fries. It's honestly pretty sad.
But at least they tried to interview Janet. Porky's entire segment consists of a producer egging the now 55-year-old Rascal to say "O-tay." "I don't do 'O-tay' anymore," Porky promptly states. I guess they caught him on bad day.
Buckwheat and Froggy are given their due through interviews with Bill Thomas, Jr. and Mickey (Happy) Laughlin. Bill tries to recall Buckwheat's positive memories from the Metro period "Well... um... he liked meeting Gable?"
Mickey Laughlin tells us his brother's life story, and the origins of the Froggy character - things we've heard before. The interviewer then asks why they dubbed his Our Gang character "Happy." Mickey flatly replies, "Your guess is as good as mine."
Spanky's interview could have been the highlight of the special. However, Robert Blake insisted on conducting it himself. He spends the entire segment with his arm around Spanky, telling his surrogate big brother how much he loves him. It's admittedly rather sweet, and Spanky seems flattered, but he is barely able to get in a word.
The special makes sure to pay tribute to Alfalfa. Everyone recounts their favorite Carl Switzer stories over a montage of Alfie singing with bug-eyed expressions. George Sidney brings up the time Carl put a melted chocolate bar in his director's chair, leaving an unfortunately noticeable stain. "I never wanted to work with children again after that," the embarrassed Sidney says behind gritted teeth. Waldo remembers when Carl talked Darla into pranking the crew by showing up to set with their costumes switched. "It was such a funny moment, and we were lucky to get it on film... however, I lost the only print of that footage in a fire at the church. But hey! I saved my sermon notes!"
TBS really screwed up when they accidentally replaced Darla's tribute with a repeat of Alfalfa's!
A final interview with Leonard Maltin and Richard Bann is shown, as they proudly announce that the second edition of their Little Rascals book is "coming soon." The segment initially goes well, with Leonard and Dick fondly recall their favorite Rascal moments, all the while joking with each other. When they're informed that the interview is for an MGM tribute, the glimmers in their eyes fade, and they gradually become enraged. The segment cuts off before things get too heated. Reportedly, the producers were given a stern two hour lecture by the authors on why the MGM films aren't good.
Robert Blake proudly ends the special with the premiere of the newly colorized version of ALL ABOUT HASH. ("Now you can finally see that hash in all its colorful glory!")
A pathetic, disrespectful special that left Robert Blake so embarrassed that he threatened to sue Turner if they ever ran it again. He also demanded that the colorized ALL ABOUT HASH be locked up with the unfinished colorized CITIZEN KANE. Thankfully, the other Rascals just sort of forgot the program ever existed.
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Post by malaria on Apr 3, 2019 13:15:15 GMT -5
Alfalfalon: Alfalfa and Spanky, who have curiously become brothers in this Baltimore-centered drama, open a department store which is wildly successful in the sale of doorknobs and used dolls. They change their last names to "Jay" from the more ethnic sounding Switzernagelwitzsteinschild. Family patriarch Billy Gilbert tries to keep the clan together as forces of suburbanization subtly work to drive them apart. In a climactic scene. at Thanksgiving, Uncle Crutch is (as always) late for the meal, so Gilbert, after a few good "d-oh's" and watch alarms unexpectedly going off, directs that the turkey be cut. Crutch arrives after the cutting has begun, and wails, "you didn't wait for me to cut da toikey!!" Almost instantaneously, a blood-curdling howl is heard from upstairs, and scruffy Max Davidson emerges, cackling maniacally, and insisting that he knows where the as-yet uncut "toikey" is, "BUT I WON'T TELL YA!" Confronted by family members who insist that there IS no as-yet uncut "toikey", Davidson holds knives to their throats and asks insinuatingly, "do you see an uncut toikey leg?" Finally, Officer Kennedy stumbles along, and traps a partially cut toikey with a Japanese handcuff. Davidson is escorted off, mugging all the while and muttering humorous Yiddishisms. A fire at the department store, meanwhile, is put out early due to the efforts of a particularly vigilant "lookerout." Third of a trilogy, following the critically acclaimed "Sinker Dispensary" and "Wood Men."
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Post by shirleymurphy on Apr 21, 2019 18:45:05 GMT -5
I'd love to see an Our Gang short where Hood, Holmes, and Eden Wood have a fight in Jello to decide who's the REAL Darla
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Post by malaria on Apr 22, 2019 16:33:16 GMT -5
Mushy Dearest Poppins-- The Bleak Hill Boarding School is taken over by the Culver City Department of Social Services. Old Cap is kept on, but horrible old Louise Emmons gets the boot. In her place is installed a very young and pretty Joan Crawford, a governess who can fly (with the aid of an umbrella, or, in certain instances, a kite with bonds attached to it). At first, all seems well, but chaos eventually ensues as Crawford becomes a shrieking harridan with a particular fixation on the evils of wire hangers. Finally the kids can stand her no longer and petition the DSS to bring Emmons BACK. Charges are brought against Crawford. Old Cap becomes so depressed he actually combs his hair. A French waiter brings the kids mush, and, Crawford now gone, the kids happily gulp it down. Despite Crawford's star power, this never made it to screens big or small, as it was "too downbeat."
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Post by mtw12055 on Apr 22, 2019 16:38:53 GMT -5
Mushy Dearest Poppins-- The Bleak Hill Boarding School is taken over by the Culver City Department of Social Services. Old Cap is kept on, but horrible old Louise Emmons gets the boot. In her place is installed a very young and pretty Joan Crawford, a governess who can fly (with the aid of an umbrella, or, in certain instances, a kite with bonds attached to it). At first, all seems well, but chaos eventually ensues as Crawford becomes a shrieking harridan with a particular fixation on the evils of wire hangers. Finally the kids can stand her no longer and petition the DSS to bring Emmons BACK. Charges are brought against Crawford. Old Cap becomes so depressed he actually combs his hair. A French waiter brings the kids mush, and, Crawford now gone, the kids happily gulp it down. Despite Crawford's star power, this never made it to screens big or small, as it was "too downbeat." For some reason the title didn’t clue me in. Once I saw Joan Crawford’s name I went “oh geez, I know where this is going.” 😂
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Post by malaria on Apr 22, 2019 16:44:33 GMT -5
LOL... Thomas Jefferson invented the hanger; Crawford kinda gave it new life, though in a bad way.
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