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Post by RJH on Apr 1, 2015 20:25:53 GMT -5
Some information has just been uncovered on what had previously been thought to be a lost episode. The following was recovered from the basement of a burned-down movie theater.
Fairly Muddy (April 1, 1928)
This is a departure from the usual grass skirt "Our Gang" universe, in which the gang, with ragged but normal clothes, lives in an orphanage that has become overcrowded and consequently is having financial difficulties. Coincidentally enough, a nearby crotchety lady gets a letter informing her that she will receive a large bequest from a recently deceased uncle if she adopts some children. This lady lives in a large mansion but is running out of money and she really wants the inheritance. Thus she buys the gang nice new sailor suits and invites them out on a picnic to see if the arrangement will work. The car soon breaks down near a muddy field. While the chauffeur attempts to repair the car, the gang rushes into the field. Joe quickly gets stuck, sinking up to his stomach, and throws mud at the others jeering him. Soon the whole gang charges into the field, throwing mud at each other, and getting stuck.
Hours later the gang has to be winched out. Shoes and some of their new clothes get left behind in the mud, and the rest are completely ruined. A butler and chauffeur get a hose to wash off the gang, but what remains of their clothes disintegrates, and the gang takes refuge in a wheat field, and fashion wheat stalks into skirts, with some stalks as waistbands and others bent in half and stuffed around the waistbands to provide a modicum of decency. They meet with the old lady.
“That was great!” exclaims Joe. “Can we do this every week?”
“I’m afraid this won’t work out.” The old lady shakes her head. “I’d get enough money to feed and house you, but there isn’t enough to buy you new clothes all the time. You’ll have to go back to the orphanage.”
The gang is crestfallen, but Jackie comes up with an idea. “What if you don’t buy us new clothes? Can’t we just wear this all the time?”
“Well, that would work, but I don’t think you’d be crazy enough to wear only that grass skirt or wheat skirt or whatever all the time.”
“Sure I am, please give us a chance.”
“What about the rest of you?” asks the lady of the gang.
“I’m crazy enough!” proclaims Farina.
“Me too,” echoes Joe, Jay, Harry, Jean, Wheezer, and perhaps a few others.
“Well, okay, we’ll give it a try,” the lady concludes. “But you have to behave while you’re in the house or it’s back to the orphanage. Do your chores like laundry … oh, you won’t have any laundry, that’s good.”
During the next week the gang is on their best behavior, and the next Saturday after breakfast they run to the muddy field, which is about a quarter mile from the lady’s mansion and to which water has been added to give it the proper consistency. The old lady doesn’t go with them, and does her high-society things all day, while the gang plays in the mud. They experiment how far they can sink before getting stuck, with the typical result being them sinking to between waist and chest level. Still they can twist and heave mud at each other for hours on end. They stay stuck for eight hours before being pulled out with the winch. Then they are hosed off and make new skirts. As time went on the gang learned to make better grass skirts during the week so they would be ready at the end of the muddy days. This kept up for years, with gang members staying at the mansion until they were old enough to live on their own (about 12 in this universe), and they were replaced by others from the orphanage upon reaching age six.
This film was test-marketed in a few cities. Unfortunately, in those cities the fire departments quickly saw a tremendous spike in calls to rescue stuck children in quarries, construction sites, and banks of slow-moving streams. This caused many buildings to burn down that would not have otherwise, so this film never saw a general release.
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Post by mtw12055 on Apr 3, 2015 23:10:49 GMT -5
Safety First! (1936) - An educational short on how to properly operate a Speed-O Bike. A visibly unhappy Spanky McFarland stars in silent footage narrated by someone who takes his performance a bit too seriously. At one point, grouchy Spanky appears to be flipping the audience off.
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Post by myhomeo on Apr 4, 2015 15:35:20 GMT -5
Super-Rascals: A proposed cartoon series for Hanna-Barbera featuring the kids as super-heroes. The premise would have Spanky and Alfalfa overhearing the latest villain rampage from a flummoxed Kennedy the Cop --"Oh, if only the Super-Rascals were here!" was his tag-line; he also said "Oo! Oo!" a lot-- and then changing to their superhero identities and rushing to save the day. Despite their mighty powers, they'd more often than not have to be surreptitiously assisted by 'side-kicks' Porky and Buckwheat. Periodically, Darla would ride in on a pink bike and offer assistance. Plans were shelved after 'The Three Robotic Stooges' failed to perform to expectations.
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Post by RJH on May 3, 2015 22:33:08 GMT -5
Cradle Rockers (May 1924)
The gang is stuck baby-sitting their little siblings, when Mary comes along and tells them about a baby contest. The biggest remaining prize is for the fattest baby, so they dress Joe up in baby clothes. At the show, Joe chickens out, and his actions cause the contest officials to get suspicious. The police are called in, and the gang is caught. They are brought before a judge and convicted of attempted fraud.
To teach the gang a lesson, the judge believes in punishment appropriate to the crime and sentences the gang, now consisting of Sunshine Sammy, Mickey, Mary, Joe, Jackie, Farina, Sing Joy, and Peggy, to wear only diapers for the next month. They are humiliated and teased in school and everywhere else they have to go. However it isn’t all bad. They win a baseball game because the other team is laughing too hard. Live models help their classes do better in biology and anatomy. Also, the source of Sunshine’s nickname is revealed – he can’t help but feel good and smile when the bright sun shines on his bare skin.
Ultimately, test audiences found this lacking in originality, and it just wasn’t fitting for Sunshine Sammy’s last film to feature him so energetic while prancing around outside in a diaper. Thus the idea was extensively rewritten to something more dignified.
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Post by myhomeo on May 9, 2015 14:06:16 GMT -5
HARVEY BIRDMAN, ATTORNEY AT LAW episode 'My Little Rascal' - For those who never saw it, this Cartoon Network Adult Swim original featured the 1960's cartoon hero Birdman now retired from crimefighting and eking out a career as a lawyer, representing various other cartoon characters in court cases. In this episode, Harvey was supposed to defend the 80's cartoon version of The Little Rascals, who are being sued for having a dangerous animal, their pet Pete The Pit Bull Pup. A running gag would feature Pete attacking and shredding Scrappy Doo, Inch High Private Eye, and various other characters in the background while the oblivious characters discuss the case. It would also be established the Gang managed to raise the money for Harvey's fee by staging a revival of Ibsen's 'The Doll House' in Spanky's coal center.
Ultimately, it was discovered Hanna-Barbera no longer had the rights to the Rascals characters and the episode was shelved.
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rascalstooge
Full Member
10 years this coming November.
Posts: 238
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Post by rascalstooge on May 22, 2015 9:34:20 GMT -5
"The Revenge Of Jackie". A sequel to "Boxing Gloves", Jackie physically attacks Mary Ann for yanking him out of the boxing match and taking his clothes and putting them on herself. Mary Ann subsequently admonishes Jackie for overreacting and takes him to court, where she loses the case, causing her to throw a temper tantrum. This film was shot down by feminist groups when word of such a project came out.
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Post by mtw12055 on May 22, 2015 18:17:34 GMT -5
Silence Ain't Golden! (1942) - Froggy loses his voice in a screaming contest with Mickey. Realizing that the Frog Man's distinctive sound is the only bit of humor left in Greenpoint, the Gang plays to detective to look for it. Not much happens from here, but everyone learns a valuable lesson about taking care of your vocal chords. Ironically, Spanky has no lines in this short.
He-Man Woman Haters (1939) - The third and final attempt at bringing back the boys' memorable club. The dialogue is all spoken in rhyme, with occasional breaks for musical numbers. The short is more or less a remake of "Hearts Are Thumps," but with a lesson about friendship carelessly tacked onto the ending.
Way Down South (1937) - Alfalfa inherits a cabin down south. He and the others travel to the house on their wobbly wagon (its last appearance, sadly). Once there, they find themselves caught in the middle of a feud between the Switzers and the McFarlands. There's plenty of hillbilly humor, if you're really into that.
Hokey Hypnosis (1938) - During a hypnotist's show, Alfalfa is made to believe that he is tough, Butch a studious lad, and Waldo an... Alfalfa. Not a bad premise, but the nine-and-a-half minute length doesn't allow it to be completely fleshed out. The film ends with the three boys being hypnotized again - they become the three Marx Brothers. Spanky was on loan for that "Peck's Bad Boy" picture, and is therefore absent from this outing. Buckwheat and Porky only appear briefly in the opening scene. Highlight: An obviously uncomfortable Darwood Kaye singing "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain."
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Post by mtw12055 on May 26, 2015 23:18:30 GMT -5
Just Like Daddy! (1940) - Fickle Darla can't seem to decide on whether to chase after Alfalfa, Butch, or Waldo. She reads a book about girls being attracted to boys that remind them of their father. As we all know, Darla's father (Johnny Arthur, that is) is the sort of man who just wants peace. But he finds himself complaining about every little moment of his life. Only one boy in town has that trait - Mickey. Darla and Mickey's single 'date' turns into a disaster as Mickey spends the entire time griping about hash, Chinese brothers, and corrupt political leaders. Darla eventually decides on what she really wants - a fellow with talented ears. Enter Leonard, and a half-hearted attempt at remaking "Wiggle Your Ears."
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Post by RJH on Jun 3, 2015 23:34:56 GMT -5
Two preliminary scripts of an episode that underwent dramatic changes before being shown to the public. First, the bad one:
Circus Feverish (June 1925)
The circus is in town, idiotically for one day only on a school day. Forced to go to school, Mickey, Joe, and Jackie come by Pineapple and Farina’s house. Through a back window the trio sees the brothers lying partially covered in bed, with white spots all over their faces and arms. Mickey calls out, “Hello,” and the brothers get up and go to the window. “Hey, you weren’t at school last Friday. What’s up?”
“We got speckled fever, and we’re under quarantine for six weeks,” answered Pineapple. “It’s contagious.”
“It also means we don’t have to go school,” adds Farina.
“I got an idea,” announces Mickey. “Joe and Jackie, we should go home, paint dots on ourselves, say we got speckled fever, and when our mas leave us alone, sneak out and go to the circus.”
Joe and Jackie agree it’s a great idea, and hurry back home to paint red dots all over themselves. Then they get into their beds, Mickey and Jackie in one house and Joe next door. Their mothers are alarmed and call Dr. Pipp. He is fooled and tells them that the three boys do have speckled fever and that the boys can’t go to school.
The mothers have to go out shopping, and the boys wash the spots off and sneak out of the house. They go to the circus, but the spots reappear. It turns out that they actually did catch speckled fever from Pineapple and Farina, and it took an hour or so for the symptoms to develop. Now Mickey, Joe, and Jackie are infecting everyone around them. By the next day everyone in town is sick and the circus has to shut down for six weeks. A final closing title card reads: “Quarantines are serious. This is what happens when you break quarantine.”
And now the worst one:
Curious Fever (June 1925)
The circus is in town, idiotically for one day only on a school day. Forced to go to school, Mickey, Joe, and Jackie come by Pineapple and Farina’s house. Through a back window the trio sees the brothers lying partially covered in bed, with white spots all over their faces, arms, and chests. Mickey calls out, “Hello,” and the brothers get up and go to the window. From a rear shot it is seen that the brothers weren’t wearing anything in bed, and that the spots cover their entire bodies.
Mickey gulps and avoids the obvious at first. “Hey, you weren’t at school last Friday. What’s up?”
“We got speckled fever, and we’re under quarantine for six weeks,” answered Pineapple. “It’s contagious.”
“It also means we don’t have to go school,” adds Farina.
“Wow,” says Mickey, who can’t put it off any longer. “Um, you guys always sleep in the nude?”
“We didn’t use to,” explains Pineapple, but our Doctor Sorghum had this idea about the quarantine. He asked our parents to lock away all our clothes. That way we’re guaranteed not to go outside the house.”
“You mean you’ve been naked the whole time?”
“Yeah, ever since Thursday night.”
“That’s crazy!” opines Joe.
“It works,” responds Farina. “Would you go outside if you were naked?”
“Of course not,” says Joe. “But …but …”
“See?” retorts Farina.
“What does it feel like?” asks Jackie.
“It was weird at first, but then we got used to it,” answers Pineapple.
“Yeah,” agrees Farina. “I wanted to hide in bed all the time, but then I got bored. We can get up and do things like shoot dice or play cards, at least if no girls come around, and they never do."
“I thought maybe you both lost at strip poker,” comments Jackie.
“We also got some stuff from school we’re supposed to do sometime before the quarantine is over.”
“Hey, what if your house catches fire?” asks Joe.
“Then we have to go outside and jump in the well,” answers Pineapple. “We had a practice drill yesterday and it worked fine. But our Pa was funny and left us down there for six hours before lowering the rope and bucket so we could climb out.”
“I got an idea,” announces Mickey. “Joe and Jackie, we should go home, paint dots on ourselves, say we got speckled fever, and when our mas leave us alone, sneak out and go to the circus.”
Joe and Jackie agree it’s a great idea, and hurry back home to paint red dots all over themselves. Then they get into their beds, Mickey and Jackie in one house and Joe next door. Their mothers are alarmed and call Dr. Pipp. He is fooled into thinking the three boys do have speckled fever. He tells the mothers that the boys can’t go to school.
Mickey and Jackie’s mother has a concern. “We have to go into town and do some shopping. I don’t trust these boys not to sneak off to the circus.”
“My feelings exactly,” agrees Joe’s mother.
“A colleague of mine had this great idea about the quarantine,” replies Dr. Pipp. “Lock up all of their clothes so they can’t leave the houses.”
“What! No!” exclaim the boys.
“That sounds like a good idea,” says Mickey and Jackie’s mother. “Boys, take off your clothes from under that sheet like the doctor says.”
“No!”
“Then we’ll just have to give them castor oil until they do,” counters Dr. Pipp. “You’re aren’t faking it, are you?”
“They’ll be in big trouble if they are. Well?” asks Mickey and Jackie’s mother.
The boys reluctantly shed their clothes from under the sheets. The mothers then collect all the boys’ clothes and lock them up. They they and the doctor leave.
“Now what?” asks Jackie.
“I don’t know,” says Mickey. “At least we got out of going to school.”
“But we can’t go to the circus like this!” pouts Joe.
An hour later, Mary and Johnny come by. Mary smiles sweetly as Mickey, Jackie, and Joe cower under the bedsheets.
“Hi boys, heard you were sick. Too bad, the teacher gave us half a day off to go to the circus. She asked me to drop off your schoolwork. And Mickey, since you’re sick, Johnny is taking me to the circus. Isn’t he a gentleman?”
Johnny smirks and Mickey looks really sick as Mary and Johnny leave together.
“That wasn’t such a great idea, Mickey,” comments Joe. Jackie nods in assent as the boys grudgingly open their schoolbooks.
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Post by mtw12055 on Jun 12, 2015 18:21:50 GMT -5
You Didn't Ask For It (a.k.a. "Art Baker Presents") (1956) - A short-lived spin-off of "You Asked For It." In one of the few surviving episodes, Art Baker hosts a reunion of several Our Gang kids: The silent Gang from the previous reunion (sans Mickey Daniels, who sadly went missing) is joined by Alfalfa Switzer, Spanky McFarland, Darla Hood, Mary Kornman, Scotty Beckett, Tommy Bond, Mary Ann Jackson, Jean Darling, and Our Gang phony Nanette Fabray. Boy, was it a disaster!
Baker was known for pulling out a flask of alcohol before each show. The hectic work schedule for his spin-off caused him so much grief that he repalced the flask with a full bottle! This resulted in a rather strange interview process - Baker would sometimes ask a subject the same question multiple times; other times, he'd carelessly move onto another subject, completely interruping the previous interviewee.
And if you thought "Freckles" and "Fatty" were bad nicknames, wait'll you hear some of the ones Baker has for the extended line-up: "Blondie," "Darleena," and "B...." Well, I won't tell you what name he gave to Butch.
Towards the end of the segment, Baker brings out Hal Roach, Jr. to greet the Rascals. Junior discusess his plans to make a new Rascals movie with Allied Artists. "It's sure to be a hit!" he enthusiastically claims.
Baker responds - "Well, we know the Roach Studios will have many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many more years of success!"
At the very end of the segment, Baker reads a letter from the Gang's ol' pal Don "Porky" Marlowe. A dumbfounded Spanky attempts to correct Baker but is rudely pushed out of shot.
Besides Baker's drinking, there were other problems: Alfalfa and Scotty Beckett got into a heated argument just seconds before the cameras turned on. One can easily sense tension between the two. In fact, things were so tense that Joe Cobb later reported, "it was the only time I ever refused to smile on camera."
Tommy Bond intentionally left any mention of the program out of his autobiography. To this day, Jean Darling refuses to acknowledge the show's existence.
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Post by RJH on Jun 13, 2015 20:13:51 GMT -5
Rascal Survivors (1941) - Someone got the idea to throw a lot of rascals on an island, have competitions, vote each other out, and see who was the last one standing. Two teams were chosen at random. One team consisted of Mickey Daniels, Mickey Gubitosi, Dickie Moore, Dickie Jones, Dickie Jackson, Peggy Cartwright, Peggy Ahean, Peggy Eames, and Peggy Lynch, and the other Jackie Condon, Jackie Davis, Jackie Cooper, Jackie Taylor, Jackie Lyn Dufton, Jackie Horner, Jackie White, Jackie Williams, and Jackie Banning. The host is everybody's favorite, Janet. The first immunity challenge is to see which team can eat the largest amount of disgusting food ranging from mush to hash. Mickey G comes through thanks to his ability to consume hash without getting as sick as everyone else. The other team has to go to tribal counsel to vote someone out, where there are nine votes for Jackie. There was something about not using last names of minors. Janet gets flustered, and asks for a clearer re-vote. This time there are nine votes for Janet. Janet has to leave the island, and with no host, the game stops. With only one episode it was decided it was infeasible to air and that this was a bad idea.
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rascalstooge
Full Member
10 years this coming November.
Posts: 238
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Post by rascalstooge on Jun 29, 2015 13:36:20 GMT -5
"OUR GANG: Inside The Lives Of The Little Rascals". A Made-for-TV Movie about the lives of selected Rascals, including Brisbane, Chubby, Alfalfa, and several others. Rejected by Lifetime and ending up straight-to-DVD.
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Post by RJH on Jun 29, 2015 21:43:35 GMT -5
One Mild Ride (1925) - Fed up with too many films where he is picked on, Farina demands one where he is treated with respect. Thus this film opens with him chasing Johnnie and Jackie's horse-powered taxi. They stop for him, and offer him in a ride, even letting him drive. He drives for several miles, picking up the rest of the gang as passengers. After a few miles, he drives home and lets Johnnie take the taxi back home before his grandfather gets upset.
When Farina saw the print, he exclaimed, "This is boring, and makes me look like a wienie!" He then fed the print to his goat Narcippus before any copies were made. He realizes, "Okay, a big part of my endearing quality is that I need to be roughed up from time to time and overcome adversity."
One Insane Ride (1925) - In a remake, Farina is beaten up by the gang for begging for a free ride on the taxi, but lies in wait when they are distracted by some cute kittens playing after Johnnie's horse is detached from the taxi. Farina hooks the taxi to a parked truck, climbs onto the taxi kneeling on the seat, and takes the wheel. The truck pulls the taxi over the highest hill in the area, and then the taxi breaks loose. Farina causes lots of damage as he forces people and other vehicles off the road, typically into muddy ditches or wet cement. One effect is him knocking over a fire hydrant, causing many finely-dressed ladies to get drenched. About once a minute he crashes through a hedge, each time losing an article of clothing until nothing is left. Finally he rams into a truck carrying a huge number of watermelons, which roll down one last hill and up against the taxi which overturns at the bottom. Dazed, Farina struggles to the top of the ten-foot high pile of watermelons. Near the top, he stands on one melon, and he falls through it up to his waist. His feet stick in two more watermelons, and when tries to push himself up, his arms get stuck in two more. He thrashes around, and finally rolls off the pile but another melon is stuck on his head. Remarkably, no one offers to help, and the bystanders mostly run away. He has a hard time getting rid of the watermelons, but solves that problem by eating most of them. After a while all that's left is the watermelon around his groin. Farina has to walk home twenty miles mostly uphill only wearing the watermelon, a trip that takes three days. But there is a lot of satisfaction in getting the free taxi ride.
Upon viewing this, the producers exclaimed, "Come on, this is just ridiculous. There must be some happy medium here." The only print made was lost, but there were rumors that a girl named Trellis, apparently a big Farina fan, snatched it by pretending to be a movie operator and saved it for her private collection.
Boys Too Bored (1923) - Due to their misdeeds, the boys find themselves in Mother Malone’s Boarding School. Since it’s segregated, Ernie and Farina, who’s too young anyway, aren’t residents, but make frequent deliveries from the wobbly wagon. Mickey, Jack, Joe, Jackie, and Andy can’t stand the boring routine and beg Ernie to take them away at night in the wagon.
The next night they do escape, but after a few miles Dinah gets tired and stops. Farina wanders off to the nearby house, and falls through a trap door and down a slide into the hands of bootlegger Moonshine Mose who ties him up. The other boys go looking for Farina, and they contrive to fall through trap doors one at a time. When Ernie falls through, Mose gets Farina out of the way by hanging him upside-down from a meat hook. Mose does the same to Ernie when he hears Mickey sliding through next. Pretty soon all of the boys are hanging upside-down from hooks in the basement.
Mose wonders out loud what he’s going to do with the kids now that they’ve stumbled onto his operation. Mickey has a brilliant idea – the gang will become Mose’s bootlegging partners. They will make deliveries of moonshine containers wrapped in clothes as if they were collecting and delivering laundry, a normal use of the wobbly wagon. Mose can keep some of the gang hostage while others make moonshine deliveries from the wagon, as no one would ever suspect kids of such a thing. But if the operation falls through, the gang will be sent back to the boarding school, and since that is worse than anything else imaginable the gang would never double cross Mose.
After a few days Mose trusts them all and doesn't leave any of them tied up any more. The whole gang is free to work on the operation, which quickly becomes a big success as Mose expands his business. There is plenty of profit for the gang to share in. Ernie takes some money home occasionally and tells his parents he and Farina will stay with their friends at the boarding school for a while and is making more money in the delivery business. The parents don’t mind their sons not being at home as long as money comes in. Meanwhile, Mother Malone didn't want to admit her students escaped and so never told anybody.
Unfortunately some critics said that while the boys playing pirates was acceptable, being bootleggers wasn’t so this film didn’t make it to the theaters.
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Post by mtw12055 on Oct 18, 2015 11:32:55 GMT -5
The Found Jools (1931) - The sequel to "The Stolen Jools" finds detective Eddie Kane going back to each celebrity he met in the first film and recounting how the 'jools' were found. It's essentially like watching "The Stolen Jools" in reverse, complete with the Our Gang kids coughing up ice cream.
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Post by mtw12055 on Nov 29, 2015 21:13:44 GMT -5
Three Strikes, You're Out! (1927) - The entire film is spent on the Gang's baseball game. Filmed in real time, with all nine innings featured. 1927 was when the Mickey McGuire series started. I'd be happy to pay five bucks for a tape or DVD to see a full baseball game between the Gang and Mickey's Nine. Found this in a 1930 Hollywood Filmograph: "The Darmour-RKO juvenile troupe headed by Mickey (himself) McGuire has challenged Hal Roach's Rascals to meet them in a game of ice hockey. If the 'Our Gang' kids can't skate the challenge goes for a game of shinny, according to the Darmour youngsters." Likely a publicity stunt, but still a nice piece of trivia.
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