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Post by ymymeatemup on Jul 9, 2014 14:24:52 GMT -5
Dickie Jones died on Monday the 7th at the age of 87. Arguably, his most notable Our Gang appearance was in "The Pigskin Palooka," where he basically filled in for Butch. He's also in several other late Roach episodes, and usually the ones of a musical nature. His most famous role was as the voice of Pinocchio, but he also turned up in dozens and dozens of other films, usually westerns.
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Post by myhomeo on Jul 9, 2014 16:24:23 GMT -5
Yeah. I understand he started in rodeos as a trick rider. He starred in a TV western --I'll have to check the name, I think it was something like BUFFALO BILL JUNIOR-- and turned up in one of those WHATEVER HAPPENED TO...? books back in the 70's or 80's. He seemed a bit bitter about his time in Hollywood but well-adjusted and reasonably successful.
Sad to hear another link to the Hal Roach era has passed.
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Post by mtw12055 on Jul 9, 2014 17:19:07 GMT -5
He will be missed.
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Post by myhomeo on Jul 17, 2014 16:04:02 GMT -5
Recently watched his performances as essentially a glorified extra in 'Follies of 36' and 'The Pinch Singer' again.
I honestly love the 'Broadway Melody' bit in the latter short; it's so bizarre and the singer's WAY over the top, pretty much the perfect counterpart to the scruffy Rascals. What makes Dickie amusing here is his deadpan expression all through the routine. He's a terrific dancer but unlike the other kids, he makes no attempt to ham it up or play to the camera. He dutifully hits his marks, does his steps, and that's that. He may have to put on a tux, strike poses, and tap dance, but he doesn't have to pretend to like it.
In 'Follies of 36,' I'm not sure if his laconic, hands-in-pockets attitude in a lot of scenes is his actual personality or if since he's a stagehand in Spanky's show he's actively impersonating a stagehand. I think he's actually chewing gum, though he may just be pretending. He doesn't maintain it all the way through the short, especially when he has to do some business, which suggests he's amusing himself playing Stagehand. Are you following this at all? Anyway, he has the same 'job' in 'Follies of 38' but we don't really see that much of him and it is a year or two later so it's hard to say if he's the same way there too. And of course in 'Pigskin Palooka,' he's doing a completely different character....
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