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Post by Buppster on Mar 8, 2018 16:45:05 GMT -5
Yeah, I have the six shorts set from Grapevine. "In the Backyard" is a Those Lovable Scallawags TV print of "Open Spaces." Harry Spear is in some of these, for you Harry fans out there. Harry Spear too? That's an unexpected bonus. On the subject of Harry I've read elsewhere online that in his pre-Rascals career Harry was in some Buck Jones westerns but I've never seen any mention of which ones they were. Does anyone know the names of any of Buck's westerns that Harry appeared in?
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senel
New Member
Fan of Our Gang Shorts..Wheezer the Slayer!
Posts: 19
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Post by senel on Mar 10, 2018 16:52:33 GMT -5
Yeah, those McDoughall Alley Kids shorts were blatant rip offs. They even had a kid named Oatmeal who was a Farina rip off.
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Post by Buppster on Mar 11, 2018 15:52:35 GMT -5
I've just watched two Big Boy shorts. Baby Be Good and My Kid. I found them both to be entertaining but I was also surprised to see Harry Spear appearing, as Ginger, in Baby Be Good. I noticed that in the credits it mentioned Photography by George Spear and can't help wondering if George might have been Harry's Grandfather or uncle perhaps. Maybe that possible connection might be how Harry got into movies in the first place?
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Post by mtw12055 on Mar 12, 2018 3:11:03 GMT -5
I've just watched two Big Boy shorts. Baby Be Good and My Kid. I found them both to be entertaining but I was also surprised to see Harry Spear appearing, as Ginger, in Baby Be Good. I noticed that in the credits it mentioned Photography by George Spear and can't help wondering if George might have been Harry's Grandfather or uncle perhaps. Maybe that possible connection might be how Harry got into movies in the first place? Good catch, and very well could be. Both Spears are listed as actors in one of the Smith Family shorts for Sennett. Coincidence? Perhaps, perhaps not.
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Post by Buppster on Mar 12, 2018 7:30:38 GMT -5
When I added Baby Be Good to Harry's credits on IMDB I noticed the credit for the Smith Family short so I did a search and I was able to download it from here. Internet Archive: Smiths Candy Shop
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Post by Buppster on Mar 12, 2018 15:12:39 GMT -5
Today I've watched two more Big Boy shorts. Firstly I watched In The Backyard (AKA Open Spaces) and although Harry Spear was definitely in it he didn't contribute much to the story line. However I've just watched Raisin' Cain and there was Ginger again. Yet another IMDb uncredited appearance by Harry. He was much more involved in the story line, than in In The Backyard, which began with a baseball match and ended in trashing a rich person's house. Ginger (Harry) was a fielder in the match and after getting hit in the head with a baseball he wore a birdcage over his head, for protection. I actually liked the short, it was amusing and even though I've seen the whole house trashing scenario played out several times before in other shorts there were some original elements in this version which kept me entertained. I'm looking forward to watching the remaining two shorts on the DVD, to see if I can spot Ginger in either of those. From what I've seen of Harry Spear so far, in four Big Boy shorts, he seemed to be a pretty happy child so I can only assume that his aggressive and grumpy persona in Our Gang was an invention of the Hal Roach studio and not a reflection of Harry's real personality at all.
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Post by imnotallenhoskins on Mar 12, 2018 16:06:29 GMT -5
From what I've seen of Harry Spear so far, in four Big Boy shorts, he seemed to be a pretty happy child so I can only assume that his aggressive and grumpy persona in Our Gang was an invention of the Hal Roach studio and not a reflection of Harry's real personality at all. Or maybe the reverse was true and the "Big Boy" producers directed him to act happy. At least one of his costars (Jean Darling) loathed him.
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Post by mtw12055 on Mar 12, 2018 17:15:06 GMT -5
Re: Harry. I'll have to consult my notes, but I think one of his last appearances was "Grandpa's Boy." But he's barely in it. By then, the "gang" concept Jack White was going for took a significant backseat to Malcolm Senastion. Soon after, it would be dropped entitely. You can already see elements of this in "Open Spaces." The films are still entertaining, though. Malcolm was a charming kid. Evidently didn't have much a voice, though. It was announced that he was on the list of Educational Pictures stars set to do "voice tests" upon the arrival of sound. I guess it either never happened, or he didn't go over well. His appearance the following year in the Our Gang short "Shivering Shakespeare" tells me it may have been the latter.
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Post by Buppster on Mar 12, 2018 17:22:15 GMT -5
While it's certainly possible that the producers of Big Boy wanted to cast a happy freckled child and instead hired a grumpy and aggressive one, who they then had to instruct to 'act happy,' that doesn't seem very likely. If they wanted a happy one they'd simply have hired one and that's probably what they did. Like Malcolm Sebastian himself, Harry was also a preschool child in those Big Boy shorts and I think dramatic acting was probably outside his scope at that point in his career. In all probability he was simply being himself. Harry was a bit older by the time that Hal Roach hired him to play a rather belligerent, grumpy and aggressive character, and he seemed to have honed his portrayal of that character over the time that he was in Our Gang, as he was far more agreeable in his earlier appearances. Just like a few years later later Tommy Bond was an affable little chap as 'Tommy' but when he was rehired after a hiatus to play Butch his character was completely different. On screen Butch hated Alfalfa, but in reality the off screen Tommy Bond and Carl Switzer got on well with each other. I've seen mention of this forum in other threads of Jean Darling 'loathing' Harry but I haven't found anything online elsewhere to support that claim. She once wrote Phooey! On Harry Spear's leg in a signed photo but as far as I'm aware she declined to explain why she wrote it. Perhaps it was her idea of a joke? Perhaps she really did dislike him, just one eight year old disliking another, much as Spanky & Scotty Beckett also apparently didn't like each other but which of them was the villain? Probably neither of them, they were after all just kids and not all kids like each other, and they frequently don't even need a reason for their dislike.
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Post by Buppster on Mar 12, 2018 17:29:04 GMT -5
Re: Harry. I'll have to consult my notes, but I think one of his last appearances was "Grandpa's Boy." But he's barely in it. By then, the "gang" concept Jack White was going for took a significant backseat to Malcolm Sebastian. Soon after, it would be dropped entirely. You can already see elements of this in "Open Spaces." The films are still entertaining, though. Malcolm was a charming kid. Evidently didn't have much a voice, though. It was announced that he was on the list of Educational Pictures stars set to do "voice tests" upon the arrival of sound. I guess it either never happened, or he didn't go over well. His appearance the following year in the Our Gang short "Shivering Shakespeare" tells me it may have been the latter. Yes, I can see that. In those earlier shorts Malcolm is very much part of an ensemble, if anything he played a supporting role to the much older 'Jackie' and 'Buddy.' I rather like the shorts, I found their trashing of the rich woman's house to be a little more creative that some of the similar scenes that I've seen in other vintage shorts. Do you know the names of the actors who played the other gang members, both Jackie & Buddy looked familiar to me as did a couple of the other older boys, when they were playing baseball.
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Post by Buppster on Mar 12, 2018 17:53:43 GMT -5
Oh yeah, I don't know how many Buck Jones westerns Harry Spear appeared in but he is credited on IMDb with appearing in The Flying Horseman. I found a picture of an old arcade card for the movie and the kid who I've indicated with an arrow looks like he might be Harry, at least two of the other older lads in the picture look like they also appeared in Big Boys shorts.
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Post by mtw12055 on Mar 12, 2018 18:09:38 GMT -5
Re: Harry. I'll have to consult my notes, but I think one of his last appearances was "Grandpa's Boy." But he's barely in it. By then, the "gang" concept Jack White was going for took a significant backseat to Malcolm Sebastian. Soon after, it would be dropped entirely. You can already see elements of this in "Open Spaces." The films are still entertaining, though. Malcolm was a charming kid. Evidently didn't have much a voice, though. It was announced that he was on the list of Educational Pictures stars set to do "voice tests" upon the arrival of sound. I guess it either never happened, or he didn't go over well. His appearance the following year in the Our Gang short "Shivering Shakespeare" tells me it may have been the latter. Yes, I can see that. In those earlier shorts Malcolm is very much part of an ensemble, if anything he played a supporting role to the much older 'Jackie' and 'Buddy.' I rather like the shorts, I found their trashing of the rich woman's house to be a little more creative that some of the similar scenes that I've seen in other vintage shorts. Do you know the names of the actors who played the other gang members, both Jackie & Buddy looked familiar to me as did a couple of the other older boys, when they were playing baseball. I know some of the kids in that film. I'll have cast info for these shorts on my site. But anyway, "Jackie" is Jack McHugh, who also appears in "Shivering Shakespeare." ("Hey, that's terrible. How about an egg?") He had been with the series since the beginning. Of the shorts on your set, he's also in "Open Spaces" and "My Kid." "Buddie" I think is also the other older kid in "Open Spaces," sans glasses. The IMDB lists Bobby Gordon as the remaining kid in that film, but I'm thinking Gordon is the one who plays... well, "Bobbie" in "Raisin' Cain." The nameless older kid in this film is Leon Holmes. The girl is Bonnie Barrett. Incidentally, I added Bobby Newman as the fat kid in "Open Spaces" to the IMDB some time ago. I'm having second thoughts about him, though. Whoever it is, it's quite clear he's wearing padding to make him look extra overweight. There's a black kid with some exaggerated giant lips in "Baby Be Good." This might be James "Bubbles" Berry, who was in some of the earlier Juvenile shorts. Not 100% sure, though. He and his younger brothers (who were part of the original McDougall Alley Kids cast) would later form the song-and-dance act The Berry Brothers, a rival of sorts to The Nicholas Brothers.
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Post by Buppster on Mar 12, 2018 18:34:34 GMT -5
And according to IMDb Jack McHugh was in Buck Jones' The Flying Horseman along with Leon Holmes as were Monty O'Grady (he was in 'Sparrows' with Mary Pickford... as was) Billy Butts. Then there were George Dunning (he was also in Noisy Noises), Harry Spear and Coy Watson (The Keystone Kid, and older brother of Delmar & Bobs). I'd like to see that movie.
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Post by Buppster on Mar 13, 2018 9:46:19 GMT -5
Re: Harry. I'll have to consult my notes, but I think one of his last appearances was "Grandpa's Boy." But he's barely in it. By then, the "gang" concept Jack White was going for took a significant backseat to Malcolm Senastion. Soon after, it would be dropped entitely. You can already see elements of this in "Open Spaces." The films are still entertaining, though. Malcolm was a charming kid. Evidently didn't have much a voice, though. It was announced that he was on the list of Educational Pictures stars set to do "voice tests" upon the arrival of sound. I guess it either never happened, or he didn't go over well. His appearance the following year in the Our Gang short "Shivering Shakespeare" tells me it may have been the latter. Well I've just watched She's a Boy (1927) and it was exactly what you described, a Malcolm Sebastian solo performance. No sign of any gang or brothers at all. Like you said Malcolm was still a little charmer and as such he was able to carry the short single handedly but essentially the series had morphed into something completely different from the original concept and I actually think that I preferred the shorts when they were an ensemble effort. But I suppose nothing stands still, the Our Gang of the MGM era was an entirely different kettle of fish from the original 1920s Hal Roach concept, a pretty stinky fish in fact that had clearly passed its sell by date.
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Post by myhomeo on Mar 13, 2018 12:05:23 GMT -5
Re: Harry Spear. Another possibility is that he was a reasonably happy toddler but by the time he'd gotten into the Gang his disposition had soured. Perhaps he didn't like making the Gang shorts for one reason or another or didn't much care for acting at that point.
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