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Post by mtw12055 on Mar 29, 2018 19:44:52 GMT -5
Jules White, the head of the Columbia shorts department, attempted an imitation of the Little Rascals called "Mischief Makers" after the Rascals shorts found success on television in the 1950s. The shorts department was on its deathbed at this point and the lone Mischief Makers short entitled "Kids Will Be Kids" turned out to be one of the worst comedy shorts of all time. www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ARMaLkneoQIt was partially an attempt at redoing his brother's Big Boy. Notice how much that "High Pockets" kid is made up to look like Malcolm Sebastion.
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Post by Buppster on Mar 30, 2018 5:17:59 GMT -5
High Pockets? Is that what he was calling him? His diction was appalling. Personally I couldn't spot any similarities between High Pockets, Hey Pocus or whatever and Big Boy. Hang on a minute, at a stretch there may have been some small similarities. Too large Bowler (Derby) hat: Check Undershirt: Check Diaper: Check Oversize boots: Check The girl was a blatant rip off of Darla Hood, but with zero charisma. The lads seemed to bear more resemblance to 'Curley' and his buddies than to Our Gang. Although Hay Poker had more than a passing resemblance to Wheezer. Did anyone ever really buy bottles of soap & molasses? Why? If you needed it, for whatever imaginary reason, it wouldn't be exactly difficult to mix it up yourself. Anyway as far as 'comedy' went it could have fitted right in with some of the later MGM Our Gang shorts, except that it was sadly lacking in any sobbing or humorous murders.
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Post by mtw12055 on Mar 30, 2018 10:42:37 GMT -5
Jules White had previously cloned Big Boy in an Andy Clyde comedy called "How Spry I Am." He was apparently quite fond of the character.
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Post by Buppster on Mar 30, 2018 10:52:56 GMT -5
While I think that the character was okay I also think that he was very much of his time. While it was probably fairly ordinary to see toddlers wandering around in their diapers and wearing their father's boot in the 1920s it definitely seemed pretty out of place in a 1950s short. And as for the bowler hat, they were common enough in the 1920s but how many adults still wore them in the 1950s, let alone children?
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Post by mtw12055 on Mar 30, 2018 12:23:07 GMT -5
I haven't seen "Kids Will Be Kids" in some time, but I do remember it living up to the description historians give it. Lots of bad acting, lots of bad jokes. Example - the kids are discussing what they're going to have for dinner.
The black kid is having fried chicken and watermelon. The white kid is having corned beef and cabbage. The white kid assumes the Asian kid is going to be having chop suey. "Not me. We're having gifilte fish and matzo. Ha!"
For a guy who apparently didn't care for Smith & Dale because of their stereotypical "Jewish humor," it seems hypocritical that White would throw in gags like this.
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Post by Buppster on Mar 31, 2018 5:05:48 GMT -5
I think the greatest problem with it was the acting, the really, really wooden and bad acting. In the hands of another group of kids it might have worked. It would never have been a comedy classic put it might have been just another average kid comedy. However the poor and stilted delivery of their lines, by the kids, complete sank the short from the word go. The main boy was terrible but 'Darla' girl was especially bad. She was so bad that if she'd been cast in the later Our Gang MGM shorts she'd have made Janet look almost good in comparison and that would not have be easy to do.
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Post by mtw12055 on Mar 31, 2018 18:32:24 GMT -5
Watched the first few minutes of "Kids Will Be Kids" again. Yep, that's some pretty bad acting. Here's a Mexican Little Rascalesque series from the '50s. Interestingly, the leader of the group is a girl (Angélica María, whom the IMDB describes as being perhaps the only Mexican actress to successfully make the transition from child to adult actor). Even Our Gang never quite made any of their girls the "gang boss." That's pretty neat, I must say. www.youtube.com/watch?v=apOHkQVFUW0&list=PLWekg2nhnHxaVAv6te4jGtQEs3KibVXUZ
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Post by Buppster on Apr 1, 2018 8:59:32 GMT -5
I just watched that clip but unfortunately I can speak Spanish, so the dialogue was totally lost on me, however at least the acting seemed to be a lot more naturalistic that in Kid Will Be Kids. The black boy's eye rolling seemed to have been borrowed directly from Farina but the fact that they had an older girl in charge wasn't a problem, it seemed to work okay. If only there were English subtitles I'd have been tempted to at least watch the three separate segments of that episode and maybe more.
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Post by Buppster on Apr 17, 2018 12:24:39 GMT -5
Two other movies which I think borrowed inspiration from Our Gang were... The Bad News Bears (1976) And The Sandlot (1993)
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Post by myhomeo on Apr 19, 2018 12:12:01 GMT -5
Re: THE SANDLOT. Recently read somewhere the original intent was to use younger kids, sort of like the original Rascals, though they never alluded to the series. Ultimately, however, they decided the kids would be too difficult to guide through their performances and opted for tween actors instead.
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Post by mtw12055 on Apr 19, 2018 12:34:41 GMT -5
The Goonies is thought to have been inspired by Mama's Little Pirate.
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Post by mtw12055 on Apr 19, 2018 13:02:06 GMT -5
Just received a DVD of 'rival' Gang comedies today. Unfortunately, I was unable to get Good Scouts with the Reg'lar Kids or Buster's Nightmare with Buster Brown. The first short is from another series. The main stars are adult players, though a group of kids is present. I don't know anyone in the film, nor its origin. I do have a small fragment from Good Scouts from someone else, though.
Buster's Nightmare is presented as audio only. I've since asked the seller to upload it to his Internet Archive page, as I don't see the need to go through the trouble of making another DVD just for that short.
However, I do have three Mickey McGuire comedies I've never seen before. Scratch that - two I've seen fragments from, though not in full (Mickey's Brown Derby and Mickey's Menagerie) and one I've never seen at all (Mickey's Rivals).
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Post by mtw12055 on Apr 19, 2018 13:13:19 GMT -5
RE: New McGuire comedies.
"Mickey's Rivals" features a gag that I've only heard about in the past. It's perhaps one of the most violent and grotesque bits I've seen in a McGuire short, and a good example of what separated the series from Our Gang. Mickey talks Stinky Davis into sticking his head into a box. The box turns out to be filled with wasps! This eventually lands him in the hospital. Ouch!
Later, Stinky tries to flirt with a girl, who snubs him. He responds by choking her. Mickey comes to her rescue and fights Stinky.
The short features Hannah Washington filling in for Jimmy Robinson in the role of "Hambone," and also features Kendall McComas.
The source appears to be from the Those Lovable Scallawags with their Gangs series.
"Mickey's Menagerie" is also a Scallawags print. Turns out the McGuire fragment on YouTube that I thought to be from "Mickey's Initiation" (the one where the kids throw Mickey a birthday party) is actually from the first half of "Menagerie."
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Post by Buppster on Apr 19, 2018 15:24:43 GMT -5
The Goonies is thought to have been inspired by Mama's Little Pirate. I never liked The Goonies. For a supposed kids movie it had far too many 'adult' innuendos. 'One eyed Willy stood up for him?' Lines like that are just plain wrong in a movie for kids.
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Post by Buppster on Jun 9, 2018 5:47:12 GMT -5
I'd really like to see some of the Jack McHugh series of shorts, which perhaps unsurprisingly starred Jack McHugh. Does anyone know if any of them are still available, perhaps on DVD or as downloads? Wildcat Willie (1925) which included Johnny Downs in the cast is one that I'd particularly like to see, but really I'd just like to see any of them.
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