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Post by Buppster on Mar 15, 2018 6:05:07 GMT -5
I am absolutely rubbish at recognising real people, even if I've known them for ages. I think that it's because people change subtly (and sometimes suddenly) throughout their entire lives. In contrast people in photographs and in movies are static (how's that for an oxymoron?). They are constant and unchanging, so it's sometimes very easy to recognise them, even if they turn up in movies were you weren't expecting to see them. However occasionally I come across someone who looks familiar but who I can't put a name to. This happens far more frequently with older movies. Sometimes it happens with background and supporting role kids in Our Gang shorts. So I figured that I'd create this thread so that anyone can post pictures of kid actors from Our Gang (or other vintage movies/series) who they can't put a name to, in the hope that someone else who is reading this thread might be able to identify their mystery kid for them. So here's my first entry in the "Who is that kid?" stakes. He appeared to be in the process of placing a bet in Our Gang's very own Derby Day (1923). My first thought was that he might be Coy Watson Jr but I'm not altogether convinced, nevertheless I feel that I should know who he is. As I can't put a definite name to him, can anyone else? He's at lower right in these captures.
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Post by Buppster on Mar 25, 2018 5:48:44 GMT -5
No suggestions, so far, for the identity of the first kid? How about this distinctive young chap who featured rather prominently in One Terrible Day (1922)? He looks familiar to me and I'm sure that I've seen him before in some other similar age silent movie, presumably without the glasses. Any suggestions as to who he might be? And no, he isn't Harry Potter.
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Post by Buppster on Mar 25, 2018 16:42:28 GMT -5
Despite being listed as 'Unknown tall boy' in a number of places I found two mentions of him which give his names as Richard 'Dick' Cartwright, elder brother of Our Gang's Peggy Cartwright. Apparently they danced together as part of a vaudeville act too.
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Post by mtw12055 on Mar 26, 2018 21:07:53 GMT -5
It's Dick Cartwright, as confirmed by articles from around that period. Both those sources you mentioned were based on info from me.
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Post by Buppster on Mar 27, 2018 5:14:10 GMT -5
It's Dick Cartwright, as confirmed by articles from around that period. Both those sources you mentioned were based on info from me. Great detective work, I'm sure that Alfalfa would have made you agent X8 at least. Was he ever in anything else? He doesn't even have an entry on IMDb.
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Post by Buppster on Apr 8, 2018 15:48:02 GMT -5
I've just watched a Big Boy Juvenile Comedy called Shamrock Alley (1927). It was one of the ones in which Malcolm Sebastian is basically a solo act, so no sign of Jack McHugh, the neighbourhood gang or of Harry Spear. As often happens with Big Boy, he's attracted to pretty girls and was in the process of chatting her up when another boy turned up. In something straight out of the Harry Spear school of acting the boy stole Big Boy's ice cream cone and gave it to the girl, he also pulled Big Boy's bowler hat over Big Boy's face and then he walked off with the girl. In 1927 Harry Spear was in Our Gang and although this boy shared some of Harry's aggressive and belligerent mannerisms, and even looked a little like him but with darker hair, I don't think that he was Harry. That begs the question, who was he? he wasn't listed in the credits on the short, nor is he listed in its credits on IMDb. I know next to nothing of Harry Spear's life outside of Our Gang, did he have any siblings? I've always assumed not but I don't know that for a certainty. Was this mystery boy related to him? If anyone knows who he is I'd be happy to hear it.
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Post by Buppster on Apr 13, 2018 10:23:05 GMT -5
Someone I know recently acquired a collection of old movie stills, many of which are unidentified. Among the photos was a publicity shot of a boy actor, there was no writing, stamps or anything else on the photo to help with an identity. The boy lacks any immediately identifiable features, so when I was asked who he might be the only name that I could come up with was Roddy McDowall, but I'm not totally convinced that is his correct identity. Can anyone here put a name to him that they are confident is correct?
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Post by mtw12055 on Apr 13, 2018 17:04:25 GMT -5
I've just watched a Big Boy Juvenile Comedy called Shamrock Alley (1927). It was one of the ones in which Malcolm Sebastian is basically a solo act, so no sign of Jack McHugh, the neighbourhood gang or of Harry Spear. As often happens with Big Boy, he's attracted to pretty girls and was in the process of chatting her up when another boy turned up. In something straight out of the Harry Spear school of acting the boy stole Big Boy's ice cream cone and gave it to the girl, he also pulled Big Boy's bowler hat over Big Boy's face and then he walked off with the girl. In 1927 Harry Spear was in Our Gang and although this boy shared some of Harry's aggressive and belligerent mannerisms, and even looked a little like him but with darker hair, I don't think that he was Harry. That begs the question, who was he? he wasn't listed in the credits on the short, nor is he listed in its credits on IMDb. I know next to nothing of Harry Spear's life outside of Our Gang, did he have any siblings? I've always assumed not but I don't know that for a certainty. Was this mystery boy related to him? If anyone knows who he is I'd be happy to hear it. View AttachmentView AttachmentView AttachmentThat's Jackie Levine/Lavine (sources differ on the spelling). He's in the Our Gang short "Uncle Tom's Uncle," and perhaps "The Fourth Alarm!" as "Abie" (again, sources differ on this).
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Post by Buppster on Apr 13, 2018 17:32:55 GMT -5
Good call, well spotted! And to think that I saw him in Sparrows, with Mary Pickford only a couple of weeks ago and I actually posted a cast picture that included him in the 'Rascal Era Movie Stars' thread on this forum but I didn't recognise him with the cap on. At the time I noticed that there were two spellings for his surname. I've found a picture of him in The Fourth AlarmAnd one of him in Uncle Tom's Uncle too. He did look a little Harry Spearish as he got older. But with darker hair, actually he also looked a bit like Scooter
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Post by Buppster on Jun 14, 2018 8:52:25 GMT -5
I've just watched Telling Whoppers (1926). The short starts with Tuffy lickin' a kid and he then puts a mark next to the name Billy on his score board of kids he's licked or is going to lick. Later on in the short Billy Naylor overhears rumors of the murder of Tuffy and relays this to the rest of the gang. Billy Naylor reporting to the Gang. The 'Billy' who Tuffy licks at the start of the short. Are they actually the same boy? The one who gets licked looks to have had longer hair.
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Post by Buppster on Jun 27, 2018 6:53:25 GMT -5
Disguised as a girl in Surprised Parties (1942) Froggy drew the attention of a number of boys, one of whom was this young chap. There's something about him that strikes me as being familiar but I can't put a name to him. Can anybody else?
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Post by mtw12055 on Jun 27, 2018 10:52:57 GMT -5
Disguised as a girl in Surprised Parties (1942) Froggy drew the attention of a number of boys, one of whom was this young chap. There's something about him that strikes me as being familiar but I can't put a name to him. Can anybody else? I think it's a guy named Tommy Tucker. Does that ring a bell?
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Post by Buppster on Jun 27, 2018 11:31:22 GMT -5
I think that you're probably right. I did see his name down as playing an uncredited role in Surprised Parties but as I wasn't able to find a photo of Tommy Tucker online I had nothing to compare the name to. However thanks to your suggestion I've just looked at his movie credits and in 1942 he also appeared in Mrs. Miniver, which my mother had on DVD, so it's possible that's how I felt that his face looked familiar. In 1942 he also appeared in The Falcon's Brother and I've just managed to take a couple of screen captures of him from the film, which is online. He only appears briefly and at a distance but I think it very likely that he is the same lad, so Tommy Tucker he is then.
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Post by Buppster on Jun 27, 2018 11:35:19 GMT -5
In the interests of accuracy I just watched Surprise Parties (on the MGM DVD box set) on my PC, purely so that I could make a couple of screen captures. Tommy Tucker is listed online as being (uncredited) 'boy who puts on blindfold' but in actual fact he appears in the short in two separate scenes. In the first scene he's in the street reading a party invitation, in an accent that sounds very similar to that of Alfalfa (Tommy was from North Dakota apparently). Froggy comes along, greets the two girls and says to Tommy 'Hello Spud.'He's definitely the same boy who puts the blindfold on a kid at the party, as he again speaks in the same accent when he talks to Froggy. In both scenes he has a small Alfalfa like, but limp, cowlick on the back of his head. He's only shown in profile in close up shots but he is briefly seen full face, from a distance when Froggy gets knocked to the floor when he's smacked on the head with the bag of flour and in slightly closer, but blurred view, when Froggy stands up again. I've just submitted an update to Tommy's IMDb info, naming him as 'Spud' in the Surprised Parties credits.
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Post by mtw12055 on Jun 27, 2018 13:58:05 GMT -5
Bob Demoss' archived site says Tommy and "Spud" are two different kids. I don't know which of you is right!
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