King World question

[marktheshark]

This is probably a very silly question, so I apologize in advance.

I'm just curious about (1) when King World got the U.S. television rights to the Little Rascals, and (2) when did they make their "politically correct" edits?

The shorts were first distributed to TV around 1955 through Interstate Television, the TV arm of Allied Artists (formerly Monogram Pictures). Looking through old issues of Broadcasting Magazine, it appears there were 90 shorts in the package (the 80 talkie shorts plus ten M-G-M distributed silent shorts).

(EDIT: That can't be right, since "Railroadin'" was never included -- or was it? -- maybe it was 79 talkies and 11 silents.)

By 1961, they are shown being distributed through Official Films (which I thought was only a home movie distributor), still with 90 films.

I've read King World took the series over as early as 1964? I first saw the shorts with King World titles (the older versions) in 1973. If King World was involved earlier, did they not put their own name on the films until they created the new edits?

I first saw the later King World titles (the ones made to resemble 1936 era original titles, but with Stymie's face instead of Buckwheat's) in 1980.

Also via Broadcasting Magazine, it seems there were 69 shorts in the TV package in 1974, but in 1976 there were 71.

Didn't the Lucky Corner website used to have details of what the actual edits were? I know they changed later when the shorts were remastered -- it was probably easier to do them over from the ground up than to try and recreate the exact edits done before. Also, maybe they weren't as sensitive about some content by then?

None of this really matters now, since the complete shorts are all available. But I'm still interested to know, since those compromised versions were how I first saw them.

[mtw12055]

RAILROADIN' was never included in the package, as its soundtrack was missing at the time. I thought there were 13 silents in the Interstate package? Maybe not. I do know that the silents originally released to theaters with synchronized soundtracks (Barnum & Ringling, Inc., for instance) retained those tracks for the Interstate prints. The others had no track. I guess stations could decide how they wanted to handle that. Some reportedly aired those shorts in total silence.

Where did the info on Official distributing the films to TV come from? Another Broadcasting issue?

I don't know the exact year of the King World acquisition, but it's interesting that 69 were listed at one point. Maltin/Bann did claim that "Little Sinner" was taken out of the package at one point, so that may have been one of the missing two. The other may have been "Three Smart Boys." Spanky mentioned not ever seeing that one on television during an interview with Tom Snyder around the same time. I also seem to recall reading "Small Talk" was still in the package as late as 1980, so maybe a third short was taken out at some point.

Roach originally made a deal with Moe Kerner during the early '50s to distribute the films to TV. That package - set to be titled "Hal Roach's Rascals" - was said to contain 101 shorts. This seems to imply that all 22 of the 1927-29 MGM silents were being counted. I'm guessing that whoever came up with that number based it on a list of copyright info rather than what they actually had on hand.

[marktheshark]

Yes, I read about Official Films distributing the shorts to TV in Broadcasting Magazine -- which by the way, is a treasure trove of information.

Every year, their coverage of the NATPE convention featured listings of TV distributors and the product they were currently offering. Usually they list series and give a figure of how many segments or episodes. That doesn't tell us a whole lot, but we can "do the math."

I don't remember ever seeing "Small Talk" on TV. But I have seen an old early 1970s TV Guide listing for it from the early 1970s. Back then that kind of stuff would be in there. I wish there was an easily accessible online archive of TV Guide (the magazine) including the local listings.

I know "Three Smart Boys" was shown in Chicago numerous times from when I started paying attention in the late 1970s. And I don't remember it being significantly edited.

Aside from mentions in articles, the magazine had a lot of industry ads for the series, which are interesting to see.

www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/search.cgi?zoom_sort=0&zoom_xml=0&zoom_query=Little+Rascals&zoom_cat%5B%5D=2&zoom_cat%5B%5D=3&zoom_cat%5B%5D=4&zoom_per_page=20

[marktheshark]

I saw an Interstate TV print (16mm) of "Barnum And Ringling" (they forgot the "Inc.") with the original Victor score shown at a Sons Of The Desert meeting years ago.

[mtw12055]

Oh, and some stations reportedly didn't run "The First Seven Years," so that may have been taken out of the package at some point. I'm just guessing, though.

Also failed to mention that to the best of my knowledge the deal with Kerner never materialized, possibly due to the deal with Monogram.

TheLuckyCorner never listed edits, but folks around here and other forums/groups have.

I wasn't aware that the edits were changed at some point.

Here is what I can recall offhand. This isn't a complete list, just what I remember reading from around the web. It should also be noted that some of these edits may have been done by local stations rather than King World.

BOUNCING BABIES - When shown on AMC, music (supposedly lifted from HEARTS ARE THUMPS) was rather sloppily inserted into the background.

WHEN THE WIND BLOWS - All of Farina's scenes were removed.

PUPS IS PUPS - Ditto.

SCHOOL'S OUT - The close-up of the blackface jokebook was removed. More recently, Me-TV airings kept the close-up, but censored the word "blackface."

HELPING GRANDMA - Farina's scenes on the phone were removed, as was the chicken gag.

LOVE BUSINESS - The schoolyard scene was removed.

BARGAIN DAY - Stymie and the lion was taken out, as were the crap shooting references.

DOGS IS DOGS - Stymie's conversation with Petey about food was cut, and several other scenes were trimmed (Wheezer being abused, the ham and egg scene).

SPANKY - The entire Uncle Tom's Cabin performance was removed, reducing the short to less than ten minutes.

FOR PETE'S SAKE! - The running gag with Stymie's sister, as well as the reveal that the toy store owner gave the kids a black doll. This left Petey's reason for going back to the store unexplained.

WASHEE IRONEE - Spanky picking up the Chinese kid from the laundromat and the attempt at communicating with him.

ANNIVERSARY TROUBLE - The entire blackface sequence.

TEACHER'S BEAU - Spanky and Buckwheat putting things in the food. A close-up of Buckwheat in the classroom was also supposedly removed.

THE LUCKY CORNER - Buckwheat's adventures with the giant ice cube, as well as the scene where he runs home to get sugar (only to grab starch by mistake). This left the reason for the lemonade tasting so funny unexplained.

LITTLE SINNER - The Baptism scene. This left Spanky's reason for running back to church unexplained.

OUR GANG FOLLIES OF 1936 - The black kids going invisible in the dark - save for their eyes. This edit seems to go as far back as the Monogram print.

DIVOT DIGGERS - Buckwheat being dragged down the golf course by Petey, as well as the closing gag with the egg in Buckwheat's mouth.

THE PINCH SINGER - Buckwheat's audition, as well as the blackface scenes.

OUR GANG FOLLIES OF 1938 - The black kids tap dancing.

[mtw12055]

Nov 11, 2018 14:56:00 GMT -5 marktheshark said:

Yes, I read about Official Films distributing the shorts to TV in Broadcasting Magazine -- which by the way, is a treasure trove of information.

Every year, their coverage of the NATPE convention featured listings of TV distributors and the product they were currently offering. Usually they list series and give a figure of how many segments or episodes. That doesn't tell us a whole lot, but we can "do the math."

I don't remember ever seeing "Small Talk" on TV. But I have seen an old early 1970s TV Guide listing for it from the early 1970s. Back then that kind of stuff would be in there. I wish there was an easily accessible online archive of TV Guide (the magazine) including the local listings.

I know "Three Smart Boys" was shown in Chicago numerous times from when I started paying attention in the late 1970s. And I don't remember it being significantly edited.

Aside from mentions in articles, the magazine had a lot of industry ads for the series, which are interesting to see.

www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/search.cgi?zoom_sort=0&zoom_xml=0&zoom_query=Little+Rascals&zoom_cat%5B%5D=2&zoom_cat%5B%5D=3&zoom_cat%5B%5D=4&zoom_per_page=20

Thanks for the link. I've been doing research for an Our Gang project, and this will definitely help.

[dchord568]

Nov 11, 2018 15:12:34 GMT -5 mtw12055 said:

OUR GANG FOLLIES OF 1936 - The black kids going invisible in the dark - save for their eyes. This edit seems to go as far back as the Monogram print.

As I noted in another thread, this edit was definitely done for the Interstate Television print, which I would have seen on local TV in the late 50s.

I know this is so, because I saw the black kids' eyes glowing in the dark during the Skeleton Dance for the first time when I saw Little Rascals Varieties at my local theater. It was so unexpected that I thought they must have created this gag specifically for the movie and inserted it. It didn't occur to me till years later that in fact it was part of the original but had been excised from it for the TV print.

[rascalstooge]

I recall watching Bouncing Babies on AMC and I thought the music was original. I didn't know it was lifted from another short.