Rascals Factoids 'n Fake News

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1.  When we went to war with France in 1933 over the pronunciation of "hors d'oeuvre," French Fries were renamed Otto Fries.   Normal name of the dish was resumed on 9/1/39.

2.  Lucille Ball was one of the Hawaiian dancing girls in "Mike Fright"

3.  Multitalented Mickey Daniels invented Marshmallow Fluff, though not the Fluffernutter.   He was also an exhibit at the '64-'65 World's Fair. 

4.  FDR begged Roach to have the Our Gang shorts shot at his vast Hyde Park estate, but Roach said he was sick of New York.

5.  A Canadian version of the Rascals was made, with only minor changes there, eh? ("and YOU'LL never be Prime Minister, or even the Premier of Saskatchewan!")

6.  Baltimorean Babe Ruth was in fact Chubby's cousin, and encouraged the poor kid to "eat less and drink more."

7.  Eugene V. Debs can be seen in the background at several points throughout "Railroadin," overlooked because the audience generally fell asleep.

8.  Algebra had actually won several sprint stakes at Havre DeGrace earlier in his career, but he couldn't get two turns.

9.  An early (and quickly chopped) version of "Readin' & Writin'" had Sherwood reciting a poem about a certain man from Nantucket. 

10.  Winston Churchill's favorite Our Gang short was "Birthday Blues", though he was also partial to "Dogs Is Dogs." 

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11. Spanky MacFarland went on to be seventeen different bartenders in six different cities, as well as a Baptist minister, a real estate salesman, and three retired appliance store managers.

12. If you connect all the freckles on Mickey Daniel's face, you get the formula for the atom bomb, which is why he dropped out of movies in the late 1930's.

13. 'The Lucky Corner' stimulated growth in corner lemonade stands

14. Though largely forgotten now, The International Silver String Submarine Band was one of the most popular radio programs of the mid-1930's, rivaling Jack Benny and The Burns and Allen Show in listeners

15. After 'Waldo's Last Stand,' corner lemonade stands took a major nosedive

16. During the Gang's run, there was a major craze amongst sophisticates for going to see pageants written, staged, and performed entirely by small children in barns and coal cellars

17. In the scene at the end of 'Mighty Lak A Goat,' the four boys were, in fact, actually nude behind the prop bush. The concept of just taking one's shirt off and pretending hadn't been invented yet.

18. Algebra had a major comeback in the 1960's when he performed 'There's A Place For Us' on THE KEN BERRY WOW SHOW

19. Darla's marriage to Alfalfa foundered when she became a professional big-band singer while he continued to sing in the streets with a tin cup

20. Scientists have proven that ham and eggs can, in fact, talk, but only to people who are pure of heart

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  10.0!!

"10. Scientists have proven that ham and eggs can, in fact, talk, but only to people who are pure of heart"

John Calvin said they could, but only to the Elect.  Gandhi said they spoke to Brahmin and Dalit alike. John Wesley said they spoke, but only at potluck suppers. Hillel said they spoke, but only in a way that was not hateful to their neighbors. Luther said they spoke, but not to listen to them if they were selling plenary indulgences.  Hitchens agreed that they spoke, but not through the intercession of a Supreme Being.   Buddha said there was a tenfold path to egg/ham/human communication.  

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21. One of the most popular radio programs of the 1930's revolved around people proclaiming, "Take off that hat!" at random, with no follow-up dialogue

22. When Tommy Bond's belly button was briefly revealed in 'Glove Taps,' there was a major backlash, leading to navels being censored in film and television well into the 1960's

23. One of the reasons for Alfalfa's violent mood swings off-camera was that his cowlick attracted lightning strikes

24. Several of the leaves pinned to Spanky's jockey shorts in 'Fightin' Fools' went on to be auctioned off at Southery's for well over sixteen dollars

25. Following the release of 'Hi-Neighbor,' many cities and towns throughout the country banned homemade toy fire engine drag races on city streets

26. Darla did, in fact, eventually say 'Never again' again

27. Leonard Kibrick suffered permanent injury from having a scalp massager shoved down his pants in 'The Lucky Corner.' However, he also started a new dance craze

28. Jackie Condon was able to command his hair to grasp small objects and type up to sixteen words a minute

29. Wheezer became a national spokesman for a brand of applesauce during his tenure with the Gang

30. Woim's real name? Milstead Eggleson Crumfist the Third. That's why he was willing to be called Woim

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31. When Jacquie Lyn asked Spanky if he didn't think they were going "rahther fast," Spanky went off-script and said "fcuk, YEAH!" This was cut.

32. The silents were not actually silent; everyone was simply whispering.

33. Farina changed his name to "Flip Wilson", and had further TV fame, albeit while being somewhat less funny.

34. Stymie, later a famed nuclear scientist, tried to convince Oppenheimer at Los Alamos that a "weep-wah bomb" would be most effective in bringing WW2 to a rapid close.

35. Toluca Lake is in fact an ocean, bordered on the west by Indonesia. Plans to shoot some of the shorts in Samoa were junked because the Samoans were "too darn big."

36. Bumbo/"Uncle George" actually gave quite an insightful and interesting disquisition on the state of technocracy in Borneo, but Roach felt it was "too four-eyed."

37. Edgar Kennedy, Jimmie Finlayson and Dell Henderson had a running baldness contest in which the one with the fewest hairs had to buy drinks for the other two.

38. The Rascals used Tabasco Sauce so often as a prop that they began to manufacture their own brand, for marketing to Tex-Mex franchises, which unfortunately did not exist yet.

39. Alfalfa used to beat the stuffing out of Butch rather routinely, but never on-screen.

40. Economists have discerned, long after the fact, that the reason for the Great Depression was "too much currency flying around in the air," augmented by "securities attached to kites."

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41. Alfalfa was an ancestor to the Teletubbies. The species' cowlicks have grown with hit and miss results.

42. Stymie's oversized derby came out of his insecurity for his premature baldness.

43. Whenever a Rascal leaves the neighborhood, he/she officially relocates to a home for disappearing characters, run by Richie Cunningham's brother Chuck. Currently, the Rascals alone make up 50% the home's residents.

44. Darla secretly married Alfalfa, Butch, and Waldo simultaneously. They still haven't figured it out.

45. Dinah the Mule only agreed to come out of retirement for the feature film WAY OUT WEST after being promised a solo dance during the "At the Ball" number. Unfortunately, much of it was cut, leading her to permanently shun Hollywood.

46. George McFarland left the Our Gang series in 1938 due to an inflated ego. He was then studying acting at the Culver City Shakespeare Theater, and felt he was simply too good for "silly slapstick shorts - both the films and the pants." Sadly, the roles he craved were not available to him, and he was forced to beg for his spot back as a Rascal.

47. The circle around Petey's eye changed spots based on his mood on a given day. Whenever it was on the left side, everyone knew to be cautious around him, lest they be screamed at. The worst days were when he had one circle on each eye. Then he'd be totally unpredictable. Like George, his ego got the best of him, and he eventually quit the series.

48. Petey was replaced by a "fake Petey" who was much kinder, but everyone secretly agreed wasn't as talented as the original.

49. Jack Davis later became a renowned cartoonist, most famous for his work for MAD Magazine.

50. Miss Crabtree eventually did get married. Jackie Cooper never recovered after finding out.

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51. It was eventually shown the Our Gang propaganda shorts were major morale-boasters... For the Nazis. "If THAT'S the best Hollywood can do against us..."

52. There is an urban legend Froggy was NOT killed in a street accident but was severely disfigured, causing him to leave Hollywood and live in secret on a secluded island.

53. A similar urban legend claims Spanky died in a car accident just before the series transferred over to MGM, the real reason for his absence for several shorts. The replacement was a lookalike found in a talent search and passed off as Spanky by Roach to fulfill contractual obligations. The Gang, however, concealed several clues in the MGM shorts --While walking from the swimming hole in 'Fightin' Fools,' for example, Spanky is out of step with the others-- and the fake Spanky was eventually dropped.

54. Miss Crabtree's original name was Miss Hotsitotsi. She opted to change it when she became an elementary school teacher

55. The Mills Brothers song 'Dinah' was originally written for Dinah the Mule. Well, not really, but she liked to think so

56. In real life, Matthew Beard HATED watermelon and LOVED mush; there is, however, no truth to the rumor he died of suffocation while eating artichokes

57. Dickie Jones denies being told by Disney that his acting style was 'wooden.' He did, however, always let his conscience be his guide

58. Woim and Waldo ran off to Paris after the War together and became poets

59. Cut from TV prints: The very last scene of 'Our Gang Follies of 1936,' where the Flory-Dory Sixtette walk through the door backstage. "Hi, sorry we're late..."

60. 'Dog Heaven' was partially inspired by Pete's real-life off-screen troubles with alcoholism and depression

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61. Baloney was envisioned as the New Rising Rascal, owing to his ability to sit in a cart and wear a funny hat while Wheezer played out his peddling craze. However, he quit to join the Church of the Latter-Day Saints, (and also the Mormons!).

62. In fact, there were many stores in the early 30s which sold only chains. (The actual spelling of poor Chubby's last name was "Chainey.")

63. Hattie McDaniel tried to get her pal Everett Sloane into a couple of Rascals shorts so he could do his Mr.Bernstein shtick about the girl in the white dress, but Spanky said it was "applesauce."

64. The frightening fun-house voice in Hide & Shriek was, in fact, that of Vincent Price's father, Hugo Z. Hackenbush, who invented the cantilever mushroom bridge.

65. The first full-length Rascals film was to have been "The Gang Goes To Albania, Bosnia and Macedonia," but no one could figure out where these countries were, much less how to get to them.

66. Roach's haunting, whispered dying words were "DAISYYYYY.... DIIIIIIIIIMPLE"

67. Petey the Pup was CIA all the way, a legendary spook who blazed the path for Monty Python's CIA-dog, Teddy Salad. There was much fear at high levels that Porky was a pink, and Buckwheat a fellow-traveler.

68. Wheezer's first Our Gang name was "Bronchiectasis," but no one could pronounce it, so it was changed first to "Whooping Cough," and then finally to Stridor.

69. After the epochal fall of France in 1940, American isolationists would loudly chant "all of ze children have mush!!" to remind all and sundry of the extent of Gallic perfidy.

70. The bowl which was used as a guide for cutting Mary Ann Jackson's hair in Dutch-boy style has long been a popular exhibit at the Smithsonian

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71. Wheezer was eventually sent to prison for fencing doorknobs

72. Spanky knew who it was on the phone; he was just messing with him

73. Butch never really forgave Woim for throwing him over for Spike

74. Stymie's father was both a chauffeur AND a crap-shootin' fool

75. The REAL reason the shorts steeered clear of 'Gang goes skinny-dipping, clothes get stolen' plots: The recurring problem of prison tattoos...

76. It has been scientifically proven that pushing someone through a hedge will indeed cause all their outer clothing to be ripped off. If it doesn't, you're doing it wrong

77. Waldo spelled backwards is Odlaw. This means something...

78. Dickie Moore and Jackie Cooper had a long-standing feud over whose lower lip was poutier

79. Jimmy did not, in fact, have a nickel. It was a slug

80. Froggy's trick voice was caused by his long-standing tobacco-chewing

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81. The town of Greenpoint isn’t actually green - it’s gray.

82. When Alfalfa lost his cowlick, he did indeed lose his personality. From the on, he was nicknamed Boring.

83. Limburger cheese does wonders in fights.

84. Jack Crabtree grew to love his borrowed outfit in SCHOOL’S OUT, and continued to wear it regularly. As per his wishes, he was even buried in it.

85. Sing Joy wasn’t of Asian descent. In fact, he was from Sweden.

86. Junior never learned to speak. He found company with the silent era Rascals.

87. Mickey “Happy” Laughlin finally cracked a smile, which led to reality falling apart.

88. “Breezy” Brisbane did eventually run for president. He lost to Elmer the Monkey. It didn’t help that Breezy’s campaign slogan was “Be a pessimist. Don’t be such an optimist.”

89. The Pryor-Wilder movies were originally written as reunion vehicles for Buckwheat and Porky (Porky was Pryor’s character, naturally).

90. I’ve never been darn right it’s Butch.

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91. Famed literary critic Leslie Fiedler followed his legendary essay on Huck Finn & Jim with Come Back To The Taxi, Dickie Honey, which argued for a homosexual subtext to the interplay between Dickie and Stymie.

92.  In the Finnish version of the Rascals, the line "this may choke Artie, but it won't choke Jukka-Pekka" is considered the pinnacle of the series.

93.  Ralph Emerson had his middle name changed to "Brick" after seeing some of the Waldo episodes.

94.  Alfalfa did not like singing dippy romantic songs, and really wanted to belt out "I want a lover who won't drive me crazy,", but John Cougar Mushemloncamp hadn't been invented yet.

95.  "O-tay" was not amusing Porky/Buckwheat kiddie-speak; it was Pig Latin for Lyle Tayo's surname.

96.  The Acme Sledgehammer Co. paid for product placement of a sort in "Fish Hooky."

97.  "Fly My Kite" started a nationwide craze for reading correspondence through fishbowls.

98.   Martin Buber famously observed that there were two types of people:  those who liked Miss Daisy Dimple, and those who found her cloying and generally vomitrocious.

99.   Spanky interrupted the Great Emancipator himself to finish the famous "you can fool some of the people" quote with "butcha CAN'T FOOL MOM!!"

100.  "WE don't know, Captain" (from "Shiver My Timbers") was actually used as a defense, if a notably feeble one, at Nuremberg. 

 

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101. Froggy briefly owned a doggy named Moggy. He was forced to give it away because nobody wanted to deal with all that.

102. According to rumor, Butch was secretly femme

103. The most difficult part of arranging the first Follies show in Spanky's cellar? Finding that weird furry hat he wore in the opening

104. Buckwheat grew up, eventually married, and had four children: Cornflake, Shredded Wheat, Cheerio, and Super Sugar Crisp

105. Spanky was kept busy in his later years repeatedly correcting ANCIENT GIANTS IN AMERICA websites, explaining the adventure in the cave with the buried treasure was only a dream sequence. He did, however, master the art of astral projection so he could argue with himself

106. When Spanky released that 'guardian angel' was just his shadow and 'Santy Claus' was a common thief, he became bitter and never trusted again

107. The main reason Sid turned into Woim and teamed with Butch: He never got over the humiliation of all those kids laughing at him on stage in his underpants

108. Darla eventually grew up and married a wealthy man with a cowlick, freckles, and a Brooklyn accent; "He's everything I've ever wanted in a man," she told the media

109. Miss Crabtree's brother eventually died from an infection he suffered after swimming in river water

110. The scene in DOIN' THEIR BIT where Buckwheat imitated Rochester was faked; he actually imitated Fred Allen

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111. A major sticking point in Xi-Trump negotiations is Xi's insistence that references to a "Chinese Typhoon" be removed from "Shiver My Timbers."

112. Emerson Treacy was named after a particularly good brand of air conditioner, which unfortunately was only invented two years after he was born.

113. Stymie's parents quite literally had a Beard Marriage.

114. Decided shortage of films in which Gang plays hooky, returns to school to find that they have missed out on Miss Crabtree tying students to their seats and making them recite The Lord's Prayer for seven straight hours.

115. Original title of song in "Mike Fright": "A Little Grass Shack In Some Island That Won't Become A State For 25 Years."

116. The bond market collapsed immediately after "Fly My Kite", and poor Granny had to go to The Poorhouse after all.  "Dan" became a Communist spy who reported on the activities of H.M. Walker. 

117. Dallas Keuchel's agent's last contact with the Yankees was to this effect: "tain't enough... CALL LATER!"

118. Darla had to learn English at the age of six, as she previously spoke only Oklahoman. She would still make occasional references to "Ponca City" on camera, which were all cut.

119. Joe Cobb's brother Ty tried to get him into baseball, but Joe felt the baseball cap messed up his hair.

120. Yes Virginia, there is such a word as "farinaceous", but it has nothing to do with being generally sad and mournful.

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121. The NBA was said to have been borne out of a void left with the end of the long running 'Our Gang' series. Buckwheat's imposter once even confirmed this.

122. Scotty Beckett didn't really die, but changed his name to Ted Bessell and later worked with a Chimp and THAT GIRL!

123. Alfalfa also changed his name to Ted Bessell, but no one believed him because of the cowlick he could never quite get rid of.

124. Spanky tried to sue the '60s Bubble Gum group, Spanky And Our Gang, but it backfired when he turned out to be the group's lead singer. Spanky will never be the same.

125. Alfalfa didn't really get thousands of votes in THE PINCH SINGER. It was the same half dozen or so kids locked in the phone booths endlessly repeating themselves due to claustrophobic delirium.

126. Buckwheat almost got to be the lead singer for the Wailers, but he thought he was going to be renamed Jacob Marley after that creepy Scrooge ghost guy, so he declined the offer.

127. Daisy Dimple and Janet Burston grew up to be rival professional female wrestlers. "Darla The Hood" could still butt whup both of 'em, though!

128. The real reason Bobby Blake went off later in life was due to his discovering that he had a fourth sibling who really was Chinese.

129. The silent Gary "Junior" Jasgur grew up to be Junior Samples on HEE-HAW! (I actually did once think they were one and the same, back in the day!)

130. Alfalfa and Buckwheat later tried to start up a Cereal company with their nicknames combined, but sadly, "Alfeat" was doomed to failure.

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Now how the hell am I supposed to top that there, eh?      It would be like trying to follow Stompin' Tom.