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Post by mtw12055 on Jul 17, 2007 18:03:42 GMT -5
Johnny Downs was the one who stated that Scooter Lowry was from New York City when Johnny guest hosted the Little Rascals Family Theater(hosted by Jackie Lynn Taylor and her husband Jack Fries).
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Post by zootmoney on Jul 17, 2007 18:38:43 GMT -5
So far, all I know about Scooter Lowry is that he apparently was sort of a disruptive kid, and had to leave the gang early. He was put on a vaudeville version of Our Gang with Johnny Downs and Mary Kornman, and later one with Jean Darling, Harry Spear, and Peggy Eames. He was also refered to as Skippy Lowry later on. A couple of other bits of information from various sources. He was supposedly from New York City (Jean Darling?) and born in 1920 (seems about right as he was about Farina's age.) He had a sister named "Lila" (from Mary Kornman's photo gallery - jfmanluke.atspace.com/mary/photos/photo409.html and jfmanluke.atspace.com/mary/photos/photo410.html ) Here is a post Our Gang vaudeville era publicity photo of Scooter, Mary and Johnny Downs: jfmanluke.atspace.com/mary/photos/photo212.htmlBy the way, in case any one hasn't seen them, that Mary Kornman site has some great photos. I particularly like the candids of the kids at the beach. Most of those photos are mine ( the ones credited to Randy). A lot of the others are from ymymeatemup's collection (the ones credited to Bob).
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Post by mtw12055 on Jul 25, 2007 20:14:16 GMT -5
I just visited wikipedia, and it seems that most of the Our Gangers' biographies have been updated there.
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Post by mtw12055 on Jul 25, 2007 20:33:43 GMT -5
WOW! I learned a lot of new things from the updates made to those biographies, for instance, I found out that Dorothy DeBorba is of Portuguese Azorean ancestory, and Mary Ann Jackson was in a few Mickey McGuire comedies, as well as a few questionable birth dates for some of the gang, most notably Norman "Chubby" Chaney.
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Post by rhapsody on Jul 25, 2007 22:30:49 GMT -5
Agree. I don't know where this came from, but it's great stuff. Someone working on a book out there?
The Mary Ann Jackson bio says Peaches died the year before Mary Ann did. But so many sources indicated that Peaches was still around when Mary Ann died, but thought "no one would care" about her death, leading to the 2 year delay in it's announcement.
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Post by Hard-boiled Harry on Jun 17, 2013 8:35:39 GMT -5
I was surprised to read that Harry's acting talent wasn't very highly regarded. In his day he was a popular member of the gang and his range of facial expressions in Wiggle Your Ears alone are ample evidence of his ability is an actor. Perhaps he simply played his part too well and managed to convince a lot of people that he really was a misogynist with a taste for hitting people? Attachments:
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Post by collibosher on Jun 17, 2013 11:13:06 GMT -5
I was surprised to read that Harry's acting talent wasn't very highly regarded. In his day he was a popular member of the gang and his range of facial expressions in Wiggle Your Ears alone are ample evidence of his ability is an actor. Perhaps he simply played his part too well and managed to convince a lot of people that he really was a misogynist with a taste for hitting people? Although he was a primary gang member for two years, most people don't find him all that memorable. I agree that Wiggle Your Ears was the pinnacle of his career, but not much else stands out in my mind about him. As far as it being great acting convincing everyone he was kind of a jerk, we know that Jean Darling still harbors negative memories about him 85 years later, so maybe that's really just who is was. It sounds like he did grow up to be a Grumpy Gus who may have harbored some bitterness about his days in the Gang, leading him to deny all his life that he was ever a Rascal.
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Post by Hard-boiled Harry on Jun 17, 2013 17:34:20 GMT -5
Perhaps Harry was simply a forward looking sort of chap and didn't want to live in a past that he felt had no bearing on his present? I can understand that viewpoint, as I tend to find that any attempt to return to past events is generally a disappointment. Things are often much better in memory than they turn out to be if we attempt to revisit them. Harry served in the navy for many years, he was an adult who had a career and a wife and I can well understand his reluctance to dig up old memories for a long distant past, especially if some of those memories may have been unpleasant. I dunn think it was Harry's idea to get into acting or join the Gang, he was probably pushed into his 'career choice' by his grandmother and likewise pushed into vaudeville afterwards. Money was short in the late 1920s and early 1930s, which put pressure on kids who could earn money to help support their families. It maybe that he resented being forced to do things he had no control over, such as using Spear as his second name. I know that Jean didn't like him but that's just a matter of personal preference based on her relationship with him when they were both under tens. Harry has a reputation for being 'grumpy' but I think that is largely based on his appearance, he just had a mouth that in its relaxed and normal state was down turned at the corners. He was also cast as 'Hard boiled Harry', the tough kid who liked to fight and yet at the time he was one of the more popular members of the Gang with the public. Wiggle Your Ears was one of Harry's few decent roles because like so many of the other kids he was mainly an assemble player but he was pretty decent in Spook Spoofing too.
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Post by Hard-boiled Harry on Jun 17, 2013 17:40:49 GMT -5
Grumpy? I think not. Attachments:
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Post by marktheshark on Nov 3, 2018 15:27:51 GMT -5
Check out the reader comments on that story. My favorite one is signed "Harry Spears" (sic): "I'm dead now. Leave me alone." Also -- there is a very recent comment by someone in his family saying he did keep a scrapbook of his time in Our Gang.
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Post by Buppster on Nov 4, 2018 6:56:17 GMT -5
Check out the reader comments on that story. My favorite one is signed "Harry Spears" (sic): "I'm dead now. Leave me alone." I like that but it should have been "I'm cold an' clammy. Leave me alone, I'm dead." The scrapbook was probably kept by his mother or grandmother and simply came into his possession after their death. I can understand his desire for privacy. After all his movie and vaudeville career was over by the time he hit his early teens. He was probably forced into doing it, as he was earning good money during The Depression, but he might have really disliked doing it. When he reached his late teens it seems that he signed up and joined the navy, including military service in three wars. I can only assume that as well as being pressured into acting as a kid he was also forced to use his mother's maiden surname of Spear, because as an adult he reverted to his real surname of Bonner. I imagine that his memories of those times were unpleasant and when, over sixty years later, people wanted to know about his Our Gang experiences he was quite within his rights to refuse. He probably thought that claiming that he wasn't Harry Spear was the simplest and most effective option, hoping that his questioners would go away and bother somebody else. He might have been an actor as a child but as an adult, 60 years and more later, he was a private citizen with ever right to a private life.
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Post by marktheshark on Nov 4, 2018 8:20:11 GMT -5
Check out the reader comments on that story. My favorite one is signed "Harry Spears" (sic): "I'm dead now. Leave me alone." I like that but it should have been "I'm cold an' clammy. Leave me alone, I'm dead." The scrapbook was probably kept by his mother or grandmother and simply came into his possession after their death. I can understand his desire for privacy. After all his movie and vaudeville career was over by the time he hit his early teens. He was probably forced into doing it, as he was earning good money during The Depression, but he might have really disliked doing it. When he reached his late teens it seems that he signed up and joined the navy, including military service in three wars. I can only assume that as well as being pressured into acting as a kid he was also forced to use his mother's maiden surname of Spear, because as an adult he reverted to his real surname of Bonner. I imagine that his memories of those times were unpleasant and when, over sixty years later, people wanted to know about his Our Gang experiences he was quite within his rights to refuse. He probably thought that claiming that he wasn't Harry Spear was the simplest and most effective option, hoping that his questioners would go away and bother somebody else. He might have been an actor as a child but as an adult, 60 years and more later, he was a private citizen with ever right to a private life. Absolutely right. As much as fans and historians want to know about all this stuff, we all have a right to privacy and peace.
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Post by marktheshark on Nov 4, 2018 8:20:54 GMT -5
I like that but it should have been "I'm cold an' clammy. Leave me alone, I'm dead." The scrapbook was probably kept by his mother or grandmother and simply came into his possession after their death. I can understand his desire for privacy. After all his movie and vaudeville career was over by the time he hit his early teens. He was probably forced into doing it, as he was earning good money during The Depression, but he might have really disliked doing it. When he reached his late teens it seems that he signed up and joined the navy, including military service in three wars. I can only assume that as well as being pressured into acting as a kid he was also forced to use his mother's maiden surname of Spear, because as an adult he reverted to his real surname of Bonner. I imagine that his memories of those times were unpleasant and when, over sixty years later, people wanted to know about his Our Gang experiences he was quite within his rights to refuse. He probably thought that claiming that he wasn't Harry Spear was the simplest and most effective option, hoping that his questioners would go away and bother somebody else. He might have been an actor as a child but as an adult, 60 years and more later, he was a private citizen with ever right to a private life. Absolutely right. As much as fans and historians want to know about all this stuff, we all have a right to privacy and peace, including those who are or were public figures in the past.
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Post by tboneator64 on Nov 4, 2018 16:17:10 GMT -5
I like that but it should have been "I'm cold an' clammy. Leave me alone, I'm dead." The scrapbook was probably kept by his mother or grandmother and simply came into his possession after their death. I can understand his desire for privacy. After all his movie and vaudeville career was over by the time he hit his early teens. He was probably forced into doing it, as he was earning good money during The Depression, but he might have really disliked doing it. When he reached his late teens it seems that he signed up and joined the navy, including military service in three wars. I can only assume that as well as being pressured into acting as a kid he was also forced to use his mother's maiden surname of Spear, because as an adult he reverted to his real surname of Bonner. I imagine that his memories of those times were unpleasant and when, over sixty years later, people wanted to know about his Our Gang experiences he was quite within his rights to refuse. He probably thought that claiming that he wasn't Harry Spear was the simplest and most effective option, hoping that his questioners would go away and bother somebody else. He might have been an actor as a child but as an adult, 60 years and more later, he was a private citizen with ever right to a private life. Absolutely right. As much as fans and historians want to know about all this stuff, we all have a right to privacy and peace. Fellow Our Gang alumni Jean Darling said she last had contact with Harry Spear/Bonner in the mid 1950s when they were both doing some sort of stage appearances. Other than that, your hypothesis seems pretty spot on, and Harry indeed wouldn't have been lying when he said his name is not Harry Spear!
CHEERS!
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Post by Buppster on Nov 5, 2018 5:43:33 GMT -5
Yes, you have a very good point, Harry didn't lie at all when he said that he wasn't Harry Spear, he really wasn't because he was Harry Sherman Bonner. Harry Spear was simply a stage name that he may have been forced to adopt by his guardians. After all they're the ones who signed his contracts, not him. It's interesting to note that in the replies to comments the 'fan's who tracked him down admitted that Harry wasn't 'surly' at all, but was pleasant and answered all of their questions. He simply denied being Harry Spear, but wasn't threatening or abusive about it. It seems to me that based almost entirely on Jean Darlings use of the word 'Phooey!' on one signed photo and Harry's onscreen character in Our Gang he has been labelled as an unpleasant and belligerent guy. In all probability he was simply just an ordinary guy who, for whatever personal reasons, chose to forget about his past and ddin't want to answer a load of questions to uninvited, complete strangers about the events of sixty or more years earlier. I was abused as a child and I certainly wouldn't thank anyone for bringing up the subject or asking me questions about it. I certainly wouldn't answer them either, but I'd probably be a darn sight more forceful about my responses than Harry was.
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