Our Gang Mysteries

[littlerascal4891]

There are some things/people dealing with "Our Gang" that remain a mystery to us fans today. I gathered these examples from some threads I've seen on this site:

Wheezer
Very, very little is known about Bobby Hutchins, aka Wheezer. The only thing that people seem to know about him is that he died in a plane crash during the war. There isn't even a photo of him, besides a blurry shot of him shortly before he passed. (I'm sure there are quite a few other former Rascals who we don't know anything about, but Wheezer is the first one who comes to mind).

Chubby's Weight Issues
There is another thread on this that was recently pretty active. It's debated on what medical condition Chubby actually had, and it isn't totally clear how he died from the surgery. I suppose we'll never know.

Harry Spear
I'm not too familiar with this story, but apparently no one is quite sure what ever happened to Mr. Spear after "Our Gang" ended. I've seen that people have claimed to know who the actual Harry Spear is, and when he died. But I still find it a bit odd.

Alfalfa's Death
A lot of people wonder about the circumstances surrounding Alfalfa's death. The story does seem a little strange, like there's more to it than what was actually reported.

Scotty Beckett's Death
This, to me, is very puzzling. As we know, Scotty checked himself into a nursing home (I believe) after being badly beaten. A few days later, he was found dead in his room. Pills and a note were found, but the coroner ruled the death as inconclusive.
That's the story that most people hear, but I've also came across other things, like that Scotty choked on something and that is how he actually died.
I've came across many websites that list Scotty's death as a suicide, although his death was never officially ruled a suicide. Did they even find drugs in his system? And what exactly did that note say? And why was Scotty so badly beaten, and did that have anything to do with how he died? It just seems like there are so many questions surrounding his death, but very few answers. I don't think that the case was investigated very carefully.

Anyway, those are some Our Gang mysteries I came up with. Please discuss your opinions and thoughts on these and feel free to post any more unknown things about the Rascals.

[booklover]

This tells us a little more about Harry Spear, but we still don't know (and probably never will know) why the guy was so darn adamant about not being an Our Gang member.

www.catsafterme.com/blog/archives/2098

As for other mysteries...what's the story on Breezy Brisbane? Did he miss not being in show biz? Was he glad to have gotten out of acting? And was his enforced retirement the only reason he killed himself, or were there other factors involved that weren't made public?

Jan 31, 2010 20:22:44 GMT -5 littlerascal4891 said:

There are some things/people dealing with "Our Gang" that remain a mystery to us fans today. I gathered these examples from some threads I've seen on this site:

Wheezer
Very, very little is known about Bobby Hutchins, aka Wheezer. The only thing that people seem to know about him is that he died in a plane crash during the war. There isn't even a photo of him, besides a blurry shot of him shortly before he passed. (I'm sure there are quite a few other former Rascals who we don't know anything about, but Wheezer is the first one who comes to mind).

Chubby's Weight Issues
There is another thread on this that was recently pretty active. It's debated on what medical condition Chubby actually had, and it isn't totally clear how he died from the surgery. I suppose we'll never know.

Harry Spear
I'm not too familiar with this story, but apparently no one is quite sure what ever happened to Mr. Spear after "Our Gang" ended. I've seen that people have claimed to know who the actual Harry Spear is, and when he died. But I still find it a bit odd.

Alfalfa's Death
A lot of people wonder about the circumstances surrounding Alfalfa's death. The story does seem a little strange, like there's more to it than what was actually reported.

Scotty Beckett's Death
This, to me, is very puzzling. As we know, Scotty checked himself into a nursing home (I believe) after being badly beaten. A few days later, he was found dead in his room. Pills and a note were found, but the coroner ruled the death as inconclusive.
That's the story that most people hear, but I've also came across other things, like that Scotty choked on something and that is how he actually died.
I've came across many websites that list Scotty's death as a suicide, although his death was never officially ruled a suicide. Did they even find drugs in his system? And what exactly did that note say? And why was Scotty so badly beaten, and did that have anything to do with how he died? It just seems like there are so many questions surrounding his death, but very few answers. I don't think that the case was investigated very carefully.

Anyway, those are some Our Gang mysteries I came up with. Please discuss your opinions and thoughts on these and feel free to post any more unknown things about the Rascals.

[mtw12055]

All I can add on Wheezer is that he was apparently a victim of child abuse. Very sad.

[littlerascal4891]

Oh right... I forgot about that sad info on Wheezer.

I also forgot about Bisbane. Yes, that whole thing with him is unclear as well.

[bigshotjones]

There are several threads on Harry Spear, and in one of them, it looked as though he became a career Navy guy, having served in WW II, Korea, and Vietnam.

I think we know all there is to know about Wheezer, that his parents divorced and he moved back to Washington, went to high school, became a war hero, and died.

Now, what I'm more curious about is his brother Dickie, who almost certainly was the "re-MARK-a-ble" kid. There's even less info on him, (that he was Wheezer's brother, and that he died in 1978.

And about Chubby, I've wondered about his sister Ruth. She's almost certainly dead now, but maybe she had some children still living who might have heard stories about their Uncle Norman and his condition. I just wonder what kind of operation he had, and what it was supposed to accomplish.

I'm also suspicious of the 300 pounds claim--on a person under 5' tall!

Now for my own mysteries, it's more of "who is" and "whatever happened to:"

"Big Shot" Not "Big Shot Jones, though." This was the little Black kid who either just stuck out his tongue to overdubbed whistle, or said "Yes, he sho' does."

Beverly Hudson: Had two very memorable roles.

Artye Folz: Had some brief, but memorable scenes. Got into some legal trouble, and died pretty young (49ish).

The twins.

The Gubitosi siblings. They is no information on them, other than their vital dates.

Olga Therkow. What a cutie!

And I might think of others later.

[rhapsody]

I'll add Scooter Lowry as he was in about 15 shorts and played a fairly prominent role in one of my favorites, Thundering Fleas.

Elmer pretty much disappeared sometime in the mid 1930's when he presumably ended his vaudeville career. Curiously enough, he was featured in some very detailed news pieces in the early 30's, a couple of which you can find in another thread out here. He must have had a manager with a knack for press promotion, as I don't think he was really too much of a stage star.

Checking IMDb just now, I see that someone has put in some dates for his birth and death. The birth date of 1/11/19 is clearly wrong as he was only a month old as of the census of January 1920, which puts his birth at the end 1919. Someone has also indicated in a message that the dates given belong to doctor who was born in Guam and never in Our Gang. So I'd say his fate remains unknown. There is nothing in the SS Death Index and no obits from about 1980 on up that fit him.

Normally I'd assume someone like this died young which would limit the records available. However, a few years back I came across a posting somewhere from a person on Long Island, NY who said she'd had a neighbor who claimed he'd played a Little Rascal named Scooter. Long Island fits to an extent, as he was living there with his mother and step-grandparents as of the 1930 census. So there may be some chance that 90 year old Scooter Lowry is still out there somewhere.

[rhapsody]

On Harry Spear - Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought it was 100% confirmed that he was the Navy guy who died in San Diego a few years back. I think one of his kids talked to some fans and said Dad had scrapbooks from his Gang days, but didn't like to talk much about the experience.

[booklover]

And while we are at it, whatever happened to Shirley Coates?

And what about John "Uh-Huh?" Collum? IMDB reports him passing away in 1962, but is this correct? If so, what did he do for a career after he left show-biz?

Then there is the most obvious; did Robert Blake in fact kill his wife? If he didn't, then who did? I followed the case very closely and I think Blake was innocent, especially considering the fact that his wife had wronged so many other men previously. And as Blake's son pointed out, all that talk about Blake being a rowdy tough guy was mostly that, just talk. I'm sure he could handle himself in a fight and got into his share of scrapes (as most of us have), but I don't ever recall reading about him punching the paparazzi, getting into barrom brawls, physically mistreating women, fighting with the cops, etc.
Speaking of Blake-finding out about the Gubitosi sisters should be easy, all we would have to do is ask Blake, if we could find out how and where to contact him.

[mtw12055]

I've also been curious about Scooter Lowry. According to Jean Darling, Hal Roach had taken him out of the gang because he had a tendency of being disruptive. However, Scooter had not out-grown his role quite yet, so Roach put him in the vaudeville version of the series. I've also been curious about the offscreen relationship between Scooter and Farina. Looking at some of Scooter's shorts, the two seemed to get along pretty well. But I can't really confirm this just from watching a short, of course.

I've also been curious about what later happened to Shirley Coates and George 'Sonny Boy' Warde (a.k.a. 'Sing Joy').

And I also have a feeling that Blake was innocent. Tommy Bond actually defended Blake at his trial. If he believe Blake was innocent, then I bet he was. After all, Bond actually knew him personally.

As for Harry Spear, I heard rumors that in his later years he was hiding out from the FBI for some reason. This could explain why he denied being Harry Spear. His neighbors and co-workers (I think he worked in a bank at one point) have all said that he never smiled or talked to anybody. I'm not sure about him doing Navy service, though.

Another thing I've been curious about is the death of Mary Ann Jackson. She died in 2003, however this wasn't officially announced until 2005. Rumor has it that Mary's sister, 'Peaches' Jackson, kept it a secret because she felt nobody cared. Why would she think that? And for that matter, I thought Peaches died before Mary Ann did. Also, what ever happened to Dicke Jackson?

[bigshotjones]

Feb 2, 2010 16:23:07 GMT -5 mtw12055 said:

As for Harry Spear, I heard rumors that in his later years he was hiding out from the FBI for some reason. This could explain why he denied being Harry Spear. His neighbors and co-workers (I think he worked in a bank at one point) have all said that he never smiled or talked to anybody. I'm not sure about him doing Navy service, though.

Pssst! littlerascals.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=389&page=1

Feb 2, 2010 16:23:07 GMT -5 mtw12055 said:

Another thing I've been curious about is the death of Mary Ann Jackson. She died in 2003, however this wasn't officially announced until 2005. Rumor has it that Mary's sister, 'Peaches' Jackson, kept it a secret because she felt nobody cared. Why would she think that? And for that matter, I hought Peaches died before Mary Ann did.

Peaches did die first. Here's here obit: archives.starbulletin.com/2002/02/27/news/story14.html

[rhapsody]

Harry's thumbnail Naval history in the three wars is available. I think the information was related to his burial at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery. It may also be in an old thread out here. (update - BigShot just gave the link above.) I suspect the FBI thing was just a rumor. He wasn't actually hiding. He was living under his real name and simply never responded to requests for interviews or invites to conventions, or he responded by denying he was Harry Spear.

I've wondered about Dickie Jackson as well. Primarily as he could have been someone to provide some details regarding Wheezer's post-Gang life. They were the same age, and their mothers were close enough for Jacksons to visit the Hutchins in Tacoma a number of years after the kids had left the series.

[bigshotjones]

I don't know any details about Uh-Huh, but he was probably the son of casting director Joe Collum. I can't confirm that, but I believe based on some digging I had done a while back, that his father's name was Joe/Joseph, and there was a casting director with that name involved with the "Gang." IIRC, he had several children at the time of his death, so they should probably still be around.
ETA: Took another quick look, and this is pretty much confirmed. Roach's casting director Joseph J. Collum died in 1986, and his obit mentioned his son John Collum as deceased.

[mtw12055]

I noticed Bobby Hutchins has a few non-Roach IMDB credits from around the time he was absent from Our Gang. Perhaps that would explain why he was missing in action for three consecutive shorts.

www.imdb.com/name/nm0404257/?ref_=tt_cl_t2

Here's one of the films he did:

[collibosher]

Sept 2, 2014 21:59:32 GMT -5 mtw12055 said:

I noticed Bobby Hutchins has a few non-Roach IMDB credits from around the time he was absent from Our Gang. Perhaps that would explain why he was missing in action for three consecutive shorts.

www.imdb.com/name/nm0404257/?ref_=tt_cl_t2

Here's one of the films he did:

Interesting little film, although not up to the standards of a typical Roach short. Looks like Bobby never got over his tendency to look towards the director but he's charming as ever here.

I don't think I've ever seen Wheezer without his front teeth so this was almost certainly filmed during his Our Gang "gap". When he returned, his teeth were down and he was losing his cuteness.

[mtw12055]

Skimmed through a 1932 Hollywood Filmograph and found a few small mentions on Wheezer from around the time "Free Wheeling" was being filmed.

"WHEEZER," formerly of Our Gang, is working on "Exposed" for Trem Carr
studios."

"Wheezer," formerly of Our Gang, leaving M-C-M (MGM, I'm guessing?) Studios

TOO HOO"

Universal has another fine producing unit in the Warren Doane produc-
tions that are making their latest two reel series, previewed at the Man-
chester Theatre Wednesday evening, for in their first fun film, "Yoo Hoo,"
starring James Gleason and Bobby Hutchins, who used to be known as
"Wheezer," the Hal Roach kid star. Anita Garvin came in for no little atten-
tion as Jimmie's sweetheart. Wheezer was a howl as an orphan kid, and James
Gleason played the telephone company workers, who allows his heart to go out
to the urchin that has run away from an orphanage to get away from a
hard boiled pair of attendants. There is enough story to hold attention and
plenty of natural laughs, which keeps the audience at times roaring their
heads off.

"Formerly of Our Gang," eh? So did Wheezer's contract expire following "The Pooch?" Given the stories we've heard about his pop wanting him to be the series' star, I'm wondering if there was an attempt at getting Roach to re-sign Wheezer around this time.