Vote for why you think it jumped
Hal Roach sells out
Never Jumped
Puberty (Spanky)
The Movie
They cut the giddy music
Shark Bytes
The Our Gang comedies were born out of youth and then were perfect for the depression era. When WWII came along the concept was outdated.
Each short was self contained so there was no continuity needed.
Young Spanky especially when paired with Scotty ruled.
Both Scotty and Alfalfa met violent ends.
Farina and Buckwheat were originally females but then changed to men.
At the end the shorts weren't even attempting to be funny. They succeded.
Each short was self contained so there was no continuity needed.
Young Spanky especially when paired with Scotty ruled.
Both Scotty and Alfalfa met violent ends.
Farina and Buckwheat were originally females but then changed to men.
At the end the shorts weren't even attempting to be funny. They succeded.
I agree with the last poster. Things started going downhill around the time Alfalfa showed up. Nothing against Alfie as a performer, but his arrival sort of is the cut-off point for me. The best periods were the early silents (those kids were all amazing and the shorts very funny) and the Wheezer-era early-talkie period, a time frame that included Farina, Jackie Cooper, Chubby Chaney, Mary Ann Jackson and included the arrival of characters like Stymie, Dickie Moore and Baby Spanky. If anything, Hal Roach was a casting genius. He knew how to find the most natural, charming kids who weren't cutsie or overly theatrical. But it's almost as if he was losing interest or not as involved in his later years with the Gang. Darla, Buckwheat, and the oh-so-boring Porky were just not in the same league as the earlier kids.
I'm going to swim against the tide here and claim that the Rascals started to go downhill even before Hal Roach ceded all control over the series to MGM. Some of the later Roach shorts (circa '35 and up) are pretty rough going.
Give me Jackie Cooper and Wheezer over the He-Man Woman-Haters Club and endless "let's put on a show" plots anyday. Spanky was terrific when he was between 3 and, say, 7, but as he aged he became not only less cute, but he lost all his charm and spontaneity. He went from being the adorable little kid telling us a convoluted tale about a monkey, a great big monkey, and a rat flying on their own plane, to being a prim and proper, stern taskmaster who kept Alfalfa in line (God forbid Alfie make eyes at Darla, Spanky would react in a jealous rage) or snootily told the little kids (Porky and Buckwheat) to "scream!"
For me, the early '30s (Jackie, Chubby, Mary Ann, tiny Spanky) are the best years, followed by the silents, followed by the mid-to-late '30s.
The MGM years I won't even bother to rank. As far as I'm concerned, those aren't Our Gang shorts, they're some distinctly different and vastly inferior impostor.
Give me Jackie Cooper and Wheezer over the He-Man Woman-Haters Club and endless "let's put on a show" plots anyday. Spanky was terrific when he was between 3 and, say, 7, but as he aged he became not only less cute, but he lost all his charm and spontaneity. He went from being the adorable little kid telling us a convoluted tale about a monkey, a great big monkey, and a rat flying on their own plane, to being a prim and proper, stern taskmaster who kept Alfalfa in line (God forbid Alfie make eyes at Darla, Spanky would react in a jealous rage) or snootily told the little kids (Porky and Buckwheat) to "scream!"
For me, the early '30s (Jackie, Chubby, Mary Ann, tiny Spanky) are the best years, followed by the silents, followed by the mid-to-late '30s.
The MGM years I won't even bother to rank. As far as I'm concerned, those aren't Our Gang shorts, they're some distinctly different and vastly inferior impostor.
The post-Roach MGM stuff is just god awful. The Roach era kids were getting older and boring, the stories weren't good, and the kids cast by MGM were the most charmless little brats ever to hit the silver screen. Although it is completely ironic that the Our Gang graduate who ended up being the best adult actor was none other than Robert "Mickey Gubitowski" Blake. Can't even imagine that whiney little sniveler being allowed to hang with cool kids like Mickey Daniels and Johnny Downs from silent Our Gang days.
It went to their heads!
On January 21, 1959, Switzer and his friend Jack Piott arrived allegedly drunk at Moses "Bud" Stiltz's home in Mission Hills, California, to settle an alleged debt owed to Switzer. Previously, Switzer had borrowed a dog from Stiltz which was lost, but eventually found, Switzer paying the man who returned the dog $35 and buying him $15 worth of drinks from the bar he was working at. Switzer went to Stiltz's house to collect the money "owed" him. He banged on Stiltz's front door, demanding "Let me in, or I'll kick in the door." Once Switzer got inside he and Stiltz got into an argument. Switzer informed Stiltz that he wanted the money owed him saying "I want that 50 bucks you owe me now, and I mean now." However, when Stiltz refused to hand over the money, the two engaged in a physical fight. Piott allegedly bashed Stiltz in the head with a glass-domed clock, which caused Stiltz to bleed from his left eye. Stiltz retreated to his bedroom and returned holding a .38-caliber revolver, but Switzer immediately grabbed the gun away from him, resulting in a shot being fired that hit the ceiling. Switzer then forced Stiltz into a closet, despite Stiltz having gotten his hands back on the gun. Switzer then allegedly pulled a switchblade knife and screamed, "I'm going to kill you, [expletive]." and was attempting to stab Stiltz with it, but just as Switzer was about to charge Stiltz, Stiltz raised the gun and shot Switzer in the groin. Switzer died of massive internal bleeding and was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. He was 31 years old.
Jack Piott gave a second version of events to investigators. According to Piott, he and Switzer went to collect a debt from Stiltz, when an argument broke out. Piott said a brief struggle ensued and Stiltz brandished a gun and shot Switzer, who was unarmed at the time, in the groin. Then, according to police reports, only by begging for his own life was Piott able to save his own life.
The killing was held to be a justifiable homicide. Switzer had allegedly pulled a knife; therefore, the shooting was judged to be self-defense. During the trial regarding Switzer's death, it was revealed that what was originally reported as a "hunting knife" was in fact merely a pocket knife. It had been found by crime scene investigators under his body, but with no blade exposed.
On January 25, 2001, a third witness came forward and gave his version of the events of January 21, 1959. The witness, 56-year-old Tom Corrigan, stepson of Moses Stiltz, was present the night Switzer was killed.
"It was more like murder," Corrigan told reporters. He said he heard the knock on the front door and was present when the argument broke out. He claimed to witness Stiltz grab the revolver and the two fight for control over it. During the struggle the gun fired into the ceiling and Corrigan was struck in the leg by a piece of shrapnel. After the intial shot, his two younger sisters ran to a neighbor's house to call for help. "Well, we shot Tommy. Enough of this," he remembers Switzer saying as he and Piott retreated. Corrigan was making his way to the front door when he heard a second shot go off behind him. He did not see his stepfather shoot Switzer, but when he turned around he saw Switzer sliding down the wall. Corrigan said he spotted a closed penknife at Switzer's side. He then witnessed his stepfather threaten to kill Piott, but as the man begged for his life, Corrigan's mother stepped between the two and managed to calm Stiltz down.
Following the shooting Corrigan claims a now-deceased Los Angeles Police Department detective, Pat Pow, interviewed him and asked him if he would testify before a judge. Corrigan claims to have agreed, although for unknown reasons he was never called before the coroner's jury. "He didn't have to kill him," Corrigan said.
Carl Switzer is interred at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California.
On January 21, 1959, Switzer and his friend Jack Piott arrived allegedly drunk at Moses "Bud" Stiltz's home in Mission Hills, California, to settle an alleged debt owed to Switzer. Previously, Switzer had borrowed a dog from Stiltz which was lost, but eventually found, Switzer paying the man who returned the dog $35 and buying him $15 worth of drinks from the bar he was working at. Switzer went to Stiltz's house to collect the money "owed" him. He banged on Stiltz's front door, demanding "Let me in, or I'll kick in the door." Once Switzer got inside he and Stiltz got into an argument. Switzer informed Stiltz that he wanted the money owed him saying "I want that 50 bucks you owe me now, and I mean now." However, when Stiltz refused to hand over the money, the two engaged in a physical fight. Piott allegedly bashed Stiltz in the head with a glass-domed clock, which caused Stiltz to bleed from his left eye. Stiltz retreated to his bedroom and returned holding a .38-caliber revolver, but Switzer immediately grabbed the gun away from him, resulting in a shot being fired that hit the ceiling. Switzer then forced Stiltz into a closet, despite Stiltz having gotten his hands back on the gun. Switzer then allegedly pulled a switchblade knife and screamed, "I'm going to kill you, [expletive]." and was attempting to stab Stiltz with it, but just as Switzer was about to charge Stiltz, Stiltz raised the gun and shot Switzer in the groin. Switzer died of massive internal bleeding and was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. He was 31 years old.
Jack Piott gave a second version of events to investigators. According to Piott, he and Switzer went to collect a debt from Stiltz, when an argument broke out. Piott said a brief struggle ensued and Stiltz brandished a gun and shot Switzer, who was unarmed at the time, in the groin. Then, according to police reports, only by begging for his own life was Piott able to save his own life.
The killing was held to be a justifiable homicide. Switzer had allegedly pulled a knife; therefore, the shooting was judged to be self-defense. During the trial regarding Switzer's death, it was revealed that what was originally reported as a "hunting knife" was in fact merely a pocket knife. It had been found by crime scene investigators under his body, but with no blade exposed.
On January 25, 2001, a third witness came forward and gave his version of the events of January 21, 1959. The witness, 56-year-old Tom Corrigan, stepson of Moses Stiltz, was present the night Switzer was killed.
"It was more like murder," Corrigan told reporters. He said he heard the knock on the front door and was present when the argument broke out. He claimed to witness Stiltz grab the revolver and the two fight for control over it. During the struggle the gun fired into the ceiling and Corrigan was struck in the leg by a piece of shrapnel. After the intial shot, his two younger sisters ran to a neighbor's house to call for help. "Well, we shot Tommy. Enough of this," he remembers Switzer saying as he and Piott retreated. Corrigan was making his way to the front door when he heard a second shot go off behind him. He did not see his stepfather shoot Switzer, but when he turned around he saw Switzer sliding down the wall. Corrigan said he spotted a closed penknife at Switzer's side. He then witnessed his stepfather threaten to kill Piott, but as the man begged for his life, Corrigan's mother stepped between the two and managed to calm Stiltz down.
Following the shooting Corrigan claims a now-deceased Los Angeles Police Department detective, Pat Pow, interviewed him and asked him if he would testify before a judge. Corrigan claims to have agreed, although for unknown reasons he was never called before the coroner's jury. "He didn't have to kill him," Corrigan said.
Carl Switzer is interred at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California.
"What this lemonade stand needs is a floor show!"
Our Gang jumped the minute the kids stopped being beaten, starved and abused in orphanages and started putting on the Kiddie Follies in the Club House. Give me the inventive, plucky little ragtag tots over the tap dancing brats any day.
Our Gang jumped the minute the kids stopped being beaten, starved and abused in orphanages and started putting on the Kiddie Follies in the Club House. Give me the inventive, plucky little ragtag tots over the tap dancing brats any day.
Some of the episodes after the Roach era were good. Even Leonard Maltin thinks so. I like the later Marx Brothers movies and the later Laurel and Hardy movies, too whether critics agree with me or not. I urge people to
watch the later Our Gang films with an open mind and not accept the opinion of critics before you even see them. You may miss some episodes you might enjoy.
watch the later Our Gang films with an open mind and not accept the opinion of critics before you even see them. You may miss some episodes you might enjoy.
I loved the Little Rascals. In the beginning you had Jackie (Cooper), Farina, Stymie, Mary, Bobby and the very adorable Spanky (who had to be about 3 or 4 years old). Spanky impressed me greatly because he was so cute and funny. Later on they were replaced with regulars Alfalfa, Darla, Porky, Buckwheat, Butch and the "Woim". Spanky remained in the cast with new best friend Scotty.
I disliked the MGM versions - the kids were growing up fast and their cuteness level was petering out. Especially Spanky who merely looked like an overweight 12 year old trying to look younger. It broke my heart to see this him like this when he was so wonderful as a small child. MGM should have learned from Hal Roach. You have to replace the characters once the changes start taking place.
Also the earlier story lines were fun to watch (although in this day and age the Dept. of Childrens Services would have been on their parents' case like white on rice). The kids would build racing cars and hurtle them down a steep hill into traffic, a five year old would be babysitting a bunch of two year olds, and don't forget, going on an overnight camping trip without any adult supervision!!
The MGM versions were way too silly and moralistic. Also, I think the premise was getting tiresome. I will always cherish the earlier versions.
I disliked the MGM versions - the kids were growing up fast and their cuteness level was petering out. Especially Spanky who merely looked like an overweight 12 year old trying to look younger. It broke my heart to see this him like this when he was so wonderful as a small child. MGM should have learned from Hal Roach. You have to replace the characters once the changes start taking place.
Also the earlier story lines were fun to watch (although in this day and age the Dept. of Childrens Services would have been on their parents' case like white on rice). The kids would build racing cars and hurtle them down a steep hill into traffic, a five year old would be babysitting a bunch of two year olds, and don't forget, going on an overnight camping trip without any adult supervision!!
The MGM versions were way too silly and moralistic. Also, I think the premise was getting tiresome. I will always cherish the earlier versions.
I remember we bought tapes of "Little Rascals" shorts in the mid-1990s. All of the shorts on the tape were priceless. Classic comedy! I never saw the post-Hal Roach shorts, but seeing the reviews on this site, I'm not sure if I want to now.
Beginner's Luck recieved the most critical acclaim in it's day.Also it was the Rascals biggest money maker.
It has to be in the top 10 favorites of most rascals fans today.But there is a good deal of controversy surrounding it .Not quite as controversial as the rascism issue involving the Our gang series.Not as serious as the child abuse depicted in Birthday Blues either.But there are quite a number of people who are very upset with it's outrageous ending.I know its kids conspiring against adults and in the series the good guy always wins and the villan always gets theirs.
But in this case the kids conspire against Spanky's mother and she is the villan of Beginner's Luck.She is the Stuffed shirt stage mother who forces her son to recite and launch a stage career at 6.
With her lines such as "My son is too much of an artist to open a show" and her aristocratic attitude and the well to do manner in which she is dressed make her someone they would love to see taken down a peg in those depression days.
Spanky's mother today is seen in a different light.Maybe today most mother's are more like her than they were in 1935.
In 1935 Spanky's mother was someone who screamed out that they need a good comeupance.She certainly got a great one.Today people seem to feel it was warped and even bizarre .Here she was trying to stop her son from being the laughing stock that was made of him due to the gang's barrage.She is seen trying to wave him to come off the stage.Pleading with the MC to take him off and finally she tries her rescue to spare him any more embaressment.
Only to be given up and get humiliated herself.Loosing her dress was certainly bad enough but the sight of her when the prop goes into place is nothing but pure degraded humiliation.
People today think that a woman who is someone's mom shouldn't get the treatment that is dealt out to her.They bring up the vicious and cruel audience laughter and they say it's sadistic to laugh at an adult getting this type of treatment.
It has to be in the top 10 favorites of most rascals fans today.But there is a good deal of controversy surrounding it .Not quite as controversial as the rascism issue involving the Our gang series.Not as serious as the child abuse depicted in Birthday Blues either.But there are quite a number of people who are very upset with it's outrageous ending.I know its kids conspiring against adults and in the series the good guy always wins and the villan always gets theirs.
But in this case the kids conspire against Spanky's mother and she is the villan of Beginner's Luck.She is the Stuffed shirt stage mother who forces her son to recite and launch a stage career at 6.
With her lines such as "My son is too much of an artist to open a show" and her aristocratic attitude and the well to do manner in which she is dressed make her someone they would love to see taken down a peg in those depression days.
Spanky's mother today is seen in a different light.Maybe today most mother's are more like her than they were in 1935.
In 1935 Spanky's mother was someone who screamed out that they need a good comeupance.She certainly got a great one.Today people seem to feel it was warped and even bizarre .Here she was trying to stop her son from being the laughing stock that was made of him due to the gang's barrage.She is seen trying to wave him to come off the stage.Pleading with the MC to take him off and finally she tries her rescue to spare him any more embaressment.
Only to be given up and get humiliated herself.Loosing her dress was certainly bad enough but the sight of her when the prop goes into place is nothing but pure degraded humiliation.
People today think that a woman who is someone's mom shouldn't get the treatment that is dealt out to her.They bring up the vicious and cruel audience laughter and they say it's sadistic to laugh at an adult getting this type of treatment.
I grew up watching the rascals and loved it.I knew that they were no longer on TV for some time,but I believed that since it was in back and white and the stories were so old that kids today didn't want to see it.
Recently a friend of mine held an evening with the rascals at his school ,he had about 300 kids from the ages of 10-15.To my surprise the kids loved it.He showed the DVD The rascals Greatest hits.They went wild for the likes of Uncle George(Kid from Borneo) and all the kids in the gang in Hi Neighbor).It was a major sucess.
But by far the greatest laughs came when(Beginner's luck) ended.This is the one where Spanky is forced to recite Shakespere in a kid's talent show by his mom.The gang comes to him with a plan to end his acting days by bombarding him with peashooters and noisemakers.But at the theater Spank has a change of heart and wants to win the prize for a little girl who bombed her act from stage fright.Now he must tell the gang to stop their sabotage.His mom won't let him go to the audience and insists she will deliver the message herself.She has no idea there was a plot to ruin his act and justs says to the boys to root for Spanky.The gang hits him almost as soon as he walks out but he is trying to win for the little girl.His mother goes into sheer panic as she now sees the audience laugh at him.She begs for the MC to take him off but he's a crowd pleaser and the MC won't stop this act.The mother demands that she won't have her son laughed at and tries to run on stage and take him off.She is grabbed and manhandled by the MC who stops her rescue cold.She then goes behind the back curtain and tries to take him off with a pole.The audience laughs harder when they see this kid being dragged off the stage.Spanky's mother has just about got her precious little darling in hand when Spanky's grandmother starts to raise the back curtain.Spank's mom pays no attention to it as he's so close to being saved by her.But as we see Spanky's mother's rescue is about to come to a halt.A hook is attached to the bottom of the curtain and now the audience sees Spanky's mother 's dress caught and rising on the curtain.The audience goes wild with delight at the sight of her.After her dress is ripped right off her ,Spanky sees his mother has been frozen and remains kneeling on the stage looking up at the curtain top at the tattered remains of her dress.He quickly pulls a stage prop to cover her and hide her from the audience who are in hysterics at what has happened.The prop winds up having a caricuture of a squatting dogs body and his mother's head resting on the top making it look like she is some sort of bizare looking sphinx.
Recently a friend of mine held an evening with the rascals at his school ,he had about 300 kids from the ages of 10-15.To my surprise the kids loved it.He showed the DVD The rascals Greatest hits.They went wild for the likes of Uncle George(Kid from Borneo) and all the kids in the gang in Hi Neighbor).It was a major sucess.
But by far the greatest laughs came when(Beginner's luck) ended.This is the one where Spanky is forced to recite Shakespere in a kid's talent show by his mom.The gang comes to him with a plan to end his acting days by bombarding him with peashooters and noisemakers.But at the theater Spank has a change of heart and wants to win the prize for a little girl who bombed her act from stage fright.Now he must tell the gang to stop their sabotage.His mom won't let him go to the audience and insists she will deliver the message herself.She has no idea there was a plot to ruin his act and justs says to the boys to root for Spanky.The gang hits him almost as soon as he walks out but he is trying to win for the little girl.His mother goes into sheer panic as she now sees the audience laugh at him.She begs for the MC to take him off but he's a crowd pleaser and the MC won't stop this act.The mother demands that she won't have her son laughed at and tries to run on stage and take him off.She is grabbed and manhandled by the MC who stops her rescue cold.She then goes behind the back curtain and tries to take him off with a pole.The audience laughs harder when they see this kid being dragged off the stage.Spanky's mother has just about got her precious little darling in hand when Spanky's grandmother starts to raise the back curtain.Spank's mom pays no attention to it as he's so close to being saved by her.But as we see Spanky's mother's rescue is about to come to a halt.A hook is attached to the bottom of the curtain and now the audience sees Spanky's mother 's dress caught and rising on the curtain.The audience goes wild with delight at the sight of her.After her dress is ripped right off her ,Spanky sees his mother has been frozen and remains kneeling on the stage looking up at the curtain top at the tattered remains of her dress.He quickly pulls a stage prop to cover her and hide her from the audience who are in hysterics at what has happened.The prop winds up having a caricuture of a squatting dogs body and his mother's head resting on the top making it look like she is some sort of bizare looking sphinx.
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