First time reacting to 'The Little Rascals' (1937) The Pig Skin Palooka
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- Опубликовано: 3 окт 2024
- While Alfalfa was away at military school, his letters to his friends back home bragged about how he was a star football player. Now that he's back home, he has to prove it.
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DT - / dt.parker
Joe - / dipolarbear
I was born 1951. Didn’t have a TV until around ‘55 but it was never on until after supper (except Saturdays after yard work), and Dad controlled when it was on. We played outside constantly. We climbed trees, played cowboys/Indians, had baseball games in the street, played tag, mother-may-I, Simon Says, hopscotch, crack-the-whip, kick-the-bucket…and wrote and performed skits and plays. Kids were never inside the house. We were all friends and friendly to new comers. We were one.
Agreed. Also a 1951 baby. Altho I do remember when I was very little, that there were 2 shows we were allowed to watch and we waited excitedly around the tv for our parents or grandparents to turn it on so we could watch “The Howdy Doody Show” and the original “The Mickey Mouse Club.” My siblings and I loved those shows and sang along with all the musical numbers. A few years later, we eagerly watched The Garfield Goose Show ( was a Chicagoland special) and in 1960, it was The Shari Lewis Show. But 95% of our free time was outside, even during much of the winter. Our Dad made a small ice rink in our backyard and the nearby park had an ice rink on the baseball field, plus the sledding hill.
Back in the 1930s when most of these "Little Rascals" shorts were made, you could go to the movies and see an entire afternoon of content for one admission price. The theater would run a few cartoons (Bugs Bunny or Tom and Jerry, etc.), a newsreel of the weeks world events, a short documentary or news feature, a comedy short (like "Little Rascals" or "The Three Stooges") before finally showing the main feature film of the day. You could be in the theater 3 or 4 hours. Later in the 1960s and 1970s, when TV became the alternative to theater-going, these shorts were re-packaged for TV and shown as 30 minute syndicated programs aimed at kids.
Yes I used to watch this back in the early 70's.
My grandfather who was born in 1916 would tell me about taking a nickel and spending all day on a Saturday at the theater
This lifestyle for kids really didn't change much thru the 50's. I was born in 1949 and as a kid we played a lot together every evening during school and all day in the summer. Our mother would basically kick us out of the house to go play. Home for a peanut butter/jelly sandwich and an apple for lunch and it was off again. If parents today saw what we did for fun they would faint. We would pick fights with friends just for fun. Next day we were friends again.
We played like that in the 70s and 80s. This proves we were right when we said our poor kids are missing out on playing outside due to stranger danger and video games.
We played hide and seek at night with flashlights. You could hide in plain sight. It was a blast.
I was a kid in the 70s & my mom did the same thing! Lol. We got kicked out in the morning ...we came back for lunch ...we got kicked out again and we didn't see her till dinner! After that we didn't see her until the street lights came on! 😂😂 We had a blast!
So much fun. I remember watching reruns of the "Little Rascals"/"Our Gang" short films on Saturday morning TV in the 1970s when I was a kid. These short films were shown in movie theaters before the main movie was shown. Before 1929, there were silent movies with the dialogue being shown every 10 seconds or so on the screen to read. Starting in 1929, "talkie" films with sound were invented, which revolutionized moviegoing. This "Little Rascals" short film was from 1937, only eight short years after sound/talkie films became a thing. A super fun musical comedy from 1952 called "Singing in the Rain," starring actor-dancer-singers Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds and Donald O'Connor, pokes fun at the transition from silent films to talkies back in the late 1920s and is considered one of the best movie musicals of all time.
And "Our Gang" films started filming and being released in 1922. 7 years of silent Our Gang " comedies were made before transitioning a very talented group of children from silent film acting to talkies.
The first year of sound films had the actors filming a version in English. Then reshoot the scene in Spanish. Then reshoot it in French. And I believe an Italian version also. Sometimes the adult actors were switched out for actors who were able to pull off speaking the foreign language version. But the group of children starring in the films had to do each language version.
Laurel and Hardy and the other film series that were popular internationally from the Hal Roach Studios also did this.
Later, dubbing and voice overs replaced this process.
Hal Roach Studios also innovated talking titles and credits. Several 1930 "Our Gang" and Laurel and Hardy comedies were introduced by 2 lovely theater page clad ladies They spoke in unison and would say: " Dear ladies and gentlemen, Hal Roach presents for your entertainment and approval: His Rascals", (or) " Laurel and Hardy in their latest (Our Gang) comedy, entitled" [and state the name of the film. And then announce the production credits and conclude by saying "We thank you!"
Just to be clear, this was a series of movie shorts. They were later repackaged as a TV series, but all of the episodes derived from the old theatrical shorts. TV existed in 1937, but it was entirely in R&D and there weren't any TV series that far back. The same thing was true of The Three Stooges, with the TV episodes airing the decades-old theatrical shorts.
As far as being influenced by cartoons, it was actually more the other way around. Live-action comedy shorts had been a staple at movie theaters for at least 25 years by 1937, and the cartoon-makers were influenced by them.
Find the one where 3 or 4 year old Spanky, baby sits a bunch of babies for the older siblings. Absolutely hysterical. Spanky was delivering long lines of dialog and he could not read yet.
"Reeeeeemark......... able"
That was my favorite episode. It was so hilarious.
Forgotten Babies.
These were not on TV (no tv shows then) these were in between movies, they always started movies on the hour, in between they filled in with this, Three Stooges, Walt Disney shorts, or Cartoons, or stuff for kids about traveling etc. etc.
along with news reels
The little rascals are awesome. Loved watching them growing up in the 70s.
As our parents watched and remembered their childhood and our grandparents remembered theirs.
They live in a regular world with adults, but the stories are from the kids point of view. Their school teacher Mrs. Crabtree is one of the regular characters. In the first scene of this film, he was not in the army, he was at military school. Usually, rich parents sent their boys to military school.
Glad to see reactors finally doing these serials. I watched these growing up in the 70s, they would come on every Sunday . One of the young actors , Robert Blake who played Mickey grew up to star in his own cop series “Barretta” . He eventually was accused of murdering his wife. Jackie Cooper continued acting and star in a few episodes of The Twilight Zone and other TV appearances. He also played Daily Planet editor Perry White in the first Superman movie in 1978. Alphalfa died young , from what I remember reading. And it’s probably important to point out that the time these were filmed, TV was not yet around, so kids would go to their local movie theaters to see them.
This didn't start as a Televison show. You could go to the movies and see other short films like these. You could also see cartoons from Disney or Warner Bros. all day long of Saturday for kids.
These shows didn't come on TV until the late 50's and aired on TV until the early 80's. These short started out in Silent movies.
Another fan here that used to watch them on Saturday morning. There's one where Spanky couldn't have been more than 2 years old, but played his part and knew his lines like any other actor. Alfalfa used to urinate on the lights so the work day would be called off and they'd be sent home. His performances on screen, though, were phenomenal. It amazes me sometimes when people think so much of a 5 year old calling 911 when these kids were working and making a living at that age. Memorizing lines and playing parts. So glad to see you reacting to them! 😃
Some kids at that time would be working on their family farm with all kinds of responsibilities. Others worked as paperboys and in factories.
It reminds me of a show that was on CBS 10 years ago.
It was called Kids Town. They had kids run an old Western ghost town. It only got one season.
@@briansmith48 That used to be the purpose of having kids. 🫤
It wasn't easy to coax lines out of the kids. Director Robert McGowan (whom the kids loved) found it difficult and stressful especially dealing with stage mothers. The Our Gang series was at its most popular and successful under McGowan's direction; when he became ill in the late-1920s and had to turn over the director's chair to nephew Robert A. McGowan (billed as "Anthony Mack" to distinguish himself from his uncle) for two years, the series faltered.
That was great!
A suggestion for you...Gomer Pyle's Citizens Arrest (of Barney Fife)...very funny.
Watched these back in the 70's when they played them on Saturday's cartoon lineup. The time difference of 40 years always interested me as a kid to see how my Dad childhood era looked. I always tried to pay attention to the background stuff to see what the world looked like back then. I guess this would be like watching early 80's shows today to get the feel for where we were in the 80's. Of course we have lots of home vids for that though. Thank goodness for better film tech.
It was great seeing the rascals again. These short films ( serials) were shown in the movie theaters before the main attraction movie.
Speaking of good names, you must run a Little Rascals featuring a boy named Froggy!
I prefer the earlier episodes. By the time of the Froggy era, these shorts were no longer being produced by Hal Roach and the change was palpable; OG had list its heart.
@@breckrichardson390 No Froggy, need Stymie. The black kids had some sway as Allen "Farina" Hoskins was the best actor according to Hal Roach and Matthew "Stymie" Beard was director Robert McGowan's favourite Rascal.
I love The Little Rascals. As kids in the 60's we had fun, we mad fun, outside was our life.
This is a movie that people would go watch at the theater. Television didn’t appear until the forties. Many families had a tv by the fifties.
My father, who was born in 1932 said every Saturday he and the other kids would go to the nearest theatre and watch two or three shorts (Li' Rascels, Buck Rogers, space travel, Roy Rogers, western) and then the movie, the whole afternoon for $0.10 admission. No ho,e televisions till after 1945.
Should read all the back stories on all these kids from the our gang series..So many of them died young..Alfalfa (Carl Switzer) was shot to death in a bar when he was 31..So many others, as well, died tragically young...Spanky lived to a ripe old age...Try to find any with Spanky when he was very young..Absolutely hysterical!..There's one where he's babysitting a whole bunch of toddlers, he being only about 4/5 himself!..REMARKABO!!..You'll know what that means if you see that one!..Lol!
The ones with Miss Crabtree and Chubby and Jackie vying for her attention and Spanky was practically a baby
@@sunsungoaway "Don't call me Norman. Call me chubby-ubbsy."
Let me tell you guys something every day we had a football game. We Gather up as many kids as we could each person would pick a person for the team. The best people would always get picked first and the worst people would always get picked last. But football was an integral part of us growing up. We didn't even need a football we just needed some sort of ball to play. We did not have electronic games. We had the simplest toys known. But mainly playing football was an everyday part of our day
14:29 It was originally directed at all moviegoers, in theaters, the primary attendees naturally being adults. Later, it was directed specifically at kids during syndication on TV.
I don’t think people had tvs in the 30s. Thanks for the episode. I’ve never seen it before.
Two years later, in 1939, the top movies will be The Wizard of Oz, Gone With the Wind, and Grapes of Wrath. But these little short films like The Little Rascals were meant to be shown at kid's matinee days ------ cartoons, comedy shorts, music (my mom remembers lyrics to popular songs being shown on the movie screen for the audience to sing along), then a low-budget western. Live acts would also be at the theater sometimes, and would perform in-between the films. Every Saturday afternoon for 10 cents, my mom would be at the theater with her brother.
These were not “shows”, as in TV…these were shorts (less than 20 minutes) that were shown in theaters before or between the main features.
The Our Gang comedies began in the 1920s, in the silent era, and ran well into the 1940s (1922-1944).
They didn’t become known as “The Little Rascals” until they were packaged for television in 1955, after TV had become a major source of entertainment.
The majority of the shorts centered around kids being kids and their imaginations…often in the lower income bracket and much of it during the Great Depression.
The best one is "The Kid from Borneo". With "uncle George. Spanky is really little.
Happy Birthday to Eugene "Porky" Lee; October 25, 1933 and George "Spanky" McFarland; October 2, 1928.
Better to see the past for what it actually was than try and protect everyones feelings.
This was mesmerizing stuff for a 6,7, or 8 year old.
I too watched on saturday mornings in the 70s. It is surprisingly sophisticated.
I’m 62 and grew up with these shows. We were free range kids in summer and weekends. No helicopter parenting but you had to be home for dinner or go to bed hungry as a lesson not to be to late in my home. And when Dad gave a whistle, you headed home fast or else.
Spanky McFarland was a really talented little kid, even as young 3 and 4.
Carl Switzer, who played Alfalfa was the most popular child star in one year of the late 1930's according to a video list from 1930 to the 2020's
Scotty Beckett, whom Alfalfa had replaced as Spanky's side kick in the series, was the most popular child actor in 1940. Scotty was already getting roles in major motion pictures when he was about 3 years old and Hal Roach brought him into the "Our Gang" series. He and Spanky were the "little kids" who would sometimes outsmart the older kids. Or they would save the day when the older kids methods were unsuccessful.
Scotty continued being loaned out to other studios and made many other movies while he was in the series.
Scotty continued to get roles in films as the son of the stars or play the role of the star as a child throughout the 1930's and 1940's. He stayed busy in major films and the "Rocky Jones: Space Ranger" film series until about 1952. And he fell onto hard times around that time and left the movie business He also died young at only 38 years.
Scotty had returned to the MGM produced Our Gang comedies for 2 shorts in 1940 as Alfalfa's cousin Wilbur.
Human beings have always had entertainment. As far as film, people went to silent shows beginning in the early years of 1900’s when cinema was first invented. Charlie Chaplin was famous all over the world in the 19teens and 1920’s. In addition to the early cinema films, there was vaudeville which began in the 1880’s and was common worldwide until the 1930’s, and it had musical numbers, dancers, comedy skits, acts with animals, magicians, etc. - where so many people got their start (the Marx Brothers for example.) There always was of course the regular stage theater with plays, from dramas to Shakespeare and comedy like the satires in the late 1800’s of playwrights like Oscar Wilde. And radio became extremely popular in the 1930’s, which had mysteries, detective shows, suspense thrillers (that’s where the phrase ‘the Shadow knows’… from a show called The Shadow…, “soaps” about hospitals or love interests like later would be on tv (they got their name because soap companies sponsored the shows), lots of comedies, people like Jack Benny with their own shows, westerns, game shows, quiz shows, shows specifically for kids, etc. Families looked forward to when their fave shows would be on and crowded around their radios.
Some very early silent films were hand-colored and quite beautiful. But Technicolor came out in the mid 1930’s and had some of the most stunning photography which is more saturated and long-lasting than the color film used now. (Check out The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) or The Wizard of Oz (1939) especially if you can find restored versions.
I'd like to see a Chaplin reaction. The smuggled nose powder scene from Modern Times would be great.
Definitely ! @@jethro1963
Back then these would have been seen at the movie theaters. TV was very limited in the 1930's.
As a child in the 70s, I enjoyed watching the reruns of this show. And, what would later be renamed "The Little Rascals". Thanks for the memories!
Another 51 baby here. My mother called these Our Gang comedies. She said that she saw them at the movie theater before the main movie started. We were the first generation to grow up watching TV. Not that we could do it like kids today. We played outside all day. My mother said Go outside and play and we did.
The Little Rascals or Our Gang started in silent film, a few years before sound came in. The name The Little Rascals came to be when they syndicated the short films to TV changing beginning logos. Should watch the one with spanky was introduced he was so cute.
Stymie, Petey and baby Spanky in The Pooch
Thanks for the reaction, loved it. Not sure how/why you picked this episode but it was a winner. Thanks, would love to see more Rascals.
These shorts were actually originally shown in movie theatres. They weren't shown on television until 1955. I'm a big fan of classic comedy shorts like this.
Originally, they were shorts shown in theaters before the featured film started to keep the early birds entertained. Or even played between featured films because in some theaters one ticket would pay for the day or multiple feature films.
I LOVED WATCHING THEM DURING THE 1970S WHILE GROWING UP
I believe these were made to cheer people up during the depression time . I kids were very intelligent for the times. Kids worked during this time.
They began before the depression. Hal Roach got the idea when he was looking out the window at kids fighting over sticks in a lot across the street. He realized he was fascinated watching them for about 15 minutes. He figured it would be more interesting to watch kids being natural than imitating adult acting styles. Looks like he was proven right.
@@jethro1963 Thanks. This was interesting to know.
Holly, until not long ago (1970s/80s), kids did schedule their own games: selecting the time/place/teams, bringing the equipment, making up and adhering to the rules, choosing teammates and team leaders, etc. practically every day, without adult supervision.
Of course, not so elaborately like that little rascals episode but yes, without adults. Gone for hours.
In the summer, in the 70s I went to the playground up the street at 10 am, returned for lunch that I made myself (no microwave), went back to the playground or wherever we decided to play until near 5 pm, had supper and went around the neighborhood until 10 pm. Day done. I feel sorry for kids today robbed of their freedom to move and freedom to be a child.
And now any unsupervised children result in CPS knocking on the parents door and all kinds of consequences. We did this to ourselves. Unstructured unsupervised play is pretty much illegal now. Childhood in the outdoors is pretty much illegal, loitering laws and curfews keep kids indoors.
@@grahamparks1645 There's an organization called "Free Range Kids" that tries to push back but society has already embraced not letting kids roam without adults. One study shows that 50 % of parents won't let their kids (ages 9-11) go to another aisle in the supermarket to get an item.
Such simpler times! Things are certainly not the same anymore. Thanks for your comments!
My cousin once told me, "you do realize we were feral kids"
We got kicked out of the house. You NEVER stayed in unless you were really sick.
Came home for dinner, & had to be on the block when the street lights came on or back in.
There were a gazillion games we would play outside. I remember so much more sports being played in the streets etc. From stoop ball, hand ball (bottoms up to the losers) through football, softball, baseball.
Johnny on the pony, red light , green light, giant step. I can go on, truly sooo many more.
Block parties were great too.
I am so glad we grew up BEFORE cell phones, our parents could NOT track us.. i remember standing outside a movie theater with my friends asking people to take us in. We were underage, movie was for 18 & older, 14 was not cutting it. Yes, a couple did finally take us in.. Point being, my parents never knew.
If you're feelings got hurt, you were told, the world is a tough place... very different from today.
Why are you surprised that there was that level of comedy "back then"?! Did you never hear of The Golden Age of Hollywood? The time when some of the greatest talents in the entertainment business were all basically in one place at one time, creating, innovating, and generally inventing everything on which today's entertainment industry is built. That level of talent and creativity is unmatched to this day. The creators of The Little Rascals wanted to show all kinds of kids being kids and having fun together. They were loved then and still are today. Glad to see you guys enjoyed it!
These were called "Serials." They were played before and in-between double feature movies.
TV was around, but it was not really available to the general public, and it wasn't Big until the late 1940s and really took off in the 1950s.
shorts
They even had bullies in 1937. But the Rascals dealt with it. And kids played outside together all day.
One of Spanky's last appearances as himself -- an adult, in the TV series "Cheers" playing himself. It was a cameo appearance but it was excellent for baby boomers.
Alfalfa, as an adult, went on to appear in a few John Wayne movies but tragically was killed (1959) in a confrontation with someone he accused of a bad business deal.
One of his best scenes is the Barber of Seville episode & the man who said: "But you signed the contract...." to him was Henry Brandon -- the man who played the villain Silas Barnaby (at 22 years old) in "The March of the Wooden Soldiers" ("Babes In Toyland") with Laurel & Hardy. Later he played Scar the Comanche Chief, John Wayne in "The Searchers" is hunting down.
But the best of all is when the Rascals built from scrap their own fire engine for a race down a hill with a rich kid who had a shiny toy firetruck & a pretty girl. That one was exciting.
An early episode with the beautiful teacher Miss Crabtree is good because two boys decide to play hooky from school, fake sickness, and find a reason to get out of school. Not knowing on that day Ms. Crabtree was treating the class to ice cream.
Jackie Cooper was the little boy & he went on to be Mr White the publisher of the Daily Planet in the first "Superman" movie with Christopher Reeve.
You guys do an excellent job -- entertaining.
I'm sure the fire truck episode is what the 90s film was based on
@@JohnMiller-zn9pf - Possibly, because that episode was a classic one.
@@JohnMiller-zn9pf They built a fire truck to race in Hi'-Neighbor! and started a fire department in Hook and Ladder.
I believe the first or second Our Gang short of the series in 1922 and another short also from the silent era had also stories of the kids being firefighters with their homemade fire engines.
Some of the silent Our Gang films are considered lost films. Some prints have been discovered in recent years and one of the reels of their first film titled "Our Gang" was found.
@@charlesowens6400 - I think many "lost" films were in the big film storage warehouse fire a few years ago. Not sure.
But, as you may know, films made back in 1922 were the ones that were highly flammable & if not stored correctly would eventually corrode.
Finding those films is not impossible but I would think over 100 years later not probable. Ironically, some Hollywood films/prints thought lost are often found in crazy places like Europe.
Thanks for that information, charlesowens.
This was a show all kids watched in the 70s . There were rumors that 2 of the little rascals lived in our town . A few years ago I finally found out it was Alfalfa was shocked that I knew his mother who had a dancing school that my sister took classes and his sister was one of My sister's freinds . Ironically Before He passed taught voice lessons His character was known for his terrible singing voice.
The Gang/Rascals had some pretty good writers over the years: Frank Capra, Leo McCarey, and speaking of looking like cartoons, animators Walter Lantz and Frank Tashlin also wrote for the series.
I use to watch Little Rascals/ Our Gang shorts on local tv station on Sunday mornings in the late 70’s & early 80’s.
No TV'S yet in 1937. These were short films shown at the movie theaters. There were episodic series like Our Gang, The Cisco Kid, etc., shown with the feature film. You'd get newsreels, too.
There was experimental TV in the 1930s but it wouldn't be prominent until the early 1950s
@@jethro1963 Point is, no one had TVs
There was definitely entertainment in the '30s, but mostly it was radio and little shows, news and cartoons at the movie theater. We didn't have a TV until 1952. It was a tiny screen in a big wood cabinet. We got a color TV in about 1964.
The kid with the bananas was "Junior" who was hinted to be Spanky's younger brother in this and another film Canned Fishing. Junior was played by Gary Jasgur who later went by Mel (Melvyn Gary) Jasgur
I like the way they talked bake then.
phases like "Swell" and "And How".
The younger kid standing next to Buckwheat is Robert Blake who played Beretta in a series during the late seventies
A 'show' built around Alfalfa pretending he played football, then playing a football game without a helmet.
You should see the He Man Woman Haters’ Club episode.
High sign
@@Fast_Eddy_Magic Give me the high sign (hand wave under chin)
Number 9 on the Tigers is the last living Little Rascal. In later episodes he would play Butch's pal "The Woim."
kids stopped going outside and using their imagination with the advent of tech. Now we have fat kids who never leave the house.
I think NYU social psychologist Jonathan Haidt traces a lot of the problems back to the 80s when there were several high profile kidnappings (kids on milk boxes) and thus began helicopter parenting. Phones and social media obviously came much later and compounded the problem. One thing I never hear about is the microwave oven. Now you have the easy preparation of non nutritious food at your fingertips, another recipe for disaster.
Little Rascals were mostly about kids inventing things, like their cars and stuff, but sometimes it was about bullying.
Loved watching The Little Rascals when I was a kid.
No, there were no TVs back then. These were "shorts" that were shown in movie theaters prior to the main feature. Going to the movies was a big event in those days and meant more than just seeing *a* movie. Often, it was a double feature with a "B" movie running before the "main feature." Or there would be news reels (so people could actually see video of recent news events as they could only hear about them on radio) and comedy shorts like "Our Gang" and "The Three Stooges" or cartoons prior to the main feature. So people were in the theater for several hours being entertained. Incidentally, when TV finally did come along, "Our Gang" was no longer being produced but it did eventually appear in reruns on TV with a new title: "The Little Rascals."
You guys now have to watch some of the Saturday Night Live skits of Eddie Murphy playing Buckwheat.
the fact that the one kid is eating bananas is kinda of significant because it was during the Great Depression years, and having food then was a big deal. The early director in the 30's got burned out working with all those kids and left after 1933 , when Spanky was only 6.Also of note, The Our Gang series produced during the Jim Crow-era is notable for being one of the first in cinema history in which African Americans and White Americans were portrayed as equals.
It's like the Warner Brothers cartoons, where the adult humans were not the main part of the story, it was all about the kids world or the animal characters like Bugs, Daffy Duck etc
I used to watch these when I was a kid growing up! They're still funny! 😂🙈🙉🙊
Little Rascals were in theatre, not TV. There was no TV until the late 40s early 50s. The minstrel show, that was discussed was late 1800s and was a stage show prior to Broadway.
Its funny to hear you say, like did they have to set up for everybody to meet at the same time and place? All kids played outside, all day. We knew where to find each other. We never stayed indoors. I'm a Latch-key kid, one of the last generations to hang out outside all day till the street lights turned on. 😄
Of course they were in the theaters back then. I am talking about when TV evolved they were released and hit the TV markets until late 80s.
No entertainment in the 30's? You have much to learn! lol
The Wizard of Oz was filmed in black and white/sepia tone and Technicolor in 1939!
The best Our Gang videos are the earlier ones when Spanky and the others were about 3-4 years old.
Like the old Warner Brothers cartoons, many of these shorts were played before a movie.
And Joe, I dunno if you've ever done this or if anyone has ever suggested it, but next Halloween with a black suit, skinny black tie, and a derby?
You'd be the spitting image of Stan Laurel! lol
See guys when I watch this I was 6 years old. You really have to be younger to watch this and appreciate it for what it was. You must have an imagination to go with the Our Gang Little Rascals
Your videos are wonderful. As our generations proceed your interpretations are important. Please also take the time to convey the history of their own times with your insights as you see it today. This is a great contribution you could make.
People didn't have TVs until the 1950's. These episodes were shown in movie theaters - you would buy. a ticket to see a movie but you would see short films before the movie started. Shorts like The Little Rascals and always a newsreel.
Good choice. Great memories watching them before school.
I loved that show
So as mentioned elsewhere in the comments, this was from before tv. People would go to the movie on the weekends and watch these shorts, and they had serial dramas like Zoro or Flash Gordon that every week was a new "episode" at the movies of the show.
A couple of other good ones you might want to check out are "Hi neighbor" and "Pay as you exit"
I used to watch these whenever I stayed home from school, sick...
Chubby was the "fat" kid, and there was Froggy who had a very deep, gritty voice...
There are so many lines that i still say. Usually without context but it always makes ME laugh.
"It's time to grease Weezer."
"Be on the lookout for a drunkin' monkey."
"Say Romeo. What about your pledge to the He-man-woman-haters club?"
"Pull the cats tail"
"There's a fire at the fire station."
"Thems ain't babies. Thems fidgets."
"Say, Ga Ga."
"Give me two cream puffs...one of those, two of those....and two more cream puffs."
"Hey Spanky. We're you goin? Fishing! Do ya got worms? Yea, but I'm going anyway."
"I'm bug huntin'"
"Don't drink the milk... it's spoiled."
"Don't call me Norman. Call me Chubbsy Wubbsy."
"Oh Miss Crabtree there's something heavy on my heart.... there's going to be something heavy on your nose..."
"Momma told me to tell Jackie to come home because.... Mama cut all her fingers off. ..... Jackie to come home because Mama was going to shoot Papa. How's that Jackie?"
"I gotta headache in my stomach."
There's more im forgetting but i just rattled those off in a few minutes. Ha!
I'm a huge fan of the little rascals
I think back in those days people seen these in the movies as shorts before a bigger film.... same with the 3 stooges. I think TVs came out in the late 40s but most people didn't have them till the 50s. I was lucky because in the 70s my little sister and I had a small portable tv in our bedroom... it was black and white but it was better than sharing the BIG TV with the parents and when I say BIG... I am talking 20 inch lol... looked big but the screen was 20 inch. So funny
I think they wrote for the personalities of the children. There were several changes in characters over the years, but "Our Gang" was always funny and usually somewhat absurd. You should watch "The International Silverstring Submarine Band"
No tv in the 30s at least for the public. . Within 3 years of this movie, most of the original cast was gone. This was actually an MGM production which is considered inferior to the earlier movies. Unlike the earlier movies where the kids were let go once they aged out, MGM wanted to keep Alfalfa and Spanky even though they got too old by 1940. I think they quit on their own as it was time to go. They were and are still today the two most popular characters of the series. By the 40s, these types of short films that were shown before the actual movie started to die out. That is what happened to the Little Rascal as well as The Three Stooges and even Laurel and Hardy. There wasn't money to be made. By the 50s they were just showing double features. Like everyone else mentioned about being on TV, these movies were repackaged and shown on TV and they got a new life. This was true for the little rascals as well as The Three Stooges where they made a comeback. Unfortunately by this time, the Little Rascals weren't so little anymore but it did give the Three Stooges a new life.
My cousin was named Darla after this show. She’s 60!
Eveyone in the past sat aroiund with no entertainment at all until you were born lol. The our gang comedies were shown in movie theaters since people didn't have tv sets until the late 40's/ 50's.
These weren't "shows". These were short films that they later showed on TV
Don't just guess, do a little legwork. It wasn't a television show. They were movie shorts that they would show along the featured movie. The Three Stooges were another.
Alfalfa had such apeel!
The guy is right when I was growing up they had what was called the afternoon matinee. These tickets were free and it kept the kids from getting into trouble they handed out free tickets because us kids didn't have any money. We were not paid money for doing chores we did chores because they were our chores. If you wanted money you had to take it upon yourself to mow Lawns shovel snow or like I did deliver newspapers. I delivered a morning route and an afternoon route. I woke up at 5:00 in the morning and did my morning route before school. And in the afternoon did the Delaware Gazette after school. Back then kids were very hard workers. You had to work for any money that you got. Only time you ever got toys was on your birthday and at Christmas. If you wanted to play guns you use sticks and imagine they were guns. The last of the best times in history
The Little Rascals wasn’t a “show.” They were comedy shorts shown before movies.
There were a ton of Silent movies...when they turned to talkies many of the silent film stars didn't make the cut because the sound of their voices...
No TV in the 30's. These were short films played in theaters.
There's actually adults in these episodes.
But it's mostly from the point of view of the gang when they are away from adults, or getting into trouble around adults.
They weren't soldiers or police or supossed to be adults.
That was military or boarding school.
The Rascals were a diverse auxiliary fire department
Please react to 2 of my favorites: FORGOTTEN BABIES and THE POOCH. You'll love these!!
Definitely The Pooch. Stymie, Baby Spanky, Petey, Dorothy going all Ronda Rousey, you can't go wrong with that lineup. Trivia note: Pete's makeup was done by makeup artist Max Factor.
Hey folks from Ned in Spain and a life long Little Rascals / Our Gang lover for 50+ years. These as well as the early classic Bugs Bunny, Betty Boop and Popeye were geared for adults but had elements that children loved too. Hal Roach chose kids who had something unique about them and he knew how to orchestrate them to make it all work. People have accused them of being racist, there are a few cringe moments, but for instance, Buckwheat is kinda fearless jumping on that bigger kids back and usually got his revenge on a bully. Stymie was the hero or the focus in a lot of his appearances. They always worked together as equals. If they got down on the girls even, they got a lesson by the end. The series stated during the silent days and ended by the mid 1940s. Watch more of them and try forgive the cringe bits, some of them are amazing and kinda freaky.
You kids today stand on the shoulders of people that started this entire thing you call entertainment. Are you forgetting that times passes fast and your not so far away from your grandparents as you think?
They made short films that were shown in movie theaters back then since tv didn't exist as a medium for entertainment fully untill the 1950s
Give "The Kid from Borneo" a try if you want a mistaken identity laugh. It's from 1933 and came before MGM bought the series and toned things down.
The MGM kids were too polished. The best ones had Stymie, Ferina,Jackie,Mary Ann and Miss Crabtree.
It was the great depression, people went to the movies to forget about their problems and laugh a little
Hal Roach was a pioneer, if you truly consider the era these came out. While some racial stereotypes were used, if you look at how the KIDS treated each other..... they were all equal. So, yeah, while the adult black people were stereotypical of the day, and some of the was handed down to the kids.... the white kids and their non-white counterparts were all treated the same (on screen). They were all friends. It's how I grew up in the 1970s.... I had friends of all ethnicities, and as long as you weren't an asshole.... you were "one of us". A friend.
Please keep doing the "Our Gang/Little Rascals" from this time period..... You guys keep touching on the stuff I grew up on, and I'm all here for it.
1:50 - Okay, Seeing Alfalfa in the opening shot.... that tells me that this short is one of the "later" ones. Do yourselves a favor and go back to the earliest ones, and go forward. You definitely should see how these evolved.
3:00 - Also, you REALLY need to see Spanky when he was little. I think he was 2 years old when he joined the cast. Not only was he adorable, but he had an incredible sense of comedic timing.
3:50 - Also, Alfalfa was, according to every documentary I've seen, "Difficult" to work with (he had a really BAD tempter). Sadly, he and many of the other cast members died tragic deaths. There's a documentary (actually, several) about it, and I'm honestly not sure if you should watch it before, or after delving into this series. Wheezer, Alfalfa, and Porky were probably the most tragic in their own ways. Chubby is actually buried near where I live, and I keep meaning to go down there and put a flower on his grave. But none of the cast members profited much off of their fame...... but they DID at least blaze the path for "Residuals" for actors in the future. Watching the documentaries before heading down the rabbit hole may make the shorts more impactful upon watching, but enjoying them first may make the documentaries more impactful when you see what those kids went through for our entertainment. So I can't really advise you on that.
I'm always amazed at this younger post-internet generation. I was born in the 70s, so much too young to see Our Gang when it was new, but I watched the shows, and knew the humour. You guys act like you are surprised that people enjoyed themselves in the 30s! Did you think everyone just sat around and stared into space? I'm not trying to be snarky-I really wonder what you guys think about people a hundred years ago