Vote for why you think it jumped
Hal Roach sells out
Never Jumped
Puberty (Spanky)
The Movie
They cut the giddy music
Shark Bytes
"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.
The show jumped when Hal roach sold the rascals to MGM I couldnt stand froggy he was sooo annouying!!! And Spanky was a big Fat 15 year old kid still wearing shorts and a Beanie
The greatest comedy series ever--movies OR TV. I laugh my ass off at the best ones. The original 20s silents are--at their finest--real masterpieces of insanity; though the 30s talkies, shown constantly on the boob-tube, are the best-known. To my mind, the familiar series had three clear-cut "shark" periods: the first was the early sound-film era, with no background music as yet, and lots of holes where there isn't any dialogue......films like "Lazy Days," "A Tough Winter" and so on are painfully awkward (though "Moan And Groan, Inc." could've been a classic, with Farina being pursued by that werewolf!). Then there was year later, when schoolmarm Miss Crabtree became a regular, resulting in the most gooey, sappy episodes ever (the worst is "Readin' And Writin," one of the most manipulative films I've ever seen). It was here, too, that the evil seed of an episode "teaching these kids a lesson" was officially planted, in "Shiver My Timbers." And: Yeah, guys, I KNOW Miss Crabtree's a doll--but not as much of a babe as Spanky & Alfalfa's teachers, Miss Jones & Miss Lawrence! The ONE exception in the Miss Crabtree era is "Love Business," which goes for straight laughs. The final "shark" era was circa 1936, when Buckwheat (the movies' youngest drag artist) officially became a boy (it made the series even more unequal sexually, with Darla now being the only female). Also, the episodes were trimmed from 20 to 10 minutes: another minus. It was here that the whole notion of the series focusing on "teaching the kids a lesson" really began in earnest, making their wretched way into the post-1938 episodes. It killed it. REALLY--the greatest episodes were those in which the kids got the best of a pompous, authoritative adult figure: like the anal-retentive toystore owner in "For Pete's Sake"; or the effeminate photographer in "Wild Poses" (baby Spanky: "I don't WANT my pitcher took!!"); or Spanky's pushy stage mother in "Beginner's Luck"; or the wealthy society ladies in "Wash-ee Iron-ee"; or the truant officer in "Arbor Day"; or the radio announcer in "Mike Fright"; or the elderly English dowager in "Second Childhood"; or the pet show entrants in "Pups Is Pups"; or Darla's prissy dad in "Night 'N' Gales" & "Feed 'Em And Weep"; or the sneezing chauffeur in "Honky Donkey"; or the fruity rep from the bureau-of-missing-persons in "Choo-Choo!" Actually, you COULD say that the series FUNNIEST-ever episode, "The Kid From Borneo," represents an offbeat twist on this whole plot idea. Funnier than hell.
This show definitely jumped when Hal Roach stopped being involved. What was MGM thinking with such dreadful episodes as "The Big Premiere"(featuring the worst singing Alfalfa has ever done-and to think I had a crush on him when I was 4!!), "All About Hash"(Mickey Gubitosi mistook excessive sniveling and caterwauling for dramatic acting in that one)and the ever-popular "Don't Lie"?!?! This series was so funny and delightful in the 1920's and up to 1938(I have the whole set of talkies plus some of the silent ones, complete with Leonard Maltin's loving introductions), and then we got treated to five years of preachy, badly acted,humorless, lifeless crap. It didn"t help that Spanky grew corpulent, Alfalfa grew annoying,Buckwheat lost his natural acting ability, and they added such nonentities as Janet, Mickey and Froggy.Of the pre-MGM rascals that stayed into the MGM shorts, the only one that didn't suffer too badly was Tommy "Butch" Bond. He kept his acting skills intact!!
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