Little Rascals Bad Luck - Page 2

[Jane2]

Posted: 1/27/09 at 11:39pm

When Buckwheat was a girl

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/27/09 at 11:50pm

Two who broke the curse:

Jackie Cooper --- youngest Academy Award nominee ever for Best Leading Actor (he was 8 years old at the time). A major MGM film star after his "rascal" (actually Our Gang) days. He worked right through adolescence, had some great roles as an adult (Perry White in the Christopher Reeve "Superman") and was a successful director as well. Still alive, but happily retired.

Annie Ross --- became one-third of the legendary vocal jazz trio "Lambert, Hendricks & Ross."

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 12:08am

Even though he was "young" by today's standards, George "Spanky" McFarland died of a heart attack when he was nearly 64. In later life, he lent his name to many charitable causes and even had a charity golf classic named after him.

That sounds like someone who did something meaningful with his life and who died a painless death. All in all, not bad. We should all be so lucky.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 12:10am

Maybe it's these many exceptions that prove Roxy's rule? Or something?

[SNAFU]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 12:12am

Was Spanky's last television appearance the time he was on Cheers?

[winston89]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 1:56am

I was reading an article about racism in the Our Gang shorts. Back when it was originally filmed you never saw white people interacting with black people. It was in that way that the shorts were groundbreaking. As for the racism in the shorts, the actors who played the black characters spoke out about that when they were older. The show was seen as depicting negative racial stereotypes against blacks. They said that they didn't see it that way because they felt that the shorts contained stereotypes about white people as well. Such as the fat kid, the nerd, the pretty girl etc. They never felt that Hal Roach was racist in any way and that they felt that he was color blind when it came to issues like that.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 1:21pm

Froggy was creepy.

I wonder who thought up "The He-Man Woman Hater's Club"?

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 1:40pm

Spanky when he was a baby...the cutest kid ever:
http://community.hallmarkchannel.com/_Spanky-Tells-a-Story/video/492120/2827.html

[Jane2]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 1:43pm

Maybe Spanky was on the show the longest. I remember him as a baby, a toddler, a little older, and even older.

[broadwayjim42]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 2:34pm

That clip is from probably my favorite Little Rascals short...Spanky is priceless in it and I've stolen several lines from it. There's a scene later on when a girl takes a rather nasty fall off a chair and instead of rushing to her aid or feeling sympathetic, Spanky says "That's what you get for being smart."

I say that all the freaking time.

[Jon]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 3:11pm

I just saw an episode on TV a couple of days ago. The gang is putting on their version of Romeo and Juliet. Alfalfa is Romeo and Darla is Juliet. She quits after one act because Alfalfa has been eating onions, which he thinks is good for his voice. They get Buckwheat to takeover as Juliet, and he calls Romeo "Homie-oh".

[Gothampc]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 3:15pm

What was the difference between "Little Rascals" and "Our Gang"? Where they the same group by two different names?

[broadwayjim42]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 3:24pm

They were created as Our Gang but some of the early 30's shorts have an introduction by two girls who say "Hal Roach and His Rascals." Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the Little Rascals name came along when they were sold to TV in the 50's.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 3:42pm

They became The Little Rascals when the franchise was sold to MGM. The Hal Roache's Little Rascals in OUR GANG COMEDY were how they were originally billed I believe.
When MGM took them over the kids were sort of old and the writing seemed to wane for them. Plus the kids were getting too old for their trademark costumes.

[Jon]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 6:26pm

Hal Roach??? But according to RAGTIME, they were created by Baron Ashkenazy - a.k.a. "Tateh"!

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 6:27pm

HAHAHA! Jon, that took me a minute or two.

[justme2]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 6:33pm

Nothing beats the 1929-1933 timeframe for Our Gang - the talent was top of the line...the Mary Ann Jackson, Weezer and Stymie timeframe. The acting was most natural, and the situations the kids were filmed in actually fit, as opposed to the terrible ones filmed in the late thirties, with Spanky and Gang putting on these ridiculous "shows in the barn" complete with tuxes and light effects.

See "Dogs is Dogs" and "Big Ears" and "Teacher's Pet" and the like...tops in everything. Weezer was always my favorite, from his infant appearances in the silents through his final appearances, when Spanky pushed him aside.

[wink]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 7:26pm

My dad and Jackie Cooper were friends in WWII. Jackie remained in touch with my father until his death. I saw him at a glider pilot reunion but I didn't know who he was until my dad told me later.

[ifuweregay93]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 10:01pm

Add another one to the curse list.

Butch has actually been dead for a few years.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0094054/

[SNAFU]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 10:18pm

I wouldn't call living until you are 79 cursed. I would call is great seeing the national life expectancy for men is 77.6 in the US at present.

[supportivemom]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 10:42pm

Blake Ewing played Michelle's friend. I remember him winning on Star Search with Ed McMahon when he was a junior vocalist. He was very effeminate as a kid. I wonder what he's doing now?

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 1/28/09 at 10:45pm

Well other than that AIDA production I posted that my sister watches nonstop?

He was still pretty effeminate on there, but his acting as Radames wasn't too bad. He would have been better as Ryan in High School Musical, though, or another similar part. He has a very high-pitched, nasal voice, but he's obviously had a lot of training!