Best "Our Gang" Short

[Nelson]

In honor of the Little Rascals back on cable televison, which do you think is the "GREATEST" "Our Gang comedy

[Glenn]

The one I like the most, i can't think of the name of it right now, is the one where they built a taxi and stimey was driving and they had the boxing glove hooked up and they punched the people when going down the hill.
Another good one is the one where the monkey was driving the lawnmower on the golf course chasing the rascals.

[Brent]

"The Kid From Borneo"

[BobChief]

...and I'm relieved that they are using the restored versions from the Cabin Fever tapes!!

BTW, it just started raining here after three straight days of over-90º heat...{insert "Alleluia Chorus" soundbite here}

[Nelson]

My personal pick went to...BOXING GLOVES (1929).
I think it's just a hilarous short, the funniest scene is where Joe and Chubby are running down the block(in a silent scene) very fast, adn they start to rip each other's pants off.

BTW: I'm also very glad that AMC is using the restored LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 35mm prints with the MGM opening and closing titles.

[alstin]

Our Gang? Little Rascal? What is the difference?

[Sogturtle]

Originally posted by alstin
Our Gang? Little Rascal? What is the difference?

The ONLY difference is that Hal Roach sold the gang to MGM complete with the name in the late Thirties. Thus when he sold the earlier ones to TV they HAD to be renamed... Hence "The Little Rascals".

[alstin]

So it was called our gang first, right? What studio was Hal Roach and our gang in? Also, When the little rascals come out on AMC, they come out with the MGM openings, but they are early thirties shorts. Where they theatrically released with the MGM opening or was this added later? It originally opened with some kind of our gang opening, not MGM, right?

[Sogturtle]

Alstin~

"Our Gang" is indeed the original name. What you're seeing on AMC is precisely what the Thirties moviegoers saw, complete to the MGM openings. The films were financed and made independently by producer Hal Roach [Sr.] on his own lot (as were the Laurel & Hardy shorts and Charley Chase films). The films were released, distributed and advertised by MGM as if they were their own... BUUUUUT in reality they were the property of Hal Roach! This is the exact same arrangement that MGM had with Pat Powers for Ub Iwerks' Flip the Frog and Willie Whopper cartoons. MGM considered them all to be in their domain though.

[alstin]

Is this the same as when Leon Slesinger, (or however you spell his name) sold his cartoons to WB?

[J Lee]

Is this the same as when Leon Slesinger, (or however you spell his name) sold his cartoons to WB?

Well, (A.) It's Schlesinger, and (B.) Yes, the Warner Bros. cartoons were released in the same fashion as Hal Roach's comedies (or for that matter David O. Selznick's "Gone With the Wind") was at MGM -- Schlesinger was an independent producer releasing his cartoons through WB until July of 1944, when Warner's bought him out and obtained full rights to the characters (except for marketing, which Leon kept until 1948).

That's why Bugs Bunny could appear in the Paramount Puppetoon "Jasper Goes Hunting" in 1944 before Leon sold the studio; Bugs was his character and he could do whatever he wanted to with him, or Daffy, or Porky or anyone else (since Jasper is black, don't expect to see an exerpt of that Puppetoon anywhere on TV anytime soon; the Turner people pushed the limit 10 years ago when the snuck a clip from "All This and Rabbit Stew" into their two-hour tribute to Bugs on TNT).

[alstin]

thanks for the reply's from everyone

[PlopKat]

Glenn wrote:

The one I like the most, i can't think of the name of it right now, is the one where they built a taxi and stimey was driving and they had the boxing glove hooked up and they punched the people when going down the hill.
Another good one is the one where the monkey was driving the lawnmower on the golf course chasing the rascals.


The first short is "Free Wheelin'"; the second is "Divot Diggers." I think Leonard Maltin's book on the Little Rascals said that Frank Tashlin was a gag writer on "Divot Diggers."

I can't single out any "Our Gang" short as my top pick. Here are some of my most favorite:

-- "Fly My Kite"
-- "The Kid From Borneo"
-- "Pay As You Exit"
-- "Teacher's Beau"
-- "Little Sinner"

-PlopKat