
Mickey, Buckwheat, Lee, Lee's Mother, Froggy and Spanky
Production Notes[]
Length: One Reel
Producer: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Director: Edward Cahn
Photography: Jackson Rose
Editor: Leon Bourgeau
Titles:
Writer: Robert A. McGowan and Hal Law
Released: February 15, 1941
Studio: M-G-M
Main Cast[]
Supporting Cast[]
- Eddie Lee - Lee's Father
- Edward Soo Hoo - Lee Wong
- Freddie Chapman - Bully
- Hank Mann - Zoo Attendant
- James Gubitosi - Bully's gang member
- Janet Burston (actress) - Mamie Gubitosi
- Jennie Lee - Lee's Mother
- Margaret Bert - Receptionist
- Ruth Tobey - Gladys Gubitosi
- Vincent Graeff - Boxcar Smith
- William Edmunds - Mickey's Father
The Short[]
Plot: Mickey's mother is expecting another child, and the kids are fending for themselves and fighting over strawberry shortcake as breakfast. It's up to their stepfather to keep the peace. As Mickey sits down to read, he discovers a statistic that says every fourth child is Chinese and takes it literally. This is obviously distressing, but Spanky calms him by introducing him to Lee Wong, a Chinese friend of his whom the gang has never met. Lee's father presses the shirts of Spanky's father, and the gang arrives to chase off Bully, Boxcar Smith, and their bunch harassing Lee. Lee's mother is so appreciative of Spanky protecting Lee that she invites the gang to have lunch with him. Mickey realizes there is nothing wrong with being Chinese. By time he gets home, Mickey and the rest of the gang think Chinese lunch means bird nests and rat tails, but instead it's a lunch of ham and eggs. With his new respect for the Chinese people, Mickey heads home and learns his mother has gone into labor, and the news isn't good. She has given birth to twins, and they're both girls!!!
Quotes:
- "It's worse than I thought it was going to be. The doctor brought twins, and they're all girls." - Mickey
Notes/Trivia:
- The working title for this short was "Too Many Sisters."
- Darla Hood doesn't appear in this short.
- James Gubitosi is the real older brother of Robert Blake (born: Michael Gubitosi); their sister, Giovanna Gubitosi, was also a recurring Rascal.
- Spanky says that Lee's father presses his father's shirts. This is possibly a thinly-veiled attempt to bridge a link to Spanky's friend in Washee Ironee identified by Maltin and Bann as "Yen Wong" which is clearly the name of the laundry in the short. It is not clear if it's Edward Soo Hoo in both shorts. Edward is possibly seen in front of Greenpoint Public School in Bored Of Education.
- This short is credited by Maltin and Bann as one of the "heavy-handed" moralizing lessons which "sealed the lid on the coffin of the series."
- Robert Blake who plays Mickey Gubitosi appears but isn't credited.
Sequence[]
- Previous Short: Fightin' Fools
- Next Short: Ye Olde Minstrels