Profile
Name: Allen (Morrison) (Hoskins)
Nickname: Farina, Maple (Saturday Morning)
Played By: Allen Hoskins
Born: 1920
Relatives: Ernie Sr. (father), Mother (name unrevealed), Mrs. Jackson (aunt), Ernie Jr. (aka Sunshine Sammy), Pineapple, Hector (brothers), Mango, Pleurisy (sisters),
Clubs: The Cluck Cluck Klams
First Short: Fire Fighters
Last Short: Fly My Kite
Character
Bio: Farina is the little brother of Sunshine Sammy Morrison, although due to his unswept pigtails and ragamuffin clothes as a kid, many thought he was actually a girl and at times, the gang would forget and refer to him as "her." Farina followed his brother along in delivering the laundry that their mother did and was sometimes called "Maple" in Saturday Morning as his brother was called "Sorghum." He and his brother have several ways of earning extra money from shining shoes in A Pleasant Journey and Big Business, posing for dolls in Mary, Queen of Tots, working as a bellboy at the Ritz-Biltmore Hotel in Barnum & Ringling, Inc., working as a page at the City Dog Show in Pups Is Pups and getting the gang to pay two bits to watch a boxing match between Joe Cobb and Chubby Chaney in Boxing Gloves.
Farina is first seen attending Adams Street Grammar School in Seeing The World with Mr. Finlayson as his teacher and later Miss MacGillicuddy and Miss Crabtree. Farina and the kids get so upset at losing Miss MacGillicuddy that they plan pratical jokes to drive away Miss Crabtree in order to get their teacher back. Farina brings sneezing powder, but their schemes fail when Jackie unwiitingly confesses their pranks to Miss Crabtree on the way to school. Farina also appears for some reason at Mother Malone's Boarding School in Boys To Board and Happyland Home Orphanage in Bring Home The Turkey. Whenever he has the urge to play hooky, he rides the train to wherever it takes him in Fast Freight, once ending up with the gang in New York City in The Big Town. (In some accounts, they actually live on the West Coast near Los Angeles.) He and the gang sometimes play baseball and ride Johnny's engineless taxi in One Wild Ride, stopping only after running into a watermelon stand. Farina loves watermelon (The Cobbler), but he has weird dreams when he eats too much. In Seein' Things, he has a nightmare that giant versions of his brother and friends are chasing him.
At times, the gang pretends they have jobs. Farina joins them in as junior police officers in Official Officers and becomes a part of Joe Cobb's fire department in The Fourth Alarm. After Ernie goes to high school, Farina basically tagged along with the other kids, sometimes pairing up with a certain kid. For instance, Farina was frequently paired up with Joe. They both team up to run the local bully, Toughey out of town in Telling Whoppers, later claiming they dumped him in Coogan Lake, which is all the more embarrassing when Toughey later comes into town. Farina was also sometimes paired up with Jackie Condon. Beginning with the film Thundering Fleas, Farina is paired up with the new kid in town, Scooter Lowry. After Scooter moved yet another town, Farina sometimes paired up with Harry Spear.
Farina loves animals and has several of them during his childhood. He has a dog named Magnolia in Thundering Fleas, a dog named Pansy who eats fireworks in The Glorious Fourth and later adopts a fighting monkey in Monkey Business. Twice in his childhood, he confused skunks as kittens in Big Business and Ten Years Old. His favorite pet is probably Pete The Pup. Farina is also highly superstitious, making him prone to practical jokes in Spook Spoofing and getting scared by Chubby, Jean, and Harry (all of who are dressed up in spooky Halloween cosutmes) in Bouncing Babies. He thinks an automated house in Shootin' Injuns is haunted and when Jackie Cooper appears at his window in When The Wind Blows, he thinks he's a ghost. His superstitious proclivity could be connected to the fact that when he was riding in train cars, he once got locked in one containing skeletons and medical cadavers in Fast Freight.
Although he gets to be a bit lazy in Lazy Days, Farina says he wants to grow up to be a street sweeper in Fast Freight. He's got a big heart and helps out Grandmother Mack at her market in Helping Grandma and watches over Stymie when he shows up in town in Little Daddy. Years later though, Farina and Joe Cobb are still fishing together in Fish Hooky.
Quotes:
- "Believe me, married life is tough!" - Farina in School's Out
- "Ah eat mush from now on!" - Farina in Seein' Things
- "I'm never gonna get married, and I'm going to bring my children up the same way." - Farina in School's Out
- "You all's just love sick, that's all. - Farina in Love Business
Notes/Trivia
- Farina appeared in 107 Our Gang shorts (including Fish Hooky and The Stolen Jools), more than any other Little Rascal in the series.
- Both Farina and Buckwheat were named after types of cereal.
- Farina was also featured in Dell's Little Rascals comic book series of the late 50's and early 60's. Oddly enough, in earlier issues of this series, Buckwheat was referred to as 'Farina', while Farina was left nameless. It wasn't until later on that this was changed to give the two characters their proper names.