General Spanky

Production Notes[]

Length: Seventy-One Minutes
Producer: Hal Roach and Sidney Van Keuren
Director: Gordon Doglas and Fred Newmeyer
Photography: Art Lloyd and Walter Lundin
Editor: Ray Snyder
Writer: Unrevealed
Music: Marvin Hatley
Sound Effects: Elmer A. Raguse and William Randall
Special Effects: Roy Seawright
Set Director: Arthur I. Royce and William I. Stevens
Casting: Joe Rivkin
Released: December 11, 1936
Studio: M-G-M

Main Cast[]

Supporting Cast[]

Alex Finlayson - - Extra
Buddy Roosevlt - First Lieutenant
Carl Voss - Second Lieutenant
Ernie Alexander - Extra
Frank H. LaRue - Extra
Ham Kinsey - Extra
Harry Bernard - Extra
Harry Strang - Extra
Henry Hall - Slavemaster
Hobart Bosworth - Captain Blanchard
Hooper Atchley - Slavemaster
Irving Pichel - Simmons
Jack Cooper - Extra
Jack Daugherty - Captain's Aide
Jack Hill - Extra
James Burtis - Boat Captain
Karl Hackett - Extra
Louise Beavers - Cornelia aka "Mammy"
Philip Holmes - Marshall Valiant
Portia Lanning - Extra
Ralph Morgan - Yankee General
Richard Niell - Extra
Robert Middlemass - Overseer
Rosina Lawrence - Louella Blanchard
Slim Whittaker - Extra
Walter Gregory - Captain Haden
Willie Best - Henry

The Film[]

Plot: In a departure to the (then) comtemporary era of the time, Spanky is now an orphan shoeshine boy on a Mississippi riverboat durig the Civil War, and Buckwheat is part of a consignment of slaves who gets lost. The two of them attract the wrath of Simmons, a crooked gambler, and flee to a plantation where Spanky is reunited with Marshall Valiant, an old friend preparing to enter into combat. He leaves Spanky to watch over the plantation and protect the beautiful Louella, so Spanky builds an army of kids to help him defend the plantation from the Yankees. The Union army coming through is being led by Simmons himself, and Spanky's forces launch an impressive defense to the point that Simmons can be turned away and discredited before his superiors. Valiant by now returns after being wounded in battle. Spanky and his forces even make friends with a Northern general.
Quotes: None
Notes/Trivia:

"General Spanky" was inspired by the success of the Shirley Temple movies The Little Colonel and The Littlest Rebel.
Since "General Spanky" was only a moderate success, Hal Roach turned away from any future Our Gang feature films to focus mostly on shorts.
"General Spanky" was nominated for for an Academy Award in 1936 for Best Sound Recording.
The Civil War stock footage was borrowed from Buster Keaton's "The General" and D. W. Griffith's "Abraham Lincoln."
The movie features a real riverboat called The Cherokee filmed on the Sacramento River to simulate the Mississippi River.
In 1935, Hal Roach had written a script for a proposed Our Gang feature film titled Crook's Incorporated. The film was to have costarred Hal Roach Studios stars Charley Chase, Thelma Todd, and Patsy Kelly.
Eugene Lee was absent from a majority of shooting for this film. As a result, he only appears in a few longshots.
Darla Hood is absent from this film, possibly since she was busy working in the Charley Chase film Neighborhood House.

Sequence[]

Previous Short: Spooky Hooky
Next Short: Reunion In Rhythm