Hi'-Neighbor!

Pete, Stymie, Bubbles, Tommy Bupp, Donald Proffitt, Tony Kales, Tommy, Wally, Jane, Spanky, Jerry

Production Notes

Length: Two Reel
Producer: Hal Roach
Director: Gus Meins
Photography: Art Lloyd
Editor: Louis McManus
Titles: None
Writer: Unrevealed
Released: March 3, 1934
Studio: M-G-M

Main Cast

• Bobbie Beard
• Donald Proffitt (actor)
• George McFarland
• Jackie Lynn Taylor
• Jean Aulbach
• Jerry Tucker (actor)
• Marvin Strin
• Matthew Beard
• Scott Beckett
• Tommy Bond
• Tommy Bupp
• Tony Kales
• Wally Albright Jr.

Supporting Cast

• Charlie Hall - Window Washer
• Ernie Alexander - Pedestrian
• Harry Bernard - Neighbor
• Jack Ward - Moving Man
• Stanley Sandford - Moving Man

The Short

Plot: In this short, Jerry Tucker is a new kid in the neighborhood arriving on a moving van headed for Cherry Street, but as the kids go to meet him and his new toys, one of which is a shiny new toy fire engine, they discover he's a selfish brat with no intention of sharing. As a further indignity, Jerry takes a shine to Jane, Wally's girlfriend. To redeem himself back up in Jane's eyes, Wally, in a sudden manner, lies about having a toy fire engine big enough for the whole gang to ride on at once. Jerry just scoffs at them, and to save their honor, the gang pitches in to build it, taking what they need from around the neighborhood such as ladders and hoses from the neighbors already using them. Jerry's effort to prove to Jane that Wally doesn't have a fire engine results in him running away in his underwear, when a drill the boys are using comes through the wall and tears his pants off. Although Spanky and Scotty contribute the most important parts, a steering wheel and the bell, they mostly get shooed away from creating it. However, the two younger boys have the last laugh as they point out the finished "fire engine" is way too big to get out of the barn, necessitating knocking down a wall to get it out to show off to Jerry. While the clunky creation does carry everyone, including Stymie at the back steering wheel, it's not very impressive to someone like Jerry, who has received everything from a toy store. He even discourages Jane from riding on it out of pure spite. Jerry then challenges Wally to a race, which leads them down a hill. When their unruly creation actually gets too close to him (with Stymie and the gang nearly surrounding Jane and Jerry briefly at one point), Jerry ditches his toy fire engine on purpose to keep it from getting damaged, leaving the hapless Jane (who was slipping from it due to the loose ladder) in the process of coasting and crashing in a yard, and earning her hostility. Infuriated, Jane turns on a sprinkler that douses Jerry. Meanwhile, Wally and the gang are careening down the hill at incredible speed with failed brakes, mowing over pedestrians on the sidewalk and crashing through a high hedge, whose branches tear the clothes from the backs of the gang. Spanky who has survived unscathed inside the metal hood, emerges and starts tearing off his clothes to help cover the honor of his buddies.
Quotes:

• "Don't rush me, big boy..." - Spanky to Jerry
   
• "Ahhh! My Pants!" - Jerry to Jane
• "Somebody done lost somethin'!" - Stymie
   
• "You don't want to ride in that thing, do you?" - Jerry to Jane
   
• "Stymie! Wher're ya goin?!" - Wally
  • "I don't know, but I'm on my way!" - Stymie

Notes/Trivia:

• Jane was originially going to be played by a child actress named Jane Withers. She was paid for the two weeks work, but just before filming started, she was cast to star in Bright Eyes with Shirley Temple. Her role and name then went to Jackie Lynn Taylor.
• Along with Jackie Lynn Taylor, other new additions to the cast in this film include Scotty Beckett and Wally Albright, the latter of whom previously had a small part in the film Choo-Choo!.
• Director Gus Meins also directed the Laurel and Hardy film, Babes In Toyland, which not only featured two now adult former Our Gang stars, Johnny Downs and Jean Darling as Little Boy Blue and Curly Locks, but several of the Rascals, Jackie Lynn Taylor, Scotty Beckett, Jerry Tucker and Marianne Edwards as schoolchildren. George McFarland and Matthew Beard, though not cast in the movie, even visited the set.
• The situation where Jerry tells the Gang to get out of his firetruck is similar to the situation in The Sun Down Limited when the Gang sees Toughy's train.
• Blooper: When Stymie tells Scotty to come with him, his lips don’t move with the dialogue.
• Blooper: When Wally steps out from the water puddle, he takes one step and stops. The shot then cuts to Spanky, who is sitting next to Wally. When the shot cuts to Spanky, one can see Wally take his step again.
• Blooper: Although Wally steps into a water puddle and stands in it for several seconds, when he steps onto the concrete, he leaves no watery footprints. (This is best seen in the colorized version.)

Sequence

• Previous Short: Wild Poses
• Next Short: For Pete's Sake!

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