Porky and Spanky
Production Notes[]
Length: Two Reel
Producer: Hal Roach
Director: Gus Meins
Photography: Francis Corby
Editor: Louis McManus
Titles: None
Writer: Unrevealed
Released: October 6, 1935
Studio: M-G-M
Main Cast[]
- Carl Switzer
- Barbara Goodrich
- Donald Proffitt (actor)
- Eugene Lee
- George McFarland
- Jackie Banning
- Jerry Tucker (actor)
- John Collum
- Mildred Kornman
- Rex Downing
- Richard De Nuet
- Sidney Kibrick
- William Thomas Jr.
Supporting Cast[]
- Clarence Wilson - Old Caretaker
- The Frieda Shaw Dancers
- Ray Turner - Baptism Extra
The Short[]
Plot: Spanky has a new fishing rod, and he is in a hurry to check it out. Deciding to skip Sunday school to go fishing, he reveals his plans to his friends, but both Alfalfa and Sidney Kibrick try to warn him from breaking the Sabbath. Spanky really wants to test his rod and heads off with Porky and Buckwheat following him out of curiosity. Almost immediately, things start going wrong. As soon as Spanky finds a nice place to fish, an old caretaker chases him off the property and then it starts getting dark. As it starts getting dark, the boys hear the distant sounds of a baptism on the nearby riverbank and the spooky sounds of chanting through the woods. Almost immediately, the boys go running back to church scared for their lives. Spanky enters through the back door of the church and out the front exit as the minister asks him if he understood the lesson from the sermon. Without even hearing it, Spanky realizes he has learned something after all.
Quotes:
- "Boys who don't go to Sunday School is bad!" - Alfalfa
- "If I catch two fish, I'll give one to the minister." - Spanky
Notes/Trivia:
- This was the first appearance for Porky.
- The church in the short is the old Four Square Gospel Church at 3371 Mentone Avenue in the Palms neighborhood of Los Angeles. It was demolished in the 1950s. The same church is visible in the background in the scene where Jackie is walking down the sidewalk to Mary Ann's house in the short The First Seven Years.[1]
- This lake scenes were filmed at Lancaster Lake, once located between Hillrose Street and Jayseel Street near Sunland, California. A trailer park now marks the site.
- This was almost the last appearance of Spanky in the series. At the time, Stan Laurel's contract at the studio in the Laurel And Hardy film series was coming to an end, due to conflicts with producer Hal Roach. It was eventually announced that the series had been terminated along with Laurel's contract. Plans were being made to star his comedy partner, Oliver Hardy, with Patsy Kelly as the parents of George McFarland in The Hardy Family, a family situation comedy. No real work was done on the proposed series but for a composite picture of the three actors; Stan, however, renewed his contract to stay as partner to "Ollie" and the project was forgotten, keeping Spanky indelibly ensconced within the Our Gang series. Had Stan not resigned, it is likely all the resulting Laurel and Hardy films would never have existed, and Porky would have entirely taken Spanky’s place in Our Gang as the fat boy while another Rascal (possibly Alfalfa) would have taken Spanky's place as the leader of the Gang..
- This is the only short where Scotty doesn't appear until his last appearance in The Lucky Corner.
- Goof: The stunt wires are visible when Buckwheat is being pulled at high speed by the fishing pole.
Sequence[]
- Previous Short: Little Papa
- Next Short: Our Gang Follies Of 1936