John and Mrs. McFarland in Anniversary Trouble
Biography[]
The McFarland Residence is the home of Spanky McFarland. Unfortunately, his family and continuity is just as jumbled and confused as that of Wheezer, and has gone over several revisions and updates over the years. When we first see him at home in Spanky, Spanky is the younger brother of Breezy Brisbane, and his cheapskate father is hiding his inheritance from the family in the walls of the house. As Brisbane is having a play in the family barn, Spanky finds it and tosses it out to the kids of the neighborhood, forcing father to put it into a bank.
In the next incarnation, Spanky's father is apparently wealthy and has lost weight. Spanky's parents are known as John and Lillian, and Spanky's other brother, Dickie Moore, is getting treated for a stiff neck, later cured by Stymie Beard. Unfortunately, dad is still a cheapskate and curbs his wife's spending habits, forcing the boys to have a cake party to buy mom a dress.
As things settle down, Spanky's parents are soon named Emerson and Gaye, and some of the family money is depleted. Dad gets work as a shipping clerk and later makes it up to head clerk in Bedtime Worries, and they get confortable enough to hire Mandy Thomas, the mother of Buckwheat Thomas, as a housekeeper by Anniversary Trouble.
Spanky has a few extended relatives like a grandmother in Beginner's Luck who dotes on him, and an uncle in a traveling sideshow in The Kid From Borneo.
Actors[]
- Father (John Emerson McFarland) - Billy Gilbert in Spanky (short), Creighton Hale in Free Wheeling, Hooper Atchley in Birthday Blues, Otto Fries in The Kid From Borneo, Emerson Treacy in Bedtime Worries and Wild Poses, Joe Young in Mama's Little Pirate, Johnny Arthur in Anniversary Trouble. Spanky's father is played by Eric Edwards in the The Little Rascals movie.
- Mother (Lillian Gaye McFarland) - Lyle Tayo in Readin' And Writin', Lillian Rich in Free Wheeling and Birthday Blues, May Wallace in The Kid From Borneo, Gaye Seabrook in Bedtime Worries and Wild Poses, Claudia Dell in Mama's Little Pirate and Anniversary Trouble, Kitty Kelly in Beginner's Luck, Leota Lorraine in Sprucin' Up, Ruth Hiatt in Little Papa and Wilma Cox in Canned Fishing.
- Son - Breezy Brisbane - Kendall McComas in Readin' And Writin' to Birthday Blues
- Son - Dickie Moore - Richard Moore in Hook And Ladder to Mush And Milk
- Son - Spanky McFarland - George McFarland in Free Eats to Unexpected Riches
- Son - Porky - Eugene Lee in Little Sinner to Auto Antics
- Daughter - Baby Patsy - Patsy Mae Dittemore in Little Papa to Divot Diggers