Production Notes[]
Length: Two Reel
Producer: Robert F. McGowan
Director: Robert F. McGowan
Photography: Art Lloyd
Editor: Richard Currier
Titles: None
Writer: Robert F. McGowan and H.M. Walker
Released: August 30, 1930
Studio: M-G-M
Main Cast[]
- Allen Hoskins
- Allen Tong
- Dorothy DeBorba
- Jackie Cooper (actor)
- Mary Ann Jackson
- Norman Chaney
- Robert Hutchins
- Thomas MacDonald
- Werner Weidler
- Wolgang Weidler
Supporting Cast[]
- Allen Cavan - Dr. H. R. White
- Charles McAvoy - Cement Man
- Charlie Hall - Orchestra Leader
- Clara Guiol
- Chet Brandenberg - Extra
- Fletcher Tolbert - Messenger (deleted scene)
- Harry Bernard - Police Officer
- Jack Hill - Extra
- Lyle Tayo - Echo's Mother
- Silas D. Wilcox - Doorman
- William Gillespie - Musician
The Short[]
Plot: While the Rascals are hanging out, Farina reveals he has got a job as a page at the Greenpoint Civic Center, thinking he can get $200 as his wages. The gang all dreams of what they can get with that money and hope to get jobs there too, but Farina reveals they are only hiring young black boys. He does promise the gang he can sneak their pets into the city pet show to win money. Jackie is kept busier trying though to keep his sister, Echo, clean and out of mud, but Wheezer has an even harder time just keeping his puppies close by because he trained them to come running to the sound of a bell, and they keep him chasing after them all over town after the twins lead the pups down the street and toss the bell into a gutter.
Meanwhile, the gang arrives at the center to get their pets into the city pet show with their menagerie of pets, ranging from a parrot, a pig, a goat, frogs and mice. Although they're initially sent away by the doorman, he gets distracted enough for them to barge in and take over several stalls, casting away and discarding the dogs assigned to the spots, creating havoc at the pet show and costing Farina his job for helping them as the gang departs dejectedly.
Meanwhile, Wheezer finally reaches the church and rings its bells. Hearing it, his pups coming running back to him. Meanwhile, Echo appears in a pretty new dress and jumps right back into the mud in front of Jackie, and after her mother scolds Farina for pushing her in, she ends up landing in it herself.
Quotes: Coming up soon
Notes/Trivia:
- This was the first short for Dorothy DeBorba. Her later memories were the fun she had doing the numerous takes of jumping into the mud.
- Beginning in 1971, TV censors edited out all of Farina's scenes from this film, feeling that his scenes could possibly be offensive. In 2001, most of these scenes were reinstated by King World, but a few parts were still censored, such as a scene where an advertisement asks for "ten colored boys" to act as pages.
- This short was mistakenly renamed "Pets Is Pets" by King World Productions.
- During rehearsals, Allen Hoskins, who played Farina, reportedly heard two visitors in the studio confuse the Hill Twins as two new Rascals. His response was: "No, ma'am! They ain't regular Gangsters! They is just rented." The twins' first names have yet to be revealed. According to director Robert McGowan, the Hill Twins came down with the whooping cough and were unable to make it to production on the next few Our Gang shorts. Matthew Beard was soon hired as a replacement.
- Some of the opening shots were filmed at the site of the Old Los Angeles Gas Tanks which were taken down in the Sixties. Wheezer's chase with the pups covered Commercial street past Vigan and Center Streets on to the end of Jackson Street. The last scene was at St. Brendan Church which still exists.
- Wheezer is standing on the northwest corner of Turner Street (today's East Temple Street) and Center Street when the man is yelling at him for throwing a rock through the window.[1]
- The music for this episode was provided by LeRoy Shield and Marvin Hatley. This was the first Our Gang short to feature tunes by LeRoy Shield.
- This marks the 100th episode in the series.
Sequence[]
- Previous Short: A Tough Winter
- Next Short: Teacher's Pet