l-r Spanky, Buckwheat, Alfalfa
Production Notes[]
Length: One Reel
Producer: Hal Roach
Director: Gordon Douglas
Photography: Art Lloyd
Editor: William Ziegler
Titles: None
Writer: Hal Roach
Released: December, 1936
Studio: M-G-M
Main Cast[]
Supporting Cast[]
- Dickie De Nuet
- Donald Proffitt
- Dudley Dickerson - Sam the Janitor
- Harold Switzer
- Jackie Lindquist
- John Collum
- Paul Hilton
- Robert Winckler
- Rosina Lawrence - Miss Jones
- Sidney Kibrick
The Short[]
Plot: The circus is in town for one day as Spanky has plans to be there when it opens. He writes notes excusing him Alfalfa, Porky and Buckwheat from school and has Buckwheat and Porky leave the notes on Miss Jones's desk. For good measure, Spanky and Alfalfa gives a few fake cold symptoms to show they might be getting sick and could miss some school. Miss Jones is sorry to hear this as she was planning on taking the entire class to school the next day. Realizing the trouble they could be in, the boys rush to destroy the notes, but the younger boys seal their fate by closing the front doors behind them. Sam, the janitor, isn't of much help so Spanky schemes they all return at night when Sam is asleep to get those notes back. The lightning, thunder and darkness that night make the school that much scarier, and the boys make a lot of noise scaring each other. Buckwheat gets terrified standing alone as a lookout in the dark with the odd noises, but Porky is so distant from what is actually going on that he scares the others with a noise maker, pretends to be a ghost and has fun breaking light bulbs. To make things worse, opening the window to get inside scatters all the papers on the desk and makes the note harder to find. When Buckwheat sneaks inside to be with the others, his rain slicker catches a skeleton that looks as if it's following him as he pulls it along. Meanwhile, Sam wakes up to the noises and gets up to investigate, scaring the boys and himself in the process. Despite all this effort retrieving their fake note, the boys catch real colds and miss school after all, their confused mothers telling them adamantly, "No, for the last time, you can't go to school!"
Quotes:
- "I told you once before, there ain't such things like spooks!" - Spanky
Notes/Trivia:
- Actor Dudley Dickerson is best known for appearing in several of the Three Stooges shorts.
Sequence[]
- Previous Short: Pay As You Exit
- Next Short: General Spanky