Production Notes[]
Length: Two Reel
Producer: Hal Roach
Director: Robert F. McGowan
Photography: Art Lloyd
Editor: Richard Currier
Titles: H. M. Walker
Writer: Hal Roach
Released: December 3, 1924
Studio: Pathe Exchange
Main Cast[]
- Allen Hoskins
- Andy Samuel
- Eugene Jackson - as Snowball
- George "Sonny Boy" Warde
- Jackie Condon (actor) - as Little Adelbert
- Joseph Cobb
- Mickey Daniels (actor)
Supporting Cast[]
- Allen Cavan - Adelbert's Grandfather
- Charles Bachman - Detective Jinks
- Charley Young - Butler
- Dick Gilbert - Henchman
- Sam Lufkin - Henchman
- William Gillespie - Mr. Wallingford
The Short[]
Plot: Heir Adelbert Wallingford has been kidnapped, and Mickey goes into action calling himself "Sherlock Hawkshaw." Using an edition of Sherlock Holmes as his guide, he has an impressive hide-out with disguises, an alarm system, camouflaged entrance and the gang to help solve the crime. They capture a suspicious-looking "suspeck," but their prisoner turns out to be none other than Detective Jinks of the Greenpoint Police Department. They soon unknowingly get a job from the real kidnappers to deliver the ransom note to Mr. Wallingford who is supposed to send $5,000 by carrier pigeon. If it returns to the kidnappers with no money, something bad could happen, so when it gets loose everyone rushes to catch it. Mickey, Joe and Farina board a plane to catch it, but the pilot tumbles out and the boys are left struggling to land the plane as Farina rides outside on the tail and Joe on a wing. They follow the bird to a barn hide-out, crashing the plane through the roof followed by Mr. Wallingford and Jinks. The kidnappers are arrested, young Adelbert is rescued, and Mr. Wallingford instructs the reward money to be given to the gang.
Quotes:
- "Lissen, Hawk-eye -- They's callin' us!" - Snowball
- "Detective Jinks -- He couldn't find John Smith in the city directory." - intertitle card
- "Remember our system, men! Be suspicious of everybody -- Follow 'em all! --" - Mickey
- "- I gotta hand this to Mr. Wallin'ford in person -- This is comparative!" - Mickey
Notes/Trivia:
- Elements of ths short were later worked into Hide And Shriek.
- Mary Kornman is absent from this short.
- First Our Gang short with Eugene Jackson, who was brought in to replace Ernie Morrison.
- Eugene Jackson's character name is Snowball in this film only.
- A roster in Mickey's "headquarters" lists the number of rings to call each member in an emergency: one, two, three, four, and five rings for Andy, Sing, Joe, Farina, and Snowball, respectively.
- For detective nicknames, H. M. Walker respectively nicknames Mickey "Mickey the Mastermind" (a.k.a. "Sherlock Hawkshaw," Joe "Watson" and Farina "Hawk-eye."
- Not counting a presumed part in the Our Gang shorts "Boys Will Be Joys", this was Andy Samuel's last Our Gang short. He would be replaced by Johnny Downs .
Sequence[]
- Previous Short: Every Man For Himself
- Next Short: The Big Town