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Butch02

Tommy "Butch" Bond

Profile[]

Name: Thomas "Tommy" Clarence (Bond) (Rafferty in Glove Taps) (McGann in Framing Youth )
Nickname: Butch
Played By: Tommy Bond
Born: 1926
Relatives: Hank (father), Mother (name unrevealed)
Clubs: The International Silver String Submarine Band
First Short: Spanky (short)
Last Short: Bubbling Troubles

Character[]

Bio: Long before he was the terror of the neighborhood and the source of Alfalfa's nightmares, Tommy was pretty much the All-American kid. His father is the owner of the construction company, and he helps Wally to build a fire engine to rival Jerry Tucker's fancy store-bought one in Hi'-Neighbor!. He attends the Bleak Hill Boarding School in Mush And Milk and forms The International Silver String Submarine Band in order to win a radio contest in Mike Fright. When he is not having fun creating the most raucous music in the world, he heads out to Cherry Creek to go camping, but he gets showed up by the younger kids, Spanky and Scotty, who think ahead to hitchhike and bring food to the location.
For some unknown reason, Tommy leaves the neighborhood for a while, but when he gets back, he's got a bit of a chip on his shoulder, nicknamed Butch, and takes his anger out on the other kids, sometimes directly or in the form of practical jokes. Just why he gets so angry is unrevealed since it's later revealed he has a very nice home life in Practical Jokers. Some of the anger could be from the fact his mother channels his love for loud music into practicing the violin (Framing Youth). He allies himself with a buddy he calls The Woim in Glove Taps and very quickly tries to gain fear on the street. While his frustration is felt through the area kids, his favorite target is Alfalfa who seems to be easy to terrorize. At times, even Butch and The Woim are intrigued by the levels of deception Alfalfa and Spanky go through to deceive them, but more often than not, they are frustrated by their recurring stupidity in falling for the lies, compounding their latent anger. Alfalfa tricks him with a dead fish disguised as a broken leg in Fishy Tales and woos him disguised as a female in Rushin' Ballet. In retaliation, Butch very nearly comes close to taking Darla, Alfalfa's true love, away from him, but he is just a victim there himself in her attempts to make Alfalfa jealous. However, Butch can't intimidate Alfalfa's Cousin Wilbur, who turns out to be a scrapping powerhouse, or Spanky, who ends up giving him two black eyes to compare with the one Spanky gives him in Framing Youth.
Gradually, Butch starts burying the hatchet in his fights and starts to become more of a friend again. He is still highly competitive when it comes to go-cart racing in Auto Antics and even creates his own loan-shark operation in Dog Daze, but his mother still invites the gang over for his birthday in Practical Jokers. Often manufacturing dynamite in his garage from a chemistry kit, he creates a formula in Bubbling Troubles that Alfalfa drinks down to cure his loss of appetite and is genuinely concerned when his favorite punching bag could explode.
Quotes:

  • "You're darn right, it's Butch! Now, what do you have to say before I tear you apart!" - Butch in Fishy Tales
  • "There's Alfalfa!" - Darla
    "Yeah, the dope. He don't even know he's alive!" - Butch in Duel Personalities
  • "Oh, so I'm a cheese, am I?" - Butch in Duel Personalities

Notes/Trivia[]

  • Butch would later return in the MGM shorts after Hal Roach sold the series but without the Woim as his moll.
  • Between Spanky and Washee Ironee, the child actor playing Butch was known as Tommy, who was good friends to the Gang and shared adventures with them. However, after Tommy Bond departed and then returned to the series, he started playing a new character (Butch the Bully) starting with Glove Taps to Bubbling Troubles. In Came The Brawn, Butch even makes a comment that he and Spanky have been friends for a long time, in Practical Jokers, it's implied they're the same characters. Although there is no strong indication that Tommy and Butch are the same character, this bio treats them as the same character.
  • Butch, Porky, Buckwheat, Darla and Woim are the only main characters who never had an episode focusing on them.
  • Butch/Tommy, Alfalfa, Buckwheat, Porky, Darla, Spanky, Woim, Waldo and Big Shot Jones are the only Hal Roach characters to appear in the MGM films.
  • As one of the most remembered characters in the series, Butch has turned up in several iterations of "Our Gang" from other studios.

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