Waldo's Last Stand

Buckwheat, Waldo, Spanky, Leonard and Mickey

Production Notes

Length: One Reel
Producer: Jack Chertock and Richard Goldstone
Director: Edwards Cahn and Steven Granger
Photography: Jackson Rose
Editor: Albert Akst
Titles:
Writer: Robert A. McGowan and Hal Law
Released: October 5, 1940
Studio: M-G-M

Main Cast

• Carl Switzer
• Darla Jean Hood
• Darwood Kaye
• George McFarland
• Leonard Landy
• Robert Blake
• William Laughlin
• William Thomas

Supporting Cast

• Betty Jean Striegler (unconfirmed)
• Bobby Summers (unconfirmed)
• Clyde Willson - Jeanette's Dance Partner
• Donna Jean Edmonsond - Dancer
• Helen Guthrie - Dancer
• Jackie Krenk - Dancer
• Janet Burston (actress) - Jeanette
• Lavonne Battle - Dancer
• Lora Lee Fox - Dancer
• Maretta Light - Dancer
• Marilyn Kay - Tap Dancer
• Mary Ann Such - Singer
• Ned Norman - Piano Player
• Patricia Wheeler - Dancer
• Patsy Anne Thompson (unconfirmed)
• Patsy Irish - Dancer
• Rae-Nell Laskey - Dancer
• Shirley Jean Doble - Dancer

The Short

Plot: Waldo is trying to make money from a lemonade stand, and Spanky takes a cue from a Hamilton Gardens poster to put on a show to help sell it. Instead of a small simple show as in The Lucky Corner, he puts on a large spectacle in the clubhouse barn using the doors to open and introduce acts. Darla leads the opening chorus line and Spanky, Alfalfa, Buckwheat, and Mickey are Singing Waiters followed by a miniature Floradora Sextette. Their one patron is Froggy, arriving separately from the gang, but he won't buy any lemonade even as Spanky gives him free crackers to eat and puts a space heater under his chair to warm him up to get thirsty. He doesn't have any money to buy lemonade. Meanwhile, Spanky can't figure why no other kids showed up until Froggy leaves: All the neighborhood kids who might buy lemonade are in the show!

Quotes:

• "What that lemonade needs is a floor show." - Spanky
• "I don't have no money, and besides, it's too hot in here!" - Froggy

Notes/Trivia:

• The kiddie entertainers were courtesy of the Professional Children's School.
• This short marks the final Our Gang appearance of Darwood Kaye who played Waldo.
• Froggy is silent until the end when he uses his trick voice to utter his one line.
• The events of this short would later be mentioned by Spanky in Ye Olde Minstrels.
• Spanky points out that the reason nobody came to watch the floor show is because all of the neighborhood kids (except for Froggy Laughlin were all of the performers in the show.
• The irony of the title of the episode “Waldo’s Last Stand” is that it also seems to refer to the fact that it would be Waldo’s last appearance in the series.
• Blooper: Alfalfa goes missing after Froggy leaves the barn. His whereabouts aren't explained.
• Blooper: Spanky claims that all the kids are in the show. It should be pointed out that since Porky was Porky's brother in previous episodes, he should still be somewhere behind the scenes even if he is not appearing on camera.
• This is the seventh musical episode in the series after Our Gang Follies Of 1936, The Pinch Singer, Arbor Day, Reunion In Rhythm, Our Gang Follies Of 1938 and Aladdin's Lantern.

Sequence

• Previous Short: Good Bad Boys
• Next Short: Kiddie Kure

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