Wheezer
Profile[]
Name: Robert (Hutchins) (Jackson)
Nickname: Wheezer
Played By: Robert Hutchins
Born: 1925
Relatives: Henry Jackson (father), mother (name unrevealed, deceased), aunt (name unrevealed), Mary Ann (sister), Donald (brother) Jay R. Smith (brother), stepmother (name unrevealed), Sherwood, Donald (stepbrothers), Jean (stepsister), Mrs. Cooper (stepmother), Jackie (stepbrother), Dorothy (stepstster), baby brother (name unrevealed)
Clubs: None
First Short: School Begins
Last Short: The Kid From Borneo (major role) Mush And Milk (brief non-speaking cameo)
Character[]
Bio: Wheezer seems to be the little brother everyone had, but no one wanted. Through the shorts, he was just about everyone's little brother at one time or another. Because of this, it is difficult to create any sort of character or singular biography for him. With constantly changing variables in his life ranging from fathers, siblings and general life at home, creating a singular biography for him just from the details in his shorts would be a daunting task.
In his earliest appearance, Wheezer is the son of a prize-fighter (The Old Wallop) and loves popping people in the face and doing "razzberries" (also called Bronx Cheers), even teaching his dog, Minnie, who looks like Pete, how to make them. He razzes the others in the neighborhood with the sounds and they beat each other up trying to find out who's doing them in Olympic Games. He is the younger brother of Harry, following him with two seals to school in School Begins. With their common boxing background, Harry helps to create a boxing ring with Farina in Boxing Gloves, with Wheezer as one the early combatants. This Wheezer can be seen in shorts Baby Brother through Dog Heaven.
A second Wheezer, however, later appears as the younger brother of Jay R. Smith, the children of the local undertaker, revealed in Spook-Spoofing. This Wheezer gets stuck inside on a rainy day and draws on the walls with chalk in Rainy Days, which leaves Jay no choice but to try to re-wallpaper the room with household materials and wallpaper supplied by Joe. This Wheezer is seen in shorts Spook-Spoofing through The Ol' Gray Hoss.
It is the third Wheezer who seems to appear in the most adventures and stands out over the other two. This Wheezer is the son of an inventor and has a knack for building things himself, as revealed in The Spanking Age and Little Mother; his siblings are Mary Ann and Beezer, but he also later gets a baby brother he tries to send to heaven through the hospital in Bouncing Babies. Neglected and abused by his stepmother, he and his sister are rescued by their father after he sells a patent and takes them to live with him and his new mother in The Spanking Age; their biological mother having passed away at some point in the past. This story is told in varying form in The Spanking Age, Small Talk, Little Mother and Dogs Is Dogs. After a dream where he is judged by a tribunal of animals in Cat, Dog & Co., Wheezer becomes an animal-lover and adopts a litter of pups, but the only way he can get them to come to him is by ringing a bell in Pups Is Pups. He also has signs of a crush on Shirley Jean in Helping Grandma.
Wheezer eventually becomes the younger brother of Jackie Cooper and has a time antagonizing him, especially after having older stepbrothers as Sherwood and Spud Janney. As stepbrothers, Sherwood hated Wheezer's dog Pete and framed him for killing chickens in Dogs Is Dogs, and Spud always griped and complained over having to watch over him in Bear Shooters. After his father has married again, Wheezer locks Jackie out of the house in When The Wind Blows and runs interference in Jackie's infatuation for Miss Crabtree in Love Business by selling his new mother's love letters to Chubby to woo Miss Crabtree ahead of Jack. Wheezer later peddles Jackie's baseball gear for money, forcing Jack to get them back in Bargain Day. Wheezer is also friends of Stymie and Echo, the three of them joining forces to steal the pies from the school lunches of the older kids in School's Out. Despite his mischievous side, he really is a good boy as he foils the midget thieves at the mansion of a debutante who throws a party for underprivileged kids in Free Eats.
Wheezer eventually ends up attending boarding school at Old Cap's Bleak Hill Boarding School. The friendly old codger promises to spend his back pension on the kids when they tire of mush at the school, but when they order dinner at a restaurant, they sadly discover that "porrage" is just a fancy French word for mush in Mush And Milk.
Quotes:
- "If you're gonna get killed, will you let me have your knife?" - Wheezer to Jackie
"Yeah, you can have it. Hey if I don't get killed, I want that knife back." - Jackie to Wheezer
"Well, I hope you get killed." - Wheezer to Jackie in The First Seven Years - "Give me back my knife. I didn't get killed." - Jackie to Wheezer
"Aw gee, I never get a break." - Wheezer to Jackie in The First Seven Years - "I want ten cents worth of 'it'." - Stymie
"Well, what kind of 'it' do you want?" - Wheezer
"What kind of 'it' have you got?" - Stymie in Helping Grandma - "We had a pole cat under our house once, and boy did we take a trip!" - Stymie to Wheezer
"Oh, you vacated, huh?" - Wheezer to Stymie
"Vacated nothing! We fumigated!" - Stymie to Wheezer in Shiver My Timbers - "Stymie, where do you ever get such ideas?" - Wheezer to Stymie
"Boy, I'm full of ideas when I'm hungry." - Stymie to Wheezer in Dogs Is Dogs - "Well, the dunking you got is worth the whipping I'll get!" - Wheezer in Dogs Is Dogs
- "Honest, Brisbane, Stymie's right for the first time in his life!" - Wheezer in Free Eats
Notes/Trivia[]
- The structures of Wheezer's familes can be found described under Jackson Residence, Spear Residence and Smith Residence.
- Wheezer has the biggest family out of the main characters alongside Spanky and Chubby.
- Wheezer was gradually replaced by Spanky after his first appearance. Although Wheezer remained in a few more shorts, he didn’t talk as much or got to do anything, essentially getting reduced to a background character until his last appearance in Mush And Milk. It was likely the studio knew his contract was running out, and they were obliged to continue using him as Spanky became the star.
- Wheezer seems to be the one out of the most out of the gang to be scolded or harangued in the series. Few of his siblings seemed to care too much about him with the exception of Mary Ann and Dorothy. Dorothy was a little rude to him in Big Ears when she said that he won’t have a mom or dad anymore when he thought that they were gonna split, but that could just be due to her not being his sister yet in that short. He also doesn’t seem too have to many friends; the only known friend he has is Stymie. Although Jackie, Dickie and possibly Spanky (though they barely interacted) could be his friends as well.
- Wheezer looks a lot like Horatio from Baby Brother this is due to Robert Hutchins playing both characters.
- The Kid From Borneo is Wheezer's last major role in the series while he makes a cameo appearance in Mush and Milk.
- Wheezer also appears along with Pete, Farina, Stymie, Chubby, Mary Ann, Shirley Jean and Dorothy appear in the Oliver and Hardy short, "The Stolen Jools."
- The only episodes Wheezer doesn't appear in are The Glorious Fourth, Hook And Ladder, Free Wheeling and Birthday Blues.