Hal RoachFilmography

Yanks Ahoy

Crew: Producer

Actors: William Tracy, Joe Sawyer, Marjorie Woodworth, Minor Watson, Walter Woolf King

Synopsis: Yanks Ahoy was the last of a series of Hal Roach "streamliners" teaming William Tracy as Sgt. Doubleday, he of the photographic memory, and Joe Sawyer as long-suffering Sgt. Ames. This time, our heroes are at sea, messing up the Navy with the same efficiency with which they screwed up the army. Read More

Calaboose

Crew: Director

Actors: Jimmy Rogers, Mary Brian, Paul Hurst

Synopsis: Though the 45-minute Calaboose was the second of three Hal Roach "streamliners" teaming Jimmy Rogers (son of Will) and Noah Beery Jr., it was the third to be released. Rogers and Beery play a couple of laid-back itinerant cowobys who wander into a small western town. Here they meet sheriff's Read More

About Face

Crew: Producer

Actors: William Tracy, Joe Sawyer, Jean Porter, Marjorie Lord, Margaret Dumont

Synopsis: No relation to the 1953 musical film of the same title, About Face is a 43 minute Hal Roach "Streamliner." Sgt. Doubleday (William Tracy), the man with the photographic memory, and his former topkick Sgt. Ames (Joe Sawyer), go on a night on the town. After accidentally sparking a barroom brawl Read More

Flying with Music

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: The "Flyer" in question is William Marshall, a young man falsely accused of a crime. Escaping the clutches of the law, he becomes involved with several pretty young ladies. Marjorie Woodworth plays the girl who helps Marshall in his escape, pausing occasionally to participate in a some lively but Read More

Brooklyn Orchid

Crew: Producer

Actors: William Bendix, Joe Sawyer, Marjorie Woodworth, Grace Bradley

Synopsis: Hal Roach Studios' Brooklyn Orchid was one of three "streamliners" (films running between 40-50 minutes) starring William Bendix and Joe Sawyer as a pair of nouveau riche taxi drivers. While vacationing with their wives at a swanky resort, Bendix and Sawyer rescue beautiful blonde Marjorie Woodworth Read More

Dudes Are Pretty People

Crew: Director, Producer

Actors: Jimmy Rogers, Noah Beery, Jr., Marjorie Woodworth, Paul Hurst, Marjorie Gateson

Synopsis: The 43-minute Hal Roach "streamliner" Dudes are Pretty People was one of three films teaming Jimmy Rogers (son of Will) with Noah Beery Jr. (son of Noah Sr.) Our heroes play Jimmy and Pidge (Beery's real-life nickname), a pair of cowhands who work near a posh dude ranch. A bit slow on the uptake Read More

The Devil with Hitler

Crew: Producer

Actors: Alan Mowbray, Bobby Watson, George E. Stone, Joe Devlin, Marjorie Woodworth

Road Show

Crew: Director, Producer

Actors: Adolphe Menjou, Carole Landis, John Hubbard, Charles Butterworth, Patsy Kelly

Synopsis: When millionaire bachelor John Hubbard takes a run-out powder at his own wedding, Hubbard's vengeful fiancee Polly Ann Young has the luckless fellow committed to an insane asylum. Hubbard escapes with certified looney Adolphe Menjou; together they join a carnival run by Carole Landis. Hubbard and Menjou Read More

Broadway Limited

Crew: Producer

Actors: Victor McLaglen, Marjorie Woodworth, Dennis O'Keefe, Patsy Kelly, ZaSu Pitts

Synopsis: Two of Hal Roach's short-subject stalwarts, Patsy Kelly and ZaSu Pitts, are teamed in the Roach-produced feature Broadway Limited. The whole story unfolds on a Chicago-to-Manhattan express train; among the passengers are Hollywood starlet April (Marjorie Woodworth), her producer Ivan (Leonid Kinskey Read More

Topper Returns

Crew: Producer

Actors: Joan Blondell, Roland Young, Carole Landis, Billie Burke, Dennis O'Keefe

Synopsis: The third of producer Hal Roach's Topper films, Topper Returns eschews the frothy "screwball" format of the first two in favor of an "old dark house" comedy-mystery. Roland Young returns as banker Cosmo Topper, who gallantly offers a lift to pretty hitchhikers Gail Richards (Joan Blondell) and Ann Read More

Tanks a Million

Crew: Producer

Actors: William Tracy, James Gleason, Noah Beery, Jr., Joe Sawyer, Elyse Knox

Synopsis: In 1941, producer Hal Roach abandoned production of full-length features in favor of a new concept: The "Streamliner", a four-reel film-halfway between a short subject and a feature-designed for the double-bill market. The first Roach streamliner was the timely service comedy Tanks a Million Read More

All-American Coed

Crew: Producer

Actors: Frances Langford, Johnny Downs, Marjorie Woodworth, Noah Beery, Jr., Esther Dale

Synopsis: This 48-minute Hal Roach "streamliner" represents a rare directorial assignment for veteran Hollywood choreographer LeRoy Prinz, who also produced the film. Johnny Downs stars as Bob Sheppard of Quinceton University, who is appointed by his frat brothers to get even with the snotty sorority gals Read More

One Million B.C.

Crew: Director, Producer

Actors: Victor Mature, Carole Landis, Lon Chaney, Jr., John Hubbard, Mamo Clark

Synopsis: Even taking into consideration Of Mice and Men, One Million BC was inarguably the most ambitious feature-film project ever undertaken by producer Hal Roach. Told in flashback, this is the highly fanciful tale of the prehistoric feud between the Rock Tribe and Shell People. Tumak (Victor Mature) Read More

Turnabout

Crew: Director, Producer

Actors: Adolphe Menjou, Carole Landis, John Hubbard, William Gargan, Veree Teasdale

Synopsis: One of several "naughty" screwball comedies based on the works of Thorne Smith (of Topper fame), Hal Roach's Turnabout stars Carole Landis and John Hubbard as unhappily married couple Sally and Tim Willows. Bored with her humdrum existence, Sally spends most of her time figuring out ways of Read More

A Chump at Oxford

Crew: Associate Producer

Actors: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, James Finlayson, Forrester Harvey, Wilfred Lucas, Forbes Murray, Peter Cushing

Synopsis: Back at Hal Roach Studios for the first time since 1938's Block-Heads, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy star in the uneven but generally rewarding A Chump at Oxford. The boys are cast as street-sweepers who hope to better their lot in life by attending night school. Fate intervenes when Stan and Ollie Read More

Saps at Sea

Crew: Producer

Actors: Oliver Hardy, Stan Laurel, James Finlayson, Ben Turpin

Synopsis: In their last film for Hal Roach, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy play employees at the Sharp and Pierce Horn Factory, where the workers tend to go beserk at a rate of one per hour. Driven crazy by the cacophonous G-minor horn, poor Ollie begins to tear the factory apart, screaming "Horns to the left Read More

Captain Fury

Crew: Director, Producer

Actors: Brian Aherne, Victor McLaglen, Paul Lukas, June Lang, John Carradine

Synopsis: This exciting adventure is set in the rugged Australian outback back when the continent was used as a giant penal colony for criminals of the British empire, and tells the story of a fugitive leader and his band who like Robin of old try to prevent a greedy governor from stealing rancher's land. Read More

The Housekeeper's Daughter

Crew: Director, Producer

Actors: Joan Bennett, Adolphe Menjou, John Hubbard, William Gargan, George E. Stone

Synopsis: In this comedy, a gangster's moll gets tired of the mob scene and returns to her mother's house. Her mom is a wealthy family's housekeeper. One of the rich children dreams of being a reporter; he is eager to get his first big scoop. He gets his chance when he stumbles upon a series of clues to a Read More

Zenobia

Crew: Producer

Actors: Oliver Hardy, Harry Langdon, Billie Burke, Alice Brady, James Ellison

Synopsis: With comedian Stan Laurel temporarily off his payroll due to a contract dispute, Hal Roach hastily put together a solo starring vehicle for Laurel's longtime partner Oliver Hardy. Digging into his files, Roach pulled out Zenobia's Infidelity, an H.C. Bunner story originally purchased as a vehicle Read More

Bear Facts

Crew: Producer

Actors: George "Spanky" McFarland, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas, Eugene "Porky" Lee, Darla Hood

Synopsis: Upon learning that Darla Hood's father (Jack Pepper) owns a circus, Our Gang members Spanky McFarland and Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer try their best to impress Darla, hoping to land circus jobs. Never letting the facts get in the way of a good story, Alfalfa claims that he is an expert bear tamer, who Read More

Hide and Shriek

Crew: Producer

Actors: Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas, Eugene "Porky" Lee, Darla Hood, Leonard Landy

Synopsis: Opening his own detective agency, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer dons a deerstalker cap and rechristens himself "X-10, Sooper Sleuth." His first assignment: to find out who stole a box of candy from Darla Hood. Suspecting that little Leonard Landy and Gary "Junior" Jasgar are the culprits, Alfie and his Read More

The Awful Tooth

Crew: Producer

Actors: Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas, Eugene "Porky" Lee, Pete the Pup

Synopsis: Hoping to earn enough money to buy baseball equipment, the Our Gang kids elect to have all their teeth pulled out. Their logic is sublime: If the Good Fairy is willing to slip a dime under the pillow for one tooth, imagine how much the kids will earn if they extract all of their ivories. Read More

Canned Fishing

Crew: Producer

Actors: George "Spanky" McFarland, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas, Eugene "Porky" Lee, Gary Jasgar

Synopsis: Again concocting an elaborate hooky-playing scheme, Our Gang kid Spanky McFarland places a block of ice on the chest of his pal Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer. The strategy this time is to convince their mothers that Alfalfa has a bad cold, and that Spanky must remain by his side to nurse him back to Read More

Feed 'Em and Weep

Crew: Producer

Actors: Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Eugene "Porky" Lee, Darla Hood, Philip Hurlic, Leonard Landy

Synopsis: In this followup to the earlier one-reeler Our Gang: Night 'N' Gales, comedian Johnny Arthur reprises his role as Darla Hood's long-suffering father. It's Mr. Hood's birthday, and he has been eagerly anticipating a quiet dinner at home with his family. Alas, Darla has invited a "few friends" to Read More

Merrily We Live

Crew: Producer

Actors: Constance Bennett, Brian Aherne, Billie Burke, Alan Mowbray, Patsy Kelly

Synopsis: Merrily We Live is a blatant imitation of My Man Godfrey, courtesy of producer Hal Roach. This time Brian Aherne is the gentleman vagabond whom flighty society matron Billie Burke hires as a butler. Aherne's down-to-earth attitude jars against the high-toned phoniness of Burke's wealthy household Read More

Three Men in a Tub

Crew: Producer

Actors: George "Spanky" McFarland, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas, Eugene "Porky" Lee, Darla Hood

Synopsis: Seven-year-old heartbreaker Darla Hood throws her steady beau Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer over in favor of wealthy Waldo (Darwood Kaye), who owns a junior-sized motorboat. Determined to win Darla back, Alfalfa challenges Waldo to a boat race for the championship of Toluca Lake. Alfie's vessel is a Read More

Came the Brawn

Crew: Producer

Actors: George "Spanky" McFarland, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas, Eugene "Porky" Lee, Darla Hood

Synopsis: Last week, fickle Darla Hood declared that she would not go out with neighborhood bully Butch (Tommy Bond) until he started behaving like a gentleman. This week, however, Darla is ga-ga over "muscle men" in general and self-styled wrestler Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer in particular. Thanks to the Read More

There Goes My Heart

Crew: Producer

Actors: Fredric March, Virginia Bruce, Patsy Kelly, Alan Mowbray, Nancy Carroll

Synopsis: Heiress Virginia Bruce tries to prove her worth by taking a job as a shopgirl in the store owned by her family. The pampered young lady is given a crash course in pragmatism by her worldly roommates Patsy Kelly and Nancy Carroll. Reporter Fredric March learns of Bruce's ruse and plans to tell all Read More

Topper Takes a Trip

Crew: Producer

Actors: Constance Bennett, Roland Young, Billie Burke, Alan Mowbray, Veree Teasdale

Synopsis: Except for a few clips from 1937's Topper, Cary Grant is absent from the proceedings of the 1939 sequel Topper Takes a Trip, though his Topper co-stars Constance Bennett, Roland Young, Billie Burke and Alan Mobray are back in harness and in fine fettle. Picking up where the first film left off, we Read More

Swiss Miss

Crew: Director, Producer

Actors: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Della Lind, Walter Woolf King, Eric Blore

Synopsis: American mousetrap salesmen Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy journey to Switzerland, reasoning that where there's cheese, there's mice. When they innocently try to pay their dinner bill with phony money, Stan and Ollie are put to work in the kitchen of the Alpen Hotel. Their enforced stay coincides Read More

Block-Heads

Crew: Associate Producer

Actors: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Patricia Ellis, Billy Gilbert

Synopsis: Twenty years after the Armistice, doughboy Stan Laurel continues guarding a trench in France--simply because no one told him the war was over. His rescue coincides with the first wedding anniversary of his old pal Oliver Hardy. Heading to town to pick up a gift for his wife (Minna Gombell), Ollie Read More

Pick a Star

Crew: Producer

Actors: Patsy Kelly, Jack Haley, Rosina Lawrence, Mischa Auer, Lyda Roberti

Synopsis: Film collectors take note: Hal Roach's Pick a Star is not a Laurel and Hardy picture, though the popular comic duo does make a brace of amusing cameo appearances halfway through the film. A remake of Buster Keaton's Free and Easy, this is the story of how small-town gas-station owner Joe Jenkins (Jack Haley Read More

Roamin' Holiday

Crew: Producer

Actors: George "Spanky" McFarland, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas, Eugene "Porky" Lee, Darla Hood

Synopsis: Upset at being forced to do the household chores all weekend long, Our Gang-ers Spanky McFarland, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Billy "Buckwheat" Thomas and Eugene "Porky" Lee decide to run away from home. Taking a breather in the tiny village of Jenksville, the boys manage to cadge a meal from kindly Read More

Night N' Gales

Crew: Producer

Actors: George "Spanky" McFarland, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas, Eugene "Porky" Lee, Darla Hood

Synopsis: Comedian Johnny Arthur, who played Spanky McFarland's absent-minded father in the 1935 "Our Gang" comedy Anniversary Trouble, returns as the father of another Gang member, Darla Hood, in the one-reel entry Our Gang: Night 'N' Gales. Though he'd rather spend his evening in peace and quiet, Mr. Hood Read More

Hearts Are Thumps

Crew: Producer

Actors: George "Spanky" McFarland, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas, Eugene "Porky" Lee, Darla Hood

Synopsis: It is Valentine's Day, and Our Gang members Spanky McFarland, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Billy "Buckwheat" Thomas and Eugene "Porky" Lee aren't impressed. Deciding that romance is the bunk, the boys form the He-Man Woman Hater's Club. Alfalfa is willing to go along with this until he falls head over Read More

Topper

Crew: Producer

Actors: Cary Grant, Constance Bennett, Billie Burke, Roland Young, Alan Mowbray

Synopsis: By 1937, producer Hal Roach was hoping to wean himself away from the Laurel & Hardy-Our Gang slapstick on which he had built his studio's reputation by delving into the "screwball comedy" genre. Roach selected the racy Thorne Smith fantasy novel Topper for adaptation, and the result was one of the Read More

Glove Taps

Crew: Producer

Actors: George "Spanky" McFarland, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas, Eugene "Porky" Lee, Tommy Bond

Synopsis: After appearing as a peripheral player in several earlier "Our Gang" shorts, Tommy Bond made a spectacular return to the series in Glove Taps. Here and in all future appearances, Bond is cast as neighborhood bully Butch, the bane of the existence of Spanky McFarland, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer and the Read More

The Pigskin Palooka

Crew: Producer

Actors: George "Spanky" McFarland, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas, Eugene "Porky" Lee, Darla Hood

Synopsis: Even allowing for the fact that it's only a one-reeler, the "Our Gang" comedy "The Pigskin Palooka" goes by so rapidly that the viewer will be gasping for breath! Having written of his football heroics in military school, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer returns home to a hero's welcome. No sooner has he Read More

Rushin' Ballet

Crew: Producer

Actors: George "Spanky" McFarland, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas, Eugene "Porky" Lee, Tommy Bond

Synopsis: Our Gang members Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer and Spanky McFarland form the Sekret Revengers Club, dedicated to protecting such smaller, more vulnerable children as Billy "Buckwheat" Thomas and Eugene "Porky" Lee. When Buckwheat and Porky report that their marbles have been stolen by bullies Butch Read More

Framing Youth

Crew: Producer

Actors: George "Spanky" McFarland, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas, Eugene "Porky" Lee, Darla Hood

Synopsis: Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Our Gang's resident crooner, has been preparing for weeks to perform in a radio talent contest. With Spanky McFarland as his manager, Alfalfa is a shoe-in for first prize -- until neighborhood bully Butch (Tommy Bond), who intends to perform a violin solo on the same radio Read More

Nobody's Baby

Crew: Producer

Actors: Patsy Kelly, Lyda Roberti, Lynne Overman, Robert Armstrong, Rosina Lawrence

Synopsis: Three former stalwarts of producer Hal Roach's two-reel comedies, actresses Patsy Kelly and Lyda Roberti and director Gus Meins, combine their talents in the Roach feature film Nobody's Baby. Kelly and Roberti play nurses-in-training Kitty and Lena, who reluctantly come into possession of a cute Read More

Reunion in Rhythm

Crew: Producer

Actors: George "Spanky" McFarland, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas, Eugene "Porky" Lee, Darla Hood

Synopsis: A followup to the musical-revue short Our Gang Follies of 1936, the one-reel Reunion in Rhythm was apparently filmed under the title Our Gang Follies of 1937. Its release title reflected the fact that, in addition to such current Gang members as Spanky McFarland, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Darla Read More

Mail and Female

Crew: Producer

Actors: George "Spanky" McFarland, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas, Eugene "Porky" Lee, Darla Hood

Synopsis: Acting as if the previous "Our Gang" one-reeler Hearts are Thumps never happened, the Gang's male members, headed by Spanky McFarland, decide to create the He-Man Woman Hater's Club. When the kids ask who will be elected president, Spanky nominates his pal Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer in absentia Read More

Mister Cinderella

Crew: Producer

Actors: Jack Haley, Betty Furness, Arthur Treacher, Raymond Walburn, Robert McWade

Synopsis: Hotel barber Joe Jenkins (Jack Haley), who's obsessed with newspaper stories about high-society celebrities, is dragooned into posing as eccentric millionaire Aloysius Merriweather (Monroe Owsley) at a fancy weekend party. At first thrilled at the prospect of hobnobbing with the 400, Joe is less Read More

Divot Diggers

Crew: Producer

Actors: George "Spanky" McFarland, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas, Eugene "Porky" Lee, Darla Hood

Synopsis: After several years away from the Our Gang series, the gang's longtime mentor Robert F. McGowan briefly resumed his directorial activities with the sidesplitting Divot Diggers. The action takes place at an expansive California golf course, where the Our Gang kids merrily play their own ragtag Read More

The Amateur Gentleman

Crew: Producer

Actors: Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Elissa Landi, Gordon Harker, Frank Pettingell, Basil Sydney, Hugh Williams

Synopsis: The Amateur Gentleman takes place in England during the Regency era. The hero is Barnaby Barty (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.), an innkeeper's son. To prove his dad innocent of a crime, Barnaby poses as a famous bare-knuckle gentleman prizefighter. In this guise he gains access to the Royal court, and in Read More

The Pinch Singer

Crew: Producer

Actors: George "Spanky" McFarland, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas, Eugene "Porky" Lee, Darla Hood

Synopsis: Hoping to win a 50-dollar prize, the Our Gang kids enter a radio talent contest. Despite the scene-stealing efforts of Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, leader George "Spanky" McFarland selects four-year-old vocalist Darla Hood to represent the gang with her stirring rendition of "I'm in the Mood for Love." Read More

Spooky Hooky

Crew: Producer

Actors: George "Spanky" McFarland, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas, Eugene "Porky" Lee, John Collum

Synopsis: Finding out that the circus will be coming to town for one day only, "Our Gang" members Spanky McFarland, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Billy "Buckwheat" Thomas and Eugene "Porky" Lee conspire to stage an "epidemic" in order to skip out of school. The boys go so far as to write a phony excuse note, to Read More

Second Childhood

Crew: Producer

Actors: George "Spanky" McFarland, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas, Eugene "Porky" Lee, Darla Hood

Synopsis: Veteran character actress Zeffie Tilbury steals the show in this immensely satisfying "Our Gang" comedy. On the occasion of her 65th birthday, a crotchety hypochondric (Tilbury) goes through her daily rant as her snooty servants (Sidney Bracey and Greta Gould) ply her with colorful but uncessary Read More

The Lucky Corner

Crew: Producer

Actors: George "Spanky" McFarland, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Scotty Beckett, Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas, Harold Switzer

Synopsis: Lovable old Gus (Gus Leonard) is forced to move his tiny lemonade stand when sidewalk-diner owner William Wagner and his bratty son Leonard Kibrick complain that Gus represents "unfair competition." As Gus relocates near a barber shop at the invitation of friendly boot black Joe Mathey, the Our Read More

Arbor Day

Crew: Producer

Actors: George "Spanky" McFarland, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas, Eugene "Porky" Lee, Darla Hood

Synopsis: Spanky tries to escape his "command performance" at the Spring Street School's annual Arbor Day show, but local truant officer Smithers (George Guhl) is a little too fast for him. Meanwhile, a pair of wisecracking midgets (George and Olive Brasno) take an unauthorized day off from their Read More

Kelly the Second

Crew: Producer

Actors: Patsy Kelly, Pert Kelton, Charley Chase, Edward S. Brophy

Synopsis: Produced by Hal Roach, Kelly the Second is one of the few feature films to capture the comic spirit of Roach's wonderful two-reelers. Patsy Kelly stars as Molly Kelly, who as the result of an unexpected street brawl becomes the trainer of truck-driver-turned-prizefighter Cecil Callahan (Guinn "Big Boy" Williams Read More

Two Too Young

Crew: Producer

Actors: George "Spanky" McFarland, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas, Eugene "Porky" Lee, Donald Proffitt

Synopsis: When little Billy "Buckwheat" Thomas and Eugene "Porky" Lee bring some firecrackers to school, older kids Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer and Spanky McFarland conspire to get the explosives away from the youngsters ---not out of any regard for safety, but because Alfie and Spanky want to set them off Read More

General Spanky

Crew: Producer

Actors: George "Spanky" McFarland, Phillips Holmes, Ralph Morgan, Irving Pichel, Rosina Lawrence

Synopsis: Having successful moved his top comedians Laurel & Hardy from short subjects to features, producer Hal Roach endeavored to do the same with the Our Gang Kids in 1936's General Spanky. Set in the South during the Civil War, the story focuses on Spanky (George "Spanky" McFarland), an orphaned Read More

Bored of Education

Crew: Producer

Actors: George "Spanky" McFarland, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Darla Hood, Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas, Rosina Lawrence

Synopsis: Producer Hal Roach had intended to terminate his "Our Gang" short-subject series at the end of the 1935-36 season, but was talked out of it by Louis B. Mayer, the head of Roach's distributor MGM. As a cost-cutting measure, Roach shortened the running time of each subsequent "Our Comedy" from two Read More

On the Wrong Trek

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: Charley Chase suffers through the vacation from hell in this hilarious two-reeler. He drives to California with his wife (Rosina Lawrence) and his mother-in-law (Bonita Weber), who is determined to run everything. Unfortunately, Rosina always sides with her mother, ever voicing the annoying Read More

All-American Toothache

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: The final Thelma Todd-Patsy Kelly two-reel comedy All-American Toothache was a rather obvious farce in which Thelma volunteers Patsy's services to freckled dental student Mickey Daniels. The comedy, produced by Hal Roach and directed by Gus Meins, was released a month and a half following Thelma Read More

The Bohemian Girl

Crew: Producer

Actors: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Thelma Todd, Antonio Moreno, Jacqueline Wells, Darla Hood

Synopsis: The excellent box-office returns for the previous Laurel & Hardy comic operas The Devil's Brother and Babes in Toyland encouraged Hal Roach to cast the team in still another operatic adaptation, a self-styled "comedy version" of William Balfe's The Bohemian Girl. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy play Read More

Sprucin' Up

Crew: Producer

Actors: George "Spanky" McFarland, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Scotty Beckett, Marianne Edwards, Jerry Tucker

Synopsis: Hoping to get on the good side of the new truant officer (Dick Elliot), the Our Gang kids go out of their way to impress the man's cute little daughter Marianne (Marianne Edwards), even unto making such sacrifices as taking baths, combing hair, shining shoes, and washing behind the ears. Both George "Spanky" McFarland Read More

Beginner's Luck

Crew: Producer

Actors: George "Spanky" McFarland, Matthew "Stymie" Beard, Scotty Beckett, Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas, Marianne Edwards

Synopsis: Much against his will, Spanky McFarland had been entered in a kiddie talent contest by his ambitious mother (Kitty Kelly). Hoping to dissuade his Mom from forcing him into a theatrical career, Spanky arranges for the other Our Gang kids to "razz" him during the performance, thereby making certain Read More

Little Papa

Crew: Producer

Actors: George "Spanky" McFarland, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Scotty Beckett, Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas

Synopsis: Although Spanky McFarland would like to play football with the rest of the "Our Gang" kids, he is stuck at home taking care of his baby brother. Hoping to lull the kid to sleep, thereby allowing himself to sneak out of the house, Spanky tries all sorts of "sure-fire" beddie-bye methods. But Read More

Our Gang Follies of 1936

Crew: Producer

Actors: George "Spanky" McFarland, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Eugene "Porky" Lee, Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas, Darla Hood

Synopsis: The first of "Our Gang"'s musical revues, this one gets under way as master of ceremonies Spanky McFarland entices the local kiddies to attend the Gang's "big show," staged in Spanky's basement. "There's dancing music, and hotcha too," Spanky sings, "It's only a penny --- it won't break you." Read More

Teacher's Beau

Crew: Producer

Actors: George "Spanky" McFarland, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Scotty Beckett, Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas, Matthew "Stymie" Beard

Synopsis: On the last day of school, the Our Gang kids learn that their beloved teacher Miss Jones (Arletta Duncan) is going to be married; thus, come September, the kids will have a "new" teacher, Mrs. Wilson. Miss Jones' fiancee Ralph (Edward Norris) playfully paints a frightening picture of Mrs. Wilson Read More

Bonnie Scotland

Crew: Producer

Actors: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, June Lang, William Janney, Anne Grey

Synopsis: Stanley MacLaurel (Stan Laurel), the American "black sheep" of the MacLaurel clan, stows away on a cattle boat to Scotland in the company of his pal Ollie (Oliver Hardy) so that he can claim his share of his late uncle Angus Ian MacLaurel's fortune. Alas, Stan's inheritance consists of a snuffbox Read More

Little Sinner

Crew: Producer

Actors: George "Spanky" McFarland, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Eugene "Porky" Lee, Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas, Sidney Kibrick

Synopsis: Anxious to go fishing, Spanky McFarland skips out of Sunday school, despite the admonitions of his pal Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer that "Something's going to happen to you." Actually, everything happens to Spanky and his kid brother (Eugene "Porky" Lee) in the course of the morning. Chased out Read More

Anniversary Trouble

Crew: Producer

Actors: George "Spanky" McFarland, Matthew "Stymie" Beard, Scotty Beckett, Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas, Alvin Buckelew

Synopsis: Little Spanky McFarland's appointment as treasurer of the Ancient and Honery Order of Woodchucks occurs on the same day as his parents' wedding anniversary. Absent-minded as usual, Spanky's father (Johnny Arthur) inadvertently hands over the Woodchucks' treasury as an anniversary present for his Read More

Tit for Tat

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: Stan and Ollie play proprietors of an electric store, anxious to make friends with neighboring grocer Charlie Hall. Unfortunately they'd already earned the enmity of Hall in a previous two-reeler, Them That Hills (34), and he is in no mood to bury the hatchet. When Hall accuses Hardy of fooling Read More

Babes in Toyland

Crew: Producer

Actors: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Charlotte Henry, Felix Knight, Henry Kleinbach

Synopsis: March of the Wooden Soldiers is the 1952 reissue title for Hal Roach's 1934 film version of Victor Herbert's Babes in Toyland. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy star as Stannie Dum and Ollie Dee, bumbling apprentices to the master toymaker of Toyland. This joyous fairy-tale community is populated by Read More

Washee Ironee

Crew: Producer

Actors: Wally Albright, George "Spanky" McFarland, Matthew "Stymie" Beard, Scotty Beckett, Tommy Bond

Synopsis: On the day that he is scheduled to perform a violin solo at a swank bridge luncheon held by his social-climbing mother, rich kid Wally Albright opts instead to play football with the Our Gang kids. With Wally's help, the kids win the game, but his expensive clothes are covered with mud. Unofficial Read More

For Pete's Sake

Crew: Producer

Actors: Wally Albright, George "Spanky" McFarland, Matthew "Stymie" Beard, Scotty Beckett, Leonard Kibrick

Synopsis: When neighborhood bully Leonard Kibrick wrecks little Marianne Edwards' favorite doll, the "Our Gang" kids promise to purchase a new doll for the brokenhearted girl. Unfortunately, the local toy store is run by Leonard's equally obnoxious father William Wagner, who agrees to give the kids a doll Read More

Hi'-Neighbor!

Crew: Producer

Actors: Wally Albright, Jerry Tucker, Jacqueline Taylor, George "Spanky" McFarland, Matthew "Stymie" Beard

Synopsis: When wealthy young Jerry Tucker moves into town, the Our Gang kids line up to greet him. Alas, Jerry is a snobbish sort, though he immediately turns on the charm when he meets little Jane (Jackie Taylor), the erstwhile girlfriend of Wally Albright. Worried that Jane's head will be turned by Read More

Honkey Donkey

Crew: Producer

Actors: Wally Albright, George "Spanky" McFarland, Matthew "Stymie" Beard, Scotty Beckett, Tommy Bond

Synopsis: Capriciously defying his loving but overprotective mother, wealthy young Wally Albright orders family chauffeur Barclay (Don Barclay) to drive through the town's "dirtier" alleyways. Here, Wally befriends the Our Gang kids, who have rigged up a merry-go-round powered by a contentious mule named Read More

Shrimps for a Day

Crew: Producer

Actors: George "Spanky" McFarland, Matthew "Stymie" Beard, Scotty Beckett, Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas, Leonard Kibrick

Synopsis: Like the previous "Mama's Little Pirate," "Shrimps for a Day" was a rare "Our Gang" foray into pure fantasy. In this one, the Our Gang kids are cast as the inmates of the Happy Home Orphanage, a inaptly-named organization run by the nasty and dishonest Mr. and Mrs. Crutch (Clarence Wilson and Rosa Read More

Mama's Little Pirate

Crew: Producer

Actors: George "Spanky" McFarland, Matthew "Stymie" Beard, Scotty Beckett, Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas, Jerry Tucker

Synopsis: The first in a brace of "Our Gang" fantasy outings, "Mama's Little Pirate" begins when the mother of Spanky McFarland refuses to allow him to participate in a treasure hunt in a nearby cave (actually a spooky standing set left over from the 1934 Laurel and Hardy feature Babes in Toyland). Read More

Dirty Work

Crew: Producer

Actors: Ralph Lynn, Gordon Harker, Robertson Hare

Synopsis: Although this Laurel and Hardy short is quite funny, it's often neglected. The boys, playing chimney sweeps, don't appear right away -- first the stage is set in the laboratory of a mad scientist, Professor Noodle (Lucien Littlefield). He has been working intensely for the past 20 years to create Read More

Mike Fright

Crew: Producer

Actors: George "Spanky" McFarland, Matthew "Stymie" Beard, Scotty Beckett, Tommy Bond, Alvin Buckelew

Synopsis: When open auditions are announced for a radio variety program, the local station is besieged by aggressively overcoached "professional kids." Also auditioning is an impressive-sounding musical aggregation called the International Silver String Submarine Band --- which turns out to be none other Read More

Going Bye-Bye!

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: This is an especially violent -- but very funny -- Laurel and Hardy two-reeler. It opens in a courthouse where the vicious Butch Long (Walter Long) is being sentenced for murder. After the judge commends Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy for providing the evidence necessary for the conviction, he gives Read More

Twice Two

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: The whole point of this Laurel and Hardy two-reeler was to dress up the comic duo as women and have them play each other's wives. It's a simple domestic scenario -- Oliver Hardy, brain specialist, and Stan Laurel, his "associate advisor," are celebrating their one year wedding anniversary. They Read More

Bedtime Worries

Crew: Producer

Actors: George "Spanky" McFarland, Matthew "Stymie" Beard, Dorothy de Borba, Tommy Bond, Jerry Tucker

Synopsis: Originally released on September 9, 1933, "Bedtime Worries" was the first of two "Our Gang" comedies in which the vaudeville team of Emerson Treacy and Gay Seabrook (a second-echelon Burns and Allen) were cast as the parents of little Spanky McFarland. On the day he is promoted to head clerk (or Read More

The Kid From Borneo

Crew: Producer

Actors: George "Spanky" McFarland, Dickie Moore, Matthew "Stymie" Beard, Dorothy de Borba, Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins

Synopsis: In this classic "Our Gang" comedy, Dickie Moore, Spanky McFarland and Dorothy DeBorba play siblings who, through a misunderstanding, become convinced that the local carnival's "Wild Man of Borneo" is really their prodigal Uncle George. Though basically harmless, the Wild Man really goes Read More

Busy Bodies

Crew: Producer

Actors: Charlie Hall

Synopsis: This is one of Laurel and Hardy's most entertaining sound shorts, and perhaps its beauty is in its utter comic simplicity -- there's no plot, just a lot of great, well-paced gags. Stan and Ollie are cheerfully driving to work and listening to their "car radio" -- actually a gramophone, hooked up Read More

The Midnight Patrol

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are policemen on night duty. As they sit in their car having a snack, they get a call from headquarters to inform them that their spare tire is being stolen. But that's only a taste of their sheer incompetence -- when they are told to investigate a burglary, they get Read More

Bargain of the Century

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: Directed by Hal Roach Studio comic Charlie Chase, this two-reeler is by many considered the best of the 16 Thelma Todd-ZaSu Pitts comedies. Having caused police officer James Burtis to lose his job, the girls invite him to stay in their apartment. They hope to reinstate their friends in the police Read More

Sons of the Desert

Crew: Producer

Actors: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Charley Chase, Mae Busch, Lucien Littlefield

Synopsis: Lodge members Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy take a solemn oath to attend the 80th-annual Sons of the Desert Convention (read: annual binge) in Chicago. That is, Ollie takes the oath, but Stanley balks. When asked why, Stanley answers that he's afraid his wife won't let him go. Ollie is appalled Read More

Arabian Tights

Crew: Director

Me and My Pal

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: It is Oliver Hardy's triumphant wedding day -- he is marrying the boss's daughter and thus becoming general manager for the International Horsecollar Corporation. The so-called best man (Stan Laurel -- who else?) arrives with the ring and tickets to Chicago for the honeymoon (Ollie actually wanted Read More

Fish Hooky

Crew: Producer

Actors: Dickie Moore, George "Spanky" McFarland, Matthew "Stymie" Beard, Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins, John Collum

Synopsis: Four of the "Our Gang" kids fabricate elaborate excuses to get out of school so they can go fishing. Unfortunately, the boys have picked the very day that their teacher is taking the whole class for a free excursion to the Seaside Amusement Park. The rest of the picture finds the would-be Read More

Forgotten Babies

Crew: Producer

Actors: George "Spanky" McFarland, Dickie Moore, Matthew "Stymie" Beard, Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins, John Collum

Synopsis: A partial remake of the 1924 Our Gang: Cradle Robbers, "Forgotten Babies" finds the Gang members trying to escape their babysitting chores. They manage to coerce little Spanky McFarland to mind their baby brothers and sisters while the rest of the Gang goes swimming. Unfortunately, the infants Read More

Mush and Milk

Crew: Producer

Actors: George "Spanky" McFarland, Dickie Moore, Matthew "Stymie" Beard, Dorothy de Borba, John Collum

Synopsis: This time around, the Our Gang Kids are residents (or rather, inmates) of the Bleak Hill Boarding School, where the crabby old lady in charge forces them to do all the chores and feeds them a strict diet of mush. Fortunately, the kids have a strong ally in the form of lovable old Cap (Gus Read More

The Devil's Brother

Crew: Director, Producer

Actors: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Dennis King, James Finlayson

Synopsis: Based on an 1830 opera entitled "Fra Diavolo" by Daniel F. Auber, the parts of two bit bandits were built up for Laurel and Hardy, but this was still just a minor effort--a few good laughs but nothing spectacular that wasn't done better elsewhere. Released later as Bogus Bandits and The Virtuous Read More

Scram!

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: It's a rainy night and Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are faced with a particularly ill-tempered judge Rychard Cramer. He'd love to throw them in the clink for vagrancy, but since the jail is full, he gives them just one hour...to leave town. Out on the street, they encounter a drunk (perennial Read More

On the Loose

Crew: Director, Producer

Synopsis: In this classic two-reel comedy from the Hal Roach Studio, blonde Thelma Todd and plain-Jane ZaSu Pitts are depressed because their cheapskate boyfriends (Billy Gilbert and Charlie Hall) refuse to take them anywhere other than the amusement park at Coney Island. Things brighten considerably when Read More

Hook and Ladder

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Dickie Moore, George "Spanky" McFarland, Matthew "Stymie" Beard, Kendall McComas, Sherwood Bailey

Synopsis: Originally released on August 27, 1932, Hook and Ladder was a remake of the 1926 "Our Gang" comedy The Fourth Alarm, with several gags repeated verbatim. Answering the Fire Chief's request for volunteers, the Our Gang kids form their own firefighting squadron, replete with ersatz uniforms, a fire Read More

Any Old Port!

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy have just returned from a whaling trek. They check into a run-down hotel, the Mariner's Rest, whose owner, Mugsy Long (the intimidating Walter Long), is forcing a girl (Jacqueline Wells) into marriage. The girl manages to reveal her dilemma to Stan and Ollie before Read More

Their First Mistake

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: In spite of a sudden end which makes this Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy two-reeler seem incomplete, there are quite a few wonderfully funny moments. Arabella Hardy (Mae Busch) is more than fed up with her husband Ollie, who has been spending all his free time with his pal Stanley. Their domestic Read More

Free Wheeling

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Dickie Moore, Matthew "Stymie" Beard, Kendall McComas, George "Spanky" McFarland, Jacquie Lyn

Synopsis: Confined to a neck brace, poor little rich boy Dickie Moore would like to play with the neighborhood kids, but his overprotective mother (Lillian Rich) won't let him. On the sly, however, Dickie sneaks out of his bedroom in search of adventure in the company of his best pal, Matthew "Stymie" Read More

The Pooch

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Matthew "Stymie" Beard, George "Spanky" McFarland, Dorothy de Borba, Kendall McComas, Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins

Synopsis: Cheerful vagrant Mathew "Stymie" Beard tries to get back in the good graces of the Gang after stealing their pies. Stymie's not a bad kid, just hungry, as proven when he cadges a meal from a friendly housewife -- a meal supposedly for his faithful pet Pete the Pup, but actually consumed by Read More

Free Eats

Crew: Producer

Actors: Matthew "Stymie" Beard, Kendall McComas, Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins, Dorothy de Borba, George "Spanky" McFarland

Synopsis: To further her husband's political career, wealthy Mrs. Clark (Lillian Elliot) throws a lavish party in her home for the poor children of the community. Among the invitees are the Our Gang kids, including Matthew "Stymie" Beard, who of late has been getting into trouble because of his tall tales. Read More

Birthday Blues

Crew: Producer

Actors: Dickie Moore, George "Spanky" McFarland, Matthew "Stymie" Beard, Kendall McComas, Jacquie Lyn

Synopsis: A superb combination of belly laughs and pathos, the "Our Gang" comedy "Birthday Blues" was originally released on November 12, 1932. When their pennypinching father (Hooper Atchley) refuses to buy a birthday gift for their long-suffering mother (Lillian Rich), brothers Dickie Moore and Spanky Read More

A Lad an' a Lamp

Crew: Producer

Actors: Dickie Moore, George "Spanky" McFarland, Matthew "Stymie" Beard, Bobby Beard, Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins

Synopsis: Fascinated by the story of Aladdin's magic lamp, the Our Gang kids gather together every electric light fixture in the neighborhood, hoping that by rubbing them vigorously, a genie will appear. Thanks to a series of coincidences -- not least of which involves a friendly stage magician -- the kids Read More

Pack up Your Troubles

Crew: Producer

Actors: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Donald Dillaway, Jacquie Lyn, Mary Carr

Synopsis: Drafted into the army during World War I, those muddled misfits Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy make a shambles of Training Camp before being shipped to France. When their best pal Eddie (Donald Dillaway) is killed in battle, Stan and Ollie vow to locate the grandparents of Eddie's orphaned little Read More

Spanky

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: George "Spanky" McFarland, Kendall McComas, Matthew "Stymie" Beard, Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins, Dorothy de Borba

Synopsis: Earning instant stardom via his appearance in the 1932 "Our Gang" comedy "Free Eats," 3-year-old George "Spanky" McFarland was rewarded with his own two-reel vehicle, appropriately titled "Spanky." One suspects, however, that the film, a remake of the 1926 "Our Gang" entry "Uncle Tom's Uncle," was Read More

The Chimp

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy have been working for a circus as two halves of an ersatz horse. When the circus closes, in lieu of pay, each employee gets a portion of the show. Stan gets the flea circus and Ollie gets Ethel the chimp. They try to check into a boarding house, but the proprietor (Billy Gilbert Read More

The Music Box

Crew: Producer

Actors: Charlie Hall, Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy

Synopsis: This most famous of Laurel and Hardy shorts won an Oscar for "Best Comedy Short Subject." Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy play characters who run a transfer company. They are hired to deliver a player piano to an address which turns out to be up a very long flight of steps The whole film involves the Read More

Readin' and Writin'

Crew: Producer

Actors: Kendall McComas, Matthew "Stymie" Beard, Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins, Dorothy de Borba, Sherwood Bailey

Synopsis: June Marlowe made her final "Our Gang" appearance as Miss Crabtree in "Readin' and Writin'." Despite his mother's admonitions that he'll "never be President" unless he attends school, little Breezy Brisbane (Kenneth McKenna) contocts a plan that will earn him expulsion from Miss Crabtree's Read More

At Work

Crew: Director

County Hospital

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: Stan Laurel arrives at the hospital to visit his friend Oliver Hardy. It takes him more time to locate Ollie's room than it does for him to destroy it completely. That happens when the doctor (Billy Gilbert at his most fulsome) enters to see how his patient is doing. Ollie, his broken leg Read More

Choo Choo!

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: George "Spanky" McFarland, Matthew "Stymie" Beard, Kendall McComas, Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins, Dorothy de Borba

Synopsis: Originally released on May 7, 1932, the "Our Gang" comedy "Choo-Choo!" was a loose remake of the 1923 two-reeler A Pleasant Journey. Exchanging clothes with a group of mischievous orphans, the Our Gang kids end up on a train headed for Chicago. Pressed into service as the kids' supervisor Read More

Beau Hunks

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: This Laureland Hardy four-reeler is very loosely based on Beau Gest. It opens with Oliver Hardy singing a sweet love song. He's feeling sentimental because he's about to marry his girl, Jeanie-Weanie who, he tells his friend Stan Laurel, "has been all around the world and everyone loves her." Read More

Love Business

Crew: Producer

Actors: Jackie Cooper, Norman "Chubby" Chaney, Farina Hoskins, Mary Ann Jackson, Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins

Synopsis: The final entry in "Our Gang" 's unofficial "Miss Crabtree trilogy", "Love Business" more or less picks up where "School's Out" left off. Little Jackie Cooper has a schoolboy crush on his lovely teacher Miss Crabtree (June Marlowe), as does Jackie's classmate Norman "Chubby" Chaney. When Miss Read More

Little Daddy

Crew: Producer

Actors: Farina Hoskins, Matthew "Stymie" Beard, Jackie Cooper, Norman "Chubby" Chaney, Mary Ann Jackson

Synopsis: Originally released on March 28, 1931, the "Our Gang" comedy "Little Daddy" is no longer available in the "Little Rascals" TV package, due to the perceived offensiveness of its "ethnic" humor. The focus is on talented black youngsters Allen "Farina" Hoskins and Mathew "Stymie" Beard, here cast as Read More

Bargain Day

Crew: Producer

Actors: Norman "Chubby" Chaney, Shirley Jean Rickert, Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins, Matthew "Stymie" Beard, Farina Hoskins

Synopsis: The "Our Gang" two-reeler "Bargain Day" gets off to a lively start as the kids help their pal Norman "Chubby" Chaney purchase a new hat. Meanwhile, Jackie Cooper's kid brother, played by Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins, steals the Gang's baseball equipment, intended to go into business as a door-to-door Read More

Let's Do Things

Crew: Director

Synopsis: In their first of 16 comedy shorts for Hal Roach, blonde Thelma Todd and fluttery ZaSu Pitts go on a frenetic double date with George Byron and Charlie Hall. Although the series opener, directed by Roach himself, was released in three reels, subsequent comedies were all two-reelers. Teaming the Read More

Mama Loves Papa

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: This entry was part of MGM's short-lived "The Boy Friends" series, which was developed by director George Stevens. In this one, two elderly people, both widowed, want to get married, but the kids do their best to stop them. ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide Read More

Come Clean

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: This Laurel and Hardy two-reeler contains a similar premise to Chickens Come Home, and starts off the same way as Should Married Men Go Home? does -- Ollie and his wife (here, it's Gertrude Astor) are spending a quiet evening at home, away from "those Laurels." Just then, Stan and his wife (Linda Read More

Helping Grandma

Crew: Producer

Actors: Jackie Cooper, Farina Hoskins, Norman "Chubby" Chaney, Mary Ann Jackson, Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins

Synopsis: Veteran character actress Margaret Mann makes the first of two memorable Our Gang appearances in Helping Grandma. The owner of a tiny general store, "Grandma" (Mann), loves to have the kids around, even if they pay for their penny candy with expired subway tokens and buttons. Local skinflint Mr. Read More

Be Big!

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: While this isn't one of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy's best shorts, its premise is very similar to one of their finest features, Sons of the Desert. In both films, the hapless duo is trying to sneak around their wives' backs to join a group of club mates. In Sons of the Desert, they're going to a Read More

Fly My Kite

Crew: Producer

Actors: Norman "Chubby" Chaney, Farina Hoskins, Matthew "Stymie" Beard, Mary Ann Jackson, Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins

Synopsis: A real four-hankie picture, "Fly My Kite" is one of "Our Gang"'s most poignant episodes, though it also manages to be hilariously funny at times. Margaret Mann makes a return appearance as the gang's adopted Grandma, who reads Wild West stories to the kids, gives them boxing tips and dispenses Read More

One Good Turn

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are victims of the depression in this tworeeler. They do have an old car, a tent and some clothes, though, so things could be worse. With Stan's help, things do get worse -- their tent goes up in flames and their laundry shrinks down to minuscule size. They are forced Read More

Helpmates

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: Most Laurel and Hardy aficionados consider this film among the comic duo's very best two-reelers, and it is especially rich in slapstick antics. It opens up with an extremely hungover Oliver Hardy admonishing himself in the mirror for throwing such a wild party the night before. An arriving Read More

Pardon Us

Crew: Producer

Actors: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Walter Long, Wilfred Lucas, James Finlayson, June Marlowe

Synopsis: Two-reel comedy favorites Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy made their feature-film debut (excluding their guest appearances in Hollywood Revue of 1929 and Rogue Song) in the prison comedy Pardon Us. A spoof of MGM's The Big House, the story begins when erstwhile bootleggers Laurel and Hardy sell a Read More

Our Wife

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: Oliver Hardy finds that getting married is more difficult than he had planned in this two-reeler. It starts off with partner and best man Stan Laurel's adventures with a container of fly spray. While Laurel is ruining the wedding breakfast and cake, Hardy's fiancée, Dulcy (Babe London), is having Read More

Laughing Gravy

Crew: Producer

Actors: Charlie Hall

Synopsis: Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy attempt to hide Laurel's dog, Laughing Gravy, from their landlord (Charlie Hall, the premiere angry landlord in many Laurel and Hardy films), who does not allow pets. Of course, the landlord discovers the dog and throws him out into the snowy night. While trying to get Read More

Shiver My Timbers

Crew: Producer

Actors: Matthew "Stymie" Beard, Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins, Dorothy de Borba, Sherwood Bailey, George Ernest

Synopsis: The Our Gang kids spend so much time listening to the tall tales spun by a salty sea captain (Billy Gilbert) that they haven't any time to attend school. Their teacher Miss Crabtree (June Marlowe) angrily trails the kids to the docks, then gives the captain a piece of their mind. Apologizing, the Read More

Big Ears

Crew: Producer

Actors: Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins, Matthew "Stymie" Beard, Dorothy de Borba, Donald Haines, Sherwood Bailey

Synopsis: An angry divorce is the curious source of humor in the offbeat "Our Gang" comedy "Big Ears." Though little Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins loves both his father and mother (Creighton Hale and Ann Christy), he wishes that they would stop quarrelling. Overhearing their plans to split up, Wheezer is at Read More

Dogs is Dogs

Crew: Producer

Actors: Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins, Matthew "Stymie" Beard, Dorothy de Borba, Sherwood Bailey, Dickie Jackson

Synopsis: Another expert blend of genuine sentiment, moving pathos and belly laughs, the "Our Gang" comedy "Dogs is Dogs" was orginally released on November 21, 1931. This time, Gang members Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins and Dorothy DeBorba are cast as brother and sister, left in charge of their hateful Read More

Chickens Come Home

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: Not only has Oliver Hardy established a successful business -- in fertilizer -- he has also decided to run for mayor. General manager Stan Laurel interrupts his duties (which involve a fly swatter) in the sample room to help Ollie with a speech. Ollie's old flame (Mae Busch) barges into the Read More

Teacher's Pet

Crew: Producer

Actors: Jackie Cooper, Farina Hoskins, Norman "Chubby" Chaney, Mary Ann Jackson

Synopsis: An indisputable classic, the "Our Gang" comedy "Teacher's Pet" is introduced by a brace of pretty twin girls (Beverly and Bette Mae Crane), who recite the opening credit titles. The story proper begins with the Gang members facing the first day of school with fear and loathing. Their beloved Read More

A Tough Winter

Crew: Producer

Actors: Stepin Fetchit, Farina Hoskins, Mary Ann Jackson, Jackie Cooper, Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins

Synopsis: Originally released on June 21, 1930, the "Our Gang" comedy "A Tough Winter" was designed as a "pilot" film for a proposed series of two-reelers starring legendary black comedian Stepin Fetchit. Beginning with a lengthy sequence in which the Gang helps Stepin read a love letter (which segues into Read More

When the Wind Blows

Crew: Producer

Actors: Jackie Cooper, Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins, Farina Hoskins, Mary Ann Jackson, Norman "Chubby" Chaney

Synopsis: Officially an "Our Gang" comedy, "When the Wind Blows" is really a vehicle for adult comic Edgar Kennedy, here playing his usual role of a boastful, clumsy and cowardly cop. On a dark and windy night, Officer Kennedy tries to keep the peace in a small neighborhood, only to be frightened at every Read More

Monsieur Le Fox

Crew: Director

Actors: Barbara Leonard, André Luguet, Arnold Korff

Men of the North

Crew: Director

Actors: Barbara Leonard, Arnold Korff, Robert Elliott, George Davis, Nena Quartaro

Synopsis: At the height of his activity as Hollywood's foremost producer of 2-reel comedies, Hal Roach developed the urge to direct a feature film and thus went down the street to MGM to helm the rip-roaring adventure yarn Men of the North. Gilbert Roland stars as Louis LaBey, a French-Canadian trapper who Read More

Below Zero

Crew: Producer

Actors: Charlie Hall

Synopsis: Business is not good for street musicians Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Perhaps it's because they're playing in front of a deaf and dumb institute. Or maybe it's because the weather is reaching near-blizzard proportions and their song of choice is "In the Good Old Summertime". In response to the Read More

Another Fine Mess

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: The 1930 Laurel & Hardy 3-reeler Another Fine Mess is a remake of the team's 1927 effort Duck Soup--which, in turn, was based on "Home from the Honeymoon", a vaudeville sketch written in 1908 by Stan Laurel's father. Escaping from an angry cop, Stan and Ollie take refuge in a posh East Side Read More

Night Owls

Crew: Producer

Actors: Oliver Hardy, Stan Laurel

Synopsis: Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are supported by a couple of Hal Roach's best stock players in this comic two-reeler. The film opens at the police station, where the chief (Anders Randolph), fed up at the high number of burglaries and no arrests, threatens Officer Kennedy (Edgar Kennedy): Any more Read More

Bear Shooters

Crew: Producer

Actors: Leon Janney, Jackie Cooper, Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins, Farina Hoskins, Mary Ann Jackson

Synopsis: Popular child actor (and later radio and TV stalwart) Leon Janney made his one and only "Our Gang" appearance in "Bear Shooters." Ordered by his mother to look after his kid brother Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins, nine-year-old Spud (Janney) is worried that he won't be able to join his pals on a hunting Read More

The Rogue Song

Crew: Director

Actors: Lawrence Tibbett, Catherine Dale Owen, Nance O'Neil, Judith Vosselli, Ullrich Haupt, Sr.

Synopsis: Metropolitan opera star Lawrence Tibbett headed the cast of The Rogue Song, an opulent Technicolor adaptation of the Franz Lehar operetta Gypsy Love. Set (vaguely) in 19th-century Russia, the film stars Tibbett as Yegor, dashing leader of an outlaw band called "The Robbing Larks." During one of Read More

School's Out

Crew: Producer

Actors: Jackie Cooper, Farina Hoskins, Norman "Chubby" Chaney, Mary Ann Jackson, Bobby Young

Synopsis: In this sequel to the 1930 "Our Gang" comedy "Teacher's Pet," the Gang members eagerly await each school day, so that they can bask in the beauty and charm of their new schoolteacher Miss Crabtree (June Marlowe). Little Jackie Cooper is so smitten by the teacher that he circulates a "perdition" to Read More

Hog Wild

Crew: Composer (Music Score), Producer

Synopsis: Oliver Hardy wants to go see his friend Stan Laurel; his wife (Fay Holderness) tells him, in no uncertain terms, that he must put up the radio antenna first. When Stan comes by and gives Ollie his helping hand, the inevitable mayhem ensues. He begins by setting Ollie's pants on fire with the Read More

Brats

Crew: Producer, Screenwriter

Synopsis: Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy play both the fathers and their unruly children in this two-reel comedy. The really funny thing about this film is that as the kids, Laurel and Hardy don't behave much differently as they generally do as adults. The relationship is basically the same between the two Read More

Pups Is Pups

Crew: Producer

Actors: Farina Hoskins, Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins, Jackie Cooper, Dorothy de Borba, Norman "Chubby" Chaney

Synopsis: The Our Gang kids prepare to enter their scraggily pets in a high-society dog show, where their pal Allen "Farina" Hoskins is working as an usher. Meanwhile, Jackie Cooper tries vainly to prevent his troublesome kid sister (Dorothy "Echo" DeBorba) from jumping into every mud puddle that she sees. Read More

The First Seven Years

Crew: Producer

Actors: Jackie Cooper, Mary Ann Jackson, Donald Haines, Farina Hoskins, Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins

Synopsis: Hopelessly in love with little Mary Ann Jackson, seven-year-old Jackie Cooper would like to claim her as a "wife," but doesn't know how to go about it. When the "caveman" approach fails, Jackie tries the candy, flowers and clean-suit technique, only to find he has been beaten to the punch by his Read More

The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: While on an outing to go fishing, Oliver Hardy is trying to get some sleep. He's disturbed by a newspaper that blows in, advertising the reading of the will of an Ebeneezer Laurel. Convinced that his partner, Stan Laurel, must be the heir, the pair head for the Laurel mansion. Upon arrival they Read More

Blotto

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: In this especially amusing Laurel and Hardy short, the boys are planning a night on the town. Standing in their way is Mrs. Laurel (Anita Garvin). Ollie telephones Stan with a scheme: Stan will send himself a bogus telegram, calling him away on "business." Unfortunately for the duo, Mrs. Laurel Read More

Bacon Grabbers

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: This Laurel and Hardy two-reel silent involves the boys' attempts to repossess a radio from Collis P. Kennedy (Edgar Kennedy). A barking toy dog scares them off at first, but they come back with a borrowed Great Dane. The Great Dane is also scared off by the toy. Ollie apprehends Kennedy while Stan Read More

Liberty

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: This Laurel and Hardy short film has a thin plot but plenty of laughs. The two have escaped from prison, but the guards are hot on their tail. Some confederates pick them up, and Stan and Ollie change out of their prison uniforms in the car while a motorcycle policeman pursues them. In their Read More

Double Whoopee

Crew: Producer

Actors: Charlie Hall

Synopsis: A hotel is gearing up to welcome its prestigious new guest, a European Prince (Captain John Peters). But before he appears, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy walk in. After much confusion, it is discovered that the two are not the Prince and his Prime Minister, but are the hotel's new doorman and Read More

Angora Love

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: A goat escapes from a pet shop, and the owner reports the missing goat to the police. Laurel & Hardy have spent their last dime on donuts, and Laurel feeds his donuts to the goat. The goat follows them everywhere, and they can't get away from it. They sneak the goat into their bedroom, under the Read More

Perfect Day

Crew: Producer

Actors: Oliver Hardy, Stan Laurel

Synopsis: Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy have a Sunday picnic planned with their wives (Isabelle Keith and Kay Deslys) and Uncle Ed (Edgar Kennedy). But in the world of Laurel and Hardy, an easy, pleasant outing such as this is not without its pitfalls. Everyone piles into the car and after bidding goodbye to Read More

Big Business

Crew: Producer

Actors: Oliver Hardy, Stan Laurel, James Finlayson

Synopsis: Stan (Stan Laurel) and Ollie (Oliver Hardy) are selling Christmas trees door-to-door. Stan unintentionally insults their first customer (a single woman) when he asks, "If you had a husband, would he buy a tree?" The second house has a sign up that says "No Peddlers." Ollie rings the bell anyway Read More

The Hoosegow

Crew: Producer

Actors: Oliver Hardy, Stan Laurel

Noisy Noises

Crew: Producer

Actors: Joe Cobb, Farina Hoskins, Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins, Jean Darling, Jay R. Smith

Synopsis: Despite its title, this "Our Gang" comedy was a silent film, albeit one outfitted with a synchronized music and sound-effects track. The spotlight is on chubby Gang member Joe Cobb, who tries to take care of his squalling baby brother Rupert, while he himself is suffering from the Grandaddy of all Read More

Men O' War

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: In this early Laurel and Hardy sound short, Stan and Ollie are a pair of sailors on leave. They meet two girls at a park (Anne Cornwall and Gloria Greer). They have also found a pair of bloomers, which they assume belongs to one of the young ladies. Delicately, they try to discern if either of the Read More

Berth Marks

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: Laurel and Hardy's second two-reel talkie is made up of a few very simple scenes -- Oliver Hardy goes to meet his partner Stan Laurel at the train station. They have a vaudeville act which involves a bass fiddle and are on their way to their next performance. They just barely make the train and Read More

Small Talk

Crew: Producer

Actors: Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins, Mary Ann Jackson, Joe Cobb, Farina Hoskins, Jean Darling

Synopsis: The first all-talking "Our Gang" comedy, Small Talk was also one of the few series entries to run three reels rather than the customary two. A sentimental effort, the film details the trials of tribulations of two orphans -- played by Mary Ann Jackson and Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins -- when one of Read More

Saturday's Lesson

Crew: Producer

Actors: Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins, Joe Cobb, Farina Hoskins, Mary Ann Jackson, Jean Darling

Synopsis: The last of the silent "Our Gang" comedies, Saturday's Lesson was also one of the best in the entire series. It is Saturday, and the Gang members would rather be playing than doing their accustomed household chores. Escaping the watchful eyes of their parents, the kids scurry off to a local park Read More

Election Day

Crew: Producer

Actors: Joe Cobb, Jay R. Smith, Farina Hoskins, Mary Ann Jackson, Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins

Synopsis: The Our Gang kids hold an election, with Joe Cobb running against Jay R. Smith, and vice versa (the boys' campaign slogans are along the lines of "Vote for Joe or Get a Punch in the Nose.") For unexplained reasons, both candidates try to prevent Allen "Farina" Hoskins and Farina's kid sister Read More

Railroadin'

Crew: Producer

Actors: Joe Cobb, Norman "Chubby" Chaney, Farina Hoskins, Harry Spear, Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins

Synopsis: The second "Our Gang" talkie, Railroadin' was filmed entirely out-of-doors, on location in and around the railroad yards behind the Samuel Goldwyn Studios in Hollywood. The fun begins when train engineer Otto Fries, the father of Gang members Joe Cobb and Norman "Chubby" Chaney, takes a lunch Read More

Cat, Dog & Co.

Crew: Producer

Actors: Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins, Joe Cobb, Farina Hoskins, Harry Spear, Mary Ann Jackson

Synopsis: One of the livelier late-silent entries in the "Our Gang" series, Cat, Dog & Co. begins with the kids thoughtlessly abusing or overworking their pets. But thanks to the gentle admonitions of a lady from the Be Kind to Animals Society (played by future gossip columnist Hedda Hopper), the kids Read More

Wiggle Your Ears

Crew: Producer

Actors: Mary Ann Jackson, Joe Cobb, Harry Spear, Jean Darling, Farina Hoskins

Synopsis: A truly offbeat "Our Gang" comedy, Wiggle Your Ears contains subtext that might make Sigmund Freud proud. Little Mary Ann Jackson is in love with Harry Spear because the boy can wiggle his ears. Alas, Harry has eyes only for five-year-old "vamp" Jean Darling. Acting upon the advice of Allen Read More

The Holy Terror

Crew: Producer

Actors: Mary Ann Jackson, Joe Cobb, Jean Darling, Farina Hoskins, Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins

Synopsis: Outside of a cutting continuity and a handful of contemporary reviews, little is known about the plotline of the long-lost "Our Gang" comedy The Holly Terror. From the existing evidence, the story would seem to have centered on the sibling rivalry between two little girls, played by Mary Ann Read More

Little Mother

Crew: Producer

Actors: Mary Ann Jackson, Joe Cobb, Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins, Farina Hoskins

Synopsis: Though completed before the first "Our Gang" talkie Small Talk, the silent two-reeler Little Mother was released afterward, on June 1, 1929. Mary Ann Jackson plays the title role, the 6-year-old guardian of her twin brothers Wheezer and Beezer (Bobby Hutchins and Donnie Smith) while their widowed Read More

Fast Freight

Crew: Producer

Actors: Farina Hoskins, Joe Cobb, Harry Spear, Mary Ann Jackson, Jean Darling

Synopsis: This silent "Our Gang" comedy starts out as a vehicle for Allen "Farina" Hoskins, here cast as a youthful hobo, riding the rails in the company of his dog Pete. While passing through California, Farina links up with the rest of the Our Gang kids, who are eager to join him in his life of carefree Read More

That's My Wife

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: Mrs. Magnolia Hardy (Vivien Oakland) is fed up with her husband Oliver Hardy and his permanent houseguest Stan Laurel. Even though Ollie points out that Uncle Bernal will cut them out of his will if she leaves, she walks out anyway. Naturally, Uncle Bernal chooses just this time to pay his nephew Read More

Lazy Days

Crew: Producer

Actors: Farina Hoskins, Jannie Hoskins, Joe Cobb, Norman "Chubby" Chaney, Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins

Synopsis: Lazy Days is built entirely around the fact that the Gang members in general and Allen "Farina" Hoskins in particular are too lazy to perform their chores or even indulge in horseplay. The pace picks up a bit when the kids decide to enter a "beautiful baby" contest in hopes of winning a $50 prize. Read More

They Go Boom

Crew: Producer

Moan & Groan, Inc.

Crew: Producer

Actors: Farina Hoskins, Mary Ann Jackson, Jackie Cooper, Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins, Norman "Chubby" Chaney

Synopsis: The success of this "Our Gang" comedy is due in great part to the performances of two adult comedians, Edgar Kennedy and Max Davidson. Warning the Gang members to stay away from an old, crumbling condemned house, Officer Kennedy suggests they dig for buried treasure. They do --- in the same house Read More

Bouncing Babies

Crew: Producer

Actors: Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins, Mary Ann Jackson, Farina Hoskins, Joe Cobb, Norman "Chubby" Chaney

Synopsis: Accustomed to being the center of attention in his family, little Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins is upset when the spotlight is stolen by his new baby brother. Envious of the new arrival, Wheezer scheme to take the infant back to the maternity hospital whence he came. But Wheezer's sister Mary Ann Read More

Boxing Gloves

Crew: Producer, Screenwriter

Synopsis: As usual, diminutive Our Gang member Allen "Farina" Hoskins is faced with an adult-sized dilemma. This time, Farina is a self-styled fight promoter, who hopes to strike it rich by staging a "heavyweight" bout between neighborhood fat boys Joe Cobb and Norman "Chubby" Chaney. Unfortunately, for Read More

Unaccustomed as We Are

Crew: Director, Producer

Synopsis: Although the title of Laurel and Hardy's very first sound film is a joke on the phrase, "Unaccustomed as we are to public speaking," it already shows a firm grasp of the comic potential for sound. The boys, and the writers and directors of their films, realized that more than dialogue was Read More

Wrong Again

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: This entertaining film is one of Laurel and Hardy's most bizarre. Stan and Ollie work as stable-hands for a racehorse named "Blue Boy." They overhear two men talking about "the famous Blue Boy," which has been stolen. There is a $5000 reward for its return, but the boys don't know that the men are Read More

Two Tars

Crew: Producer

Actors: Charlie Hall

Synopsis: This is arguably Laurel and Hardy's best two-reel silent (the other contender for first place is Big Business). The boys play sailors on furlough. They have rented a Model T Ford for the day and meet a pair of pretty girls (Thelma Hill and Ruby Blaine). After an altercation with a gum machine and Read More

You're Darn Tootin'

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: This classic Laurel and Hardy comedy is famous for the pants-ripping scene at the end, but the other parts of it are just as funny. Laurel plays the clarinet, and Hardy plays the French horn in a band. During a concert, they destroy a musical performance and drive the conductor crazy. Fired from Read More

We Faw Down

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: Laurel and Hardy want to slip out of the house and play poker. Their wives want them to stay home, so they make up a story about having to meet their "boss" at the Orpheum Theatre. On the way to the poker game, they run into two women who have lost a hat under an automobile. While they attempt to Read More

Old Gray Hoss

Crew: Producer

Actors: Joe Cobb, Farina Hoskins, Mary Ann Jackson, Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins, Jean Darling

Synopsis: The "Our Gang" kids befriend elderly Chief Cummings, a former fire chief who runs a ramshackle taxi service with the help of his faithful firehorse Duke. When the Chief is threatened with the loss of his business -- and his horse -- the Gang comes to the rescue, using business tactics that would Read More

Growing Pains

Crew: Producer

Actors: Mary Ann Jackson, Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins, Joe Cobb, Farina Hoskins, Jean Darling

Synopsis: John Aasen, the seven-foot-plus "giant" who previously costarred with Harold Lloyd in the 1923 comedy classic Why Worry, figured prominently in the proceedings of the 1928 "Our Gang" two-reeler Growing Pains. Inasmuch as the film apparently no longer exists, we must rely upon contemporary reviews Read More

From Soup to Nuts

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: Mr. and Mrs. Culpepper (Tiny Sanford and Anita Garvin, respectively) are a nouveau-riche couple who are throwing a fancy dinner party. Unfortunately for them, the waiters they have hired for the evening are Laurel and Hardy. The subsequent gags run from typical (Ollie destroys a cake) to the Read More

School Begins

Crew: Producer

Actors: Joe Cobb, Farina Hoskins, Mary Ann Jackson, Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins, Jean Darling

Synopsis: One of a handful of currently unavailable Hal Roach/MGM "Our Gang" silent films, School Begins was a series of gags built around the unenviable ritual of returning to school during the first week of September. Hoping to get out of their classroom responsibilities, Gang members Joe Cobb and Harry Read More

The Finishing Touch

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: This two-reel Laurel and Hardy silent is especially rich in slapstick. The comic duo have been promised five hundred dollars to finish a house, but the racket is disturbing the quiet of a nearby hospital, and both a nurse (Dorothy Coburn) and policeman (Edgar Kennedy) insist that the noise be kept Read More

Early to Bed

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: Laurel and Hardy are poor and unemployed until a letter arrives informing Hardy that he has inherited a fortune. Hardy moves to a large mansion, and Laurel becomes his butler. One night, Hardy comes home drunk and plays some practical jokes on Laurel. When Laurel has had enough ribbing, he chases Hardy Read More

Should Married Men Go Home?

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: Up until this two-reeler, Laurel and Hardy's films for Hal Roach were released under the "All-Star Comedy" label; Should Married Men Go Home is the start of the duo's own series, showing the faith Roach had in their future. The film opens up on a peaceful day for Ollie and his wife (Kay Deslys). Read More

Crazy House

Crew: Producer

Actors: Jean Darling, Joe Cobb, Farina Hoskins, Jay R. Smith, Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins

Synopsis: Poor little rich girl Jean Darling invites the scruffy "Our Gang" kids to her lavish home for an impromptu party. With her parents and the servants elsewhere, Jean allows the kids to roam freely throughout the mansion, little suspecting that her father had previously "booby trapped" the house for Read More

The Spanking Age

Crew: Producer

Actors: Joe Cobb, Farina Hoskins, Mary Ann Jackson, Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins, Jean Darling

Synopsis: Another silent "Our Gang" comedy built around crazy inventions, The Spanking Age cast kiddie troupers Mary Ann Jackson and Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins as the children of a widowed inventor. Forced to endure the cruelties of their stepmother and stepsister, the kids get even by rigging a few clever Read More

Rainy Days

Crew: Producer

Actors: Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins, Jay R. Smith, Joe Cobb, Farina Hoskins, Jackie Condon

Synopsis: Left in charge of his younger siblings Wheezer and Jean, "Our Gang" kid Jay R. Smith is stuck in the house due to a torrential rainstorm. Though he tries to keep apace of the mischievous youngster, Jay is unable to prevent the kids from drawing chalk pictures on the new wallpaper. With the help of Read More

Leave 'em Laughing

Crew: Producer, Screenwriter

Actors: Charlie Hall

Synopsis: In this Laurel and Hardy two-reel silent, Stan's toothache is keeping both him and Ollie awake. Their attempts to pull the tooth out also wake up their chagrined landlord (the perennial Laurel and Hardy landlord, Charlie Hall). The next day, Ollie takes Stan to a dentist (Jack V. Lloyd). Stan Read More

Spook Spoofing

Crew: Producer

Actors: Farina Hoskins, Joe Cobb, Jackie Condon, Jay R. Smith, Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins

Synopsis: The rest of the "Our Gang" kids rather cruelly taunt their black pal Allen "Farina" Hoskins, who is deathly afraid of ghosts. After driving poor Farina into a frenzy of fright in a spooky graveyard, the kids cap their mischief by convincing the nervous boy that one of the Gang members, Harry Read More

Barnum & Ringling, Inc.

Crew: Producer

Actors: Joe Cobb, Farina Hoskins, Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins, Jay R. Smith, Jackie Condon

Synopsis: Originally released on April 7, 1928, "Barnum & Ringling, Inc." was the first "Our Gang" silent comedy to be released with a synchronized musical and sound-effects track. All of the action takes place at the fashionable Ritz-Biltmore hotel, where the Our Gang kids have elected to stage a circus. Read More

Fair and Muddy

Crew: Producer

Actors: Joe Cobb, Farina Hoskins, Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins, Jay R. Smith, Jackie Condon

Synopsis: Though currently unavailable for viewing, the Hal Roach/MGM "Our Gang" silent comedy "Fair and Muddy" would seem to be a remake of the earlier two-reeler One Terrible Day. According to existing records, the plot concerns an elderly dowager who decided to "adopt" the Our Gang kids, much to the Read More

Edison, Marconi & Co.

Crew: Producer

Actors: Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins, Jay R. Smith, Joe Cobb, Farina Hoskins, Jackie Condon

Synopsis: In this "lost" Our Gang two-reeler, the kids tried their hand at inventing, with the expected hilarious results. One of the best "miracle" devices was an automatic dressing machine, designed for little kids like Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins who have difficulty clothing themselves. Also worth Read More

Habeas Corpus

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are perhaps unique amongst comedians of the 1920s and 1930s, and their silent and sound films are equally funny. This two-reeler was originally released with music and sound effects; it would be nearly six more months before the boys made their talkie debut. This short Read More

The Smile Wins

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Farina Hoskins, Jannie Hoskins, Joe Cobb, Jackie Condon, Jay R. Smith

Synopsis: When the hard-working, widowed mother of Our Gang member Allan "Farina" Hoskins falls ill, things look bad for her family: She has no money for food or medicine, and even worse, the cruel landlord intends to evict her unless two hundred dollars in back rent is immediately forthcoming. Determined Read More

Playin' Hookey

Crew: Producer

Actors: Joe Cobb, Farina Hoskins, Jackie Condon, Jay R. Smith, Jannie Hoskins

Synopsis: Our Gang member Joe Cobb has to do some quick thinking when his playful but undeniably destructive pet dog Pansy is slated to be shot by Joe's frustrated dad. Training Pansy to play dead, Joe does his job so well that the pooch is hired as a "stunt dog" by a local movie studio. As expected, Joe Read More

Their Purple Moment

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: In her family, Mrs. Pincher (Fay Holderness) keeps a firm hold on the purse strings, but Mr. Pincher (Stan Laurel) has managed to squirrel away three dollars in the pocket of a portrait hanging in the hallway. Mrs. Pincher discovers the hiding place, takes the money, and substitutes her trading Read More

Olympic Games

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Farina Hoskins, Joe Cobb, Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins, Jackie Condon, Jay R. Smith

Synopsis: Originally released on September 11, 1927, the silent, two-reel Our Gang comedy Olympic Games was undoubtedly inspired by the upcoming 1928 Olympiad in Amsterdam. This time around, the gang members are the athletes, and their back yards are the playing fields. While the older kids compete in the Read More

The Glorious Fourth

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Joe Cobb, Farina Hoskins, Jackie Condon, Jay R. Smith, Jannie Hoskins

Synopsis: It's the Fourth of July and the mother of Our Gang member Joe Cobb is doing a brisk business at her fireworks stand. Briefly left in charge of the stand, Joe does his best not to blow up himself or his friends, but a poorly-aimed skyrocket owned by Allen "Farina" Hoskins triggers a somewhat Read More

Why Girls Love Sailors

Crew: Producer, Screenwriter

Synopsis: Although Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy both appear in this two-reel short, it's not a Laurel and Hardy film in the true sense of the term. The boys were still a few films away from officially becoming a team. This comedy is primarily Stan's film. As fisherman Willie Brisling, he is engaged to Read More

Duck Soup

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: A pair of adle-pated vagrants on the run from the police take refuge in a posh mansion, assuming the identities of its vacationing millionaire owner and the housemaid. Complications ensue when a couple arrives to enquire about renting the house. Forced to play out the charade to its ultimate Read More

Chicken Feed

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Farina Hoskins, Joe Cobb, Jackie Condon, Johnny Downs, Jannie Hoskins

Synopsis: After attending a magic show, the Our Gang members decide to indulge in a little prestidigitation of their own. One of the kids' magic spells apparently works too well when it seems that Allen "Farina" Hoskins' little sister Jannie "Mango" Hoskins has been transformed into a monkey. Actually, the Read More

Flying Elephants

Crew: Director, Producer, Screenwriter

Synopsis: In an ersatz Stone Age, the King orders all single males to marry or be banished -- or worse. A husky caveman known as the Mighty Giant (Oliver Hardy) and Twinkle Star (Stan Laurel), an effeminate warrior wannabe, compete for the hand of Blushing Rose (Viola Richard), daughter of Ye Aged Read More

Ten Years Old

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Joe Cobb, Farina Hoskins, Jackie Condon, Bobby Young, Jannie Hoskins

Synopsis: Gang member Joe Cobb celebrates his tenth birthday by baking his own cake since his widowed mother can't afford to buy one. Later, Joe wonders why none of the Our Gang kids have responded to his party invitations. He soon discovers that all the kids have converged at a rival party held by wealthy Jackie Condon Read More

Seeing the World

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Joe Cobb, Farina Hoskins, Johnny Downs, Jackie Condon, Jay R. Smith

Synopsis: If not the funniest of the silent Our Gang comedies, Seeing the World is certainly one of the most famous. James Finlayson is cast as the gang's schoolteacher, who manages to win a trip to Europe in a local contest. Gathering the kids together, Finlayson leads them on a whirlwind tour of Naples Read More

Bring Home the Turkey

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Joe Cobb, Farina Hoskins, Johnny Downs, Jackie Condon, Jannie Hoskins

Synopsis: Habitually mistreated at the deceptively named Happyland Home Orphanage, the Our Gang kids find a loyal and kindhearted friend in the form of a black grownup named Uncle Tom. Alas, Tom's own children -- including real-life siblings Allen "Farina" Hoskins and Jannie "Mango" Hoskins -- are carted Read More

Love My Dog

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Farina Hoskins, Joe Cobb, Jackie Condon, Bobby Young, Jay R. Smith

Synopsis: A hydrophobia epidemic forces the town's authorities to round up all unlicensed dogs. Falling into that category is the pooch owned by little Allen "Farina" Hoskins. Hoping to confound the ill-tempered dogcatcher (Charles McMurphy), Farina manages to rescue the gang's dogs from the Pound Wagon. Read More

With Love and Hisses

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: Hal Roach had put Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy together in five silent films prior to this one, but the teamwork between the two was still gelling, and they hadn't yet developed the characters that we now know as Laurel and Hardy. Here, the boys are part of an Army Reserve group, headed for a Read More

The Battle of the Century

Crew: Producer, Screenwriter

Synopsis: Laurel is Canvasback Clump, an underfed and thoroughly clueless prize-fighter, and Hardy his rather overly optimistic manager. In confronting his ape-like opponent, Thunder-clap Callahan (Noah Young), Canvasback is quickly out for the count and the boys are left with the five-dollar loser's end of Read More

Baby Brother

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Joe Cobb, Farina Hoskins, Jackie Condon, Jean Darling, Jay R. Smith

Synopsis: Lonely rich boy Joe Cobb wants a baby brother more than anything, but his parents are too busy and self-involved to discuss the matter. Sensing that Joe needs a few friends his own age, the family nursemaid (Anita Garvin) takes him to visit the Our Gang kids, whose latest money-making venture is Read More

The Old Wallop

Crew: Producer

Actors: Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins, Joe Cobb, Farina Hoskins, Jackie Condon, Jay R. Smith

Synopsis: The "old wallop" in this silent Our Gang comedy refers to the punch packed by little Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins. In the course of the film's two reels, Wheezer socks everyone in sight, from fellow Our Gang-er Farina Hoskins to the surly cop on the beat. The story comes to a rousing climax high atop Read More

Heebee Jeebies

Crew: Producer

Actors: Joe Cobb, Farina Hoskins, Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins, Jackie Condon, Jay R. Smith

Synopsis: No longer available for viewing, Heebee Jeebies was the third of Hal Roach's silent Our Gang films to be distributed by MGM. According to the most reliable sources, the story concerned a professional hypnotist (played, apparently, by former Keystone comedy star Bobby Vernon), who cast his spell on Read More

Putting Pants on Philip

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: Although Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy and producer Hal Roach all name Putting Pants on Phillip as the first true Laurel and Hardy film, the comic pair had appeared in films together for The Roach Studios over a dozen times previously. In addition, while this two-reeler helped establish many of the Read More

Love 'em and Feed 'em

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: Although Hal Roach had already decided to officially team up Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, he cast Hardy as Max Davidson's sidekick in this two-reeler about a couple of miners who strike it rich. "Cherokee" Cohen (Davidson) and "Happy" Hopey (Hardy) strike gold, and the claim is purchased by Bat Read More

Love 'em and Weep

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: Confronted by a blackmailing former girlfriend (Mae Busch), recently wed businessman Titus Tillsbury (James Finlayson) is forced to quickly cover up when his suspicious new bride visits the office. In order to keep the old flame away from his home and the society party he's hosting that night Read More

Yale vs. Harvard

Crew: Producer

Actors: Joe Cobb, Farina Hoskins, Jackie Condon, Jannie Hoskins, Jay R. Smith

Synopsis: The first of Hal Roach's Our Gang comedies to be released through MGM, Yale vs. Harvard unfortunately no longer seems to exist. According to existing records, the plot revolved around a slapstick football game, with the Our Gang kids (Joe Cobb, Farina Hoskins, Jackie Condon, Harry Spear, Jean Darling Read More

Dog Heaven

Crew: Producer

Actors: Joe Cobb, Farina Hoskins, Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins, Jackie Condon, Jay R. Smith

Synopsis: Easily one of the most bizarre and surrealistic of all the "Our Gang" silent films, Dog Heaven begins as the beloved Pete the Pup is rescued from committing suicide (!) by one of his canine pals. The broken-hearted Pete then explains (via dialogue titles) why he wants to end his life. It seems Read More

Tired Business Man

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Raymond Hitchcock, Farina Hoskins, Blanche Mehaffey, Joe Cobb, Jackie Condon, Mack Swain, Jay R. Smith, Charles Delaney, Margaret Quimby, Bobby Young

Synopsis: Charlie Oelze, the Hal Roach Studio's special effects and "gadget" maestro, was given co-director credit on the silent, two-reel Our Gang comedy Tired Business Men. New kid in town Joe Cobb is initiated into the gang's new "Manhattan Club," a social center dedicated to the relaxation of youngsters Read More

Hats Off

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy can't even tell whose hat is whose, so it's no surprise when they lose their jobs as dishwashers. But it isn't long before they once again obtain employment, this time selling washing machines. Their duties involve dragging a sample machine from door to door. One woman Read More

The Second Hundred Years

Crew: Producer

Actors: Oliver Hardy, Stan Laurel

Synopsis: Laurel and Hardy are stripe-suited convicts in a cramped penitentiary cell. Seemingly model prisoners, they actually spend every available moment in digging a secret tunnel to freedom. Unfortunately, this only brings them up in the warden's office and lands them back in their cell. Breaking rocks Read More

Sailors Beware

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: Although this is one of the better early films from Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, they have obviously not yet teamed up and their characterizations have not yet gelled. Stan still exhibits the assertiveness from his previous films, and Ollie is still a rather lecherous heavy. The latest fare for Read More

Call of the Cuckoo

Crew: Producer

Actors: Max Davidson, Lillian Elliott, Spec O'Donnell, Charley Chase, Stan Laurel

Synopsis: Jewish comic Max Davidson stars in this Hal Roach farce that would most likely have been completely forgotten had not Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, and Charley Chase turned up in cameo appearances. Davidson, wife Lillian Elliott, and son Spec O'Donnell are attempting to sell their house, which is Read More

Baby Clothes

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Joe Cobb, Mickey Daniels, Farina Hoskins, Johnny Downs, Mary Kornman

Synopsis: Mr. and Mrs. Weedle (William Gillespie and Charlotte Mineau) are in a jam: For years, they've been receiving substantial amounts of money from their rich uncle (William A. Orlamond), who has been led to believe that the Weedles have two children to support. Now Uncle is coming to town, and the Read More

Uncle Tom's Uncle

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Joe Cobb, Mickey Daniels, Mary Kornman, Farina Hoskins, Johnny Downs

Synopsis: According to the opening title of this silent Our Gang comedy, "Uncle Tom's Cabin had been translated and played in forty-two languages -- the gang decided to make it forty-three." In the kid's barnyard production of the Harriet Beecher Stowe epic, Mickey Daniels is cast as Simon Legree, Mary Read More

Thundering Fleas

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Mickey Daniels, Mary Kornman, Joe Cobb, Farina Hoskins, Johnny Downs

Synopsis: Easily one of the fastest and funniest of the silent Our Gang comedies, Thundering Fleas is set in motion with a sidewalk performance of Professor Clements' Trained Flea and Insect Circus. When the Professor's star attraction, Garfield the flea (depicted via animation) escapes, Clements offers to Read More

Buried Treasure

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Mickey Daniels, Mary Kornman, Joe Cobb, Jackie Condon, Johnny Downs

Synopsis: Once again, the Our Gang kids embark upon a treasure hunt, this time in search of Captain Kidd's buried gold. Boarding their own version of a luxury yacht, the kids end up marooned on Catalina Island, where by an amazing coincidence a group of moviemakers have converged to film a jungle epic. It Read More

Good Cheer

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Mickey Daniels, Mary Kornman, Joe Cobb, Jackie Condon, Johnny Downs

Synopsis: Originally released on January 10, 1926, Good Cheer was Our Gang's Yuletide present to the series' legions of fans. 'Tis the day before Christmas, and all through the snowy streets, the Our Gang kids are confronted not by Christmas cheer, but by the crass commercialism of the holiday. Happily, the Read More

The Nickel Hopper

Crew: Producer, Screenwriter

Synopsis: The silent era's foremost comedienne, Mabel Normand, plays a taxi dancer in this 2-reel farce produced by Hal Roach. In order to impress one of her customers, a wealthy young man (Theodore Von Eltz), Mabel pretends to live in a mansion, a minor fib which leads to the expected confusion. Co-written Read More

Monkey Business

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Farina Hoskins, Mickey Daniels, Joe Cobb, Mary Kornman, Jackie Condon

Synopsis: Our Gang member Allen "Farina" Hoskins decides to run away from home on the same day that an oversized, trained chimpanzee mischievously escapes its captors. Befriending the monkey, Farina invites his new pal to join the rest of the gang. The kids decide to capitalize on the simian's talents by Read More

The Devil Horse

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Rex the Wonder Horse, Yakima Canutt, Gladys McConnell

Synopsis: Everyone who ever worked with Rex, King of Wild Horses has testified that the magnificent-looking animal was one of the meanest and most contentious "stars" in the movies. Nonetheless, producer Hal Roach knew a valuable commodity when he saw one, thus he cast Rex in such tailor-made vehicles as The Devil Horse Read More

Slipping Wives

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: A love-starved wife (Priscilla Dean) hires a dim-witted delivery man (Stan Laurel) to make love to her and revive the waning interest of her eccentric artist husband (Herbert Rawlinson). As might be expected, the makeshift gigolo manages to foul things up, disastrously confusing the identities of Read More

Long Fliv the King

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: This Hal Roach two-reeler is not one of Charley Chase's best efforts. It's notable only because it's one of the approximately ten percent of silent films known to have survived, and it features Oliver Hardy, before he teamed up with Stan Laurel, in a bit role. Princess Helga of Thermosa (Martha Read More

Forty-Five Minutes From Hollywood

Crew: Producer

The Fourth Alarm

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Joe Cobb, Farina Hoskins, Mary Kornman, Johnny Downs, Jackie Condon

Synopsis: While the Our Gang kids are beating the summer heat with their own elaborate version of a "slip-n-slide," a fire alarm rings, and the men from the nearby firehouse race to the conflagration. Tagging along, the youngsters manage, through a series of incredible coincidences, to put the fire out Read More

Shivering Spooks

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Joe Cobb, Farina Hoskins, Mary Kornman, Johnny Downs, Jackie Condon

Synopsis: A seance held by phony spiritualist Professor Fleece (George K. French) is inadvertently disrupted by the Our Gang kids. Hoping to get even, the professor instructs his two henchmen to give the kids a good scare when the youngsters decide to explore an underground cave. But in typical Our Gang Read More

Telling Whoppers

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Joe Cobb, Farina Hoskins, Johnny Downs, Jackie Condon, Bobby Young

Synopsis: The Our Gang kids are held in thrall by neighborhood bully Toughy (Johnny Downs), who not only extorts money from the kids, but also forces them to perform humiliating stunts. Something must be done about this menace, and Gang members Joe Cobb and Allen "Farina" Hoskins are chosen by lot to take Read More

War Feathers

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Joe Cobb, Farina Hoskins, Johnny Downs, Jackie Condon, Jannie Hoskins

Synopsis: While on a cross-country train trip, the Our Gang kids drive the rest of the passengers crazy with a never-ending game of cowboys and Indians. During a stopover in the sleepy town of Red Dog, the kids disembark in hopes of savoring a taste of genuine Western life. They get more than they bargained Read More

Ask Grandma

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Mickey Daniels, Mary Kornman, Johnny Downs, Joe Cobb

Synopsis: Saddled with an overprotective mother, little Mickey Daniels is prohibited from playing with the rest of the Our Gang kids. Thanks to his understanding grandma, Mickey manages to escape his bedroom prison long enough to play on the gang's self-constructed airplane ride -- and to get into a fight Read More

The Love Bug

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Mickey Daniels, Mary Kornman, Joe Cobb, Jackie Condon, Farina Hoskins

Synopsis: Romance enters the lives of the Our Gang kids, prompting them to go to their surrogate "grandma" for advice. After Joe Cobb, Mickey Daniels, and Allen "Farina" Hoskins go a-courting, the gang reassembles at a fancy beauty salon where their pal Eugene "Pineapple" Jackson is working as a page. Read More

Boys Will Be Joys

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Mickey Daniels, Mary Kornman, Joe Cobb, Farina Hoskins, Johnny Downs

Synopsis: Hoping to build their own amusement park, the Our Gang kids are disheartened to discover that their favorite vacant lot has been purchased for development. Fortunately, the developer, 60-year-old Henry Mills (Paul Weigel), is a big kid at heart. Over the protests of his hide-bound board of Read More

Official Officers

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Mickey Daniels, Mary Kornman, Joe Cobb, Farina Hoskins, Johnny Downs

Synopsis: Living in a crowded tenement neighborhood, the Our Gang kids habitually run afoul of the nasty, ill-tempered cop on the beat, "Hard-Boiled" McManus. Upset at McManus' ill-treatment of the youngsters, Inspector Malone replaces him with the more likable Officer Mac. The kids take an immediate shine Read More

The Big Town

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Mickey Daniels, Mary Kornman, Joe Cobb, Farina Hoskins, Jackie Condon

Synopsis: Accidentally hitching a ride in an empty boxcar, the Our Gang kids end up in New York City. Hoping to pay a visit to their vacationing pal Skinny, the youngsters embark upon an unguided tour of the Big Apple, including the Brooklyn Bridge, the Statue of Liberty, and even Washington Square in Read More

Black Cyclone

Crew: Producer, Screenwriter

Actors: Rex the Wonder Horse, Lady, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, Kathleen Collins

Synopsis: Silent screen cowboy Guinn "Big Boy" Williams and lovely Kathleen Collins (Mrs. Williams in real life) take a back seat to an unusual equine love triangle in this off-beat action thriller. Rex the Wonder Horse is really the film's leading "man," with the mare Lady as the "damsel in distress" and a Read More

Dog Days

Crew: Producer, Screenwriter

Actors: Mickey Daniels, Mary Kornman, Joe Cobb, Farina Hoskins, Eugene Jackson

Synopsis: The Our Gang kids argue amongst themselves over which of their dogs is the cleverest and best trained. This brouhaha is forgotten when Gang member Mickey Daniels rescues rich girl Mary Kornman after her pony runs away. As a reward, Mary invites Mickey and his pals to her parents' ritzy mansion for Read More

Circus Fever

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Mickey Daniels, Mary Kornman, Joe Cobb, Farina Hoskins, Jackie Condon

Synopsis: Determined to get out of school to attend the circus, the Our Gang kids fake an epidemic by splotching their faces with ersatz measles. The doctor quickly figures out what the kids are up to and orders the young tricksters to remain in bed, even after it is announced that everyone else in their Read More

One Wild Ride

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Farina Hoskins, Mickey Daniels, Mary Kornman, Joe Cobb, Jackie Condon

Synopsis: Once again, the Our Gang kids go into the taxi business, this time with an old, abandoned, motorless auto and an obliging mule. When the mule escapes, a motorist offers to tow the kids' vehicle to the top of a hill. Upon their arrival at the top, the youngsters briefly leave their taxi unattended Read More

Shootin' Injuns

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Mickey Daniels, Mary Kornman, Joe Cobb, Farina Hoskins, Jackie Condon

Synopsis: This silent, two-reel Our Gang comedy was first released on May 3, 1925. Shootin' Injuns finds the Our Gang kids collectively deciding to run away from home and strike out for the Wild West. The youngsters get no further than a nearby house, which has been outfitted with magnetic gimmicks for the Read More

Your Own Back Yard

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Farina Hoskins, Mickey Daniels, Mary Kornman, Joe Cobb, Jackie Condon

Synopsis: Producer Hal Roach often claimed that Your Own Back Yard was his favorite of all the Our Gang silent comedies produced by his studio. The focus is on black youngster Allen "Farina" Hoskins, whose efforts to leave his own back yard and participate in the gang's activities are constantly rebuffed. Read More

Un-friendly Enemies

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: In the mid-'20s Hal Roach gave James Finlayson his own starring series of one-reel comedies. They weren't very successful, mainly because funny as he was, Finlayson was strongest when he was reacting to someone else. This picture, directed by Stan Laurel (who had not yet teamed up with Oliver Hardy Read More

Rupert of Hee-Haw

Crew: Producer

Actors: Stan Laurel

Synopsis: Although this Stan Laurel two-reeler -- a parody of 1923's Rupert of Hentzau -- was handsomely produced, the jokes were slapstick at their crudest. There's a lot of kicking rear ends and slipping on banana peels. The King (Laurel) is constantly drunk, much to the disgust of the princess (Ena Gregory Read More

Mary, Queen of Tots

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Mary Kornman, Mickey Daniels, Joe Cobb, Farina Hoskins, Jackie Condon

Synopsis: Ignored by her parents and browbeaten by her governess (May Beatty), poor little rich girl Mary Kornman finds comfort only in her collection of dolls, which bear a striking resemblance to the familiar Our Gang kids. And well they should: The dolls were carved by an Italian gardener who used the Read More

Better Movies

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Mickey Daniels, Mary Kornman, Joe Cobb, Billy Lord, Farina Hoskins

Synopsis: When the Our Gang kids make the acquaintance of Billy Lord, a wealthy youngster who owns his own home-movie camera, the youngsters decide to go into the motion-picture business. With movie-struck teenager Martha Sleeper as their leading lady, the kids put together a rip-roaring cliffhanger Read More

The Buccaneers

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Mickey Daniels, Mary Kornman, Joe Cobb, Ernest Morrison, Farina Hoskins

Synopsis: The silent, two-reel Our Gang comedy The Buccaneers was originally released on March 9, 1924. As the film's title suggests, the gang decides to become pirates, but their jerry-built galleon sinks to the bottom of the harbor the moment it's christened with a ketchup bottle. Undaunted, the kids stow Read More

Seein' Things

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Farina Hoskins, Ernest Morrison, Mickey Daniels, Mary Kornman, Joe Cobb

Synopsis: Originally released on April 6, 1924, the silent, two-reel "Seein' Things" may not be the most bizarre episode of the Our Gang comedy series, but it's not far from it. The focus is on little Allen "Farina" Hoskins, who experiences surrealistic nightmares whenever he eats meat. In one of his Read More

Commencement Day

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Mickey Daniels, Mary Kornman, Joe Cobb, Ernest Morrison, Farina Hoskins

Synopsis: The silent, two-reel Our Gang comedy Commencement Day made its first theatrical appearance on May 4, 1924. It's the last day of school, and the Our Gang kids prepare for the commencement exercises, which of course are designed more for the entertainment of the parents than the children. Despite Read More

Cradle Robbers

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Mickey Daniels, Joe Cobb, Mary Kornman, Ernest Morrison, Farina Hoskins

Synopsis: Stuck with babysitting their younger siblings, the Our Gang kids decide to profit from their obligations by entering the infants in a local "beautiful baby contest." But when it comes time to award the prize for fattest baby, it is seven-year-old Joe Cobb who dons the bonnet and the Dr. Dentons. Read More

White Sheep

Crew: Director

Synopsis: Studio head Hal Roach directed this comedy himself. Nelse Tyler (Jack Gavin) rules over the town of Tyler with the help of his two sons, Milt (Bob Kortman) and Mose (Leo Willis). They're a tough trio who use their fists on their foes and each other. There is, however, a third son, Tobias, or Tobby Read More

Tire Trouble

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Mickey Daniels, Joe Cobb, Jackie Condon, Ernest Morrison, Mary Kornman

Synopsis: Originally released on January 13, 1924, the silent, two-reel Our Gang comedy Tire Trouble is the film in which the gang operates their own taxi service. Not only do the kids build their own cab (using an abandoned Model T), but they also outfit the vehicle with all manner of clever, labor-saving Read More

Big Business

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Mickey Daniels, Mary Kornman, Joe Cobb, Jackie Condon, Ernest Morrison

Synopsis: Not to be confused with the 1929 Laurel and Hardy classic of the same name, the silent, two-reel Our Gang comedy Big Business was originally released on February 10, 1924. This time, the Our Gang kids go into the barbershop business, with Joe Cobb as head shearer, Mary Kornman as cashier, Allen Read More

Battling Orioles

Crew: Screen Story

Actors: Blanche Mehaffey, John T. Prince, Noah Young, Sam Lufkin

Synopsis: Hal Roach wrote this story, which concerns a club of wealthy, grumpy old men who were players for the Fighting Orioles during baseball's pioneer days of the 1870s. Tommy Roosevelt Tucker (Glenn Tryon) seems like he will always be a small-town barber until the club discovers that his father was an Read More

Jubilo Jr.

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Will Rogers, Mickey Daniels, Mary Kornman, Joe Cobb, Farina Hoskins

Synopsis: The beloved humorist Will Rogers, whose own series of Hal Roach two-reelers was produced concurrently with the studio's Our Gang series, makes a guest appearance in the Gang comedy Jubilo Jr.. The film opens with Rogers, as wandering hobo Jubilo, befriending a group of fellow tramps and telling Read More

The Mysterious Mystery!

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Mickey Daniels, Jackie Condon, Joe Cobb, Farina Hoskins, Eugene Jackson

Synopsis: Imagining himself to be a master detective, Our Gang member Mickey Daniels -- also known as "Sherlock Hawkshaw" -- tries to solve the kidnapping of wealthy youngster Adelbert Wallingford (Jackie Condon). With the help of his friends, Mickey captures a likely suspect, who turns out to be one of the Read More

Fast Company

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Mickey Daniels, Joe Cobb, Farina Hoskins, Jackie Condon, Jack Davis

Synopsis: The plot of the Our Gang silent comedy Fast Company is set in motion when the kids embark upon a swimming expedition. Along the way, Mickey Daniels exchanges clothes with a wealthy boy and takes the other kid's place in a swank hotel room. It isn't long before the rest of the gang arrives at the Read More

High Society

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Mickey Daniels, Mary Kornman, Joe Cobb, Farina Hoskins, Jackie Condon

Synopsis: Adopted by his wealthy Aunt Kate, freckle-faced Mickey Daniels at first enjoys his newly luxurious surroundings, but before long he misses the companionship of the other Our Gang kids. In addition, Mickey can't stand his obnoxious cousin Percy, nor does he relish Aunt Kate's efforts to turn him Read More

The King of the Wild Horses

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: Producer Hal Roach was known for his comic shorts; however, his first foray into the world of features wasn't a comedy, but a Western. Naturally, it wasn't your typical Western -- the star was Rex, the Wonder Horse. Rex is Black, a wild stallion who is the leader of a herd near the Mexican border. Read More

It's a Bear

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Mickey Daniels, Mary Kornman, Joe Cobb, Ernest Morrison, Farina Hoskins

Synopsis: This silent, two-reel Our Gang comedy finds the kids enjoying target practice with a variety of weapons, from an air rifle to a bow and arrow. Tired of shooting at imaginary targets, the youngsters accept the invitation from Mickey Daniels to hunt real "big game" on his family's farm. After Read More

Mandarin Mix-Up

Crew: Producer

Actors: Stan Laurel, Julie Leonard

Synopsis: Stan Laurel (an Englishman by birth) makes an improbable Asian in this two-reel Joe Rock comedy. As the new baby in the family, Laurel is shown in a high chair and playing with a ball. His big brother is jealous of all the attention the new baby is getting, so he dumps him in a pile of dirty Read More

Every Man For Himself

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Mickey Daniels, Mary Kornman, Joe Cobb, Farina Hoskins, Jackie Condon

Synopsis: The Our Gang kids are sorely confused by the new kid in town, who transforms from a sissy to a tough guy and back again without warning. Little do the kids realize that this supposedly schizophrenic newcomer -- whom Mickey Daniels characterizes as "Mr. Jekyll and Dr. Hyde" -- is not one youngster Read More

The Sun Down Limited

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Mickey Daniels, Mary Kornman, Joe Cobb, Farina Hoskins, Jackie Condon

Synopsis: The Our Gang comedies were never more enjoyable than when they fulfilled the fantasies of the kids in the audience. Case in point: the silent two-reeler The Sun Down Limited, in which the Our Gang kids construct and operate their own railroad service, powered by a somewhat overworked dog. While Read More

Pick and Shovel

Crew: Producer

Actors: Stan Laurel, James Finlayson

Synopsis: Although this Hal Roach one-reel comedy features two very funny men -- Stan Laurel and James Finlayson -- unfortunately, it's not very funny. Most of the gags had been used before, or would be used in the future more effectively. As they would often be in subsequent films, Laurel and Finlayson are Read More

Oranges and Lemons

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: During his early days working for the Hal Roach studios, the plots to Stan Laurel's comedies were as interchangeable as their titles -- Pick and Shovel, Collars and Cuffs, Gas and Air, and this one, Oranges and Lemons. They all seem to involve Laurel as a laborer who spends more time flirting with Read More

Big Show

Crew: Producer, Screenwriter

Synopsis: The Our Gang kids stage their own version of a county fair, with the help of two trained horses that have been innocently "borrowed" from a local trained-animal show. With their usual ingenuity, the youngsters devise and construct all manner of sideshow attractions, from a shooting gallery to a Read More

The Cobbler

Crew: Producer, Screenwriter

Synopsis: The title character in this silent, two-reel Our Gang comedy is lovable Mr. Tuttle, played by Richard Daniels, the father of freckle-faced Gang regular Mickey Daniels. The kids love to hang around Tuttle's shoe-repair shop, and he in turn enjoys their company, even when they get a bit too Read More

Dogs of War

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Mickey Daniels, Mary Kornman, Farina Hoskins, Joe Cobb, Ernest Morrison

Synopsis: Originally released on July 1, 1923, the silent, two-reel Dogs of War may well have been the most schizophrenic entry in the entire Our Gang series. The film begins with an elaborate sandlot recreation of a battlefield, with the Our Gang kids staging an elaborate mock war, complete with such Read More

The Champeen

Crew: Producer, Screenwriter

Synopsis: The first of several Our Gang comedies built around the manly art of self-defense, The Champeen finds Gang member "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison in desperate need of a dollar to pay for some apples he's swiped from the local grocer. Capitalizing on the feud between Mickey Daniels and Jackie Davis over Read More

Boys to Board

Crew: Producer, Screenwriter

Synopsis: This time out, the Our Gang kids are reluctant boarders at Mother Malone's School, an operation run by an overbearing old termagant (Helen Gilmore) and her submissive husband Pop Malone (Richard Daniels). Forced to do all the chores and eat unappetizing (and nutritionally-suspect) meals, the kids Read More

Back Stage

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Mickey Daniels, Farina Hoskins, Joe Cobb, Ernest Morrison, Jackie Condon

Synopsis: The Our Gang kids volunteer to assist a ragtag vaudeville troupe in a performance of their traveling show, but despite their well-meaning efforts, the kids not only wreck the performance, but also release a collection of pesky insects upon the unsuspecting audience. Beyond the standard Read More

Lodge Night

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Mickey Daniels, Joe Cobb, Jackie Davis, Farina Hoskins, Ernest Morrison

Synopsis: They don't come any stranger than the silent, two-reel Our Gang comedy Lodge Night. After a brief sequence involving an African-American temperance lecturer, the Our Gang kids sneak away from their respective homes to attend a meeting of their secret organization, the Cluck Cluck Clams. Despite Read More

Under Two Jags

Crew: Producer

Actors: Stan Laurel

Synopsis: In 1923, Stan Laurel signed a five-year contract with producer Hal Roach (in reality he would be there for only a year before moving over to Joe Rock). Laurel's comic shorts were meant to alternate with those made by Paul Parrott. This one-reeler, which was a parody of Under Two Flags only in Read More

White Wings

Crew: Producer

Actors: Stan Laurel

Synopsis: This one-reel comedy was one of Stan Laurel's early films for the Hal Roach studios (it would be nearly four years before Laurel teamed up with fellow Hal Roach actor Oliver Hardy). Laurel plays a street sweeper who finds himself in deep trouble when he neglectfully grabs a baby stroller instead Read More

Her Dangerous Path [Serial]

Crew: Producer

Actors: Edna Murphy, Charles Parrott, Hayford Hobbs, William Moran, Percy Pembroke

Synopsis: Produced by Hal Roach, this series of ten, two-reel melodramas featured "flapper" star Edna Murphy as ten different examples of "the modern woman." Murphy, who later married and divorced director Mervyn LeRoy, was supported by Charley Chase (playing it straight for once and billed under his real Read More

A Pleasant Journey

Crew: Producer, Screenwriter

Synopsis: Not unexpectedly, the benign title of this silent, two-reel Our Gang comedy is a misnomer. Escaping from the local cop on the beat, the Our Gang kids take refuge in a railway station, where they exchange clothes with a group of runaway boys scheduled to be returned to their home in San Francisco. Read More

Why Worry?

Crew: Producer

Actors: Harold Lloyd, Jobyna Ralston, Leo White

Synopsis: Harold Lloyd plays a millionaire who suffers from imaginary illness in this memorable comedy. With the help of a beautiful nurse (Jobyna Ralston) and valet Mr. Phipps (Wallace Howe), he travels to South America to regain his health. Harold arrives during a political uprising and believes the rival Read More

Giants Vs. Yanks

Crew: Producer, Screenwriter

Synopsis: Its title notwithstanding, the silent, two-reel Our Gang comedy Giants vs. Yanks devotes only a few minutes of its running time to baseball. After a lively sandlot contest involving Gang members Mickey Daniels, Jackie Condon, Jackie Davis, Joe Cobb, and -- breaking baseball's "color line" long Read More

Scorching Sands

Crew: Director

Synopsis: In this Hal Roach one-reel comedy, Stan Laurel and James Finlayson play explorers who happen on a sumptuous Egyptian palace, which they believe to be a museum. Meanwhile, a tourist (Katherine Grant) is captured by a band of Arabs. After a while, the two explorers figure out that not only are they Read More

Short Orders

Crew: Director

Actors: Stan Laurel

Synopsis: In the early '20s, comics would pump out one and two-reel films based on the slightest of plots but rich in gags. Such was Short Orders, a one-reeler made by Stan Laurel for Hal Roach. Stan works at a small café, doubling as waiter and as assistant to the chef (George Rowe). Stan and the cook have Read More

Roughest Africa

Crew: Director

Synopsis: Not one, but two epic documentaries about the wilds of Africa were released in 1923 (Hunting Big Game in Africa and Trailing African Wilds). It had been some months since Stan Laurel had made any parodies -- something he was famous for before he teamed up with Oliver Hardy -- and a safari seemed Read More

Save the Ship

Crew: Director

Synopsis: Stan Laurel stars in this one-reel Hal Roach comedy, which seems to be based on a similar premise as Buster Keaton's classic two-reeler, The Boat, and, in its own way, is nearly as surreal. Stan takes his wife (Marie Mosquini) and in-laws out sailing on a strange little raft -- a tent is pitched Read More

Stage Fright

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Mickey Daniels, Joe Cobb, Jackie Davis, Farina Hoskins, Ernest Morrison

Synopsis: At the behest of shady professional fundraiser Prince Delmar El Faro (William Gillespie), small-town author Fawn Ochletree (Clara Guiol) stages a charity performance of her latest play -- a Roman epic along the lines of Quo Vadis -- while the local mothers force their kids into playing all the Read More

Derby Day

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Ernest Morrison, Mickey Daniels, Mary Kornman, Farina Hoskins, Jackie Condon

Synopsis: The Our Gang kids set up a concession stand across the street from the local racetrack. Befriending Mary Kornman, the daughter of a wealthy horse-owner, the youngsters gain free access to the track, and thrill to the sight of a race in progress. Thus inspired, the kids set up their own track and Read More

July Days

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Mickey Daniels, Mary Kornman, Jack Davis, Joe Cobb, Farina Hoskins

Synopsis: One of the lesser silent Our Gang two-reelers, July Days is for the most part a random collection of unrelated gags detailing the gang's methods of passing time during their summer vacation. After a soupçon of plot development involving the rivalry of Mickey Daniels and Jackie Davis over the Read More

No Noise

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Mickey Daniels, Mary Kornman, Farina Hoskins, Ernest Morrison, Jackie Condon

Synopsis: When Our Gang member Mickey Daniels goes to the hospital to have his tonsils removed, the rest of the kids decide to pay him a visit. Sure enough, the youngsters cause all sorts of mischief for the hospital staff and the other patients, invading the sanctity of the x-ray room and the operating Read More

Safety Last

Crew: Producer, Screenwriter

Actors: Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis, Bill Strother, Noah Young, W.B. Clarke

Synopsis: After Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, the silent film era's "third genius" was Harold Lloyd, who stars in this Horatio Alger-style story of an average country boy trying to make good in the big city. The Boy (Lloyd) leaves his sweetheart, The Girl (Mildred Davis, later the real-life Mrs. Lloyd) Read More

Sunday Calm

Crew: Producer, Screen Story

Actors: Ernest Morrison, Farina Hoskins, Jackie Condon, Mickey Daniels, Jack Davis

Synopsis: Joining their families on a rural picnic, the Our Gang kids indulge in their usual horseplay. Adding to the comic chaos is the well-meaning interference of party-crashers "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison and Allen "Farina" Hoskins. Despite the mischievous youngsters, not to mention an invasion of frogs Read More

A Man About Town

Crew: Producer

Actors: Stan Laurel

Synopsis: Although this Stan Laurel one-reeler is based on a very simple premise, it's quite funny. Adding to the mirth is the presence of James Finlayson, who always worked well with Laurel, and became an even greater comic antagonist when Laurel teamed up with Oliver Hardy. Laurel plays a none-too-bright Read More

Kill or Cure

Crew: Producer

Actors: Stan Laurel

Synopsis: This one-reel comedy that Stan Laurel made for Hal Roach was basically a remake of a film he did the year before for Gilbert M. Anderson, The Pest. It even begins the same way: Laurel, a door-to-door salesman, is trying to sell his wares in front of an institute for the deaf. He tries making hand Read More

Young Sherlocks

Crew: Producer, Screenwriter

Synopsis: This time around, the Our Gang kids are anxious to become detectives, forming a secret society called the J.J.J.'s (the "Jesse James Juniors"). Stumbling upon the society's headquarters, youngster "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison brags that he himself is a master detective, then weaves a fantastic story Read More

One Terrible Day

Crew: Producer, Screenwriter

Synopsis: Though not the first Our Gang comedy to be filmed, the silent, two-reel One Terrible Day was the first to be released, on September 10, 1922. It all begins when wealthy Mrs. Van Renssaler decides to improve her social standing by sponsoring a day's vacation for a group of local kids. Unfortunately Read More

Our Gang

Crew: Producer, Screenwriter

Synopsis: The first Our Gang comedy to be produced -- and the film for which the entire series was named -- this silent, two-reel comedy no longer exists, except for a tantalizingly brief fragment. According to all available records, the plot concerns the efforts by a group of kids to save a widow's general Read More

Grandma's Boy

Crew: Producer, Screenwriter

Actors: Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis, Mrs. Anna Townsend, Charles E. Stevenson, Dick Sutherland

Synopsis: This rollicking comedy is Harold Lloyd's second feature film and like the first, A Sailor-Made Man was originally conceived of as a short film. During the shooting, Lloyd and long-time collaborator Hal Roach insisted on continually developing his character and moving beyond pure gags into a real Read More

Fire Fighters

Crew: Producer, Screenwriter

Synopsis: The Our Gang kids form a volunteer fire brigade, with little Jackie Condon appointed Chief because he happens to own a fireman's hat. After constructing a variety of ramshackle firefighting devices, the youngsters get the opportunity to prove their mettle by putting out what they think is a Read More

Saturday Morning

Crew: Producer, Screenwriter