Classic TV: Our Gang & Hoppe

[Mr. Bond]

You might know them as "Our Gang" or "The Little Rascals" depending on how young you are...

Sorry its so big, but its nice to see the details...
This is a rare shot of Hoppe and his wife and daughter

From Billiards Magazine Nov 1925
Thank You Charles Ursitti

 

[Dartman]

I remember Weezer but where's Spanky, Alfalfa and Buckwheat,
TCM aired several episodes of Our Gang about 2 weeks ago which I caught.
Keeping an eye out for the Bowery Boys.

 

[3RAILKICK]

I wonder if 'Our gang" preceded the 'little rascals'?

Were the 'bowery boys' also known as the 'eastside kids'?

 

[Mr. Bond]

about the name:

"Our Gang, also known as The Little Rascals or Hal Roach's Rascals, was a series of American comedy short films about a group of poor neighborhood children and the adventures they had together. Created by comedy producer Hal Roach, Our Gang was produced at the Roach studio starting in 1922 as a silent short subject series. Roach changed distributors from Pathé to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) in 1927, went to sound in 1929 and continued production until 1938, when he sold the series to MGM. MGM in turn continued producing the comedies until 1944. A total of 220 shorts and one feature film, General Spanky, were eventually produced, featuring over forty-one child actors. In the mid-1950s, the 80 Roach-produced shorts with sound were syndicated for television under the title The Little Rascals, as MGM retained the rights to the Our Gang trademark."


About the actors:

As the children grew too old to be in the series, they were replaced by new children, usually from the Los Angeles area. Eventually, Our Gang talent scouting was done using large-scale national contests, where thousands of children (often at the behest of their parents) tried out for one open role. Norman "Chubby" Chaney (who replaced Joe Cobb), Matthew "Stymie" Beard (who replaced Allen "Farina" Hoskins) and Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas (who replaced Stymie) all won major contests to become members of the gang. Even when there was not a massive talent search going on, the Roach studio was bombarded by requests from parents who were certain their children were perfect for the series. Among these were future child stars Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland and Shirley Temple, none of whom made it past the audition stage.

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Gang

 

[gibson]

In the picture the kids are from Our Gang (silent movies). Farina, Joe Cobb and Mickey are the three on the left. I don't know the names of the three to the right. Turner Classic Movies had a whole day of them on this month.