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From the 1920s to the 1940s, American audiences were captivated by a group of spunky young kids known simply as Our Gang. After the original short film series finished its run, it captured the hearts of a new generation when broadcast on TV and renamed The Little Rascals. The series was such a hit that it inspired an animated series and even sparked a major movie version in 1994. Once again, more people fell in love with the series’ lovable characters, including Darla, Spanky, Alfalfa, and Buckwheat. Read on to find out the secrets behind this iconic series and the legacy it left behind.
Hal Roach, creator and producer of Our Gang (later called The Little Rascals when it was aired on TV), came up with the idea for the series while watching a child actress audition for a movie role. He thought that the girl was overly rehearsed and made up to look like an adult.
After the audition ended, he started looking out his window at some kids playing across the street. Then he realized that he had been entertained for some time by just watching them play naturally. At that moment, the idea for Our Gang was born.
George McFarland is most famous for playing Spanky in the Our Gang shorts from 1932 to 1942. He was “discovered” at the age of three after his aunt answered a casting call and sent his photos to Hal Roach Studios.
He was invited to auditions and then cast in the series, ultimately becoming one of the most beloved stars of the series. After Our Gang was over, McFarland left acting for a while and came back to host a children’s TV program called “The Spanky Show” in the mid-1950s.
“Our Gang” actually made a big breakthrough in acting methods. Before Our Gang made its debut in 1922, kids in Hollywood were taught adult acting skills. The difference between the methods for “Our Gang” and the old ones was like day and night.
With the production of Our Gang, children could finally act like themselves. In other words, they were allowed to act like children. What could look more natural than that? Keep reading to find out more interesting facts about The Little Rascals.
George McFarland said he got the nickname Spanky from a Los Angeles newspaper reporter, who had apparently referred to him as “a spanky child.” While the phrase may seem odd in modern times, it doesn’t mean what you think it does.
Actually a term of endearment, a “spanky child” means a gifted and intelligent child. So, in fact, Spanky is a nickname that refers to his intellect, not what you might think - the disciplinary act of spanking a kid.
George McFarland’s role Spanky quickly became the de facto “leader” in the “Our Gang” series. However, this led him to direct competition with Carl Switzer, who portrayed Alfalfa, as the two vied for screen time. It is not easy to be a child actor, right?
The competition wasn’t limited to the actors themselves, though. Their fathers would constantly quarrel and fight on set over which of them would get more time on screen. We all know how protective parents can be of their kids, but what about child star parents? Better watch out!
Darla Jean Hood is best known for playing the role of Darla in the “Our Gang” series from 1935 to 1941. The actress was born in Leedey, Oklahoma. Her mother was a music teacher and encouraged Jean to pursue the arts.
Hood was discovered during a trip to New York City where she was spotted by Joe Rivkin, the Hal Roach Studios casting director. Her screen test was a hit, and her acting career took off from then on. Read on to find out more fun facts from the classic Our Gang/The Little Rascals.
Producer Hal Roach decided to turn the Our Gang series into a feature movie in 1936 with his film “General Spanky”, which centered on the character Spanky as a Civil War general. However, the effort didn’t work out at this time.
The movie flopped at the box office. After this, Hal Roach Studios ended up undergoing a lackluster year. In 1938, they had to sell the Our Gang series to MGM Studios.
The success of “Our Gang” spawned many rival shows to compete with them, including “The Kiddie Troupers” featuring actor Eddie Bracken, “Baby Burlesks” that featured the talented Shirley Temple, and “Toonerville Trolley” which starred Mickey Rooney.
There were also “Our Gang” imitators that directly copied the scripts of Hal Roach’s movies, filming their own alternate versions in small cities across the United States. Some were so bold that they falsely claim to be associated with the real version.
Carl Switzer is best known for his role as Alfalfa from the mid-1930s through 1940. While he was on the set of Our Gang as a child actor, Switzer was known for being a trickster and playing cruel jokes on his co-stars.
Switzer would also often hold up filming with his antics. After his time in “Our Gang” ended, the actor was heavily typecast as Alfalfa and had difficulty finding other work. He went on to play a number of small roles and star in B-movies.
A few actors falsely claimed to have appeared in the “Our Gang” series at some point. For example, actor Eddie Bracken once had his official biography altered to say that he was part of “Our Gang”, instead of “The Kiddie Troupers”. He, however, claimed to have had no idea of the change.
Several other actors continued to claim that they were part of the original cast of “Our Gang” although they weren’t, and that included gossip columnist Joyce Haber and Tony-award winning actress Nanette Fabray. Wow! Being a member of the gang really was that big of a deal!
Billie Thomas is best known for his role as Buckwheat in the Our Gang series. Interestingly enough, the role was previously portrayed by a female. Thomas’ gender was left ambiguous for some time, with his wardrobe and appearance remaining the same.
Thomas later went to the Army and left acting behind. “After the Army, I wasn’t really interested in the hassle of performing,” he stated in an interview. “Even the big stars had to chase around an audition; it seemed like a rat race to me, with no security.”
“Our Gang” broke new ground in TV history for starring black and white actors and actresses in equal roles. The series actually made Ernie Morrison, who portrayed Sunshine Sammy, the first black actor ever to sign a long-term contract in Hollywood.
“When it came to race, Hal Roach was color-blind,” one of the actors later said. There had been accusations that the earlier parts of the series were somewhat racist and stereotypical. However, all the cast members on the show defended the show in their adult years.
The original “Our Gang” cast received only weekly salaries while filming the series, which ranged from $40 to $200 a week. However, none of them was paid any money from reruns of their short films on TV nor from the sales of their likenesses by the studio.
It was only in 1994 that George McFarland, the actor behind the character Spanky, was posthumously awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In fact, most of the original cast members went unrewarded or unacknowledged for their performances in those early days.
Hal Roach is best known for producing the hit TV series “Our Gang” and “Laurel and Hardy.” But before all that, he lived a rather modest life. He was the grandson of Irish immigrants to the US, and after living in Alaska for a while, he tried his hand at film by moving to Hollywood.
Roach started out acting in silent movies, and after inheriting money, he began producing short films. During World War II, he served in the US Army’s Signal Corps and later produced military training films. He also leased his studios to the U.S. Air Force during the war.
It wouldn’t be The Little Rascals without their trusted furry friend Petey. Pal the Wonder Dog, the original dog that played the role, had a naturally-occurring ring partially around his eye. Makeup was used to complete the circle, which had become his signature look.
After the original dog passed away, every dog that played the role was given the same distinct circle around the eye. Today, Petey is still one of the most memorable dogs in entertainment history.
The feature-length movie version of The Little Rascals was released in 1994, but it turns out that the filmmakers didn't incorporate the original Little Rascals cast members. The Our Gang actors attempted to reach out to the studio but found their efforts unwelcome.
“It’s real cold. They have no respect for the old-timers. At least they could have recognized some of the living legends surviving from the first films,” said Eugene Jackson, the star who played Sunshine Sammy in the silent version of Our Gang.
Eugene Gordon Lee, the actor behind the character Porky, got his big break in acting when he was only 18 months old. He was famous for looking physically similar to Spanky, but he still found a way to distinguish himself.
Lee is best known for creating the catchphrase “O-tay!” and not Buckwheat, who was commonly given credit for the catchphrase. Lee had to leave the show due to growing too tall. To avoid the association with his acting career, he changed his name and went on to become a teacher.
Filming with so many kids is no easy task. Just take it from the producers and directors of the movies and series. Children love to bully and pick on each other, and everyone knows how cruel they can be. So when shooting the 1994 movie, director Penelope Spheeris came up with a special technique.
Essentially, they just filmed the plot out of order. To let the kids get along with each other, they shot the middle section first, then the beginning, and then the end. It turned out to be such a great idea as everyone got along well.
Remember the scene in the 1994 movie where Porky and Buckwheat were singing their adorable song, “We Got A Dollar?” It turns out that the song was completely improvised by the two children and went “We’ve got a dollar, we’ve got a dollar, we’ve got a dollar, hey, hey, hey, hey.”
The producers decided that the song was catchy enough to appear in the final cut of the movie, and good thing they did. Those two boys should have considered careers in songwriting, as they had serious improvisation skills from such a young age!
Did you know where that weird hand-under-chin wave in the movie came from? Well, it all stemmed from an inside joke. Director Penelope Spheeris taught the child actors to do it during filming as a way of keeping them entertained.
The wave caught on and became an indispensable part of the movie. Kids everywhere were doing the wave after seeing it, and its popularity was totally unexpected by the director. Originally, she was just trying to help the kids have fun.
When child actor Brandon “Bug” Hall played the character, Alfalfa, in the 1994 “Little Rascals” film, it was his very first acting gig. He went on to become well-known for playing Buster Stupid in the 1996 movie “The Stupids”.
Banking off his early childhood success, Hall continued acting in films such as “The Munsters’ Scary Little Christmas”, “Hercules”, and “Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves”. He even had a cameo as an ice cream man in the movie “The Little Rascals Save the Day”. Most recently, he has been a guest star appearing in a number of television shows.
We can see a lot of in-fighting between the characters on screen, especially between Spanky, Alfalfa and Woim. But don't worry! That was all part of the acting. Off-screen, the relationship between the three was much different.
It’ll warm your heart to learn that Spanky, Alfalfa, and Woim were actually best friends in real life. The bullying and fighting between each other was all just good acting. That’s pretty awesome considering how young they were at the time.
The “Little Rascals” movie was filled with a large number of celebrity cameos. One that was easy to miss was the Olsen twins. That’s right, both Ashley Olsen and Mary Kate appeared briefly in the film.
Their brief appearance was during the scene where Darla was talking to Alfalfa. The twins certainly did not approve, as we can see the evidence from their fingers. Yuck! Boys… who needs them anyway? At the time, the twins were already famous for their roles on “Full House”.
Ross Bagely made his acting debut, portraying Buckwheat in “The Little Rascals” movie. It catapulted his acting career and earned him the reccurring role of Nicky Banks on the legendary TV show “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”.
From there, Bagely went on to act in the movies “Eye for an Eye”, “Independence Day” and “Profiler”. He won three Young Artist awards due to his stunning performances in “The Little Rascals” and “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”.
Another celebrity cameo in the show you might have missed was Reba McEntire, the Queen of Country music. She played the character of A. J. Ferguson, the role the gang had expected to be a man.
Reba presented the prizes after the gang won the derby by the skin of their teeth. That’s also when she said her famous line “Is that a cow lick, or are you just glad to see me?” to Alfalfa, remarking on his hair.
Did you notice the actress who played Buckwheat’s mom? It turned out to be the Oscar-winning actress and comedienne, Whoopi Goldberg! She even does the famous hand-under-chin wave at his son.
In one scene, Buckwheat exclaimed that his mom was there and Porky sarcastically shouted out “whoopi!” in an obvious play on the actress’s name. That was just one pun! Probably it was not the first time that Whoopi Goldberg heard the word.
Brittany Ashton Holmes played the adorable little girl, Darla, in the 1994 movie. Still to this day, she is best-known for her portrayal of Darla, who was the object of Alfalfa’s affection and the creator of the tension in the “He-Man Womun Haters Club.”
After filming “The Little Rascals”, Holmes went on to act in several other films but ultimately decided to leave the acting world behind at the age of seven. She's currently pursuing a degree in political science.
Another famous face appeared in the 1994 movie “The Little Rascals” is a young, adorable Raven-Symoné, who was just a budding star at the time. She was already well-known for her performance on “The Cosby Show”, and this was only her second film role.
Raven-Symoné played the role of Stymie’s girlfriend, the vice president of the “He-Man Womun Haters Club”. Thankfully by the end of the movie, the boys had come to their wits and allowed girls into their exclusive club. Hopefully, Raven was included!
Every film needs its villain and actor Blake McIver Ewing played the part with his role called Waldo, a son of a wealthy oil tycoon. Waldo squeezed his way in between Darla and Alfalfa’s relationship, creating a love triangle.
After his days on “The Little Rascals”, Ewing continued acting. He is well-known for his recurring character as Derek S. Boyd on “Full House” and he voiced character Eugene Horowitz in the animated series “Hey Arnold!” Aside from acting, he is also a singer-songwriter and pianist.
The entire gang reunited 20 years after the release of the 1994 movie “The Little Rascals” and recreated some of the popular scenes from the movie, including the poster.
Even though so much time had passed, most of the characters were easily distinguishable as their younger selves. Maybe makeup, hair, and wardrobe had a lot to do with it.
Zachary Mabry was only four years old when he played Porky in “The Little Rascals” as Spanky’s little brother and assistant. It was also his only attempt at acting. Since the movie was over, he’s been living a pretty normal life out of the spotlight.
Mabry went on to earn a degree in accounting and finance at the University of Oklahoma. While he's now working as an accountant in a company in Dallas, he will forever be remembered as the adorable Porky.
Sam Saletta started his acting career by playing the role of Butch, the bully in “The Little Rascals.” His character was well-known for bullying the gang and stealing their go cart. Saletta went on to act in numerous films and TV series, including “7th Heaven.”
Saletta also had voice roles in the animated series “King of the Hill”, “The Kids from Room 402”, “Rocket Power” and in the video games “Call of Duty: Black Ops” and “Zero: Akai Chou.”
Kevin Jamal Woods played Stymie, vice-president of the “He-Man Womun Haters Club.” In addition to playing the character of Stymie, Woods is also famous for his roles in “A Perfect World” and the most famous pig film, “Babe.”
Woods retired from his acting career when he was still a child and has since pursued other interests. Since graduating from university in 2009, he has been working for a media market research firm in Texas, as well as producing music.
The character of “Spanky” in The Little Rascal’s movie was portrayed by child actor Travis Tedford. He was the leader of the “He-Man Womun Haters Club” and also the leader of the gang. His role was named Spanky McFarland in memory of George McFarland who played Spanky in the 1930s and 1940s.
Tedford made a name for himself not just due to his role as Spanky in the movie, but also due to being the face of Welch’s juice. He acted in a number of films including “A Bug’s Life”, “The Amanda Show”, “Freaky Friday” and “The Final” before retiring from acting. The star eventually returned to his home state, Texas, and currently lives in the Dallas area.
During the scene when Spanky and Alfalfa intruded Darla’s ballet recital, it turned out that the two boys wanted to learn the choreography and dance real ballet along with the girls. However, director Penelope Spheeris had other ideas in mind for them.
Spheeris wanted Spanky and Alfalfa to look out of place and especially awkward. So, he told the boys to just dance by the seat of their pants. Oh, poor boys!
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