Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I'd like to review the most Thanksgiving-esque Our Gang episode Roamin' Holiday, released in June 1937. It was written by Jack Jevne and directed by Gordon Douglas, with music by Marvin Hayley. Cast includes George "Spanky" McFarland, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas, Eugene "Porky" Lee, Darla Hood, Otis Harlan as Constable Hiram Jinks and May Wallace as "Ma" Jinks, who played the Store owner.
It's the weekend and Spanky and Alfalfa complain about having to babysit for their baby brothers. Alfalfa has twin brothers (Joe and Tom White), complete with cowlicks and freckles. The final straw occurs when Darla tells Spanky that he and Alfalfa have just been signed up for dance lessons! So with Buckwheat, Porky and their pup Pete, they run away. Tired and hungry, they come to a small town called Jenksville. They see a dog getting cookies. They ask for some by Ma Jenks who runs the bakery with her husband. Though she's out of cookies, she gives them a bag of treats for Pete- dog biscuits! So Buckwheat and Porky grab the Constable's dog to get some more time. Cynically, Spanky yells them they're wasting their time. "Oh no, we's not," replies Buckwheat. So they ask for cake, 4 cream puffs and an apple pie for their "found" dog. The Constable knows they're putting him on but gives them all the treats anyways. He watches them eat the food up and overhears they've run away from home. Then he interrupts their feast and demands they pay up. Since none of them has any money, he "arrests" them for "dog napping" and "holding up a bakery." He dresses them in prisoner's uniforms and has them chip rocks on a rock pile. Spanky scolds Buckwheat and Porky for using the Constable's dog. "I'm torry, Panky" apologizes Buckwheat. So the kids run away when the Constable walks off. He chases them with an unloaded gun. They hide and Alfalfa's cowlick sticks out. Along comes a rooster, who tears it out of his head with his beak! "He's got it- my personality!," complains Alfalfa. They run away disguised under a box. With the box over their heads, they don't see they've run into a bees' nest. The angry bees chase them all the way home!
Trivia: May Wallace had been in other Our Gang episodes and this was her last. Otis Harland played Happy in Disney's Snow White And The Seven Dwarves which came out the same year. Darla only appears at the beginning of the episode. The original ending showed the boys' faces swollen from many bee stings was cut out, thankfully.
Unsolved mysteries: How did the parents react when they saw their kids come home dressed in the striped prisoner's uniforms?
What I liked: I liked the fact this episode teaches a lesson without preaching. Otis plays the Constable quite well. He's kind but wise and not somebody to mess with. He's hilarious letting them think he's shooting at them with his car! I also liked Spanky's plan before they get busted "We'll live like kings- pies for breakfast, cream puffs for lunch, cakes for supper!" Marvin Hayley's soundtrack is also great, with the dramatic chase scene music and playing There's No Place Like Home while the bees are chasing the Gang. 9 cream puffs out.of 10!
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