Little Rascals

Our Gang in 1934: "Hi'-Neighbor!" picture with Matthew "Stymie" Beard, schoolteacher Mrs. Fern Carter, Marvin "Bubbles" Trin, Tommy Bupp, Scotty Beckett, Donald Proffitt, Tony Kales, Tommy "Butch" Bond, Wally Albright, and George "Spanky" McFarland.

While watching an old 1934 version of "The Count of Monte Cristo" I immediately recognized a little kid in the movie as one of the Little Rascals. You know how it is with the Little Rascals, if they were a part of your childhood they never leave your memory.

This kid in the movie, with blonde locks and a kind face, was playing the role of a Count's son, resembling nothing of the poor, depression era Rascals. I thought back and pulled a number of names from my Rascals memory bank; Weezer, Butch, Uh Huh, Froggy, Jackie, Waldo.

Surprised that I remembered names and episodes so well, I knew this kid wasn't one of those I'd thought of. Then it hit me, rich kid. I remember him playing the role of a richly dressed kid sitting in the back of an expensive chauffeured car, top down, watching the Little Rascals as they play on a merry-go-round pulled by a mule.

Eventually the rich kid befriends the Little Rascals and sneaks away from his rich home to play and get all dirty with them.

The episode is called "Honkey Donkey," and is one of the funniest of the lot. The mule named "Algebra," runs when he hears a sneeze and stops to sit down when an alarm bell sounds, thus the kids were able to control his pulling and stopping of the merry-go-round. A little pepper, an alarm clock and loads of laughs.

I write about this just to show how great the internet can be in helping us relive some of the fun times of childhood. I looked up the kid actor from the movie "Wally Albright," and confirmed that he played in some of the Hal Roach "Our Gang" episodes. His Rascals name was actually Wally. You can watch many of the episodes, some colorized, online at: http://heustess.com/episodes.htm

Here's a great link to a page that features the picture and name of just about every kid that performed in the "Our Gang" little rascals shows:

"Our Gang"