2022 is the 100th anniversary of the film series known as "Our Gang", and perhaps more commonly known today as the original "Little Rascals". Since I am not only a big comic book fan, but also a fan of classic film comedy from Hollywood's Golden Age, I thought the centennial of the Gang would a good time to look back at their history in comic books and comic strips.
To start with, though, I figured it's best to give a general overview on the beginnings of the film series:
"Our Gang" began as a series of short films known as 'two-reelers' which were typically about 20 minutes in length, or so. These two-reelers were shown in movie theaters before the advent of television, typically along with cartoon shorts and movie newsreels that preceded the feature film .
Film producer Hal Roach is said to have come up with the idea of making a series of shorts based on regular kids after his attention was drawn to some youths fighting over a stick outside his office window. Realizing how these kids had captured his attention for several minutes with their shenanigans, he figured that capturing such naturalistic childish tomfoolery on film would also amuse a general audience of film-goers.
The Hal Roach Studios already had its own child star in Ernie "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison, a young African-American who was a scene-stealer in other shorts such as those starring Snub Pollard and the legendary Harold Lloyd. Morrison was the first African-American actor to be signed to a long-term contract by a studio, and he was picked as the first member of Our Gang. From there, the cast was rounded out with several "types" such as the freckled-face boy, the fat kid, the younger tag-along, and the girl in the group. This basic formula would be the template for the series throughout its theatrical run from 1922 until 1944, when the production of the series was ceased by MGM, the studio that had taken over production during 1938. By this time, the series had been scaled back from two-reelers to one-reel (approximately ten minutes of film).
For over twenty years, the film shorts were popular with audiences and in the 1950s, during the early years of television, the shorts would experience as revival in syndication on TV stations across America. In 1994, a full-length major motion picture of "The Little Rascals" was released with a cast based on the line-up from Spanky's era as the Gang leader. That film introduced a new generation to the Gang, and even today new fans are discovering both it and even the original shorts, hopefully keeping interest in Our Gang around for more years to come.
OUR GANG IN COMICS!
"Our Gang" in comic strip form has been around nearly as long as the film series, itself. The Gang was very popular, as noted before, and there were all sorts of merchandising featuring the kids from the series throughout the years. They were used to sell ham, cereal, puzzles, toys, colas, and all sorts of products. So, the idea of featuring the Gang in comic book or comic strip form would seem a natural.
However, interestingly the first appearance of Our Gang in comic strip form did not occur in the country of its origin, the United States of America, but rather, of all places the earliest example of an Our Gang comic strip based on the film series began in Spain, as "La Pandilla" in 1926.
"LA PANDILLA" (1926-1927)
Bruguera, a Spanish publisher originally created in 1910 as El Gato Negro ("The Black Cat") published at least 39 issues of "La Pandilla" ("The Gang") beginning in 1926 and apparently lasted until 1927. It consisted of comic strips and illustrated short stories.
There was also a comic book from the same publisher "Coleccion Cine Comico" #5, featuring La Pandilla and El Phantasma ("The Ghost").
Unfortunately, as was then a common practice in not only comic strips, but in the portrayal of Africans and black Americans in various media around the world, these comics employed exaggerated racial stereotypes and caricatures of black characters. It's true that even the Our Gang shorts were not above stereotypical humor, but more often than not African-American children in the movie series were shown as equals and generally any conflicts were not based on the children's race.
The comic strips and comic books in these early adaptations, particularly in Britain, were pretty vile in the treatment of its black characters, at least insofar as how they were referred to by other characters in the stories. Thankfully, as with most media by the latter half of the 20th Century, such stereotypical and race based humor would ease up, if not entirely be abandoned.
Bruguera also put out a sticker book collection of "Cromos Cultura" in 1941-42, inside which there was a sub-collection of "Historia del Cinema (Children before the camera)" among which were some members of "La Pandilla" were given entries.
"O TICO-TICO" (1933-1934)
"O Tico-Tico" was a weekly Brazilian children's magazine, published between 1905 and 1977. It was the first magazine to publish comics in Brazil. It also featured stories and educational activities. The publication was founded by journalist Luis Bartolomeu de Souza e Silva, who was inspired by foreign magazines such as the French "La Semaine de Suzette".
Richard Outcault's Buster Brown, created in 1902, was a comic strip character with a Dutch boy haircut and a Little Lord Fauntleroy outfit, and a pet dog named Tige.
There was a regular feature in "O Tico-Tico" that featured a character named
Chiquinho which was clearly inspired by Buster, outfit, dog and all. Chiquinho, however, also had a young black boy companion named
Benjamin.
Both Chiquinho and Benjamin would end up meeting Spanky, Stymie, and Dickie Moore, and Pete the pup, from Our Gang in a serial for the magazine that ran over several issues titled "From Hollywood To Brazil". The serial adventure was not exactly an actual comic strip as it was mostly told in text that was accompanied by comic art illustrations of the characters.
This adventure technically begins in the August 23, 1933 edition of "O Tico-Tico" with an article that spotlights "Our Gang" and is illustrated with drawings of the Gang reading a copy of "O Tico-Tico". The article concludes by noting, "In the issue of the 30th of this month of O Tico Tico our readers will be able to see the beginning of the journey of the charming children's movie stars to Brazil."
The drawings of the Gang in that issue were based on actual photographs taken of them that first appeared in another Brazillian publication, "
O Malho" ("
The Mallet"), a satirical magazine geared for an adult audience. The August 31, 1933 issue featured an article about the success of "O Tico-Tico" and, in a form of promotion, mentioned that a representative of "O Malho" in Hollywood had shown the Gang copies of the children's magazine.
"We are going to Brazil one of these days," the magazine reported the kids as saying before noting that "O Tico-Tico was already publishing the narration of this sensational trip in its publication. "O Tico Tico", coincidentally, was published by the O Malho group.
In the tale of the Gang's visit to Brazil, they are met by Chiquinho and Benjamin upon arriving, and the duo accompany them as their guides and partners in adventure for the length of the trip. Things wrap up in the March 21, 1934 issue of "O Tico-Tico" with everyone exchanging tearful good-byes and the Gang promising they will return to Brazil again one day. Fans of Hal Roach comedies needn't fret much, though, as the same issue begins another serial featuring the adventures of "O Gordo e o Magro", which those of us from English-speaking countries know better as "Laurel and Hardy".
It is somewhat fascinating to note that Buster Brown had another tie to Our Gang beyond their adventures with his Brazillian doppelganger, and that is that there was a live action comedy series featuring the comic strip character, portrayed by Arthur Trimble during the mid-late 1920s, and in that series his dog Tige was played by a dog named Pal. Pal would eventually become the first Pete the pup.
Yet another connection is that the director of many of the shorts, Gus Meins, would later direct several Our Gang comedies in the 1930s. Oh, and several of the Buster Brown shorts were released in edited form along with Our Gang silents for the TV series "Mischief Makers" in the 1950s.
CLOSEUP AND COMEDY (1930s)
"Closeup and Comedy" was an illustrated feature that appeared in newspapers, and was written by gossip columnist Erskine Johnson with art by cartoonist George Scarbo. One installment from the mid-1930s spotlighted the Gang's leading leady herself, Darla Hood.
ROYAL GELATIN ADVERT (1936)
"Puck: The Comic Weekly", February 23, 1936, may feature the first English language version of "Our Gang" in comic strip form. The Our Gang advertisement was drawn by Ray Thompson (1905-1982), a commercial cartoonist who worked in the Philadelphia area and who created ads starting in the 1930s, such as the Double Bubble ads.
In these comic book advertisement for Royal brand gelatin, the 1936 cast from the Our Gang film shorts dare Buckwheat to chop down a cherry tree after his famous namesake (which we learn in this strip that Buckwheat's full name is George Washington Lincoln Buckwheat, though I suspect that's not canon). A cherry farmer appears to admonish Buckwheat and the gang, but instead of punishment, he serves them up some dishes of gelatin so that they will understand what they would miss were all the cherry trees were to be cut down. Buckwheat promises never to chop down another cherry tree as a result.
FAMOUS FUNNIES 28 (1936)
UPDATE! I came across this "Screen Oddities" page from "Famous Funnies" #28 (1936) since I initially wrote this blog entry. It features a short write-up about Spanky McFarland using a wooden doll as a stand-in for the "Our Gang" shorts.
THE DANDY (1937)
"The Dandy" (originally known more specifically as "The Dandy Comic", and also known for a period as "The Dandy Xtreme") was a weekly comic that was published by DC Thomson from 1937 until It came to an end as a print comic in December 2012, continuing publication online. "Our Gang" was a strip that ran in The Dandy from its first issue. The feature was drawn by Dudley D Watkins, and had a run of 10 years.
The cast was basically the same kids in the Gang circa 1935, with included Patsy May and Scotty Beckett. Pete the pup was sometimes referred to as Spot the Pup.
While "Our Gang" was running in issues of "The Dandy", rival publisher AP had its own Gang-related comic strip based on Matthew "Stymie" Beard, "Stymie and his Magic Wishbone". This series was drawn by Roy Wilson and would run for eleven years in the periodical "Radio Fun", from 1938-1947, and continued over in the publication "Jingles" from 1947-1949.
Shamefully, these British publications not only portrayed African-Americans in a stereotypical manner as other versions, but also regularly had other characters toss around racial slurs aimed at the story's protagonist that were unquestionably cruel and mean-spirited. Though the hero of the strip always prevailed in the end, it was still a disgrace, and makes it especially a hard read for modern audiences.
UPDATE! I have discovered since originally posting this blog entry that there was two pages of "Stymie and His Magic Wishbone"published in "Radio Fun Annual 1948". There's a chance he also appeared in the previous annuals, too, but I haven'y anymore information on that. Below are the two pages from the 1948 publication:
CALLING ALL GIRLS (1942)
UPDATE since original post of this blog entry! "Calling All Girls" was a comic book magazine publication geared, as the title suggests, to young women, with comic strips and articles. The fourth issue from 1942 sported a photo cover with Darla Hood. I have yet to see the interiors online or elsewhere, so I am not sure if Darla is actually featured within the periodical, and whether that would be in comic art form or a photograph. I figured I'd include this mention in any event as the publication is considered a comic book of sorts.
OUR GANG, DELL COMICS (1942)
In 1942 Dell Comics published the first issue of "Our Gang Comics" which is considered the first American comic book appearance of the Gang (the 1936 Royal Gelatin ad not actually being a full-fledged comic). The stories and artwork for most of the Gang's features during the series was the work of Walt Kelly, the creator of the iconic "Pogo" comic strip.
These comics were initially published during the period that MGM had taken over production of the film series from Hal Roach. The film shorts during this period are generally regarded as inferior to the earlier installments and many feel that these Kelly written tales in the comic were superior to what was being shown in the theaters during this period. The Gang's adventures had Froggy taking the lead after Spanky was written out after his real-life counterpart had left the live-action version.
Our Gang shared the comic with other features starring cartoon characters from MGM, such as Tom & Jerry and Barney Bear. Though the Gang in comics continued to headline the series long after the live-action shorts had ceased production in 1944, by 1947 Tom & Jerry had eclipsed them and the series was re-titled "Tom & Jerry Comics" from issue #60 onward. Sadly, the Gang would not even be included in the final two issues before that change, in a book that still beared their name at that point.
MARCH OF COMICS (Dell, 1947, 1948)
The Dell promotional giveaway comic book series "March of Comics" featured two "M.G.M. Our Gang" issues in its run, both by Walt Kelly, in issues #3 (1947) and #26 (1948).
THE LITTLE RASCALS, DELL COMICS (1956)
The televison revival of the 1950s introduced a whole new generation of youngsters to "Our Gang", more commonly referred to as "The Little Rascals" by 1956 and going forward. MGM retained the rights to the name "Our Gang", and even though the company also had its own TV syndicated package of the shorts that it produced from 1938-1944, and which aired concurrently in most markets along with the Hal Roach shorts, "The Little Rascals" was the name most associated with the characters now.
Dell Comics licensed "The Little Rascals" and placed them in its Four Color Comics line in 1956. These new comic book stories would focus on Spanky, Alfalfa, Buckwheat, Farina, and new characters created for the series named "Fatso", and Toughie.
With the Walt Kelly stories in "Our Gang Comics" from the 1940s, the portrayal of the African American characters had gradually became less stereotypical and insulting. With this new series, the negative stereotyping was virtually nonexistent. Buckwheat was initially shown wearing the pigtails that the film version wore in his earliest appearances, but in later issues of "The Little Rascals" even that was dropped. There were no racially insensitive characteristics or dialect used in this series.
LITTLE RASCALS, HONG KONG (1970)
In 1970, Chinese comics creator Wong Yuk-long (AKA, Tony Wong) created a martial art comic book series that what was originally titled "Little Rascals" which was later renamed as "Oriental Heroes". Other than the original title for the series, this one has absolutely no connection to the "Our Gang" series, but I'd figure I'd mention it anyway.
LES PETITES CANAILLES (1984)
"Our Gang" received the animation treatment a few times. The first animated series is surrounded in some mystery, as online sources differ on exactly what year and how many of the shorts were produced, and by what company. "A Little Rascals Color Special" (circa, 1966-1970) was this claymation series of shorts, presented by Charles King of King World Productions (also responsible for the syndicated "Little Rascals" for television).
A number of the original shorts were recreated in color using stop-motion clay models and miniature sets. It's believed that ten of these were produced by British stop-motion animators Bob Bura and John Hardwick. Five of these have been posted on YouTube in the past, though at the time of this writing they have been taken down since.
"The Little Rascals Christmas Special" was produced by Fred Wolf in 1979 for NBC. The same production company was also responsible for a series of public service announcements with the Rascals from 1979-1980.
In 1982, Hanna-Barbera Productions and King World Productions produced "The Little Rascals" Saturday morning animated series. It was broadcast as part of "The Pac-Man/Little Rascals/Richie Rich Show" in 1982, and then as part of "The Monchhichis/Little Rascals/Richie Rich Show" in 1983.
The series took place in a contemporary 1980s' setting. While this series was not adapted as a comic book in the United States, where it originated from, in 1984, a company called Mensuel published a series of graphic novels based on the cartoon titled "Les Petites Canailles".
WALT KELLY'S OUR GANG, FANTAGRAPHICS (2006)
The publisher, Fantagraphics Books released for volumes of "Walt Kelly's Our Gang" which collected stories taken from the 1940s' Dell comic book series, "Our Gang Comics". The cover art for these volumes was produced by Jeff Smith of the celebrated comic book series, "Bone".
A film sequel of sorts to the 1994 film was released in 2014 called "The Little Rascals Save The Day". Not surprising giving the gap between films -- a newer cast portrayed the more well-known cast members mostly taken from the mid-1930s era of the original film shorts.
In 2021, ClassicFlix started releasing Blu-Ray sets that present the Hal Roach "talkies" era shorts (1929-1938) in remastered and restored condition as "The Little Rascals - The ClassicFlix Restorations".
Well, the above publications mentioned in this blog pretty much sums up the history of "Our Gang"/"The Little Rascals" in the comic book medium. It says something that people still recognize the characters from "Our Gang" after 100 years, and hopefully, the Gang will continue to endure well into the 21st Century, and perhaps we will also once again be able to read their adventures in comic book form.
Lastly, here are a few other comic book connections relating to "Our Gang":
A live-action feature based on the comic strip Reg'lar Fellers (1941) starred Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer as Bump Hudson.
Scotty Beckett starred as Corky in the two movie versions based on the "Gasoline Alley" comic strip, "Gasoline Alley" (1951) and "Corky of Gasoline Alley" (1951).
A number of actors from Our Gang appeared in the various shorts from the "Mickey McGuire" film series (based on the" Toonerville Folks" comics), that starred a young Mickey Rooney.
Mickey Daniels has a cameo in the 1940 film version of "Li'l Abner" based on the comic strip by Al Capp.
Donald Haines starred in the "Smitty" series of shorts in the late 1920s.
Tommy "Butch" Bond portrayed cub reporter Jimmy Olsen in that character's first onscreen appearance in the 1940s' "Superman" movie serials starring Kirk Alyn.
Jackie Cooper starred as Skippy in 1931, based on the popular comic strip character and was the youngest person nominated for an Oscar for the performance. Years later, Cooper would play Perry White, editor-in-chief at the Daily Planet in "Superman: The Movie" (1978) and its sequels.
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Dickie Moore sitting back and enjoying the comics!
#OurGang #TheLittleRascals #comics #comicbooks #comicstrips #100years
