User Reviews

"Roamin' Holiday" begins with Alfalfa and Spanky both being stuck watching their baby brothers. The last straw is when they are then told they have to go to dance class--at which point they run away. After all, there's only so much a guy can take! Soon the boys get hungry and they come up with a scheme to try to get some food. For their trouble, Alfalfa and Spanky get a couple dog biscuits. But Porky and Buckwheat are able to get cream puffs, cake and a pie! However, the folks that give the boys food decide to teach the kids a lesson about running away from home. I don't want to spoil it--just see it yourself to find out what's next...and BOY does it get weird!!! All in all, this is pretty silly--and a bit surreal. In many ways, this and the later Our Gang comedies seemed more geared towards kids instead of a broader audience. But, although silly, it is also funny--in a low-brow sort of way (especially the bees). Not a bad comedy--just not as food as the series' earlier films.

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!

. . . Telling Lies, creating Fake "Facts," Prevaricating, Fibbing, and Trumping up the Truth are endless hours hammering at a rock pile during "Our Gang's" ROAMIN' HOLIDAY episode. As "Abe Lincoln" famously stated, "You can fool all of the people some of the time, and you can fool 'your base of core supporters' all of the time, but you cannot fool ALL of the normal, right-thinking folks ALL of the time." The "Little Rascals'" most mendacious quartet learns this lesson the hard way during their misnamed ROAMIN' HOLIDAY. They find out that you can kiss all the dogs and babies within reach, but it won't get you as much as a "slam-dunk safe" Alabama seat in the U.S. Senate if your candidate is a moldy dog biscuit. In the latter instance, your ROAMIN' HOLIDAY will be less of a stroll around a Florida golf course and more of a sweaty stint on the rock pile, Our Gang warns potential DC looters with the end of this story. Though "Spanky" wanted to have his cake, and eat it, too, all he and his Henchboys wind up with to show for their pilfering and perfidy is handfuls of blisters.

With all the weird things I did as child, I never considered running away from home. Our four Rascals are fed up with chores as they are tending to their new born siblings. Darla Hood pops out and says in addition to everything they have to take dancing lessons. That was the straw that broke the camels back as the foursome set out for the open road.They arrive upon a small quaint hamlet called Jenksville. Tired and hungry from there travels the boys are looking at the bakery and the owners feeding their dog. An Idea pops into Spanky's head. Using their dog Pete who came along for the walk Alfalfa and Spanky confront the bakers and ask for a few cookies to feed their hungry dog. The woman proprietor said that she could give him something better. The boys envisioned a seven layer cake by now but instead they received a bag full of dog biscuits. Meanwhile Porky and Buckwheat ,not to be undone, use the owners dog and enter the bakery and ask for cakes in the display. The owners play along and give them whatever Buckwheat orders. Buckwheat showed chutzpah when he insisted that the dog loves pies. The two boys, arms filled with pastries, leave the shop and sit right outside as a stunned Alfalfa and Spanky wonder what they did so wrong while there digesting dog biscuits. The boys fill there faces with cakes and cream puffs thanks to Buckwheat's confidence or ignorance as Spanky boasts about eating cakes all day and living like kings. The four are eating and enjoying the cakes with leftover whipped cream on their faces as for a brief moment there are living the high life until the owners confront them as to who going to pay for the cakes. They all reply that they have no money so the baker who's other lively-hood acts as the town Constable not to mention Judge and jury as he sentences all four boys to the rock pile for hard labor. Can our Rascals escape from the clutches of the law? Be it ever so humble there's no place like home! FYI sadly this was to be the last appearance in an Our Gang short for Actress May Wallace. One year later Ms. Wallace died of Heart problems at age 61.