Dancing Romeo

Production Notes[]

Length: One Reel
Producer: Cyril Endfield
Director: Cyril Endfield
Photography: Jackson Rose
Editor: Leon Bourgeou
Titles: None
Writer: Hal Law and Robert A. McGowan
Released: April 29, 1944
Studio: M-G-M

Main Cast[]

Janet Burston as Janet Burston (Last Appearances)
Robert Blake as Mickey Gubitosi (Last Appearances)
William Laughlin as Froggy Laughlin (Last Appearances)
William Thomas Jr. as Buckwheat Thomas (Last Appearances)

Supporting Cast[]

Bobby Browning as Gerald
Richard Hall as Dickie Hall (Last Appearances)
Frank Ward as Frank Ward (Last Appearances)
Valerie Lee as Marilyn (Last Appearances)
Vincent Graeff as Boxcar (Last Appearances)

The Short[]

Plot: Froggy has a crush on a young girl named Marilyn, who is too preoccupied with her budding career as a dancer to pay Froggy attention. When the gang attends one of Marilyn's recitals, Froggy finds himself insanely jealous of Marilyn's dancing partner Gerald, whom he sees as a rival for Marilyn's affections.
A few days later, Froggy holds a dance recital of his own, hoping ot impress Marilyn. His seemingly gravity-defying moves are accomplished with the help of Mickey, and Buckwheat, who have rigged their pal up with wires to control his movements via a pulley. Gerald exposes this artifice, hoping to embarrass Froggy. Marilyn, however, is impressed by Froggy's determination, and tells him she loves him - only to have the deep-voiced boy faint dead away.

Notes/Trivia:

"Dancing Romeo" was the final film to be filmed and released in the twenty-two year Our Gang canon. Its antecedent on the release schedule, Tale Of A Dog, is sometimes considered the final film in the series, as it has a later production number (#2866 versus Dancing Romeo's production #2861) and began pre-production.
Hal Roach, who created and produced Our Gang until selling the series to MGM in 1938, would revive the Our Gang concept for a pair of late-1940s features, "Curley" (1947) and "Who Killed Doc Robbin" (1948). An Our Gang true revival, however, would come with the syndication of the Roach-produced shorts to television as "The Little Rascals," leading to its renewed popularity from the 1950s.
This episode was the last episode in the series. As one of the last new characters in the series, Froggy gets to deliver the last line which is Gang! She loves me. Oh.
This short is technically Mickey (Robert Blake) and Janet (Janet Burston) last appearance in the series since Froggy and Buckwheat would later appear (played by new actors) in the 1994 film but not as William Laughlin and William Thomas Jr.
- Buckwheat would also appear in the Our Gang Comics (with Spanky, Mickey, Froggy, Janet and Happy), the animated series (with Spanky, Alfalfa, Porky, Darla, Pete, Butch, Woim and Waldo), the Jell-O Gelatin Pops Commercials (with Spanky, Alfalfa, Darla, Scotty and Pete), The Little Rascals musical (with Spanky, Alfalfa, Stymie, Scotty, Darla, Pete and Waldo) and The Little Rascals Save The Day (with Spanky, Alfalfa, Porky, Darla, Pete, Mary Ann, Butch, Woim, Waldo, Miss Crabtree and Officer Kennedy)
Numerous groups of "Little Rascals" child actors and actresses lasted from Tuesday, October 10, 1922 in first date of release of silent film, One Terrible Day to Dancing Romeo's date of release on Saturday, April 29, 1944. Their two dates differ by 7,872 days, equaling 1,124 weeks and 4 days.
This short's copyright was renewed by MGM on May 6, 1971.
Because this is the finale short of the series, it's unknown what happen to all of the characters that were in the series since 1922 which they all were never brought up again for the rest of the series, Mickey, Janet and Froggy not mentioning characters like Stymie and Wheezer make sense since they never met them but characters like Spanky never mentioned what happened to Scotty, Stymie, Chubby, Mary Ann, Wheezer, Dorothy, Jackie and Wally before they were replaced by Alfalfa, Harold, Porky and Darla etc. This is the same with the adults such as Miss Crabtree and Officer Kennedy.
This episode marks the final appearances of Buckwheat, Mickey, Froggy, Janet, Frank, Marilyn, Dickie and Boxcar in the series and the only appearance of Gerald.
The biggest money-loser of the entire Our Gang short series. It lost $10,340 upon its initial release.

Sequence[]

Previous Short: Radio Bugs
Next Short: Tale Of A Dog