Farina Hoskins and friend
Production Notes[]
Length: Two Reel
Producer: Hal Roach and Robert F. McGowan
Director: Robert F. McGowan
Photography: Art Lloyd and F. E. Hershey
Editor: Richard Currier
Titles:
Writer: Hal Roach (script), H. M. Walker (dialogue)
Released: December 7, 1929
Studio: M-G-M
Main Cast[]
- Allen Hoskins
- Betty Jane Beard
- Jackie Cooper (actor)
- Jay Smith
- Mary Ann Jackson
- Norman Chaney
- Robert Hutchins
- Robert Mallon
Supporting Cast[]
- Edgar Kennedy - Officer Kennedy
- Max Davidson - The Eccentric
The Short[]
Plot: The gang has been playing around a seemingly deserted house in the neighborhood, but Officer Kennedy tells them to stay out of it. Looking for something else to do, the gang takes Kennedy's advice to look for buried treasure, but they do so in the old house. The dilapidated and spooky mansion is home to a crazy man who pulls his own hairs out and makes loud howling noises to scare the kids, at one point sharing an imaginary dinner with a very real knife with Farina. After a series of practical jokes on them, Kennedy returns to make sure the kids aren't in the house, getting his finger stuck in a Japanese finger-trap he examines, but eventually catching the eccentric terrorizing the kids at the other end of the handcuffs.
Quotes:
- "I know... but I won't tell ya!" - The Eccentic
- "This is what you call a Japanese handcuff." - Jay R. Smith
Notes/Trivia:
- This was the last short for Jay R. Smith in the series.
- This was the first appearance for Edgar Kennedy as Kennedy the Cop. He would play this same role in a handful of other Hal Roach comedies, including some with Laurel and Hardy, as well as The Boy Friends.
- Betty Jane Beard is the older sister of Matthew Beard who would later play Stymie. She plays Trellis, yet another baby brother for Farina.
- Co-star Max Davidson was famous for playing Jewish stereotypes. He had his own series at Hal Roach for awhile, but it was later canceled as a result of Jewish audiences finding his character offensive.
- Because of Davidson's Jewish stereotype role thought to be politically incorrect, this film was removed from the Little Rascals televison package in 1971.
- Jackie Cooper is now a regular member of the gang.
- The Collinsport Ghost Society website has a biography for this location using further details from Shivering Spooks and Don't Lie amidst the site's list of iconic fictional haunted houses. The description also seems to postulate future careers for many of the Rascals as adults.
Sequence[]
- Previous Short: Bouncing Babies
- Next Short: Shivering Shakespeare