Joe Cobb
Profile
Name: Joseph "Joe" Cobb
Nickname: Squeaky (briefly), "Leaping Lollypop" (briefly, War Feathers), Round Boy (briefly, Noisy Noises)
Played By: Joseph Cobb
Born: 1917
Relatives: Father, Mother, Stepfather, Jackie, Rupert (brothers), Jean (sister), Chubby (stepbrother),
Clubs: Cluck Cluck Klams, 4th Ave. Athalatick Club, Junior Police Squad, Junior Fire Squad 2, Royle Secret Order Of Lion-Harted Nights, Manhattan Club
First Short: The Big Show
Last Short: Lazy Days as gang memeber, cameo in Reunion In Rhythm
Character
Bio: Joe Cobb is the big smiling member of Our Gang; sometimes his big beaming grin is bigger than he is. He is the original fat kid of the group with a big family. His father is a policeman and his mother works for a fireworks factory, as seen in, respectively, Tired Business Men and The Glorious Fourth. He turns out to be the older brother of Jackie Condon in Commencement Day, but it's not really known where he was hiding for the first year of Jackie's adventures with Our Gang before he came round.
When Joe finally comes round to following his brother around, he was called "the new kid" and becomes a member of their club, the Cluck Cluck Klams, at the old Jones barn in Lodge Night. He later becomes a part of their Manhattan Club in Tired Business Men. Joe is first seen attending Mother Malone's Boarding School in Boys To Board, but he is also seen attending Adams Street Grammar School with Mr. Finlayson as his teacher in Seeing The World. Joe doesn't seem to care for school; he skips class to try and see the circus in Circus Fever and later the whole Gang joins him to try and run away west in Shootin' Injuns.
Joe is good friends with Mickey Daniels. In Circus Fever, it's revealed they live next door to each other and use a message system between each other and a plank to climb into each other's houses. Joe has a lot of activities to keep him busy when he's not in school. He plays baseball in Giants Vs. Yanks, football against the Goose Alley Juniors in No Noise and fishing and hunting. The Gang even pretends to be police officers in Official Officers, firefighters in The Fourth Alarm!, and pirates in The Buccaneers. He splits a dollar with Farina, Mickey and Jackie for posing as dolls in Mary, Queen Of Tots. The Gang sometimes plays at the railroad yard (The Sun Down Limited and Railroadin') and once were confused as orphans and taken for a trip to San Francisco in A Pleasant Journey; ironically, they also somehow get a trip to New York City in The Big Town.
Joe's best friends are Ernie and Farina. He is sometimes at odds with Jackie, his brother, who puts pepper in his saxophone in Commencement Day. He and Farina also team up to run a bully out of town in Telling Whoppers. Joe is also an early owner of one of the dogs named Pete in Playin' Hookey, briefly neglecting him in Dog Heaven. He helps Farina to save the Gang's pets in Love My Dog.
Late into Joe's Our Gang adventures, he introduces the Gang to his new brother, Chubby, in Railroadin'. Just where Joe's brother Jackie went at this point is anyone's guess. They get along pretty well. Joe tries to pass Chubby off as a baby in Cradle Robbers and again in Lazy Days and gets into a fight over Jean in Boxing Gloves. Joe gets a crush on Mary Ann in Wiggle Your Ears and gets Wheezer's help to win her heart away from Harry Spear. Harry gets involved with Jean instead but it's not quite the relationship he expects.
In addition to Jackie and Chubby, Joe has a baby brother named Rupert who cries a lot in Noisy Noises. There is a version of Joe Cobb in Baby Brother who doesn't have any brothers but wants one. Farina sells him an African-American baby brother painted white, but the paint comes off in the Gang's baby-washing enterprise, leading to the infant's upset mother coming to claim him. This version of Joe is the son of wealthy parents and quite possibly the older brother of the rich little girl version of Jean seen in Crazy House.
Quotes:
- "Hotziggity! Some class!" - Joe in The Big Show
- "Dust want to take the royal oath?" - Mickey
"Dust." - Joe in Lodge Night - "Wimmen ain't no good! - They can't stand th' sight o' blood!" - Joe in The Buccaneers
- "I told you this was the bunk - we oughtta went fishing." - Joe in Cradle Robbers
- "The doctor says he left a new baby at our house. I'm running to tell mamma!" - Joe in Your Own Back Yard
- "Stop blubbering and sit down." - Joe in Shivering Spooks
- "I can't die now, my mother is calling me!" - Joe in Uncle Tom's Uncle
- "I can't get her filled!" - Joe in The Fourth Alarm!
- "I'm getting my pants on - Hold the fire!-" - Joe in The Fourth Alarm!
- "This'll give you a rough idea of what Roman-candles can do to a place --" - Joe in Seeing The World
- "I'm gonna save my noze -" - Joe to Farina
"Ah wanna save mah head - Ah need it -" - Farina to Joe in Telling Whoppers - "Open this door. Or I'll whissle my whissle! - " Joe
"There ain't nobody here. --" Skooter in Tired Business Men - "I will! -- There oughtta be a lot of loose babies layin' around!" - Joe in Baby Brother
- "If I bought a baby for three dollars could I keep it in the cellar?" - Joe in Baby Brother
- "I only fight on Tuesdays an' Thursdays, doctor's orders." - Joe in Olympic Games
- "Every time I bend over, somebody shoots me!" - Joe in Olympic Games
- "Let's duck him!- He's feverish!--" - Joe in Olympic Games
- "You sure started a conflagration!" - Joe to Farina
"Ah didn't start no congregation - Yo' done it!" - Farina to Joe in The Glorious Fourth - "No female woman is gonna kiss me!" - Joe in Fair And Muddy
- "She loves me." - Joe in Fair And Muddy
- "Heaven sent him - He's all mine!" - Jean to Joe
"Heaven nothin' - Wheezer comes from Goat Alley!" - Joe to Jean in Crazy House - "We gotta catch him before he starts votin'" - Joe in Election Day
- "You little boys an' girls out there - Let this be a lesson to you -" - Joe in Saturday's Lesson
- "Doggone it! Doggone it! Don't you ever do that again! If there's one thing in the world that gets me mad, that's to get my hair mussed!" - Joe to Mary Ann in Boxing Gloves
Notes/Trivia
- Joe appeared in 85 shorts plus 3 cameos during the Our Gang series, ranking fourth behind Farina, Spanky and Buckwheat for the most appearances in the series.
- During a You Asked For It Rascals reunion in the Fifties, Joe was incorrectly given the nickname "Fatty." That nickname was never used in the series to apply to Joe, although a much later character was called Fatty.