The Terrible Catsafterme

I didn’t get the chance to actually meet Our Gang member Jean Darling until the Nashville convention in 2002, but I was thrilled that she actually knew my name as soon as she heard it. We had exchanged some letters and such over the years, the first being her response to the letter and $9.00 I sent her on December 17, 1985. Jean was offering a package deal of six autographed 5.5″ x 8.5″ photos, nine signed notecards, and her book and cassette tape that she had created as her radio personality Aunty Poppy. The photos can be seen at right, below, and in the posting here. Read the rest of this entry »

“Butch” Bond was certainly the most memorable of the Our Gang ‘tough guys’. He and his partner Woim could often be found menacing Spanky and Alfalfa and Co. in the more-than dozen films that he appeared in as “Butch” at both the Hal Roach Studios and M-G-M. Three years prior to his stint as “Butch,” he had made another dozen films with the Our Gang, simply playing “Tommy” who wasn’t so tough – but an ally to our heroes. This made him effectively the only Little Rascal to return for two distinct roles and two distinct runs with Our Gang. Read the rest of this entry »

Standing: Buckwheat Thomas, Edith Fellows, Pineapple Jackson, Marvin “Bubbles” Trin, Sidney “Woim” Kibrick, Joe Cobb, fan Bob Satterfield, “Sunshine Sammy” Morrison, Leonard Landy, Spanky McFarland, “Butch” Bond, Delmar Watson, “Butch” Bond Jr. – Front row: fan Armand Lewis, Dorothy “Echo” Deborba, Verna Kornman, Peggy Ahern, Mildred Kornman, fan Dick Bann, fan Earl Kress

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After our visit with Olive Brasno in Lakeland, Lisa and I then traveled about 35 miles west to the Florida city of Tampa. Here we hooked up with yet another midget actor who had once worked at the Hal Roach Studios. Before I describe the visit itself, I’d like to point out once again the providence that was occurring whereby I was able to visit with not one, but two celebrities from the Our Gang and Laurel and Hardy films (and both midget stars to boot), and they were both perfect aligned on our path from Disney World to Clearwater. Our final destination would be about another 25 miles due west. Read the rest of this entry »

Dave and I awoke bright and early the morning of July 29, 2007 in our hotel room at the Westin LAX Airport Hotel. We packed up our stuff and headed over to the Wiley office to help load up the afternoon’s coolers with beverages and ice in preparation for the second leg of our bus tours to the various Laurel and Hardy locations. While the prior day’s tours had been centered around Culver City, this day would see some of the other film locations in the outlying areas of Los Angeles. Read the rest of this entry »