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The Little Rascals: The Life and Times of Our Gang

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As a life-long fan of The Little Rascals and owner of the complete set of "Cabin Fever" videos from the early 90's, this guide is an indispensable source of information and nostalgia.

I was fascinated by the background information, particularly the biographies of EVERY ONE of the Little Rascals and how they lived the rest of their lives. Be prepared for some tragic, tear-jerking stuff! The information makes viewing the classic episodes even more poignant in hindsight.

I am not familiar with ANY of the "silent era" episodes, but I appreciate the information nonetheless. It was interesting to see how so MANY ideas for later episodes were either inspired by or directly picked up from the silent era.

I also appreciated Maltin's candor as he reviewed the declining later years of the Our Gang franchise. What was obvious to any fan, Maltin confirms with honest (yet never mean-spirited) criticism.

Highlights: The information-packed episode guides, the aforementioned actor biographies and the wonderful collection of Our Gang photos (I only wish there were MORE)!

Warning: If you are only a casual fan of the Rascals or if you're someone who's only watched the 90's "Little Rascals" motion picture, you should probably skip this book. Devoted "Our Gang" fans need only apply!

The Little Rascals: The Life and Times of Our Gang is the most comprehensive book available about the popular short series. Leonard Maltin, longtime fan of both Hal Roach comedies and the Our Gang series itself, writes both intelligently and lovingly about the series with the help of Richard W. Bann.

This book opens with a short history of the Hal Roach film company and the Our Gang series.

Then, it leads to a collection of all of the shorts made for the series including the cast, release date, and highly effective synopses and analyses of each short. These are listed chronologically and noted according to ownership and distributor and silent and sound. Some of the silent have been lost, but they are not neglected. Instead, Maltin has used reviews from the time period to give the reader a sense of the short and an idea of its quality. Opinions are used, but they are obviously separate from the factual information and are supported by facts. They add to the effectiveness of the synopses and paint a more vivid picture of the shorts that are unavailable. What is also unique about this book is the listing of the MGM shorts that are often regarded as the worst quality episodes of the series. Skipping these films, although understandable, would have made this book far less complete.

Next, the spin-offs and pop culture effects of the series are addressed, including the Saturday Night Live spoofs of Buckwheat and the cartoon versions of the show.

Last, the book includes a brief history of all of the major stars of the series and a few sentences about the more minor players. Sadly, this section needs to be updated because of the deaths of the cast members after this second publication. However, the information that is included is accurate and valuable, as much of it cannot be easily found anywhere else, especially interviews.

One must also comment on the abundant photographs utilized in the book including rare publicity stills.

Overall, this is a high quality history of The Little Rascals.

RE-MARK-ABLE!

Bann and Maltin uncover the history of Hal Roach Studios' brainchildren, known today as "The Little Rascals", originally known as Our Gang. This book is the definitive authority. The authors have gone to great detail in covering the history of this film series and it's endless cast of kiddie actors, including Spanky, Buckwheat, Alfalfa, Stymie, Wheezer and others including Jackie Cooper, probably the most successful of the series' child actors, who grew up to be one of the most influential directors in Hollywood during the Advent of TV and Baby boomer era. Scores of interview material (including interviews with Hal Roach who just died in 1992, and Stan Laurel) are included in this hefty paperback volume, worth more than the list price!

Most of the book is dedicated to the 220 or so short subject films (and one major motion picture) of Roach's Rascals, from Our Gang's inception with their first silent two-reeler in 1922 with Pathe (I believe) to the final MGM sound one-reeler film during the War (WW2) in 1944. Uh-huhhhh! That's a lot of celluloid over a 22 year period! The film documentaries are divided into 3 sections: The Silent Years (Pathe and Hal Roach Studios), The Sound Years at Hal Roach Studios (The "Talkies", Our Gang's Golden Era), and the MGM years (when The Rascals really declined).

You can find out all you need to know about the Little Rascals in this book by Richard Bann and Leonard Maltin (of Entertainment Tonight). This book is a must for comedy buffs who love the black and white era of film (especially Laurel & Hardy fans!). Also, for video collectors, the Little Rascals' best sound (and some silent) films are available from Cabin Fever Entertainment in 21 volumes.

So in the words of Spanky:
"Step up kids, if you want to know
'Bout the swell stuff in the show
There's singin', dancin' and hotcha, too
It's only $14.40
It won't break you!"

(Reviewed by Andrew Kercher)

Leonard Maltin has done his homework on this book (he had a lot of movies to watch and review for this one)! It mentions each of the films that the various Our Gang members starred in (1922-44). It starts with the Silent Years (featuring Joe Cobb and Mickey Daniels, who would both make cameo features in the Golden Years). Then it moves onto the "Golden Era" Talkies (featuring an all-star cast of Jackie Cooper, Farina, Mary Ann, Norman "Chubby" Chaney, Matthew "Stymie" Beard, George "Spanky" McFarland, Tommy/Butch Bond, Scottie, Carl "Alfalfa" Schwitzer, Waldo, Darla, Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas, and Eugene "Porky" Lee). In this section, some of the best films of all time are remembered and reviewed: Teacher's Pet, Hook and Ladder, Railroadin' (rarely seen), Forgotten Babies, Hi! Neighbor, Lucky Corner, Fishy Tales (Butch's best performance), and Our Gang Follies 1938 (Alfalfa attempting to sing opera is a scream!). The MGM era of 1939-44 has its moments though they are limited (featuring Froggie and Mickey better known as Robert Blake).

Maltin includes interviews with Our Gang alumni and fills in what happened to many of them afterward. A grown up "Porky" Lee sums it up perfectly- you'll be happy to hear about the successes of some (particularly Jackie Cooper, who went on to be a movie director) and depressed to find out the tragedies that befell other Our Gang alumnists (particularly Alfalfa).

This is the first real book to take a look into the creation,development and success of a popular movie comedy series:"The Little Rascals!".Noted film historians:Leonard Maltin And Richard Bann give the readers insight into the creation of the earliest films,the choosing of the kids that appeared in the series.Plot synopsis,Air dates,behind the scene facts about the incidents that occured during the filming of the shorts and biographies of the cast members.the book also looks at the creation of the other film series that were shot at the studio and about the Man who started it all:Mr.Hal Roach.Maltin and Bann also include a look at "The Our Gang"series successful revival on local and network kids tv shows and two new chapters that were not in the original l977 manuscript:A look at the merchandising of "The Little Rascals"that occured long before the series tv revival and a bio about the series other guiding genius:Robert McGowan. Along with an entire new collection of rare photos and an updated of the book's text."The Little Rascals:The Life & Times Of The Our Gang!" is a must for fans of movie comedies,kids tv and for the history of truly talented and funny kid actors.

This book is a must have for anyone who is a fan of Our Gang/The Little Rascals. It's a complete "Bible" of information, pictures, and fun! Find out who's still alive, what happened to the kids when they left the Gang, what went on behind the scenes, and other production tidbits This book answers just about any question you might have regarding the series. My only wish is that it came in CD-ROM format...maybe next revision.

I got this book in 1979 on hard cover. I still have it and read it though I have read every page three times in the last 20 years. I was 10 when I got the book. I was getting interested in The Little Rascals airing Summers on WKBS TV Channel 48 In Philly(Went Dark in 83-Became WGTW in 92). By mid 79 at age 10 I became attached to the Rascals. When I found this book I bought it for 8 dollars on hard cover. The book gave me an educated outlook on the series and now knew the order of the episodes from Small Talk to Hide and Shriek then those 52 MGM "Ones" as I called them which I disliked even before this book gave me the idea to. I dreaded the days that 48 would show one Rascal episode then run one of the MGM Our Gangs. I also discovered that there were almost a dozen Little Rascals episodes I never saw(Railroading, Lazy Days, Moan And Groan, Tough winter, Little Daddy, Big Ears, A Lad An A Lamp, Kid From Borneo) as well as episodes like When the Wind Blows, Pups Is Pups, Anniversery Trouble, Spanky, For Pete's Sake, Lucky Corner to name a few where footage was missing. This angered me. By 1984 I had Home Video and got all available episodes in a year's time still missing a dozen that were not released. I was in heaven seeing all this footage and all the missing episodes except for Big Ears(Still Unavailable at the time). I also got the rest on bootleg in 1989. Then in 1994 and 95 Cabin Fever releases all 81 episodes unedited but also with original titles and in CD quality sound. I then rebuy all the episodes on these tapes with reviews and all. This book is a must have for any Little Rascals or classic TV fan(Though the Rascals were not originally a TV show). I have the original. But have read the Updated 1992 version which fills the few gaps the original didn't. If you have the original I still encourage you to buy the second edition but not until you buy the Videos first. I did not buy the updated edition but that is for budgetary reasons more so. Great Book. Buy It along with the Cabin Fever Little Rascals Tapes.

This has to be the best book I've ever seen on the history of The Little Rascals.Everything you ever want to know about the Rascals,their careers,and their films.Every single film from the 1920s all the way up to the 40s is so remarkabley detailed.No major fan of The Little Rascals should be without this precious gem!

I have been looking for this book for ages.Answers so many questions about all the Little Rascals.Some didn`t live long and very few are still with us.Being from Long Island I watched them on CH.11 on the Officer Joe Bolton Show every day after school.Kids today have nothing like them on TV.The facts in this book are fantastic and the pictures are great.If you love the Little Rascals buy this book.

I bought Maltin and Bann's book in hardcover when it first came out in 1977, and then two years later when it came out in paperback (with updated information--mostly on the cast members who'd died since Maltin/Bann wrote the first edition).

Getting this book in the early 1990s was like manna from Heaven. It was completely updated in all the right places but kept the same user-friendly format for those who'd missed out on the earlier editions (BTW, all three versions of the book have slight differences, so a true collector needs all three!).

But now 12 years and counting, I hope that Maltin will not just update the book for the sake of including the cast members who died since 1992, but clear up a lot of the insipid rumors about curses on the Gang (and Petie) that have lately been so much in the tabloid media (including a ridiculously speculative special on the E! network a couple years back).

I wrote to Leonard Maltin in the early 1980s when he was still at "Film Fan Monthly" about some of the urban myths and rumors I'd heard about OG when I was growing up. He was kind enough to reply with a short letter that dismissed literally all of the rumors I asked him to clear up, including Pete being poisoned or killed by someone (It never happened, folks). Anyone notice that Maltin did not appear on the E! special? Why would THE authority on OG not even be asked to give at least a sound byte? Go figure.

In the meantime, buy this book if you are just getting into the Gang or if you're looking for an exhaustive yet fascinating book of reference and film criticism about this immortal film series.