Kid Comedies

During the 1920s and early 1930s, many studios tried to copy the success of the world famous series Our Gang. Most of these series have long been forgotten about, but there has been much information found on these. Note: This article will not include Our Gang. There is a separate article on it. Some of these series include:

*The McDougall Alley Kids (Bray Productions, 1926-1928)
*Hey Fellas (Division Pictures, 1925)
*Our Kids (Studio unknown)
*Mickey McGuire's Gang (Toonerville Trolley, Darmour Pictures,1927-1934)
*Buster Brown (Educational Pictures, 1927-1928)
*Baby Burlesks (aka "Baby Stars", Educational Pictures)
*The Comedy Gang (Studio unknown)

The McDougall Alley Kids
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In 1926, Bray Productions attempted to create a kid comedy series as successful as Our Gang. Unfortunately, their series, "The McDougall Alley Kids", was not even close to being as charming as Our Gang. The first short was "Fat and The Canary" (October 10, 1927) and featured the kids Bray Productions picked out. The leader was a fat Joe Cobb copy, "Tiny Tim". The next was a Farina copy, so blatantly named "Oatmeal"! Another McDougall Alley Kid was an Asian boy named "Free Gin". The next kid was a Jewish boy, who appeared to be the oldest. *There were also two other girls, one old, and one little. Another gang member was a little boy, and the last two known were a monkey and a dog. Although this was the only series to feature both an Asian and a Jewish children, this only gave Bray Productions more chances to make racist puns. The series folded in late 1928 after only 24 shorts. Some of the shorts include:

*The Big Pie Raid
*Spooks
*Luke Warm Daze
*Fowl Play (March 10, 1928)
*Getting Hitched
*At the Beach
*Fat and The Canary (October 10, 1927)
*Mr. Pooh
*Oh Boy!

Most of the shorts are unavailable, but a few shorts are available from A-1 Video. A handful were released on 16mm toy films by the Keystone Mfg. Co.

Additional Information:

*Produced by Bray Productions
*1926-1928
*First Six shorts directed by Joe Rock, remaining 18 by Stan Delay and Robert B. Wilcox.

Sources:
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*The Little Rascals Cyber Community
*"Classic Images" magazine #267, "Their Gangs" by Richard M. Roberts
*Silent Movies Newsgroup

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