Posted on 05/20/2005 7:50:48 PM PDT by CHARLITE
Nicely done, thanks.
Bump for later.
Interesting! Thanks, Charlite.
And now, you know the rest of the story. Fame is not the sum total of life. Getting to heaven is the only suitable goal.
Yeesh, what rough times these people had, and are still having.
I grew up with these people. They're living on, snapshots of a time gone by.
My understanding was that Buckwheat had become a muslim and was calling himself Kareem of Wheat...
Thanks for the memories! I grew up watching "Our Gang", one of my favorites!
They certainly left a vivid impression. It's a shame so many of them went so young.
Memories!
Bump for later? My, how busy your life must be. ;)
Fascinating...bump
LOL!!!!!!!!!!
LOL, updating my database :)
As you wish. heheheheh.
My hair, to this day, has a cowlick and my teenager teases me all the time when she's not patting it down with a judicious amount of saliva!
Farina (Allen Hoskins) - (8/9/20 - 7/26/80) Director Bob McGowan's personal favorite, and said to be one of the nicest people to know. Died of cancer.
Dickie Moore - (9/12/25 - ) Currently lives in New York.
Miss Crabtree - (Gisela Goetten/June Marlowe) (11/6/03 - 3/10/84) Actress in silent films, she wore a blonde wig for her her role as Miss Crabtree. Died of Parkinson's Disease.
Porky (Gordon Lee) - (10/25/33) - Currently lives in Minnesota.
Waldo (Darwood Kaye) - (9/8/29 - 5/15/2002) - Became a pastor. Was killed by a hit and run driver, who came up on the sidewalk as Darwood was taking a walk.
Great thread - - thanks for posting!
Here's a few added details:
Wheezer (Robert Hutchins) - (3/29/25 - 3/17/45) - Died in a military airplane accident at the age of 19.
Alfalfa (Carl Switzer) - (8/7/27 - 1/21/59) Always the clown on the set, Switzer continued to act up after he left the Gang. He had run-ins with the law and in 1959 was shot to death over money allegedly owed to him by his business partner. He was 31.
He did have a few small roles in some memorable films. Among them: "It's a Wonderful Life" and John Wayne's "The High and Mighty." Switzer also had a recurring part in Roy Rogers' TV show.
Brisbane (Kendal McComas) - (10/29/16 - 10/15/81) - Known as Breezy Brisbane. He became an electrical engineer at the U.S. Naval Weapons Center in China Lake, California. Like many child actors he was small for his age and never grew taller that five feet. In 1981, two weeks before his 65th birthday and apparent forced retirement he committed suicide.
Darla Hood - (11/8/31 - 6/13/79) - The Rascals' leading lady was a valuable behind-the-scenes entertainer after her screen success as a child. She sang background music for many 1940s films and was a regular on Merv Griffin's radio show. She even lent her vocal talents to such well-known ad campaigns as the Campbell Soup Kids and the Chicken-of-the-Sea mermaid jingle. Quote from an interview with Tommy Bond:
Bond: "Actually, in 1979 she convinced the Sons of the Desert to take in the Little Rascals. She was gonna be at our big convention in 1980. And poor thing, she got sick, had some kind of a minor operation they were gonna do on her in the hospital, and in the hospital she contracted hepatitis and died. So she never realized her dream, but we did. She set it all up for us to be hooked up with the Sons of the Desert."
Most people that are gang-related live a short life...sad really....
Char :)
There's a few good 'Little Rascals' sites, and I mainly cut-and-pasted.
Fun stuff. I LOVED the 'Our Gang' (AKA 'Little Rascals') shorts when I was growing up.
Nobody mentioned "Froggy"
Froggy -- William Robert Laughline was killed in a motor scooter accident at
age 16. Laughline was killed in a motor scooter accident near Huntington Beach, CA in the early 1950’s.
Wheezer was killed at Merced AAC field when my father was stationed there btw.
Char (:
I met Spanky (George McFarland) before he died. His sister still lives in my hometown, (a small Dallas suburb) and was once on City Council.
And now...........can you tell me what this means?
"Qwertyuiop!"
Sounds like a canary trapped in a doorjam!
Char
I couldn't think of anything, and I was in a hurry to go somewhere, so I just typed the first few letters on the top alphabet line on my keyboard.
Not that it relates to this thread, but I just did this, too:
Have a lovely morning!
Geez, that's funny!
Died at age 18, not 22. (b. 1918, d. 1936)
Mathew Bear led a life of crime and drugs. He died of a stroke at age 56.
Matthew Beard (not Bear). He went sober and went back into acting. He can be seen in a few episodes of Sanford and Son.
He was poisoned by an unknown assailant.
There were several Pete's.
You didn't know that was Robert Blake (in the middle, being hauled away by the policeman!). Did you? Robert Blake, Born Mickey Gubitosi was indeed on Our Gang.
Speaking as an Our Gang fan, No S$%^ Sherlock.
Hal Roach lived to be 100 (and was a guest on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno).
He outlived most of his discoveries (Our Gang and The Little Rascals, as well as Laurel and Hardy).
I met Dorothy De Borba a few years ago (Echo), probably around 2000.
This is not my photo, but here she is with Porky:
OMG that is sooooo funnny!
I was baptized by Pastor Smith(Waldo) when i was 12.
He was my pastor and family friend for many years, and went to school with his son Donald.
We would watch his private collection of Our Gang movies
on an occational Saturday night.
Darwood K. Smith was an incredible man
Thanks for your kind reply.
I grew up watching the ‘Our Gang’ shorts (during the ‘60s). They were on TV every Sunday when we got home from church.
Pics won’t show up and I can’t get the related website’s links to open at that website.
Can you offer a link that will work?
Would love to see the pics.
Blessings,
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