Free Republic

Jean Darling, one of the last surviving members of the silent movie Our Gang comedies, has died. Her death was reported on Sunday September 6 on social media sites by her friends. She had turned 93 years old only two weeks earlier. Our Gang were also called Hal Roach's Rascals. The series was known as The Little Rascals on television. In its long history, from the 1920s into the 1940s, the Our Gang roster changed a lot, with some notable members including Jackie Cooper, Farina Hoskins, Stymie Beard, Spanky McFarland, Darla Hood, and Alfalfa Switzer. Jean Darling joined Our Gang in...

Dick Moore, a public relations executive who was known as Dickie when he was a Hollywood child star, playing the movies’ first talking Oliver Twist and later giving Shirley Temple her first on-screen kiss, died on Monday in Connecticut. He was 89. Helene Feldman, who works for his company, Dick Moore & Associates, confirmed the death but said she was not sure where it had occurred. Mr. Moore lived in Wilton, Conn. Mr. Moore was not yet a year old and evidently cute as a button when he made his movie debut in the 1927 silent feature “The Beloved Rogue,” which...