The Little Rascals AKA Our Gang began during the Silent movie era and had a different cast than the later Our Gang movie shorts filmed in the 1930’s.
They were successful because they represented typical children in the neighborhood. It is quite remarkable that the children acted extremely natural in contrast to the child stars in the 30's, such as Shirley Temple, with their pseudo-adultness.
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There is a typical “Our Gang Curse” story making the rounds that lists mostly a selection of cast members that generally fit the curse theory. Left out are many members who do not fit the curse pattern. It is interesting that most of the curse stories list Robert Blake as “Spanky” which is not true. Blake was “Mickey”.
There is a web site here that shows the curse story that includes selective data to fit the pattern. However, it also shows what appears to be proof that evidence of a curse does not exist by using a larger list of “Our Gang” members.
By looking through the data in the blockquote below, it is apparent to me that there is little evidence of a curse.
While it is true that some of the gang died young, there is no pattern that could be called a curse. By including more members of the “Gang” it is evident that they fit a more normal pattern and could be compared to many other groups containing the same number of people at the same time in history.
Ernest Frederic Morrison ("Sunshine Sammy"): Appeared in 28 installments. Successful post-Rascals career in show business and aerospace industry. Died of cancer at age 76.John Condon ("Jackie"): Appeared in 28 installments. Successful post-Rascals career as an accountant. Died of cancer at age 59.
Allen Clayton Hoskins, Jr. ("Farina"): Appeared in 105 installments. Successful post-Rascals career as a psychological technician. Died of cancer at age 59.
Richard Daniels, Jr. ("Mickey"): Appeared in 49 installments. Continued to work in show business in his post-Rascals career, then entered the engineering field and largely dropped out of sight after moving to Africa. Spent the last three years of his life as a taxi driver before dying alone in a San Diego hotel room of cirrhosis of the liver at age 55.
John H. Davis: ("Jackie"): Appeared in 19 installments. Successful post-Rascals career as a doctor. Died at age 78.
Mary A. Kornman ("Mary"): Appeared in 41 installments. Successful post-Rascals career in show business. Died of cancer at age 57.
Joe Cobb ("Joe"): Appeared in 86 installments. Successful post-Rascals career in aerospace. Died at age 85.
Andy Samuel ("Andy"): Appeared in 86 installments . Successful post-Rascals career in show business and art store management. Died at age 82.
John Morey Downs ("Johnny"): Appeared in 24 installments. Successful post-Rascals career in show business and real estate. Died of cancer at age 80.
Jay R. Smith ("Jay"): Appeared in 36 installments. Successful post-Rascals career in the retail business. Stabbed to death in Las Vegas at age 87 by a homeless man whom he had befriended.
Jean Darling ("Jean"): Appeared in 35 installments. Successful post-Rascals career in show business and mystery writing. Still alive at age 82.
Robert E. Hutchins ("Wheezer"): Appeared in 58 installments. Joined the Army Air Corps and died just short of age 20 when his plane crashed on landing during a training exercise.
Harry Spear ("Harry"): Appeared in 58 installments. Post-Rascals activities unknown. Maltin reports rumors that he was working in a bank or had become a surgeon; IMDb lists him as dying in 1969 at age 46; other sources claim he is still alive but denies being a former Little Rascal.
Mary Ann Jackson ("Mary Ann"): Appeared in 32 installments. Married, raised two children, and died of a heart attack at age 80.
Norman Myers Chaney ("Chubby"): Appeared in 32 installments. Died of a glandular ailment in early adulthood. (Maltin reports he was 18 years old at the time of his death; IMDb lists him as being 22.)
Jackie Cooper: Appeared in 32 installments. Very long and successful post-Rascals career in films and television. Still alive at age 82.
Dorothy DeBorba ("Echo"): Appeared in 32 installments. Married, raised two children, worked as a clerk at UC Berkeley. Still alive at age 80.
Matthew Beard, Jr.("Stymie"): Appeared in 36 installments. Had post-Rascal problems with drug addiction and served time in prison, eventually underwent successful rehabilitation and returned to show business. Died of pneumonia at age 56.
Jerry Tucker: Appeared in 36 installments. Successful post-Rascals career with RCA. Still alive at age 79.
George Robert McFarland ("Spanky"): Appeared in 95 installments. Successful post-Rascals career as a sales manager with Philco-Ford and a lecturer. Died of a heart attack at age 64.
Tommy Bond ("Butch"): Appeared in 27 installments. Successful post-Rascals career in show business. Still alive at age 78.
Scott Beckett ("Scotty"): Appeared in 15 installments. Suffered post-Rascals problems with divorce, violence, alcohol, drugs, and crime. Committed suicide by barbiturate overdose at age 38.
William Thomas, Jr. ("Buckwheat"): Appeared in 93 installments. Successful post-Rascals career as a film laboratory technician. Died of a heart attack at age 49.
Carl Dean Switzer ("Alfalfa"): Appeared in 61 installments. Worked at playing bit parts in film and television, tending bar, and serving as a hunting guide. Shot to death at age 31 in a dispute over a $50 debt.
Eugene Gordon Lee ("Porky"): Appeared in 42 installments. Operates a merchandise licensing company. Still alive at age 71.Darla Hood ("Darla"): Appeared in 42 installments. Successful post-Rascals career in show business as a singer/songwriter and voice-over artist. Died of hepatitis at age 47.
Darwood Kaye ("Waldo"): Appeared in 21 installments. Had a successful post-Rascals career in show business before joining the ministry. Killed by a hit-and-run driver at age 72.
Robert Blake - real name Michael Gubitosi : ("Mickey," but inexplicably listed as "Spanky"): Appeared in 40 installments. Very long and successful post-Rascals career in show business. Arrested in April 2002 for the murder of his wife; acquitted at trial in March 2005. Still alive at age 71.
William Laughlin ("Froggy"): Appeared in 40 installments. Killed at age 16 when his bicycle was hit from behind by a truck.
From the data above we find that 54% of the actors are still alive or lived to be at least 72 years of age. Also, 75% of the actors reached the average life expectancy at birth for persons of their time and 82% of the actors lived until at least their late 40s. (This may not sound like much by modern standards, but it's a significant figure given that the average life expectancy at birth for most of the actors listed here was in the mid-50s range.)
Posted by: WeirdBiz | April 08, 2007 at 09:41 AM
Posted by: cs | June 06, 2006 at 09:22 AM