Washee Ironee

technical details:

Production G-24.

Release no. C-22.

Filmed probably in early October 1934.

Title sheet prepared by William Terhune on October 24, 1934.

Cutting continuity submitted November 1, 1934.

According to Maltin & Bann, this film was released was September 29, 1934, making it the 131st film in the series to be released. However, the other dates listed above make it clear that the release date was probably around the time of the copyright date in November. See the 'miscellaneous' section below for details.

Copyrighted November 13, 1934, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Corporation. Registration no. LP5126. Renewed August 1, 1962, with registration no. R299636. This copyright is currently due to expire at the end of 2029.

All-talking two-reeler.

Opening title: 'Hal Roach presents Our Gang in "Washee Ironee".'

King World Productions episode no. 45b, available in both colorized and original black-and-white versions.

the crew:

Produced by Hal Roach

Credited in the film as a presenter.

Directed by James Parrott

This credit appears in the film.

Photography: Francis Corby A. S. C.

This credit appears in the film. Listed as Francis Curby in the Official Films print.

Film Editor: Louis McManus

This credit appears in the film.

Recording Engineer: William Randall

This credit appears in the film.

Animal trainer: Tony Campanaro

He trained the current Pete.

Released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Indicated in the opening title card.

Passed by the National Board of Review

As indicated in the film.

Western Electric System

As indicated in the film.

Approved by the Motion Picture Producers & Distributors of America

Certificate no. 345.

NRA

The emblem for the National Recovery Administration is missing from this print, but was presumably included on the title card with the MGM lion.

studio personnel

general manager - Henry Ginsberg

assistant general manager - L. A. French

secretary-treasurer - C. H. Roach

assistant secretary - Mat O'Brien

film editor and sound department - Elmer Raguse

construction supervisor - C. E. Christensen

laboratory superintendent - Charles Levin

process department - Roy Seawright

musical director - Marvin Hatley

still photographer - Bud "Stax" Graves

transportation director - Bob Davis

school teacher - Fern Carter

possible uncredited involvement

assistant direction - Probably Gordon Douglas.

writing - Hal Yates, Carl Harbaugh, James Parrott, Charlie Hall, Frank Butler, Robert McKenzie, Nick Grinde, Hal Law, Frank Terry, Frank Tashlin and Gordon Douglas may have been among the gag writers.

property department - Charles Oelze, Don Sandstrom, Thomas Benton Roberts and Bob Saunders were probably involved in this capacity.

titles - Louis McManus probably designed the main titles.

animation - Probably the work of Roy Seawright.

the kids:

George "Spanky" McFarland as "Spanky"

Featured role. He's the referee at the football game, but more importantly, the leader of the gang for the first time.

Wally Albright as "Waldo"

Featured role. He's a rich kid that gets into the football game and needs his clothes laundered afterwards. This was his final appearance in the series.

the football players

Scotty Beckett

Supporting role. He has Pete on a leash throughout the football game, and scores a touchdown this way.

Matthew "Stymie" Beard as "Stymie"

Supporting role. He's seen throughout most of the film, but has only a little bit of dialogue.

Leonard Kibrick

Supporting role. He's the center on the football team and is virtually a silent character, but is present throughout most of the scenes.

Tommy Bond

Supporting role. He's the quarterback, but is otherwise mostly an ensemble player.

Jerry Tucker

Supporting role. He's given very little dialogue, but is present during most of the film.

Alvin Buckelew

Supporting role. He's entirely an ensemble player, but is one of the main group that appears in most of the scenes.

Gene Blumenthal

Small part. Later famously known as Gene Reynolds. He's seen only during the football scenes, and is standing to the right of Wally after his touchdown.

Dickie Jones

Small part. He's seen only during the football scenes. and is standing to the left of Wally after his touchdown.

Billy Lee Wolfstone

Small part. Not listed by Maltin & Bann. He's the fat boy seen during the football scenes.

Joe Levine

Small part. He's the boy with the frizzy hair seen during the football scenes.

John Collum

Small part. He's shown only in longshots during the football game.

Hal Law, Jr.

Small part. He's among the football players, but I still need to familiarize myself with his face. The payroll ledger lists him as Harry Law, Jr.

other football players

Small parts. There are three additional football players, one of whom is identified by Maltin & Bann as Hal Law, Jr., the son of one of the Roach writers.

the spectators

Jackie Lynn Taylor

Small part. Listed by Maltin & Bann as Jacqueline Taylor. She's the nurse on the sidelines. Spanky flirts with her.

Jackie White

Small part. She's the little girl watching the game and later accompanying Jackie Taylor.

Billie Thomas

Small part. He's given a couple of closeups cheering on the sidelines.

Tommy McFarland

Small part. He's given the first closeup among the kids cheering and is holding a derby hat.

Willie Mae Walton

Small part. She's listed in the payroll ledger, and Maltin & Bann list her as Willie Mae Taylor. Somehow, the black girl in the stands with the white ribbons in her hair just doesn't look like her, though.

other kids

Supporting roles and small parts. Names that still need to be matched to faces are Floyd Shackleford, Mickey Rentschler, Paul Graff, Hugh Sheridan and Bernard Hollenberg. Maltin & Bann include Tony Kales in their cast listing, but his name doesn't appear in the payroll ledger.

(1.) The Chinese boy that Spanky brings to the house to solve the gang's laundry problems. Maltin & Bann list him as Yen Wong, but I'm not sure if this is his actual name, or simply derived from the name on the window of the Chinese laundry, which in any event says "Yun Wong."

(2.) The boy leading the cheers.

(3.) Probably at least a few more football players and spectators.

the animals:

Pete the Pup IV as "Pete"

Supporting role. He swallows Spanky's whistle.

Joe the Monk

Small part. He belongs to Waldo's mother. Maltin & Bann list Elmer the Monkey, but it seems more likely to be the earlier monkey.

Leo

Bit part. The MGM lion appears at the opening of the film (but was cut from the Cabin Fever print).

other animals

Small part. The only remaining animal in the film is the goat pulling the first aid cart.

the adults:

Ellinor Van Der Veer as Waldo's mother

Supporting role. She's more concerned with her standing in society than her son's happiness.

Sam Adams as the butler

Supporting role. He's present through much of the indoor scenes, suffering indignities along with the women. Maltin's earlier book, The Great Movie Shorts, lists Sam Baker, possibly in place of Sam Adams.

Stanley "Tiny" Sandford as the traffic cop

Small part. He repeatedly halts traffic, only to realize that it's only Spanky pretending to be an emergency vehicle.

Ernie Alexander as a pedestrian

Bit part. I think he's probably the one that almost gets hit by the patrol wagon.

other adults

Bit parts and extras.

(1.) There are probably eleven Maids Of Olympia other than Van Der Veer. Among them are Gertrude Astor, who's seen getting ice cream thrown at her bare back, and Julia Griffith. Maltin & Bann also list Symona Boniface, and I think she might be the one whose back the monkey jumps on.

(2.) The gardener, whose name is "Sam" or "Sammy," and boosts Waldo so he can watch the game.

(3.) At least five additional cops, two of whom are listed by Maltin & Bann as James C. Morton and William Irving, the latter of whom seems to be behind the gang's wagon after the pileup.

(4.) Dozens of pedestrians, one of whom is listed by Maltin & Bann as Lester Dorr, but I'm not able to find him. They also list James Parrott as the man walking by the laundry, but I don't see any way of ascertaining this without publicity photos. There are also several drivers shown in the longshots.

(5.) The butler's sneeze was dubbed in by Billy Gilbert.

the music:

"Good Old Days" by Leroy Shield

Copyrighted Jan. 10, 1931.

(A14.) This is played during the opening credits and as we're introduced to Waldo and his mother. A small part is repeated during the end titles.

piece 131

This is the classical violin piece that Waldo plays on the phonograph. Presumably the few notes heard as he practices derive from the same source.

the locations:

Hal E. Roach Studios

The street scenes appear to be shot on the New York street set at the Roach studio.

the football field

The location used for the football field is the same used for the amusement park in "Boys Will Be Joys" (no. 42).

miscellaneous:

Maltin & Bann give the release date of September 29, 1934, for this film. It now seems likely that this was a projected release date for production G-24 prior to the start of the film season. The fact is that the title sheet is dated October 24th, and the cutting continuity is dated November 1st, which means that the release date was probably around the time of the copyright date of November 13th. But what caused the delay? I think the likeliest suspect was a film called "Babes In Toyland." Our Gang director Gus Meins was recruited at the last minute to replace Raymond McCarey as the director of the non-Laurel & Hardy portions of this feature (with the comedy material being directed by Charley Rogers). Shooting began on August 6th and probably would have wrapped around the end of the month, resulting in a relatively short delay in the Our Gang schedule. However, Stan Laurel injured himself on the 14th, and Meins and Rogers shot non-Laurel footage for the next two days before suspending production for two weeks. Before shooting could resume, injuries to other cast and crew members, and a week in jail for villain Henry Brandon, ensured that shooting would not resume until September 24th. Under normal circumstances, the feature would have wrapped by this time and Meins would have been back with the Our Gang unit. Instead, Roach put James Parrott in the director's chair for "Washee Ironee," which was being shot concurrently with "Babes In Toyland." We know these two films were concurrent because former Gangster Johnny Downs, in costume for the feature, had his photo taken with the Our Gang kids, in costume for the short. Filming for "Babes In Toyland" finally finished on October 17th, which seems to be around the time the Our Gang short wrapped. Also of note are the photos of Spanky's birthday party shown in Jackie Taylor's book. Spanky turned 6 on October 2nd. All of the kids are in costume for this film in the photos.

The script submitted to MGM was given the catalog number B666.

Reel one ends as Wally ducks after the girls see him naked.

A clip from this film was used in the TV special "Sports On The Silver Screen," first shown on Mar. 16, 1997, on HBO.

availability:

The Little Rascals Remastered & Unedited Vol. 6 (VHS) from Cabin Fever and

The Little Rascals Remastered & Unedited Volume One (4 LD set) from Cabin Fever

Released July 6, 1994. Also released as part of 12 VHS boxed set. This is a nearly complete original print, but without the MGM lion, and is also missing most of the 'spitting' scene. I suspect that the end title has been cropped to omit the NRA designation. The picture quality is excellent. The total footage lasts 15:31. Reportedly, later copies of the VHS were corrected to include the missing 'spitting' footage, bringing the total to 15:56. This latter version has appeared on numerous bootlegs, and presumably the earlier version as well.

The Little Rascals Volume 6: Collector's Edition (VHS) from Hallmark Home Entertainment

Released Aug. 15, 2000. Also included as part of The Little Rascals Volumes 1-10: Collector's Edition (10 VHS set), released Aug. 15, 2000.

The Little Rascals Remastered & Unedited Vol. 5 & Vol. 6 (DVD) from Cabin Fever

Same contents as the Cabin Fever VHS releases. Also released as part of The Little Rascals Remastered & Unedited (6 DVD set). This copy includes the missing 'spitting' footage.

The Little Rascals Digitally Remastered - Collector's Edition III (DVD) from Hallmark Home Entertainment

Released Nov. 15, 2005. This derives from the Cabin Fever release.

The Little Rascals - The Complete Collection (8 DVD set) from Genius Products

Released late Oct. 2008. This is identical to the original Cabin Fever version, which is missing 25 seconds of footage. There are also four clips from this film shown on the main menu.

The Best Of Spanky (DVD) from Genius Entertainment

Released Mar. 27, 2007. Also included as part of The Little Rascals In Color! (3 DVD set). This is a Famous Kids Comedies print from Official Films, included both as a colorized print, and in the original black-and-white. The original footage totals 15:39, while the original soundtrack totals 16:00. The picture quality is very good.

Rascal Dazzle (VHS/LD) from Embassy Home Entertainment

Original film released 1981. Video released 1984. A clip lasting 1:25 is included, showing the mayhem at the social function and the pileup at the intersection, with music and narration added. Another clip lasting 0:04 is included, showing Jackie and Spanky flirting. A third clip lasting 0:07 is included, showing bubbles bursting and the butler sneezing, with music and sound effects added.

Jackie Remembers Our Gang - Memories From Little Rascals Family Theater (VHS/DVD) from Jackie Taylor

A clip lasting 0:02 is included, showing Jackie Taylor.

Jackie Remembers Our Gang - The Silent Era (VHS/DVD) from Jackie Taylor

A clip lasting 0:51 is included, showing portions of the football game. This is followed by a clip lasting 0:16, showing portions of the clothes-washing scene. Both clips have narration added.

© Robert Demoss.