Olympic Games

technical details:

Production K-21.

Filmed April 22 to May 6, 1927. See the 'miscellaneous' section below for details.

Copyrighted July 8, 1927, by Pathé Exchange, Inc. Registration no. LU24153. Renewed January 10, 1955, with registration no. R142106. This copyright is currently due to expire at the end of 2022.

Released September 11, 1927. This is according to Maltin & Bann. In Richard Lewis Ward's book A History Of The Hal Roach Studios, the date is given as September 10th. It was the 63rd film in the series to be released.

Silent two-reeler.

Opening title: '"Our Gang" Comedies - Hal Roach presents His Rascals in "Olympic Games".' The lobby poster switches the word "Comedy" for "Comedies."

Released into TV syndication as Mischief Makers episode no. 1014, "Warm Up," copyrighted Sep. 1, 1960, with registration number LP17319.

the crew:

Produced by Hal Roach

Credited in the film as a presenter.

Supervised by Robert F. McGowan

This credit appears in the film, but without his middle initial. Rob Stone's list credits him as the director, and photographs taken on location reveal that he was present.

Directed by Robert F. McGowan and Anthony Mack

Maltin & Bann list only Mack, but the 1927 studio datebook credits McGowan instead. Mack is actually Robert A. (for Anthony) McGowan, the nephew of Robert F. (for Francis) McGowan.

Assistant Director: Charles Oelze

This credit derives from Oelze's payroll status as Our Gang assistant director during this period.

Photographed by Art Lloyd

This credit appears in the film.

Assistant Cameraman: Clair Boshard

This credit derives from Boshard's payroll status as the Our Gang assistant cameraman during this period.

Edited by Richard Currier

This credit appears in the film.

Cutter: Lloyd Campbell

This credit derives from Campbell's payroll status as the Our Gang cutter during this period.

Titles by H. M. Walker

This credit appears in the film. The inter-titles have the speckled motif in this film.

Props by Don Sandstrom, Timothy O'Donnell, R. O. Sanders and Harry Craven

This credit derives from their payroll status as Our Gang prop men during this period.

Animation by Roy Seawright

This credit derives from Seawright's payroll status as the studio animator during this period. This film features an animated bee sting.

Story by Hal E. Roach

This credit probably doesn't appear in the film.

Animal Trainer: Harry Lucenay

He was Pete's owner and trainer.

Teacher: Fern Carter

Released by Pathé Exchange, Inc.

Passed by the National Board of Review

As indicated in the film.

studio personnel

general manager - Warren Doane

assistant general manager - L. A. French

secretary-treasurer - C. H. Roach

construction supervisor - C. E. Christensen

laboratory superintendent - Charles Levin

optical effects supervisor - Roy Seawright

still photographer - Bud "Stax" Graves

transportation director - Bob Davis

possible uncredited involvement

writing - Robert F. McGowan, Robert A. McGowan, Jean Yarbrough and Frank Butler may have been among the gag writers.

the kids:

Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins as "Wheezer"

Featured role. He's virtually the star of the film, teaching Pete how to do the raspberries, then spending the day trying it out on the Gang.

the athletes

Allen "Farina" Hoskins as "Farina"

Featured role. He gets more footage than most of the other kids. His activity is shot-putting.

Joe Cobb as "Joe"

Supporting role. He shows up late wearing a girdle.

Jay R. Smith as "Spec"

Supporting role. His activity is pole-vaulting. He gets a lot of comedic moments being clumsy.

Paul Toien

Supporting role. This is the boy who keeps falling into the puddle.

Harry Spear

Supporting role. Farina thinks twice about picking a fight with him.

Buddy McNeal

Supporting role. Joe thinks twice about picking a fight with him.

Jackie Condon

Supporting role. His activity is hurdle-jumping.

Elmer "Scooter" Lowry

Presumed small part. He's shown in the publicity photo shown in Robert Parrish's autobiography, but doesn't appear in this print. This was his final Our Gang short.

Robert Parrish

Presumed small part. He's shown in the publicity photo shown in his autobiography, but doesn't appear in this print.

other boys

Presumed small parts. The photo in the Robert Parrish book also shows five more boys in costume for the film.

the girls

Peggy Ahern as "Peggie"

Supporting role. Listed by Maltin & Bann as Peggy Ahearn. She's in love with Joe.

Jannie Hoskins

Small part. Not really an athlete, but she's in uniform. She gets a bunch of water caught in her rubber panties.

Mildred Kornman

Bit part. She accompanies Joe as he arrives.

Jean Darling

Presumed small part. She's shown in the publicity photo taken the day Robert McGowan visited the set, but isn't in this print of the film. In her memoirs, she relates how she came down with scarlet fever while filming this short, and was laid up for six weeks, so perhaps this led to her being absence from the finished product. The Motion Picture News corroborates this story fairly well by saying that she had been out for a month due to illness.

other girls

Supporting role. The only remaining girl in the film is the one that accompanies Peggy and gets the race started.

the rival boys

Jack Hanlon

Supporting role. He gets beaten up at least a couple of times and thrown into the puddle.

Johnny Aber

Supporting role. He's the third boy to be victimized by Wheezer's raspberries.

Clarke Robinson

Supporting role. He's the fourth boy to be victimized by Wheezer's raspberries.

other boys

Supporting role. There is one remaining rival boy, the second to be victimized (although he isn't shown getting beaten up in this print, but appears at the end for the big fight).

undetermined kids

Maltin & Bann list Joseph Metzger, who looks like he could be the second 'victim,' though I'm not at all comfortable with this idea. A casting directory photo shows his hair to be darker, though it's slicked back, which results in blonde hair looking darker. The face seems to be somewhat similar, but it's very difficult to get a good look in the film. And, of course, Metzger could be one of the hard-to-identify boys in the Parrish photo.

the animals:

Pete (no. 1) as "Minnie"

Supporting role. An ironic name, since it's not hard to tell that this is a male dog. He appears pretty much throughout the film. This was his debut appearance in the series.

other animals

Bit parts. A chicken jumps out of the way when Farina does his shot putting.

bugwatch

A bee stings Farina.

the adults:

Extras. In this print anyway, there are virtually no adults, other than two pedestrians shown in the distance behind the picket fence. The photo in the Robert Parrish book shows a man with the group of boys, but he might be part of the crew. A 1927 casting directory indicates that Budd Fine and Grace Wood both appeared in this film, but if so, then their footage is not in the available print.

the locations:

vacant lot

The vacant lot where the games are held includes a billboard that says "Motor Ave. Business Frontage," indicating that this film was shot in Palms. The lot itself was later used for Jackie and Harry's game of leapfrog in "The Old Wallop" (no. 68). It also appears briefly in "Cradle Robbers" (no. 28) and "Baby Brother" (no. 61).

miscellaneous:

13 shooting dates went into the making of this film. One week after filming had finished for "Chicken Feed" (no. 62), the 'start' date arrived for "Olympic Games" on Apr. 22nd. Shooting continued until the 'finish' date of May 6th. No shooting took place on Apr. 24th or May 1st, which were both Sundays. Robert F. McGowan directed on each of the shooting dates. After this, only four days passed before the Our Gang unit began shooting "The Glorious Fourth" (no. 64).

The kids all have writing and illustrations on their sports clothes. The girl accompanying Peggy has a couple of swastikas on hers.

The kids' Olympic Games take place at a ficticious location called Dooley's Flats.

At one point, Joe says "We catch that guy we'll bust his beezer!" The guy they're looking for is whoever is giving them the razzberries, which of course is Wheezer. Interestingly enough, the name Beezer would later be used for his onscreen twin brother.

There were 36 copies of this film printed for its initial release.

availability:

Our Gang Volume #8 (VHS) from Grapevine Video and from The Picture Palace

This copy includes the original opening, crew, copyright, and ending titles, as well as inter-titles. The picture quality is fair, and some footage is missing. The footage totals 17:13. This version has appeared on numerous bootlegs.

Hal Roach's Rascals (DVD) from Brentwood Home Video

This copy is identical to Grapevine's, but has a slight case of the jitters. This version has probably the one that appears on bootlegs containing the Roach talkies. Also included with same-named volume in 2 DVD set. Also included on this DVD is a documentary entitled Hollywood Hall Of Fame, which includes 11 clips from this film. The 1st lasts 0:02, and shows the gang pummeling one of the other kids. The 2nd lasts 0:01, and shows the gang walking up to the boy. The 3rd lasts 0:18, and shows Farina with the bee. The 4th lasts 0:15, and shows Farina getting stung. The 5th lasts 0:05, and shows Jay pole-vaulting. The 6th lasts 0:10, and shows Farina shot-putting. The 7th lasts 0:11, and Jackie and Paul. The 8th lasts 0:02, and shows Peggy. The 9th lasts 0:26, and shows Wheezer teaching Pete. The 10th lasts 0:05, and shows the boy ganging up on the outsider. And the 11th lasts 0:04, and shows Farina dragging his butt.

Hal Roach's Rascals 3-Tape Set (3 VHS set) from Brentwood Home Video

This includes the Hollywood Hall Of Fame documentary.

Our Gang Comedies presents Hal Roach's Rascals 2 Pack (2 VHS set) from Brentwood Video

Released Nov. 2000. Also released as part of Our Gang Comedies presents Hal Roach's Rascals 10 Pack. This copy is identical to Grapevine's, and provided the basis of the DVD copy, jitters and all.

Our Gang Silent Comedies Vol. 1 (VHS) from HenryButch

This is the same version as the one released by Grapevine.

TV Time Comedy 100 TV Episodes (10 DVD set) from TV Time

See anything that needs changing? Contact me at BtheW@aol.com.

© Robert Demoss.