A Tough Winter

film no. 99

Allen "Farina" Hoskins as "Farina"

Featured role. He has most of the interaction with Fetchit and is involved in a number of the taffy gags.

Mary Ann Jackson as "Mary"

Featured role. She makes the taffy and then recruits Fetchit to help clean up. It appears that her character name in the German version was "Marie," since this is penciled into the cutting continuity a few times.

Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins as "Wheezer"

Featured role. He's Mary Ann's brother, and gives her the taffy instructions from a radio program.

Jackie Cooper

Supporting role. He's also Mary Ann's brother and is essentially the leader of the gang of boys throwing snowballs.

Norman "Chubby" Chaney

Supporting role. The nickname wasn't used in this film. He has a virtually silent role, and has occasional gags, apparently vomiting at one point, and being puzzled by the rewired gadgets at the end.

Margot Rouseyrol and Lorraine Sholtz

Small parts. These are the two girls helping Mary in the kitchen. Photos of Rouseyrol as a teenager verify that she's the brunette girl. She has quite a bit of dialogue in the French version of the film. By process of elimination, therefore, we can surmise that the little blonde girl is Sholtz, who probably has the same dialogue in the German version (which is not available for viewing). Maltin & Bann identify the brunette as Beverly Parrish, but this is incorrect.

Jerry Bensmiller

Small part. He's the toddler that's given a few closeups here and there. Maltin & Bann list him as Tommy Atkins, but the payroll ledger says otherwise.

George and Willie Savidan

Small part. One of these is the boy in shorts and knee socks that gets stuck to the floor. This same boy gets a bit of dialogue in the French version. The other is shown throwing snowballs and joining in on the taffy pull.

Werther and Wolfgang Weidler

Small parts. These two are also present during the taffy pull. Wolfgang, the younger of the two, is seen pulling taffy off of the floor lamp. He was later known as Walt Weidler. His older brother Werther later went by the name Warner Weidler.

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the animals:

Pete the Pup (no. 1) as "Petie"

Supporting role. He accompanies Wheezer through most of the film, and barks at the rewired gadgets. This was the original Pete's final appearance in the series. The spelling of his nickname derives from the cutting continuity. He's identified as "Pete, le cabot" in the French continuity.

Dinah the Mule

Small part. Not listed by Maltin & Bann. She pulls Stepin's wagon.

cat 080

Bit part. This is the tabby that's cornered by the taffy.

cat 060

Bit part. This is one of Stepin's two cats.

dog 087b

Bit part. This is Stepin's dog, and is seen following the wagon, and later in Stepin's house.

Leo

Bit part. The MGM lion appears at the opening of the film.

other animals

Bit parts and extras.

(1.) Stepin's black cat.

(2.) Stepin's two chickens.

(3.) Stepin's two goats.

(4.) Stepin's goose.

(5.) The fake mouse.

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the adults:

Stepin Fetchit as "Stepin" aka "Step"

Lead role. He receives on-screen credit on a separate title card. He's featured very strongly through most of the film, mostly getting others to do his work for him.

other adults

Bit parts. The payroll ledger states that $15 was spent on day workers on February 26th, but it's virtually impossible to determine which of the names listed belong with this production, as several other productions were going on that day. Presumably, the mailman and/or the two voiceovers derive from this date.

(1.) "Miss Radio," the radio announcer. According to Maltin & Bann, this was Lyle Tayo. It sounds like her, but she's not listed in the ledger. Studio documentation states that the kids are listening to "Aunt Polly" over Station ZZZ, and that Wheezer calls her "Mrs. Radio."

(2.) The telephone operator.

(3.) The mailman.

in still images

Abraham Lincoln is shown in a portrait on the wall of Fetchit's home. There's also a man in a newspaper photograph next to Farina's head as he reads the letter.

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the music:

piece 099a

This is played during the opening scenes and continues until the letter arrives.

piece 099b

This is the song that Stepin sings and hums as he undresses. See the 'miscellaneous' section below for details.

piece 099c

This is the piece that begins as Stepin starts dancing and continues at least until the end of the scene.

piece 099d

This is the impromptu tune that Stepin sings as he dances. The lyrics consist of 'oh no it ain't oh yes it is.'

"Smile When The Raindrops Fall" by Alice Keating Howlett

Copyrighted Mar. 21, 1930. Written with lyrics by Will Livernash. An instrumental version is played during the first part of the cooking scene. It's partially repeated when Chubby answers the phone.

"Jack In The Box" by Zez Confrey

Copyrighted 1927. This is played from about the halfway point in the cooking scene until the taffy pull is finished.

piece 099f

This is what Stepin sings as he arrives at the house. See the 'miscellaneous' section below for details.

"For No Reason At All" by Hal E. Rice

This is played from the time Stepin arrives for the cleanup until Chubby gets sprinkled by the fireplace log.

"That Old Gang Of Mine" by Ray Henderson

Written in 1923 with lyrics by Billy Rose and Mort Dixon. An instrumental version is played over the refrigerator-turned-radio, and gets louder as the door is opened, and continues through the end title. According to the Victor files, this recording was actually dubbed from the reel one sound disc of "Wiggle Your Ears" (no. 84). The Blackhawk print also plays this piece over the opening titles.

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miscellaneous:

18 shooting dates went into the making of this film. Presumably, most of January was committed to formulating the scenario for this film, though the Our Gang unit did deviate long enough to shoot retakes for "Bear Shooters" (no. 98) on Jan. 21st. The letter shown in the film is dated Jan. 12, 1929, which may mean that Walker wrote it himself on that date in 1930, but like most of us in January, hadn't gotten used to writing in the new year just yet. Walker's dialogue sheet for "A Tough Winter" was submitted on Jan. 24th, and the 'starting' date for shooting arrived on Jan. 27th. Shooting continued until the 'finish' date of Feb. 15th. No shooting took place on Jan. 26th, Feb. 2nd, or Feb. 9th, which were all Sundays. After this, nine weeks passed before the Our Gang unit began shooting "Pups Is Pups" (no. 100). The studio was closed for four of those weeks.

This film was basically a pilot film for an unrealized Stepin Fetchit series.

The press release for this film mentions that a previous episode had been made in Spanish which went over big, so they decided to make the next one in German and French. This supports the idea that previous episodes were NOT made in German and French and that "A Tough Winter" was not made in Spanish.

The extra kids in this film seem to have been cast with the foreign-language versions in mind. While the German version is unavailable for viewing, we do have the first half of the French version available. One of the Savidan boys gets a line in that version, while remaining mute in the English version. The brunette girl actually has several lines of dialogue in the French version, all of which are spoken by Mary Ann in the English version. It stands to reason that the German version would reveal the blonde girl as the one with these lines with the Weidler boys perhaps being given dialogue as well.

Among the products used in this film are Lux detergent and a Eureka Heating Pad.

Reel one ends as Mary Ann pores the 'taffy' into a larger pan.

In the category of unseen characters is "Miss Maybelle Cordelia Lee," the woman who sent the letter to Stepin from Memphis, Tennessee. The dialogue sheet for this film reveals that she lived at 1117 Sewanee River Road. In the original story sheet for the film, her name was "Annabelle Florabelle Maybelle Johnson," also from Memphis. In the German dialogue sheet, her name is "Mariabella Cordelia Lee."

Fetchit mumbles as he sings a song while undressing. These are the words written by Walker as found on the dialogue sheet:
Yaller gals tells me ah's sweet as honey
Ah gets gals without havin' money
Jus' like bees they buzz an' buzz
Ah got it an' tis an' was!
Here's the way it reads in the cutting continuity:
Yella' gal says Ah was sweet as honey.
Ah git gals without no money.
Jus' like bees aroun' they buzz,
'Cause Ah got 'it' an' tis an' wuz.
Ah went down to the rivah.
Ah went down to the - -
While it's apparent that Fetchit didn't follow Walker's lyrics that closely, I believe the person who prepared the continuity misheard some of them. Here's what it sounds like to me:
Yella' gals say Ah's sweet as honey
Ah git a gal without no money
Jus' like bees aroun' they buzz,
'Cause Ah got 'it' an' tis an' wuz.
Goin' down to the rivah
Goin' down to the - -
Fetchit sings some lyrics later in the film as well. This is how they look in the cutting continuity:
That gal in Alabamy - an' G'orgia an' Tennessee
but the gal in Tennessee
In this case, the accuracy is clearly way off. This is what it sounds like to me:
Not the one in Alabama, Georgia, Birmingham,
But that gal o' mine in Tennessee...

According to the press release, snow was present at the studio for two weeks.

The press release for this film states that the story takes place in Gangtown.

The script submitted to MGM was given the catalog number B652.

This film was removed from King World's TV package in the early 70s.

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

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© Robert Demoss.

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My thanks to the following people for assisting with this page:
Rob Stone (for providing the production number and shooting dates)
Joe Moore (for providing the copyright information)
Zadock Jarvis (for verifying which of the two extra girls is Margot Rouseyrol, and for correcting the spelling of her last name)
Piet Schreuders (for identifying "For No Reason At All" and "Jack In The Box")
Elliot Unkefer (for identifying "Smile When The Raindrops Fall")
Steven Wright (for pointing out the soundtrack connection with "Wiggle Your Ears")
Randy Skretvedt (for clearing up the confusion involving Bud and Stax Graves)
Paul Mular (for providing info on the Cabin Fever laserdiscs)

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