Series: Our Gang

Director: Robert F. McGowan, Charles Oelze
Producer: Hal Roach
Titles: H.M. Walker
Photography: Art Lloyd
Editor: Richard C. Currier

Stars: Joe Cobb, Allen Hoskins, Jay R. Smith, Clifton Young, Jackie Condon, Elmer Lowry, Jean Darling
Company: Pathé Exchange
Released: 26 June 1927
Length: 2 reels
Production No.: K-19
Filming dates: February 16 - March 4, 1927
Rating: -/10


Baby Brother

Available on DVD:
 

"The story of a little boy who had everything he wanted - except a baby brother - and a shotgun."  The film opens with Joe Cobb sitting at a musical piano with his Pekingese dog whilst two servants of the house walk past him. A close-up shot on the boy reveals he is not actually playing the instrument, but rather it is a mechanical piano which is playing a pre-programmed tune. The words on the lyric sheet spell out and highlight the boy's sadness as he sits there crying. In the next room his father makes a telephone call as Joe speeds up the piano to try and lighten his mood. The father momentarily puts the telephone receiver down when the servant brings him a drink. This is unseen by the father, who then picks it up and holds the glass to his ear. The snobbish mother comes down the stairs to observe. The father instructs her to tell Joe to stop making the "racket" with the piano, claiming he sounds more like a trained seal than a son. The mother ridicules Joe for "looking funny" when he cries.
The mother tells the nursemaid (Anita Garvin) to keep Joe out all day because she doesn't want her bridge game interrupted. The nursemaid is disgusted with the mother's arrogance and comforts the crying boy. The nursemaid wipes Joe's nose and offers to take him down to her own neighborhood, where there are lots of other little boys. He is immediately excited. Some of the gang are out in the yard tossing a baseball when we are introduced to a small group of baby children.

REVIEW INCOMPLETE

Trivia
Copyrighted May 18, 1927
The 61st film in the series.
This was the first of 62 appearances in the series for Wheezer - who went by the character name of 'Horatio' in this film.
The piano was made in Boston, USA. The words that spell out in the musical piano are; "I'm lonesone, I guess, that's all."

Joe Cobb
Joe
Jackie Condon
Jackie
Jean Darling
Jean
Allen Hoskins
Farina
Jannie Hoskins
Mango
Bobby Hutchins
Horatio
Scooter Lowry
Scooter
Jay R. Smith
Jay
Clifton Young
Bonedust
Eulalie Jensen
Joe's mother
Mildred Kornman
Jackie's sister
David Monahan
Boy
Richard Smith
Coolidge
Robert Smith
Tunney
Anita Garvin
Amorous nursemaid
Chet Brandenburg
Shoeshine worker
Harry Earles
Gus, one of Barr's midgets
Ben Hall
Man with glasses
Oliver Hardy
Nursemaid's boyfriend
Lyle Tayo
Party guest
Symona Boniface
Party guest
Alice Belcher
Mother with big nose
Silas D. Wilcox
Officer
Lincoln Plumer
Joe's father
J. Parks Jones
[?]
F.F. Guenste
Butler
UNIDENTIFIED
Baby

CREDITS (click image to enlarge)

POSTER
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STILLS
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Acknowledgements:
The Little Rascals: The Life And Times Of Our Gang by Leonard Maltin & Richard W. Bann (book)
http://theluckycorner.com/rps/061.html (Robert Demoss/The Lucky Corner
Matthew Lydick (identification of Eulalie Jensen)
Steve Rydzewski (info on J. Parks Jones)
Jesse Brisson (identification of F.F. Guenste and Alice Belcher)
Bob Peterson (still)

This page was last updated on: 05 October 2023