Series: Our Gang Director: Robert F. McGowan Producer: Hal Roach, Robert F. McGowan Dialogue: H.M. Walker Photography: Art Lloyd Editor: Richard C. Currier Sound: Elmer Raguse Stars: Allen Hoskins, Mary Ann Jackson, Norman Chaney Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Released: 21 June 1930 Length: 2 reels Production No.: G-33 Filming dates: January 27 - February 15, 1930 Rating: 4/10

A Tough Winter

Available on BLU-RAY & DVD:

• See also Temps D'hiver

It's snowing and all the kids are outside playing, except for Wheezer who watches the fun from his window. He tells his sister Mary that he wants to go outside and play but she threatens to tell on him if he tries it. A simpleton black man (STEPIN FETCHIT) tells Farina and the other kids to help put the mule to bed in the barn before going inside his shack. Stepin then spends over two minutes taking off his various gloves and coats after coming in from the cold, whilst mumbling to himself continuously (this excruciating scene lasts over two minutes!) The postman delivers a letter, which Farina reads to Stepin. For some reason a chicken gets excited and starts tapping its feet, as well as Jackie who dances stupidly around the room. Farina sticks cotton wool in his ears and begins to read the letter. He mumbles his way through it in the same manner as Stepin (you can hardly understand any of what he is saying) until finally he finishes it. A chicken sits above them and drops an egg down onto Stepin's head (watch Farina trying not to break character here). Elsewhere, Mary and Wheezer are listening to the radio when the announcer comes on with directions on how to make taffy. Mary heads off to the kitchen with her two helpers whilst Wheezer stays at the radio to relay all the messages. But unfortunately Wheezer gets everything wrong when he keeps running back and forwards between the living room and the kitchen with a list of directions. Mary gets to the stage where she just chucks everything into the cooking pot!

The contents of the cooking pot finally explodes, almost taking Mary's eye out! Jackie walks into the kitchen and when he sees that Mary has made taffy he calls all the kids from outside to come in and pull it. The messy kitchen is then filled with all the children plucking, pulling and chewing on the sticky taffy. Jackie has a humorous moment when he uses some of the stringy taffy as guitar strings, plucking on them. It doesn't take long before the kids start to realize that the taste of the stuff isn't what it ought to be and try to spit it out. Jackie has to unglue Farina from the wall after Farina gets his head stuck to it with the taffy. Wheezer wants to join in but Jackie hands him a net and tells him to go down in the basement and swat a mouse instead. Stepin arrives and Mary is quick to blame the state of the house on all of the other kids. He spends the next minute or so sticking his hands on the walls and watching the layers of gloves come off his hands and stick to the taffy - all the while still sounding drugged up. He tells the kids to go do something (I can't understand anything he says). Jackie gets irritated by one boy whom he shoves onto the floor, making him get stuck in the taffy. Thick-as-shit Stepin goes down into the basement and starts messing with the electrics, which causes fire to shoot out of taps, water to spurt from the fireplace (and all over Chubby's trousers). The telephone turns into a vacuum, and at one point Chubby thinks the hoover is talking to him! The radio turns into a refrigerator and vice versa. The film ends when Chubby calls all the other kids to come over and listen for themselves.

Favourite bit It's Mary's reaction when she lights the cooker!

Trivia • Copyrighted April 14, 1930. • This was the 99th film in the series to be released. • Also filmed in German as Winter Wetter and in French as Temps d'Hiver. • Leonard Maltin/Richard W. Bann list the toddler as Tommy Atkins. Child actors' expert Drina Mohacsi also tells me she is confident it is Atkins. However, Robert Demoss states at his usually-reliable website The Lucky Corner that the toddler is played by Jerry Bensmiller. This was later backed up by other very reliable sources. • There was another film of the same name released by Hal Roach Studios in 1923; this was a Snub Pollard comedy. • Someone, somewhere must have thought that watching a man (Stepin Fetchit) slowly taking his clothes off in a barn for over 2 minutes would make for entertaining viewing? Can anybody understand a fucking word this guy is saying? Seriously, is he on drugs or something? Just listening to him put me in a real bad mood for the entire film! The first 5 minutes of the film are just him mumbling and Farina putting a mule into a barn! It's shockingly awful. • When the chicken drops the egg onto Stepin's head, Farina tries hard not to laugh. It looks genuine too. • There are a few shots of Mary Ann when she is cooking where you can see her undershorts because her skirt is just too short, which is further proof that whomever was filming these kids was filming more than they should have been. This is an evident issue throughout the series. • This was Pete's (the dog) final appearance in the series before he/his character was replaced following his death. My opinion • A thoroughly disjointed and pointless film: the first reel is abysmal although the second reel (or at least a portion of it) is more fun. Put the two together and you have a below average load of rubbish.

	Allen Hoskins Farina
	Mary Ann Jackson Mary Ann
	Bobby Hutchins Wheezer
	Jackie Cooper Jackie
	Norman Chaney Chubby
	Margot Rouseyrol Mary's helper (brunette girl)
	Lorraine Sholtz Mary's helper (blonde girl)
	Jerry Bensmiller Toddler
	George Savidan Boy
	Willie Savidan Boy
	Walter Weidler Boy who pulls taffy from the floor lamp
	Warner Weidler Boy
	Stepin Fetchit Stepin
	Lyle Tayo Radio announcer
	Pete Himself
	UNIDENTIFIED Boy #1
	UNIDENTIFIED Boy #2 (this is either George or Willie Savidan)

CREDITS (click image to enlarge)

SHOT ON THE BACK LOT (click any image to enlarge)

Acknowledgements: The Little Rascals: The Life And Times Of Our Gang by Leonard Maltin & Richard W. Bann (book) http://www.theluckycorner.com/rmt/099.html (Robert Demoss/The Lucky Corner) Drina Mohacsi (information relating to Margot Rouseyrol and Tommy Atkins* - *which was later disputed by others) This page was last updated on: 20 June 2025