Series: Our Gang

Director: Robert F. McGowan
Producer: Hal Roach
Dialogue: H.M. Walker
Photography: Art Lloyd
Editor: Richard C. Currier
Sound: Elmer Raguse

Stars: Bobby Hutchins, Allen Hoskins, Norman Chaney, Jackie Cooper, Mary Ann Jackson, Dorothy DeBorba
Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Released: 30 August 1930
Length: 2 reels
Production No.: G-34
Filming dates: April 21 - May 9, 1930
Rating: 5/10


Pups Is Pups

Available on BLU-RAY & DVD:
   

The kids are playing in the yard when Dorothy does a running jump into a puddle, ass first. Chubby sits by and chalk marks it on the wall before Jackie goes and pulls her out. Farina is playing his one-man band act as two young black kids dance to his tune. He sees an article in the newspaper asking for some boys to act as pages. A cleaned-up Dorothy comes back out and jumps straight back into her puddle as Wheezer rings a bell for his five puppies to come and get some milk. The boys (and Mary Ann) discuss the advert and when Farina boasts the job pays $200 they state what they would each do if they had that money. Wheezer runs around ringing a bell which gets the dogs excited because they think it's dinner time!
Wheezer then plays a rather amusing game of hide n' seek with the puppies in the yard. After a couple of games Wheezer invites the dogs to find him instead. Wheezer hides in a barn and covers himself in hay. The dogs find him and rip off his trousers which Wheezer desperately tries to retrieve. Meanwhile Mary Ann messes about with a parrot and Chubby gives a soapy bath to a pig. When Wheezer questions Mary Ann as to why so much fuss is being made over the animals she tells him they are heading off to a pet show downtown. The two black boys summon the dogs with Wheezer's bell to try and lock them in the barn but the animals escape. So they lure the dogs down the street instead before dumping the bell into a drain and getting the dogs to follow it. Wheezer finally realizes his bell has been lost through a hole in his pocket and so calls for the dogs instead.
An ambulance drives past with its bells ringing which draws the dogs towards its sound as Wheezer continues to search for them whilst making noises with his mouth to represent the bell. A monkey on a street rings his bell, followed by an ice cream wagon's bells, all of which confuse the dogs. The five puppies run backwards and forwards across a recently cemented sidewalk leaving their paw prints in it. The guy doing the cementing isn't amused! The dogs carry on running away until they are stopped by the sound of railroad crossing bells. The dogs run across the railroad tracks and back again as the noise of bells just never ends (even a goat gets in on the action!) Wheezer finds two conveniently placed stones and hurls one up at a window to try and activate an alarm but smashes the window instead.
The rest of the kids arrive at the pet show with their respective animals. A doctor tells a patient to keep his head up so when he walks out of the surgery all the pedestrians in the street start looking up at the sky to see what the man is supposedly looking at? This is enough of a distraction for the kids to get past the doorman and into the building where they find Farina in uniform and working at the event. The kids promptly set about removing the animals already on display and replace them with their own but are discovered by three judges who then call the police. Pandemonium erupts as the kids scramble to escape. Women begin screaming and the animals run loose. The kids escape whilst Wheezer is held up in a church looking for his dogs. When the churchbells suddenly ring, the dogs come running and are reunited with their owner, much to Wheezer's relief and joy. Everybody returns to the yard where Dorothy takes another leap into her puddle. Her mother comes out and thinks Farina is responsible for pushing Dorothy in but as she begins to tell him off, Dorothy's mother falls into the puddle herself.

Favourite bit
Oh it just has to be Dorothy jumping into the puddle. Zero f*cks given!

Trivia
Copyrighted July 2, 1930.
Film #100 in the series.
Added to the National Film Registry on December 28, 2004.
Am I the only one who had trouble hearing and understanding half of what the kids are saying when they are in the yard in the first half of the film? The audio is awful.
Some sources list Harry Bernard as a policeman. This is wrong.
My opinion
An enjoyable beginning; a slow middle and a chaotic final third. Definitely one of the NOISIEST films in the series. If you suffer from kampanaphobia then you really need to give this one a miss!

Bobby Hutchins
Wheezer
Allen Hoskins
Farina
Jackie Cooper
Jackie
Norman Chaney
Chubby
Dorothy DeBorba
Dorothy
Mary Ann Jackson
Mary Ann
Buddy McDonald
Kid with goat
Alan Dong
Kid with fishbowl
The Hill Twins
Boys
Lyle Tayo
Dorothy's mother
Charles McAvoy
Cement man
Chris Lynton
Dr. H.R. White
Jack Hill
Pedestrian
William Gillespie
Musician playing bass tuba
Charlie Hall
Orchestra leader playing violin
Helen Gilmore
Woman with hat
Bill Knight
Policeman
Silas D. Wilcox
Doorman
Clara Guiol
Screaming woman
Russell Custer
Man tripped at dog show
Harry Arras
Patient who has to keep his head up
Chet Brandenburg
Pedestrian
Walter Weidler
Second twin
Werner Weidler
First twin
George Savidan
Boy in pet show sequence
Willie Savidan
Boy in pet show sequence

UNIDENTIFIED CAST

CREDITS (click image to enlarge)

BLACKHAWK FILMS RE-ISSUE TITLE CARD
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POSTER
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LOBBY CARDS
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STILLS
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SHOT ON THE BACKLOT
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SHOT ON THE ROACH RANCH
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SHOT ON LOCATION
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Chris Bungo's "Then & Now" video presentation

Acknowledgements:
The Little Rascals: The Life And Times Of Our Gang by Leonard Maltin & Richard W. Bann (book)
http://www.theluckycorner.com/rmt/100.html (Robert Demoss/The Lucky Corner)
Chris Bungo (Then & Now video)
Jesse Brisson (identification of Bill Knight, Russell Custer)

This page was last updated on: 04 August 2023