Our Gang: A Racial History of The Little Rascals

by Julia Lee

It was the age of Jim Crow, riddled with racial violence and unrest. But in the world of Our Gang , black and white children happily played and made mischief together. They even had their own black and white version of the KKK, the Cluck Cluck Klams—and the public loved it. The story of race and Our Gang , or The Little Rascals , is rife with the contradictions and aspirations of the sharply conflicted, changing American society that was its theater. Exposing these connections for the first time, Julia Lee shows us how much this series, from the first silent shorts in 1922 to its television revival in the 1950s, reveals about black and white American culture—on either side of the silver screen. Behind the scenes, we find unconventional men like Hal Roach and his gag writers, whose Rascals tapped into powerful American myths about race and childhood. We meet the four black stars of the series—Ernie “Sunshine Sammy” Morrison, Allen “Farina” Hoskins, Matthew “Stymie” Beard, and Billie “Buckwheat” Thomas—the gang within the Gang, whose personal histories Lee pursues through the passing years and shifting political landscape. In their checkered lives, and in the tumultuous life of the series, we discover an unexplored story of America, the messy, multiracial nation that found in Our Gang a comic avatar, a slapstick version of democracy itself.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Tv, Race, Pop Culture

384 pages, Paperback

First published December 15, 2015

Reviews

[Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

This fascinating book weaves an interesting history by contrasting the racial strife and discrimination occurring in the United States with the long-running Our Gang comedy series produced by Hal Roach from 1922 - 1938, and MGM after that. Before anybody starts yelling that the book is a revisionist, politically-correct white-washing of movie history, it is nothing of the sort. The book is part American civil rights history, part movie history, and part biography.

The book follows the movie careers of Ernie "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison, Allen "Farina" Hoskins, Matthew "Stymie" Beard, and Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas. While appearing in the film series, they were living in a bubble and were not very aware of the racial strife caused by Jim Crow attitudes at the time. Of course, they were in for a rude awakening when they got too old for Our Gang. Three of them had pretty happy lives anyway. Matthew Beard struggled with drug addiction, but was able to clean up his life and still live to an old age. (The book discusses the alleged "curse" of Our Gang/Little Rascals growing old and dying young.)

The fascinating thing about the Our Gang series is that a film like LODGE NIGHT (1923) is seen as quite racist today, although it is a spoof on the Ku Klux Klan. However, at the time, audiences in the northern USA thought it was hilarious because the Gang had African-American Farina as a member, even though the KKK directs their hate at black people. Southern audiences hated it (some theaters would not show it) because it ridiculed the KKK. Even long after Our Gang was finished, comedian Eddie Murphy was quite funny spoofing the Buckwheat character. But the character got so popular that Murphy got tired of having to perform it. People thought Murphy/Buckwheat was still funny, although it was originally a just spoof on the "racist" origins of the character. People had positive and negative attitudes about the films, depending on their biases. During the original run, the NAACP loved the film series. In the 1960s, the NAACP saw it as promoting racist attitudes.

Ms. Lee's research is excellent when documenting the biographies of the four main black actors in the series. Her chronicle of the demise of the series at MGM, and the resurrection on television is quite good. The only shortcoming is that she doesn't analyze nearly enough of the films, and doesn't have many examples of the portrayals of African Americans in other films from the era. Some of my friends who love movie comedy has been disappointed in this book, but I think that they were looking for a celebration of the Rascal's comedy. This book is a celebration of a movie series that dared to show white and black kids playing together as equals every day.

If you are interested in movie history (silent or sound era) and/or civil rights history, you will like this book.

[Shawn Thrasher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Julia Lee explores the dichotomy that was Our Gang (a.k.a The Little Rascals ): how Hal Roach and his studio starting in the 1920s produced short films that featured black and white children interacting in equal ways (even to the point of going to school together) but used racist minstrel tropes that even back then many found unsettling and wrong. From the very first Our Gang short, Roach mixed black and white children together; Lee uses the biographies of four of these African American children (Sunshine Sammy, Farina, Stymie, and Buckwheat) who rose to prominence and fame (although even their names smacked of racist minstrel tropes: real names Ernie, Allen, Matthew and Billie). A fascinating look at the the changing face of racial relations in the United States over the 20th century, the rise and fall of Hal Roach and Our Gang in both black and white households, the evils of Jim Crow - and some scoop on those little rascals (Alfalfa was a horrible diva-ish child star who one time peed on stage in protest, and was hated by his costars). If you watched The Little Rascals on television as a kid, you'll like this book.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a big fan of the "Little Rascals" and the book by Maltin and Bann "Our Gang: life and times of the Little Rascals", I eagerly read this book. The author carefully footnotes and details the racial history around the making of these short films and the early TV broadcasting of the series. But something falls a bit flat with her conclusions and her structure. Its a great topic, I wish the author was stronger.

[Brent · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a necessary book if you love these short films.
Even if you don't - and I do - the history is compelling.
Recommended.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Professor Lee of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, provides a thorough and profoundly important treatment of the racial issues that have been present in the history of Our Gang/The Little Rascals. It is refreshing to see so many examples demonstrating the subversive and forward-thinking nature of the series with regard to race relations, especially in the midst of an America that was overrun with Jim Crow measures. No where else could someone have so clearly witnessed integrated classrooms and playgrounds in the 1920's and 30's - with white and black children doing literally everything as equal peers - outside of Hal Roach's classic comedy shorts.

[Anne Stevens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly researched but super readable, Julia Lee's book traces the history of the Our Gang series from silent movie shorts into the twenty-first century. She focuses in particular on the series' four black stars, "Sunshine Sammy," "Farina," "Stymie," and "Buckwheat." The concluding chapters on the television syndication of the Little Rascals in the 1950s and later pop culture manifestations (such as Eddie Murphy's "Buckwheat" character and the 1994 movie) are especially fascinating.

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was interesting in its history of fond childhood memories. Definitely an intellectual journey. I wish it had come with a DVD of the shows!

[Trav S.D. · Rating 3 out of 5]

My review of "Our Gang: A Racial History of the Little Rascals": https://travsd.wordpress.com/2017/02/...

[Cara Byrne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly engaging, smart book.

[Autumn]

Look, I promise I have had this in my Amazon cart long before I read Paul Beatty's genius The Sellout, but now I'm especially fired up to read it. Wowza!

[John Lyman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading about all the different aspects of this program that I have been a fan of all my life. The book is well researched and paints a comprehensive picture of the entire history of the Little Rascals. It is cause for reflection. So sad that, on many levels, racism is as alive today as it was 100 years ago.