9 OF THE BEST OUR GANG

Our Gang (later known as The Little Rascals or Hal Roach's Rascals) is a series of American comedy short films about a group of poor neighborhood children and their adventures. Created by comedy producer Hal Roach, the series was produced from 1922 to 1944 and is noted for showing children behaving in a relatively natural way. Roach and original director Robert F. McGowan worked to film the unaffected, raw nuances apparent in regular children rather than have them imitate adult acting styles. The series broke new ground by portraying white and black boys and girls interacting as equals.

The franchise began in 1922 as a series of silent short subjects produced by the Roach studio and released by Pathé Exchange. Roach changed distributors from Pathé to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) in 1927, and the series entered its most popular period after converting to sound in 1929. Production continued at the Roach studio until 1938, when the series was sold to MGM, which produced the comedies until 1944. In total, the Our Gang series includes 220 shorts and one feature film, General Spanky, and featured over 41 child actors.

As MGM retained the rights to the Our Gang trademark following their purchase of the production rights, the 80 Roach-produced "talkies" were syndicated for television under the title The Little Rascals beginning in 1955. Roach's The Little Rascals package (now owned by CBS Television Distribution) and MGM's Our Gang package (now owned by Turner Entertainment and distributed by Warner Bros. Television) have since remained in syndication. New productions based on the shorts have been made over the years, including a 1994 feature film, Little Rascals, released by Universal Pictures.

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1. Young Sherlocks (1922)

The Mystic J.J.J.'s challenge Ernie's bravery; he spins a tale of saving a rich young girl from kidnappers and of creating a utopia called Freetown.

2. Our Gang (1922)

An unethical merchant moves into town and steals customers from the widowed owner of an established store; the gang steps in to help.

3. Derby Day (1923)

After the gang goes to the horse races, they decide to have a derby of their own.

4. Fire Fighters (1922)

The gang forms a fire department; they end up thwarting a bootlegger, but not before their pet animals get drunk on his moonshine.

5. One Terrible Day (1922)

Mrs. Pennington Van Renssalaer, a publicity-minded society matron, sponsors a children's outing, much to her and her chauffeur's eventual regret.

6. A Quiet Street (1922)

The gang mistakenly believes a police patrol is after them for beating up a cop's boy; they wind up encountering the police's real quarry: Red Mike.

7. The Big Show (1923)

The gang creates its own makeshift county fair, highlighted by a "movie," which is really a clever stage performance.

8. The Cobbler (1923)

A cobbler receives his back pension and invites the gang to celebrate with a picnic, but his car stalls along the way.

9. Sunday Calm (1923)

The kids' families plan a Sunday picnic. The group's wagon gets loose with the gang inside, leaving the adults behind. Once on their own, the kids decide to have their own picnic.