Blast From the Past

[Nostalgia] All this talk about pit bulls made me remember a conversation I had with some friends who had recently watched a compilation of Hal Roach's Our Gang shorts. (At the time, they were into a Dutch orchestra known as The Beau Hunks, which dedicates itself to recapturing the fat, bouncy sound of those wonderful old Leroy Shield/Marvin Hatley scores from the era's comedy films like Our Gang, Laurel & Hardy, etc.)

My friends reported that Our Gang actually holds up. I'll admit I was skeptical--how could those goofy old etc., and aren't there some troublesome stereotypical etc., and so forth.

Actually, the films are funny. All the kids are weird and stereotyped--the nerd, the fat kid, the bully, the baby, the happy-go-lucky kid, the mama's boy. Check out Fishy Tales for example:

"Oh, poor Alfalfa. Oh, poor, poor Alfalfa!"



(Brandon Burt)