Skippy (1931)
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Percy Crosby's popular newspaper comic strip Skippy comes to life in this 1931 film. Designed as a vehicle for Our Gang's Jackie Cooper -- then all of nine years old -- Skippy jettisons most of the trenchant cynicism of Crosby's creation (the strip was something of a 1930s Calvin and Hobbes) in favor of sentiment. Skippy, the son of the local health inspector (Willard Robertson) conspires with his best friend, Sooky (Robert Coogan), a poor kid, to raise enough money for a dog license. The mutt in question is eventually shot by the mean dogcatcher, and the effect on Skippy and Sooky (not to mention the audience) is devastating. The tragedy leads Skippy's dad to soften his disciplinarian stance and to draw closer to his son. Skippy was followed by an even more lachrymose sequel, Sooky, also released in 1931. Twenty-five years later, Jackie Cooper, by that time a prominent TV producer/director, tried to revive Skippy as a weekly series, with future My Three Sons co-star Stanley Livingston in the lead. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Complete Cast:
- Jackie Cooper - Skippy Skinner
- Mitzi Green - Eloise
- Willard Robertson - Dr. Herbert Skinner
- Donald Haines - Harley Nubbins
- Jack Clifford - Dogcatcher Nubbins
- Robert Coogan - Sooky Wayne
- Jackie Searl - Sidney
- Enid Bennett - Mrs. Ellen Skinner
- Helen Jerome Eddy - Mrs. Wayne
- Guy Oliver - Dad Burkey
- Director(s):
- Norman Taurog
- Writer(s):
- Percy Crosby, Sam Mintz, Joseph L. Mankiewicz
- Producer(s):
- Louis D. Lighton
- Closed Captioning:
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- Subtitles:
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- 1931 - Skippy - Film Daily - 10 Best Films
- 1931 - Skippy - New York Times - 10 Best Films
