Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas Movies

Hoping to get even for all the practical jokes perpetrated by neighborhood troublemaker Tommy "Butch" Bond, the Our Gang kids plan to sabotage Butch's birthday party. The weapon of choice is a firecracker, which is substituted for one of the birthday candles. Unfortunately, the kids in general and Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer in particular are unable to escape from the party before the big (and tasty) explosion. Essentially a single-joke effort, the one-reel Our Gang comedy Practical Jokers was originally released on December 17, 1938. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Marie Blake, the real-life sister of Jeanette MacDonald, played the title role in the one-reel comedy Alfalfa's Aunt. Hoping to launch a career as a mystery writer, Aunt Penelope composes a manuscript which leads her nephew Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer to conclude that Auntie plans to do away with him. With the help of the rest of the Our Gang kids, Alfalfa succeeds in scaring Aunt Penelope off the premises -- much to the delight of his long-suffering parents. Brimming with clever and inventive sight gags, Alfalfa's Aunt -- originally released on January 7, 1939 -- is one of the better MGM Our Gang entries. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Opening his own detective agency, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer dons a deerstalker cap and rechristens himself "X-10, Sooper Sleuth." His first assignment: to find out who stole a box of candy from Darla Hood. Suspecting that little Leonard Landy and Gary "Junior" Jasgar are the culprits, Alfie and his chief (and only) operatives Billy "Buckwheat" Thomas and Eugene "Porky" Lee put a tail on the two youngsters. Unfortunately, the three junior gumshoes are sidetracked to a seaside amusement pier, where they find themselves trapped in the fun-house. Scared out of their wits by various ersatz ghosts, monsters and spooky moans and groans, our heroes vow to give up the detective business forever -- if they live that long! Originally released on June 18, 1938, the one-reel Hide and Shriek was the final entry in producer Hal Roach's "Our Gang" series, and indeed, Roach's final short-subject release on any kind. Within a few months, however, the "Our Gang" property would be revived by MGM, remaining in production until 1943. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Upon learning that Darla Hood's father (Jack Pepper) owns a circus, Our Gang members Spanky McFarland and Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer try their best to impress Darla, hoping to land circus jobs. Never letting the facts get in the way of a good story, Alfalfa claims that he is an expert bear tamer, who uses his "magnetic personality" to hypnotize wild bears into submission. Overhearing this, Darla's dad decides to teach Alfie and Spanky a lesson, and to that end he disguises himself as a bear. Best line: "Alfalfa never turns back!" The one-reel "Our Gang" comedy Bear Facts was originally released on March 5, 1938. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Last week, fickle Darla Hood declared that she would not go out with neighborhood bully Butch (Tommy Bond) until he started behaving like a gentleman. This week, however, Darla is ga-ga over "muscle men" in general and self-styled wrestler Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer in particular. Thanks to the machinations of his manager Spanky McFarland, "Wildcat" Alfalfa is set to defend his championship title in a fixed bout against the "Masked Marvel"--in reality, the wimpy Waldo (Darwood Kaye). But what Alfie doesn't know is that a revenge-seeking Butch has traded places with Waldo. As he prepares to mop up the floor with the helpless Alfalfa, Butch is defeated through the trickery of Billy "Buckwheat" Thomas and Eugene "Porky" Lee -- but this time, both Alfalfa and Butch are losers when it comes to Darla. Originally released on April 16, 1938, Our Gang: Came the Brawn marked Spanky McFarland's final appearance in Hal Roach's "Our Gang" series, though Spanky would return to the property when it was purchased by MGM later in the year. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Briefly digressing from "Our Gang"'s new one-reel format, the series' December 18, 1937 release, Our Gang Follies of 1938, was expanded to two reels -- and the result is often considered to be the best "Gang" comedy of all. Another musical short in the tradition of Our Gang Follies of 1936 and Reunion in Rhythm, this one begins in the basement "theater" of Spanky McFarland, who serves as emcee of a lavish kiddie revue, built primarily around the talents of Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, "King of the Crooners." Alas, Alfalfa has decided to forego swing music in favor of grand opera, and to that end he walks out of the show and heads to the Cosmopolitan Opera House, where Mr. Barnaby (Henry Brandon), the troupe's bemused manager, jokingly signs Alfalfa to a contract -- effective twenty years later. Falling asleep, Alfalfa begins dreaming of his future, envisioning his name in lights all over Broadway. Alfie's dream turns into a nightmare when he loses his "gift" on the eve of his operatic debut, whereupon the now aged and wizened Barnaby forces the hapless crooner to sing in the streets. Our hero is rescued when he ventures into fashionable Club Spanky, where lead singer Darla Hood and orchestra leader Billy "Buckwheat" Thomas are now making "hundreds of thousands of dollars." Though at first insisting that he's a "slave to his art," Alfie finally breaks down and agrees to return to crooning -- but his dream, and the film, aren't quite over yet. Seldom has the imagination of a child been so vividly conveyed as in Our Gang Follies of 1938, wherein the standard "show-biz movie" cliches are played out and exaggerated for all they're worth. As a bonus, the film scores as both an uproarious comedy and a legitimately entertaining musical. Highlights include Alfalfa's unforgettable renditions of "I'm the Barber of Seville" and "Learn to Croon"; Darla's interpretation of "The Love Bug Will Get You If You Don't Watch Out"; "Loch Lomond", performed by Annabella Logan (who grew up to become fabled jazz singer Annie Ross); and "That Foolish Feeling" and "There's No Two Ways About It", sung and danced by Georgia Jean LaRue and Phil MacMahon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Comedian Johnny Arthur, who played Spanky McFarland's absent-minded father in the 1935 "Our Gang" comedy Anniversary Trouble, returns as the father of another Gang member, Darla Hood, in the one-reel entry Our Gang: Night 'N' Gales. Though he'd rather spend his evening in peace and quiet, Mr. Hood (Arthur) is forced to endure the offkey harmonizing of the Four Nightengales, a junior singing aggegation comprised of Spanky, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Billy "Buckwheat" Thomas and Eugene "Porky" Lee. After interminable choruses of "Home Sweet Home", the four boys are finally ready to leave, but are forced to stay in the Hood home due to a sudden rainstorm. Both Darla and her mother (Elaine Shepherd) are delighted, but Mr. Hood is dismayed, especially when he is told that he must share his bed with the Four Nightengales. Driven crazy by the boys' unintentionally disruptive shenanigans, Mr. Hood escapes to the living room and tries to sleep on the couch, covering himself with a bear rug to keep warm. You guessed it: The kids mistake him for a real bear, and comic chaos ensues. Highlighting this little comedy is a surrealistic dream sequence, underscored by the Nathaniel Shilkret composition "Funny and Mysterious" (a familiar leitmotif in many a Laurel and Hardy feature). Night 'N' Gales was originally released on July 24, 1937. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After appearing as a peripheral player in several earlier "Our Gang" shorts, Tommy Bond made a spectacular return to the series in Glove Taps. Here and in all future appearances, Bond is cast as neighborhood bully Butch, the bane of the existence of Spanky McFarland, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer and the rest of the Gang. Normally, Butch explains, he beats up every kid in school to prove that he's Big Man on Campus; but to save time, he'll lick the toughest kid in school. By a fluke, weak-kneed Alfalfa is chosen to face Butch in the barnyard boxing ring --- and he has only one day to train for the big bout! If the background music in this one-reel comedy sounds familiar, it should; much of it was lifted from Marvin Hatley's Oscar-nominated score for the Laurel and Hardy feature Way Out West (1937). A fast and funny exercise in adolescent wish-fulfillment, "Glove Taps" was originally released on February 20, 1937. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

It is Valentine's Day, and Our Gang members Spanky McFarland, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Billy "Buckwheat" Thomas and Eugene "Porky" Lee aren't impressed. Deciding that romance is the bunk, the boys form the He-Man Woman Hater's Club. Alfalfa is willing to go along with this until he falls head over heels in love with classmate Darla Hood. Hoping to scotch this relationship, Spanky, Buckwheat and Porky insert soap in the sandwich and cream puff that Darla has prepared for Alfalfa. Tortuously, Alfie downs the nauseating repast, rather than hurt Darla's feelings. Things get worse for the would-be Romeo when schoolteacher Miss Lawrence (Rosina Lawrence) prevails upon Alfalfa to offer a bubbly (in every sense of the word!) rendition of "Let Me Call You Sweetheart". The "Our Gang" one-reeler Hearts Are Thumps (sometimes misidentified as Hearts Are Trumps) was originally released on April 3, 1937. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Our Gang's resident crooner, has been preparing for weeks to perform in a radio talent contest. With Spanky McFarland as his manager, Alfalfa is a shoe-in for first prize -- until neighborhood bully Butch (Tommy Bond), who intends to perform a violin solo on the same radio show, threatens to blacken Spanky's eye unless Alfalfa withdraws from the contest. The terrified Spanky convinces Alfalfa that he has "a frog in his throat" and will be unable to perform. Eventually, however, Spanky's conscience gets the better of him, and he urges Alfalfa to sing anyway -- with surprising results. In the early scenes of the serial, the viewer is given a guided tour of the Gang's paste-and-paper "voice studio" (complete with Darla Hood as receptionist and Eugene "Porky" Lee and Billy "Buckwheat" Thomas as go-fers). Framing Youth was originally released on September 11, 1937. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Acting as if the previous "Our Gang" one-reeler Hearts are Thumps never happened, the Gang's male members, headed by Spanky McFarland, decide to create the He-Man Woman Hater's Club. When the kids ask who will be elected president, Spanky nominates his pal Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer in absentia -- because everyone knows that Alfalfa "hates women." Alas, at this very moment Alfie is writing a love letter to his sweetheart Darla Hood. Just as he sends Billy "Buckwheat" Thomas and Eugene "Porky" Lee to deliver the note, Alfalfa is informed that he has been unanimously elected president of Spanky's new club. Without even asking what the club is all about, Alfie declares that all rules must be obeyed, lest the members suffer a paddling at the hands of "sergeant-at-arms" Henry "Spike" Lee. Only then does he discover that he has agreed to take charge of the He-Man Woman Hater's Club -- and from this point forward, it's every He-Man for himself! One of the best-remembered "Our Gang" comedies, Mail and Female was originally released on November 13, 1937. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Having successful moved his top comedians Laurel & Hardy from short subjects to features, producer Hal Roach endeavored to do the same with the Our Gang Kids in 1936's General Spanky. Set in the South during the Civil War, the story focuses on Spanky (George "Spanky" McFarland), an orphaned shoeshine boy who works his way down the Mississippi by riverboat. After messing up the activities of crooked gambler Simmons (Irving Pichel), Spanky is forced to jump ship, along with his newfound buddy, fugitive slave child Buckwheat (Billy Thomas). The kids find shelter in the home of handsome Marshall Valiant (Phillips Holmes), who just before marching off to war instructs Spanky and Buckwheat to protect Marshall's sweetheart Louella Blanchard (Rosina Lawrence) in his absence. Taking his responsibilities seriously, Spanky forms a "home guard" consisting of Alfalfa (Carl Switzer), Porky (Eugene Lee) and several other local kids. In this capacity, they manage to fend off a clumsy Northern regiment commandeered by Spanky's old nemesis Simmons, thereby earning the lasting friendship of a kindly Yankee general (Ralph Morgan). The Civil War setting is not entirely appropriate to the antics of Our Gang, and as a result General Spanky is more peculiar than funny. The film's lukewarm box-office performance might have spelled the end of "Our Gang" had not Hal Roach's distributor, MGM, demanded that the series continue in short-subject form. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After several years away from the Our Gang series, the gang's longtime mentor Robert F. McGowan briefly resumed his directorial activities with the sidesplitting Divot Diggers. The action takes place at an expansive California golf course, where the Our Gang kids merrily play their own ragtag version of golf with their own makeshift clubs. When the course's regular caddies quit en masse, the desperate caddy master hires the gang members as replacements. The kids -- and their gibberish-spouting pet chimpanzee -- proceed to drive an adult foursome crazy, then put the finishing touch on an imperfect day by accidentally commandeering a lawn-mowing tractor. To list the film's best verbal and visual gags would require a website in itself; suffice to say that the film packs an inordinate amount of laughs into its brief 14 minutes. Augmented by a terrific LeRoy Shield musical score (including such familiar Hal Roach leitmotifs as "Hot and Dry," "Standing on the Corner," and "Beyond the Rainbow"), Divot Diggers made its theatrical debut on February 8, 1936. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide