Series: Our Gang Director: Robert F. McGowan Producer: Hal Roach Titles: H.M. Walker Photography: Art Lloyd Editor: Richard C. Currier Stars: Joe Cobb, Jackie Condon, Mickey Daniels, Allen Hoskins, Johnny Downs, Mary Kornman Company: Pathé Exchange Released: 27 September 1925 Length: 2 reels Production No.: K-2 Filming dates: June 30 - July 29, 1925 Rating: 5/10

Your Own Back Yard

Available on DVD:

The film begins with Farina crying and his mother comforting him by singing song to him to "stay in his own back yard". Outside, Farina is swinging on his garden gate when he sees Jackie and Johnny having fun. Farina is out of sorts with the rest of the gang because his goat ate up two bicycles and a radio and is told to go away before being roughed up by Johnny for attempting to ride on his scooter. Farina's mother tells him to stay in his own back yard, where he sits and watches two chickens fighting over a worm before Farina is knocked into a trough by the unsuccessful chicken. Mickey emerges from a shop with an ice cream when Joe comes running into him, knocking Mickey down and squashing his desert. Mary stops Joe, who tells her that he is on his way home to advise his mother that according to the doctor a new baby is at their house; whilst Farina finds enough money to go and buy himself an ice cream. Johnny and Jackie play a trick on Mary by getting her to pose to their camera for a photo but instead they squirt water at her. Joe comes over and Mary asks him about the new baby before Joe falls victim to the water-squirting prank courtesy of Johnny and Jackie. Mickey then becomes the latest victim of Johnny's camera prank. The group call Farina over on the promise he can take the next picture. A reluctant Farina comes over to them and is pranked once again.

A totally fed-up Farina skulks off and bumps into a boy with "Mexican jumping beans", whilst the rest of the group take advantage of free dental cream being given out by a guy on the street. When Farina's mother sees the jumping beans she tosses them onto the floor to be eaten by all the animals. Next thing you know, there are chickens and horses jumping all over the place (see favourite bit). Farina ventures back out into the yard and threatens to report the gang to a policeman, as they sit around with dental cream on their faces. Meanwhile a lady gets trapped inside a store on account of dogs chasing her and calls for the cops to come and shoot them. Farina walks along the sidewalk and spots a couple and tries to be helpful but it backfires. The cops show up and start blasting away at the dogs but the gang believe the cops are after them after being snitched on by Farina, as he threatened. The dogs stop by a taxidermist and pretend to be stuffed so that the police don't find them, as Farina hides. He overhears an officer say to a colleague, "The one with the curley hair is the worst - shoot him on sight". Farina thinks the cops are after him and so begins running. He gets stuck in a revolving doorway and becomes disorientated and sits in a chair with a sign saying "I AM BLIND" before falling asleep. When he awakens to find his cup full of money from passers-by. He uses the money to buy a suit from a store across the street then returns to the gang pulling a cart full of balloons. When they try to befriend him, Farina tells them to go and play in their own back yard. He finally wins the war!

Favourite bit The sequence after Farina's mother tosses away the Mexican jumping beans and then all the animals in the yard start jumping and hopping about is actually quite funny!

Trivia • Copyrighted August 28, 1925, by Pathé Exchange, Inc. Registration no. LU21857. Since the copyright was not renewed, this film is now in the public domain. • The 43rd film in the series to be released. • There were 35 copies of this film printed for its initial release. • The film, along with "The Love Bug" was restored and released to DVD in 2018 by C-W Films. The screenshots on this page are from this release. You can order a copy from rjc35@hotmail.com • Reportedly, 21 shooting dates went into the making of this film, more than usual for this time period. It seems likely that unused footage from this production went into "One Wild Ride" (no. 45), which was shot in only four days. Two weeks after filming finished on "Better Movies" (no. 43), the 'start' date for "Your Own Back Yard" arrived on June 30th. Shooting continued until July 16th, after which it was suspended for some reason. According to Maltin & Bann, some of reel one was reshot after a disappointing preview, so presumably this explains the delay. The datebook entry for the 17th reads 'will not shoot until July 20th,' and for the 18th, it similarly reads 'not working until 20th.' Filming resumed, not surprisingly, on July 20th, but lasted only until July 23rd. The entry for the 24th reads 'will not shoot until Monday,' while the entry for the 25th similarly reads 'not shooting until Monday.' Sure enough, filming resumed on Monday, July 27th (though the production is mistakenly labeled E-2 rather than K-2), and lasted until July 29th. After this, four days of shooting went into "One Wild Ride," with August 4th being the day when filming was 'finished' (something that hadn't been indicated since "Better Movies"). No shooting took place on July 5th, 12th, 19th or 26th, which were all Sundays, nor on July 4th, which was Independence Day. It should also be noted that McGowan shared his directorial duties with Len Powers on July 10th, 11th and 13th. • Farina wears a ring on the fourth finger of his right hand. • Johnny's scooter has his name "John Downs" written on it. • In the scene where the two chickens are playing tug-o-war with the worm, you can see a string attached to the chicken's head which is being pulled off-camera to make it bob up and down. This is clearly seen in the Robin Cook DVD print due to how clean it is. • Just how reckless are the policemen in their pursuit of the stray dogs, shooting their guns off all over the place where children are in the area. • Farina's goat is called Narcippus. Alternative prints with non-original titles calls him Narcissus. • There is a shot of Farina standing in the middle of the street with the camera doing a 360 degrees rotation around him. Click here for the stitched image. My opinion • Amusing in parts, though I do have to wonder about the unnecessary levels of violence and abuse on show here. Farina spends far too much of the film crying (looks quite genuine as well). Johnny and Jackie give Farina a beating early in the film as well. I mean, there must have been someone giving them instructions to do this. And I seriously don't know if a child can cry on cue either. So it makes you wonder what the hell was going on behind the camera!

	Joe Cobb Joe
	Jackie Condon Jackie
	Mickey Daniels Mickey
	Allen 'Farina' Hoskins Farina
	Johnny Downs Johnny
	Mary Kornman Mary
	William Gillespie Man in quarrelsome couple
	Fay Wray Woman in quarrelsome couple
	Harry Bowen Donor
	Chet Brandenburg Policeman
	Charles Oelze Samples man
	Eva Downs Woman who reports dogs

UNIDENTIFIED CAST

CREDITS (click image to enlarge)	INTERTITLES (click image to enlarge)

GLASS SLIDE (click any image to enlarge)

SHOT ON LOCATION (click any image to enlarge) Chris Bungo's "Then & Now" video presentation PART 1/5 Chris Bungo's "Then & Now" video presentation PART 2/5 Chris Bungo's "Then & Now" video presentation PART 3/5 Chris Bungo's "Then & Now" video presentation PART 4/5 Chris Bungo's "Then & Now" video presentation PART 5/5

Acknowledgements: http://www.theluckycorner.com/rps/044.html (Robert Demoss/The Lucky Corner) The Little Rascals: The Life And Times Of Our Gang by Leonard Maltin & Richard W. Bann (book) Robin Cook (assistance and generosity) Chris Bungo (locations videos) This page was last updated on: 23 November 2023