Series: Our Gang Director: Robert F. McGowan Producer: Hal Roach Titles: H.M. Walker Photography: Harry W. Gerstad Editor: Thomas J. Crizer Stars: Mickey Daniels, Jack Davis, Joe Cobb, Allen Hoskins, Jackie Condon, Ernest Morrison Company: Pathé Exchange Released: 13 May 1923 Length: 2 reels Production No.: A-12 Filming dates: November 20 - December 19, 1922; & February 15, 1923 Rating: 3/10

Giants vs. Yanks

A baseball game among two sets of young boys is disrupted when one of the team fails to show up. Joe is warned that unless his players arrive in five minutes they will forfeit the game. 'Bugle-nose' Davis (Jack) is late to attend the game owing to him having to chop wood in the yard but he eventually gets fed up and makes to leave. His brother, 'Squealer' (Condon) threatens to tell their mother unless he takes him with him. The boys fight and their mom comes out to break it up and tells Jack to get back to chopping the wood, much to his brother's amusement. Joe shows up to remind Jack about the game; meanwhile Mickey is also detained with chores. Farina and Ernie have their issues dealing with farm yard animals when Joe arrives to remind them about the game. They make a deal that if Joe helps Ernie catch a turkey then they can get off to the game. Jack also has ideas - a hobo wanders by and Jack offers him breakfast in return for him chopping the wood. The hobo takes one chop of the wood and is exhausted so he ends up entertaining Squealer with some tricks. Jack brings him the food and quickly leaves for the game. Mr. & Mrs. Reddy, a wealthy couple are introduced. They leave their home and find the boys who have just arrived at the field for their baseball game. Mrs. Reddy asks the boys if she can 'borrow' their baby for a while owing to her fondness of children. The boys are happy to let them do so (god bless the 1920s!) So the game eventually gets under way with the Yanks batting first. Squealer sits on the ground trying to figure out a hat trick the hobo taught him while Farina acts as umpire.

A fight breaks out between the two teams when an umpire call is challenged but the confrontation is broken up when the land owner comes by and kicks them all off. Jack goes to the house of the couple who borrowed his baby sister and lets himself in. Imogene is playing with some puppies and the boys suddenly become excited. The kids all sit down on the floor and begin playing with the dogs. Farina starts to itch as Jack, Jackie, Ernie and Joe mess about together. Mr. Reddy arrives home to find all the kids in his hallway and tells them to leave but a doctor who has arrived at the house to attend to the sick maid tells everybody she has contagious fever and that the house is now under quarantine. The kids go absolutely crazy! Cushions are thrown everywhere, kids swinging from the light fixtures, pianos and gramophones being ruined... the place is wrecked. After Jack, Ernie, Mickey and Joe wreck havoc in the bathtub they lock themselves in a bedroom and start rummaging around the wardrobes and pulling out all the clothes. Strangely enough the clothes seem to fit them, and they parade in them. Jack finds a rifle and shoots a stuffed squirrel. Ernie, Mickey and then Joe all take turns at shooting a stuffed bird, with the bullets flying through the bedroom door and into Mr. Reddy who has come to investigate. While all this is going on Jackie is downstairs painting the baby black. Mr. & Mrs. Reddy take the kids to the bathroom to clean them up but the carnage continues elsewhere. In desperation, the boys are offered candy as a bribe in exchange for them behaving themselves. The kids end up decorating their faces with the sweets as their parents come to the house looking for them. Knowing they cannot be apprehended due to the quarantine, the boys mock their parents from the porch. However, when the doctor reconsiders that the boys can be released they are all rounded up by their parents and spanked in the street.

Favourite bit It's a brief moment with Dick Gilbert who is offered a meal in exchange for him chopping some wood. He picks up the axe and takes one chop and then is knackered!

Trivia • Copyrighted April 27, 1923. • The twelfth film in the series. • In the baseball game, the Giants consist of Mickey, Jack, Jackie, Farina, Ernie. The Yanks are led by Andy Samuel. • There is a scene when Joe throws a cushion and knocks Farina off the gramophone and onto the floor. Firstly, in the close-up shot on Farina, it is a different cushion that hits him from the one that is thrown. Secondly, he falls backwards which was dangerous; and thirdly it looks like he legitimately hurt himself and was crying for real. • William Gillespie performs quite a decent head-stand in front of the children. • Farina drags the baby down the stairs in a minature bath tub. Holy shit! What were the film makers thinking?! • Some sources incorrectly list Fanny Kelly as Mickey's mother (this is actually Molly Thompson) and Clara Guiol as the maid (this is Vera White). My opinion • It's not a particularly good film. Very little baseball and a plot which just isn't credible. Looks like a lot of kids having a lot of fun, which is great for them but it doesn't make for entertainment for us. Pretty pointless in my opinion.

	Mickey Daniels Mickey
	Jack Davis Bugle-nose Davis
	Joe Cobb Squeaky
	Allen Hoskins Farina
	Jackie Condon Squealer
	Ernest Morrison Ernie
	Doris Oelze Imogene
	Andy Samuel Cooty Martin
	William Gillespie Mr. Husband
	Beth Darlington Mrs. Reddy (a.k.a. Mrs. Wife)
	Dick Gilbert Hungry Hogan
	Wallace Howe Physician
	Ernest Morrison Sr. Ernie's father
	Molly Thompson Mickey's mother
	Vera White Maid
	Florence Hoskins Black maid
	Roy Brooks Plainclothes officer

UNIDENTIFIED CAST

INTERTITLES (click image to enlarge)

STILLS (click any image to enlarge)

SHOT ON LOCATION (click any image to enlarge)

Acknowledgements: The Little Rascals: The Life And Times Of Our Gang by Leonard Maltin & Richard W. Bann (book) http://theluckycorner.com/rps/012.html (Robert Demoss/The Lucky Corner) Fran Gilbert (still) Matthew Lydick (identification of Molly Thompson instead of Fanny Kelly, and Vera White instead of Clara Guiol) Steve Rydzewski (help) This page was last updated on: 13 May 2020