Series: Our Gang Director: Gordon Douglas Producer: Hal Roach Photography: Art Lloyd Editor: William H. Ziegler Sound: William Randall Stars: Carl Switzer, George McFarland, Tommy Bond, Billie Thomas, Eugene Lee, Sidney Kibrick Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Released: 10 February 1937 Length: 1 reel Production No.: K-6 Filming dates: January 11-30, 1937 Rating: 7/10

Glove Taps

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Butch and Woim are scoping out the school in preparation for when they start there on Monday when the other kids begin filing out at the end of the day. Butch confronts them and asks who is the toughest kid, with Alfalfa accidentally nominating himself! Butch challenges Alfalfa to a fight to take place the next day and Spanky decides to train him for it. Spanky reads a book called How To Be A Fighter whilst Alfalfa does his training. Porky and Buckwheat bring in a dummy which resembles Alflafa and say they are practicing for when they have to do it for real! Alfalfa gets worried but Spanky continues to push Alfalfa with his training, by stretching him out on a table and then getting him to shadow box inside the ring. Eager to give Alfalfa some confidence, Spanky sets up a sparring session for Alfalfa to train with Buckwheat but Buckwheat knocks Alfalfa flat out! When Alfalfa wakes up Spanky lies and tells him that Alfalfa actually knocked out Buckwheat, restoring Alfalfa's confidence. Alfalfa is now ready to take on Butch. The day of the fight arrives and Spanky acts as referee, introducing both boys to a small crowd of spectators who have gathered around ringside. As you would have expected Butch is dominant, knocking Alfalfa on his ass and into the ropes in the first round. The second round starts and it's all Butch until Buckwheat and Porky get behind the ring curtain and smash Butch over the head with a loaded boxing glove, knocking him out. Alfalfa gets the fortuitous win and celebrates by standing on his fallen opponent and doing his Tarzan call.

Favourite bit When Spanky is stretching Alfalfa.

Trivia • Copyrighted March 9, 1937. • Film #152 in the series. • Also listed for February 20, 1937. • Alfalfa's ring name is "The Oklahoma Wildcat". • No adults are seen throughout the entire film. My opinion • Blimey, this film is short and to the point! Nothing wrong with it I suppose, but nothing special about it either. Always good to see the bully beaten, even if it is in lucky circumstances. Darla Hood's eleventh appearance in the series is a blink-and you'll miss her moment with one line of dialogue right at the beginning. It's basically Spanky, Alfalfa and Butch in the spotlight with a basic plot of bully versus underdog and the bully getting his comeupance. I've seen worse. Actually, I've seen a LOT worse!

	Carl Switzer Alfalfa
	George McFarland Spanky
	Tommy Bond Butch Raffety
	Billie Thomas Buckwheat
	Eugene Lee Porky
	Sidney Kibrick Woim
	Darwood Kaye Audience member
	Darla Hood Darla
	Jerry Tucker Kid
	Rex Downing Kid
	Harold Switzer Kid
	John Collum Audience member
	Donald Proffitt Kid
	Robert Winkler Kid
	Joe Levine Kid
	Hugh Sheridan Kid
	Jack Lindquist Kid
	Larry Harris Kid
	Calvin Ellison Kid
	Hugh Champman Kid
	Bobs Watson Kid (*according to Bob Demoss)

CREDITS (click image to enlarge)

POSTER (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/rmt/152.html (Bob Demoss/The Lucky Corner) Matthew Lydick (identification of some cast members and screenshot - Hugh Sheridan) This page was last updated on: 19 September 2021