The Kid from Borneo (1933)

Director:

Robert F. McGowan

Release Date:

15 April 1933 (USA)

Genre:

Family | Short | Comedy

Plot:

The gang goes to a circus sideshow to visit Dickie and Spanky's uncle, mistakenly believing he is "The Wild Man from Borneo." |

Plot Keywords:

Our Gang | Technocracy | Children

Cast

Matthew 'Stymie' Beard	...	Stymie
Harry Bernard	...	Sideshow manager
Tommy Bond	...	Tommy
John 'Uh huh' Collum	...	Uh Huh
Dorothy DeBorba	...	Dorothy
Dick Gilbert	...	Worker
Henry Hanna
Bobby 'Wheezer' Hutchins	...	Wheezer
Dickie Jackson
John Lester Johnson	...	Bumbo, "The Wild Man From Borneo"
George 'Spanky' McFarland	...	Spanky
Dickie Moore	...	Dickie
Pete the Pup	...	Pete the Pup
Otto Fries	...	The Kid's Dad (uncredited)
May Wallace	...	The Kid's Mother (uncredited)

Directed by
Robert F. McGowan		(as Robert McGowan)

Produced by
Robert F. McGowan	....	producer
Hal Roach	....	producer

Original Music by
Leroy Shield

Cinematography by
Art Lloyd

Film Editing by
Bert Jordan

Production Companies

• Hal Roach Studios Inc.

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1933) (USA) (theatrical)
• Spotlite Video (1985) (USA) (VHS)
• Republic Pictures Home Video (????) (USA) (VHS)

Runtime:

18 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Company:

Hal Roach Studios Inc.

Trivia:

This was one of the shorts that was removed from the Little Rascals television syndication package due to racial content.

Quotes:

Spanky: [thinking the wild man is going to eat him] You don't want to eat me... mom says I'm spoiled!

Little Rascals were cute

I remember seeing the original Our Gang Comedies (the silent films) on television in the Fifties. Joe Cobb, the little fat kid, was the leader at that time just as Spanky MacFarland became in the Thirties. Mary Kornman was a pretty little blonde girl who preceded Darla Hood as the sweetheart of the gang. Freckled faced Mickey Daniels was Alfalfa's predecessor and Farina was the only black child in the gang. Later would come Stymie and Buckwheat. The gang used to build soap box derby cars that would actually run and they had their own clubhouse. I think it was the inventiveness of the kids that actually appealed to the kids in the Fifties. How many of them had actually built a soapbox car with wheels that they took off the Irish Mail (Say What, it was an early scooter) or their sister's baby carriage. If their father was watching with them, perhaps he would recall building something like this as kids did back then. They had tree houses or club houses with signs that said "No Girls Allowed." Remember the Women Haters Club that Spanky started and Alfalfa couldn't join because Darla talked him out of it. That is what made the series cute and entertaining. The politically correct critics always look at everything in a modern sense. The stereotype was not meant to be mean, just a reflection of the times.