Our Gang personnel

This page is a listing of the significant cast and crew for Hal Roach's Our Gang short subjects series, which ran in movie theatres from 1922 to 1944.

Our Gang kids (and pets)

Our Gang's lineup changed frequently; as kids left the series or outgrew their roles, new kids were recruited to join the cast. Some of the cast additions were direct changings-of-the-guard, and those are annotated accordingly. The groupings are not meant to represent a cast lineup for a particular Our Gang short from the period it represents, but rather a more general listing of the main members of the cast during the period.

Early silents period: 1922-1926

• Ernie "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison
• Mickey Daniels
• Mary Kornman
• Peggy Cartwright
• Jackie Condon
• Jackie Davis
• Johnny Downs
• Allen "Farina" Hoskins
• Joe Cobb
• Eugene "Pineapple" Jackson (replaced Sammy in 1925)
• Andy Samuel
• Pal the Wonderdog
• Dinah the Mule

1926-1929

Late silents period

• Allen "Farina" Hoskins
• Jackie Condon
• Joe Cobb
• Jay R. Smith (replaced Mickey in 1926)
• Jean Darling (replaced Mary in 1926)
• Harry Spear
• Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins
• Mary Ann Jackson
• Bobby "Bonedust" Young
• Mildred Kornman
• Dinah the Mule
• Pete the Pup

     Robert Widmer aka Whitey

1929-1931

Early sound period

• Allen "Farina" Hoskins
• Mary Ann Jackson
• Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins
• Bobby "Bonedust" Young
• Norman "Chubby" Chaney (replaced Joe Cobb in 1929)
• Jackie Cooper
• Donald Haines
• Dorothy DeBorba
• Matthew "Stymie" Beard (joined in 1930, became Farina's replacement in 1931)
• Buddy McDonald
• Shirley Jean Rickert
• Pete the Pup (the original Pete aka Pal the Wonderdog was poisoned in 1930, trainer Harry Lucenay used Pete's pups--who all appear in Pups is Pups (1930)--in the series after they reached maturity starting in 1931)
• Dinah the Mule

1931-1933

Early transitional period

• Matthew "Stymie" Beard
• Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins
• Dorothy DeBorba
• Donald Haines
• Jerry Tucker
• George "Spanky" McFarland
• Tommy Bond
• Sherwood Bailey
• Kendall "Breezy Brisbane" McComas
• Dickie Moore
• Jacquie Lyn‎
• John "Uh-huh" Collum
• Pete the Pup (Lucenay left the Roach studio in 1932; unrelated, dissimilar bulldogs played Pete in subsequent films)

1934-1935

Mid-transitional period

• George "Spanky" McFarland
• Matthew "Stymie" Beard
• Kurt "Sassafrass" Klier
• Jerry Tucker
• Tommy Bond (left in 1934, would return in 1937 as "Butch")
• Wally Albright
• Scotty Beckett
• Jackie Lynn Taylor
• Leonard Kibrick
• Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas (joined in 1934, became Stymie's replacement in 1935)
• Pete the Pup

1935

Late transitional period

• George "Spanky" McFarland
• Scotty Beckett
• Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas
• Jerry Tucker
• Leonard Kibrick
• Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer (joined in 1935, became Scotty Beckett's replacement in 1936)
• Harold Switzer
• Darla Hood
• Eugene "Porky" Lee
• Pete the Pup
• Elmer the Monkey

1936-1939

Late Roach/Early MGM period

• George "Spanky" McFarland
• Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer
• Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas
• Darla Hood
• Eugene "Porky" Lee
• Tommy "Butch" Bond (replaced Leonard in 1937)
• Sidney "The Woim" Kibrick
• Darwood "Waldo" Kaye
• Gary "Junior" Jasgar
• Harold Switzer
• Leonard Landy
• Pete the Pup
• Elmer the Monkey

1939-1942

Transitional MGM period

• George "Spanky" McFarland
• Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer
• Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas
• Darla Hood
• Leonard Landy
• Mickey Gubitosi aka actor Robert Blake (replaced first Junior, and then Porky, in 1939)
• Billy "Froggy" Laughlin (joined in 1940, replaced Alfalfa in 1941)
• Janet Burston (made guest appearances from 1940 until she replaced Darla in 1942)
• Violet the Goat

1942-1944

Late MGM period

• Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas
• Billy "Froggy" Laughlin
• Bobby "Mickey" Blake (Gubitosi changed his name in 1942)
• Janet Burston
• Violet the Goat

Other notable Our Gang kids

• Dorothy Dandridge, the first African-American actress to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, made her film debut as an extra in Teacher's Beau in 1935.
• Annabella Logan, later famous as jazz singer Annie Ross, sings one of the musical numbers in Our Gang Follies of 1938.
• Philip Hurlic, a successful child actor, had small parts in several late-1930s Our Gang shorts, and temporarily took Buckwheat's place as a member of the main cast for 1938's Feed 'Em and Weep.
• Sonny Bupp, also a successful child actor, played bit roles in several late-1930s Our Gang shorts, including a prominent role in 1938's Men in Fright.
• Juanita Quigley, a successful child actress, appeared in two MGM Our Gang shorts as "Sally": 1940's The New Pupil and 1942's Going to Press.
• Darryl Hickman, a successful child actor, made a featured guest appearance in Going to Press (1942). His younger brother Dwayne Hickman, later famous as the star of TV's The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, had a bit part in another 1942 short, Melodies Old and New.

Recurring adult actors

Many of the regular adult actors in Our Gang also frequently appeared in other Hal Roach comedies, including the Charley Chase and Laurel and Hardy series:

• June Marlowe as Miss Crabtree, the schoolteacher (1930-1932)
• Rosina Lawrence as Miss Lawrence/Miss Jones, the schoolteacher (1936-1937)
• Edgar Kennedy as Kennedy the cop (1929-1930)
• Emerson Treacy and Gay Seabrook as Spanky's parents (1933)
• George and Olive Brasno (1934's Shrimps for a Day and 1936's Arbor Day)
• Hattie McDaniel as Buckwheat's mother (1935-1936)
• William Newell and Barbara Bedford as Alfalfa's parents (1938-1940)
• Jimmy Finlayson
• Charlie Hall
• James C. Morton
• Mae Busch
• Johnny Arthur
• Clarence Wilson
• Billy Gilbert
• Lyle Tayo
• Otto Fries

Directors

Hal Roach Studio

• Fred Newmeyer (1922 short Our Gang, 1936 shorts The Pinch Singer and Arbor Day, 1937 short Mail and Female, and General Spanky)
• Robert F. McGowan (1922 - 1933; 1936 short Divot Diggers)
• Robert A. McGowan (1926 - 1930) (Robert F.'s nephew, usually credited as "Anthony Mack")
• Gus Meins (1934 - 1936)
• Gordon Douglas (1936 - 1938 and General Spanky)
• James W. Horne (1930 short When the Wind Blows)
• James Parrott (1934 short Washee Ironee)
• Nate Watt (1938 shorts Three Men in a Tub and The Awful Tooth)

MGM

• Gordon Douglas (1938 shorts The Little Ranger and Aladdin's Lantern)
• George Sidney (1938 - 1939)
• Edward L. Cahn (1939 - 1942; 1943 short Three Smart Guys)
• Herbert Glazer (1942 - 1943)
• Sam Baerwitz (1943 short Calling All Kids)
• Cy Endfield (the final three 1944 shorts in the series: Radio Bugs, Dancing Romeo, and Tale of a Dog)

Key writers

• H.M. Walker (1922 - 1932)
• Walter Lantz (mid-1920s)
• Leo McCarey (early to mid-1920s)
• Frank Capra (mid-1920s)
• Charley Chase (early 1920s)
• Frank Tashlin (mid-1930s)
• Hal Roach (1922 - mid 1930s)
• Robert F. McGowan (1922 - 1933)
• Hal Law (wrote most of the MGM shorts)
• Robert A. McGowan (wrote most of the MGM shorts)

Musicians

• Marvin Hatley
• Leroy Shield

Surviving cast members

As of February 13, 2009, the following Our Gang kids are still living:

• Robert Blake
• Jackie Cooper
• Jean Darling
• Mildred Kornman
• Dorothy DeBorba
• Sidney Kibrick
• Leonard Landy
• Dickie Moore
• Jackie Lynn Taylor
• Jerry Tucker

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