Sprucin' Up

This Hal Roach comedy short, Sprucin' Up, is the one hundred thirty-seventh in the "Our Gang/Little Rascals" series and the forty-ninth talkie. In this one, Spanky, Alfalfa, and Scotty don't like to wash up when going outside...until the truant officer moves into the neighborhood with a little girl they all get smitten over. Spank manages to distract the others away from the girl but once inside-Alfalfa manages to also sneak in, leading to a rivalry between them over her. I'll stop there and just say this was another hilarious entry in the series especially when Spanky and Alfalfa trade dialogue. The girl, Marianne Edwards, is cute enough but isn't the heartthrob that Darla Hood would eventually become when she arrived several shorts later...

This is the second Our Gang comedy with Alfalfa--and the first where he was a co-star. The film begins with the boys being messy and dirty old boys. However, when a cute little girl moves in the neighborhood, the boys quickly clean up their act. Spanky quickly rushes over to the house and meets the father (Dick Elliot) and soon invites himself inside to see the daughter. Once inside the house, however, Spanky finds that Alfalfa is already there and the two rivals spend the rest of the film trying to one-up the other and impress the girl.

While not a terrible idea for a film, this one suffers from not going particularly anywhere once the rivals meet. A cute idea that simple didn't deliver much in the way of laughs.

By the way, you may well recognize Dick Elliot, as he was a very familiar face on TV--playing a lot of folks, including the mayor on "The Andy Griffith Show".

An OUR GANG Comedy Short.

The guys in the Gang don't want to keep neat & clean, but they start SPRUCIN' UP when a cute new girl moves in across the street. Soon it's Spanky versus Alfalfa for the little lady's affections.

A funny little film. Highlight: the boys' chin-ups competition. That's Dick Elliott as the new neighbor's father.

In this Our Gang short, Spanky, Alfalfa and the Gang just can't stand the fact that their mothers are always trying to get them to wash their ears, and shine their shoes, and comb their hair, etc. That is, until a pretty young girl moves in across the street. She also happens to be daughter to the new truant officer. Several moderately funny moments lead up to the ultimate battle between Spanky and Alfalfa for the young girl's affection. The chin-up contest between them is very funny and is prime example of a great comic team at work. All in all, "Sprucin' Up" has it's share of lulls, but will still leave you smiling.