Small Talk

This first of the Hal Roach "Our Gang" talkies sure looks and sounds dated, dialog-wise, with the first character on screen somebody I never remember seeing. It was Joe Cobb playing "Joe." Cobb was a huge kid, bigger than "Spanky." A little research here at IMDb shows he was in a lot of the "Our Gang" silent films and appears to be in a few of the early talkies and then, perhaps, just got too old for the part. Whatever, he certainly has an interesting face for a kid.

Actually, for those (like me) who just remember "Our Gang" for Spanky, Alfalfa, Darla, Buckwheat, etc., this early "gang" is new. Names like, "Wheezer, Mary Ann, Harry, Chubby and Jean" are probably not familiar ones to many of us. Mary Ann's face, with all the freckles,looked familiar and Mary Ann Jackson was a good actress, too - at least better than most of the gang. The worst was little "Weezer" who looked at the director a lot more than he looked at whom he was talking to on screen.

Anyway, this is a story of the kids getting adopted. They all belong to an orphanage and one of them, Wheezer, is adopted by a nice lady. Even though his new parents are rich and give him expensive toys, Wheezer gets lonely for his orphanage pals. Things are kind of dull until the halfway point of this 25-minute film when the Gang visits Wheezer. How they knew where he lived is beyond me but they show up at this mansion and then humorous things begin to happen.

Their reaction to mechanical toys in the mansion are funny. Farina (who obviously pre-dated Buckwheat) has encounters with dead birds who sing and statues who whistle, both of which freak him out. Wheezer's lonesomeness is cured when kind-hearted Mary shows up. Soon, they all want to be adopted and the ending is a sweet one....a feel-good one.

There are funny moments in here and overall it's "cute" but more of curiosity-piece. I saw this on the 2008 DVD set titled, "The Little Rascals: The Complete Collection." The transfers are excellent, by the way, so kudos to "Genius Products" for putting out a first-class DVD package.

With the coming of sound, Hal Roach Studios equipped their stages with sound equipment in early 1929. "Small Talk" probably went before the cameras in March and was released in May, while several previously filmed "Our Gang" silent comedies were still to be issued to theaters.

The story involves Wheezer being adopted by a wealthy woman of society, leaving his sister, Mary Ann, behind at the orphanage. The Gang decide to visit Wheezer, causing their usual brand of chaos and confusion before the happy ending with Pete the Pup singing at the piano.

"Small Talk" is a curio mostly because it is the first "Our Gang" talkie. However, the personalities of the individual members come through, and they give engaging performances. This being an early talkie, the young actors (and the adults, for that matter) have yet to master how to talk naturally on camera; but the kids are so likeable, the stilted dialogue is a minor annoyance.

If you have the Blackhawk video release of this film from 1984, you can see the boom mike stationed above the kitchen table in the opening scenes. Subsequent video releases appear to have been framed differently, and you cannot see the mike. Where to place the microphone in this transitional period was one of the main challenges of the early talkies.

6 out of 10.

Directors filming silent movies had the luxury of yelling instructions to their actors while the cameras were cranking away. Actors were taught to avoid eye contact with the directors while following their verbal guidance as the scenes played out. Rehearsals were conducted before filming, but when the directors noticed nuances needed corrections, they were there off frame barking their commands.

The Hal Roach series Our Gang consisted of children with little acting experience. The kids relied on their directors to guide them on the set since many of their scenes were improvised. When microphone recordings arrived, it became apparent these young actors required some extra preparations before they were comfortable speaking their dialogue. Our Gang's first talkie, and its 86th overall episode, was May 1929's "Small Talk."

The Robert McGowan co-written and directed plot involves Weezer as the lone gang member adopted from their orphanage. Weezer gets pretty lonely in his new digs. It's not long, however, when his friends leave the orphanage to visit him, causing all sorts of commotion.

The Rascals' first talking assignment was much more difficult for the veteran director McGowan than his silent efforts with the kids. They had trouble delivering their lines in a natural way. The twelve shooting days it took to make the 25-minute short, almost double the gang's normal production days, was largely due to the excessive retakes it took to get their lines delivered. As the production of each episode took place, the childhood actors eventually became comfortable talking in front of the camera.

Roach was able to spend the large amount of money to outfit his studio with expensive audio equipment by inking a new distribution contract with MGM after he ended his relationship with Pathe. The larger movie company not only gave Roach a more lucrative production budget, but the tie-in with MGM allowed Our Gang shorts to play in front of a greater amount of movie goers through the Loews' theater chain.

Small Talk (1929)

** (out of 4)

The first "Our Gang" talkie has Weezer getting adopted by a wealthy family but they leave his sister behind. The group then decides to pay Weezer a visit and chaos follows. I must admit that I didn't care too much for this short due in large part to the technical side of things but I also found the screenplay to be quite tiresome. The biggest problem is that there really aren't too many laughs as the entire movie just seems to be setting itself up for the rather stupid ending. That wouldn't be a bad thing had there been more laughs but there are very few and the only one that comes to mind is when the five runaway children think they're going to be hung for it. Being an early talkie is another problem as none of the cast members, adult or kids, know how to work their performance for sound.

This Hal Roach comedy short, Small Talk, is the eighty-ninth in the "Our Gang/Little Rascals" series and the first talkie. Yes, this was the first time movie audiences heard Our Gang speaking lines. Many of their recent previous silents had sound effects but this one was full of them whether it's the children playing instruments, various animal sounds, or the alarms of police and fire fighters. As a result, one is amused if not laughing heartily. And the story-Wheezer is adopted by a rich woman but he misses his orphanage pals especially sister Mary Ann-is perhaps a bit too maudlin for a kids comedy. Still, because of its historical status, Small Talk is at the least, worth a look. By the way, on the DVD collection I saw this on, Richard W. Bann-co-author of "The Little Rascals: The Life and Times of Our Gang"-does a nice intro about the series. And now all the sound Hal Roach-produced series entries I'm reviewing-that I hadn't previously-will be from this disc collection.