Love Business

One of my all-time favorite "Our Gang" shorts, starring the inimitable Jackie Cooper, the ever-engaging Mary Ann Jackson and the hysterical Norman "Chubby" Chaney. Jackie, in love with Miss Crabtree, is worried when she comes to board at his mother's house; how will it be to have the object of his affection under the same roof? Kid Brother Wheezer is delighted, however, telling Miss Crabtree, "Now Jackie can sleep with YOU and call YOU tootsie-tootsie and moonie-moonie." (Jackie's dreams of Miss Crabtree have been disturbing Wheezer's sleep.) Adding to Jackie's distress is Farina's contention that Jackie will have to "slick up" since the teacher is living with him. (Stymie demurs, proclaiming, "I wouldn't wash MY feet for NOBODY!")

Jackie's problems become worse when Chubby shows up to give Miss Crabtree flowers and candy and tells her, "Don't call me Norman, call me Chubsy-Ubsy!" When she kisses him, he bounces up and down, yelling "Whoopee!" But when he begins to court the fragile beauty, saying, "Oh, Miss Crabtree, there's something lying heavy on my heart," Jackie appears, threatening, "Oh, Chubsy-Ubsy, there's going to be something lying heavy on your nose!"

It is always poignant to watch a film like "Love Business," knowing what history had in store for those adorable kids: Chubby died at age 18, Wheezer at 20; Stymie became a druggie (but cleaned up his act in adulthood and was a well-loved character actor until his death); June Marlowe (Miss Crabtree) got Parkinson's disease; and even Pete the Pup got bum-rapped because he was a pit bull. But tragedy cannot dim the luster of the "Our Gang" films because, for the most part, they were so well-done.

Thank God for films like "Love Business," in which the teacher can kiss a kid and not get sued, where a woman can serve mothball soup and not even make anyone sick, and where a schoolboy rivalry over who loves the teacher doesn't result in a showdown with assault weapons. That kind of innocence doesn't exist anymore. But though it's so very innocent, "Love Business" is also so very, very funny.

Yes. I have a deep love for Love Business. It is arguably the most

charming of all the Our Gang shorts. And I've seen so many...

This one hits upon the romantic fixations that kids develop for their

teachers. There's nothing bad about it here. In a film like this,

Miss Crabtree and Chubby Chainey can kiss without fear of a

lawsuit. June Marlow, a now mostly unremembered actress who

was both very beautiful and even more talented, brought to life the

character of the schoolteacher Miss Crabtree in many Our Gang

films (the very last was Readin' and Writin'), and her character was

loved by all who were taught by her. All her male students had

fairly innocent crushes on her. Sounds like a slice of real life, don't

it?

Well, in this one, Miss Crabtree takes a room at a boarding house

owned by the mother of one of her smitten students, the timelessly

wonderful Jackie Cooper. His little brother Wheezer knows all

about it, and how! Chubby is busy down at the local movie house,

demonstrating his courtly love-making technique to a cardboard

cut out of Greta Garbo, when he finds out where Miss Crabtree is

shacked up. A date is aranged between the two of them. That

scene is very memorable, as well as the scene before it where

Marianne (another adorable little actress) tells Miss Crabtree that

she is also in love with Chubby. Miss Crabtree says, "Oh, well

then, I'm your rival." to which Marianne replies "Well, I don't know

anything about rifles!"

The date is a sequence that is suprisingly charming. When I first

saw this movie, I was probably 6, I didn't think anything was wrong

with it. I still don't to tell you the truth. Some great lines come out

of that scene too. "Don't call me Norman. Call my Chubsy-Ubsy."

"Miss Crabtree, there's something lying heavily on my heart." "Oh,

Chubsy Ubsy, there's gonna be something heavy on your nose!"

"Miss Crabtree, I hate to see you living as a chamber maid. Marry

me, and live like a queen." He says it just like he means it, too.

There's integrity for ya.

Another scene worth mentioning is the dinner, where a soup is

serves with mothballs accidently mixed in. The faces Marianne

makes are unforgattable.

The magic and beauty of these films was that, even though these

kids fought bad guys, fires, built amazing contraptions out of

household appliances and outsmarted adults, the movies saw

them for what they were: normal little kids. Exceptionally talented

kids were the actors, but they seemed to play themselves. In the

scene where Chubby blushes in front of Miss Crabtree (who can

blame him?). They feel pain, jealousy, oppression, anger, love

and excitement, and it rings true when you see it in their eyes and

heare them speek it with such integrity as one rarely hears. The

kids are indeed nothing but real kids, and that's a beautiful thing.

This Hal Roach comedy short, Love Business, is the one hundred fourth in the "Our Gang/Little Rascals" series and the sixteenth talkie. Jackie is so in love with Miss Crabtree, he always looks at her picture and says, "I love you" constantly to the consternation of Wheezer who's always hugged and kissed by him when they're sleeping together! Now she's a border at his house. Chubby is also crushing on her heavily and when he finds out, comes to the house later that day in order to court her! I'll stop there and just say this was the funniest of the Jackie/Miss Crabtree trilogy in the series with great punchlines provided by Wheezer, Stymie, Mary Ann, and Dorothy. And June Marlowe is, as always, utterly charming as the pretty teacher. So on that note, Love Business is highly recommended.

This wonderful Hal Roach short was originally (and timely) released to theaters by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on Valentine's Day in 1931.

Was the last of three Our Gang comedies made using the 'Talking Title' girls announcing the opening credits.

'Love Business' was released the same day that 'Dracula' with Bela Lugosi was released to theaters by Universal Pictures in 1931.

May Wallace, who played Jackie, Mary and Wheezer's mom in this film was well into her fifties at the time it was made.

Jackie Cooper did only two more Our Gang films after this one before he went into features.

Farina was now ten years old, had been with the gang for nine of those ten years, and was to date the longest running player in the series. His place would soon be taken by the youngster who steals most of the scenes from him in 'Love Business'--little Stymie Beard.

Every boys dream; being smitten with your Schoolmarm. I remember the feelings I had with my Fourth Grade Teacher Mrs. Stearn. Jackie Cooper is infatuated with his schoolteacher June Crabtree (June Marlowe) and why not, blonde and attractive with a soft personality to match. Meanwhile the rotund "Chubby" Norman Chaney is practicing his kissing methods on a Greta Garbo cutout pretending it's the aforementioned Miss Crabtree. Between kisses Chubby recites some love prose as his precocious sister Dorothy "Echo" DeBorba repeats them in a distasteful way to annoy her love sick brother. Meanwhile Jackie's Brother Wheezer (Robert Hutchins) complains that Jack is talking in his sleep and keeping him awake at night saying things like, "I love my darling I love you moony moony and toopsy toopsy." Jack is ready to clock his brother but Mother Cooper (May Wallace) grabs Jack just in time. Meanwhile Miss Crabtree is looking to rent a room and by coincidence excepts the offer at Jackie's house. Next the memorable mothball dinner scene as Sister Mary says, "the soup tastes like Papa's coat smell." Next Chubby comes a calling as an anxious suitor with bag of candy and flowers in hand. Jackie is forced to leave the living room as Chubby takes his place on the couch to serenade an unsuspecting Miss Crabtree. Jackie tries to do his best to sabotage their romantic setting with distasteful props and noise makers. I love the way Hal Roach incorporates the scenes with his vast array of melodies played throughout his comedic shorts. What a weird love triangle but done in good taste as the writing is priceless in this Our Gang short. One of the funniest!