Bargain Day

Bargain Day (1931)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Our Gang short has Stymie and Wheezer playing door-to-door salesmen who aren't very good at selling anything. They eventually end up at the house of a rich but lonely girl and sure enough trouble follows when the rest of the gang shows up. This here is a pretty weak short in the series as the screenplay doesn't contain any funny moments and for the most part you can't help but feel this thing is rather desperate. For starters, the desperation really comes through because there are countless scenes that feature nothing but Stymie or Wheezer smiling at the camera. This is certainly cute the first time but I lost count of how many times they tried this and it eventually got old since they didn't add any laughs with it. The stuff with Stymie and the monkey is rather unfunny as is Wheezer's attempts to sell stuff. The only funny bit happens at the very start of the film when Chubby keeps trying on different hats.

Wheezer has the "Peddlin' craze" again, according to Jackie. Little Wheezer cleaned out the Gang's trunk of stuff and is selling the items door to door with Stymie. When they get to "Poor Little Rich Girl" Shirley's house, she invites them to come inside because she is lonely. The rest of the Gang arrive at the house to track down Wheezer, and the usual brand of Rascals mayhem occurs!!

"Bargain Days" (originally titled "Bargain Day"; the "s" was added when the film went into TV syndication) was filmed towards the end of the excellent 1930-31 "Our Gang" release season. Many of the film's highlights occur when Chubby is on the screen. First, Chubby is shopping for a new hat; the Gang helps him out, until he finally settles on a top hat! Second, when Chubby discovers a hot steam reducing machine, he ventures inside, wanting to shed a few pounds. Unfortunately the Gang forgets he is there, and the only things the reducing machine reduces are Chubby's clothes and top hat, which is now just a tiny covering on his head! This ending represents one of the most memorable endings in Our Gang/Little Rascals history.

Another highlight is the exchange between Shirley and Wheezer and Stymie. When Wheezer asks where Shirley's mother is, she tells them "Watt Street." Wheezer answers, "What street?" This exchange goes back and forth, for solid laughs.

Sharp viewers will discover that Jackie Cooper and Donald Haines disappear in the middle of the film, replaced by two doubles seen from the back. Cooper and Haines left the Hal Roach Studios to make "Skippy" at Paramount during the making of this film. "Bargain Day/s" proved Cooper's last Our Gang film, a void that was felt in the series until the debut of Spanky McFarland the following year.

Paced well, with lots of good humor and verbal gags, "Bargain Days" is another solid entry in the 1930-31 release season. 9 out of 10.

This Hal Roach comedy short, Bargain Day, is the one hundred sixth in the "Our Gang/Little Rascals" series and the eighteenth talkie. In this one, Chubby tries on every hat in the store but nothing seems right for him. It's during this time that we find out Wheezer sold many of the gang's items so they go out looking for him. Wheezer and Stymie end up at rich girl Shirley's house which has a monkey inside. I'll stop there and just say that I found most of this hilarious despite some lines that play on stereotypes of Stymie's race. I especially loved the "Watt Street" routine between Wheezer, Stymie, and Shirley which reminded me of Abbott & Costello's "Who's on First!". Of note: former Our Gang member Mickey Daniels was the laughing voice of the monkey and this turned out to be Jackie Cooper's final appearance in the series as he would shoot the feature Skippy during retakes and after that film's success, Hal Roach would sell Cooper's contract to Roach's distributor M-G-M to work on features full-time. When continuing to review these shorts in chronological order, I may stop once in while to also review films outside the series featuring many of these Our Gangers in movies that come between many of these entries. So on that note, I very much recommend Bargain Day.