Little Daddy

LITTLE DADDY is one of the Our Gang comedy shorts put out by Hal Roach in the early 1930s. This is one of the weaker efforts, I thought, purely because it's not as funny as some of the others I've seen, such as the hilarious HONKEY DONKEY.

This one has a fairly serious story about a kid being taken into care due to neglect and the efforts of the other gang members to prevent it. Farina and Stymie get most of the screen time and a fair amount of monologues between them, but humour is surprisingly lacking in their dialogue so that this feels like a drama at times. The others don't get too much of a look in, although there's a fun gag with a kid singing in Charley Chase's voice.

Little Daddy (1931)

*** (out of 4)

Farina is taking care of his younger brother Stymie when it's learned that he must go to an orphanage. This doesn't sit well with the gang who plan on fighting off the man when he comes to take their friend. Reading up on this short I learned that it was originally banned from television due to some people, including the NAACP, protesting how blacks were shown and I must admit that I'm downright shocked that they'd take that stance as I've never seen a film from this era that showed as much respect to blacks. I know this series was rather mean to Farina in earlier films but this one here is so sweet and caring that it's just shocking anyone would take offense to it but then again I doubt those protesters even bothered watching it. The first fifteen-minutes actually play out as a drama even though there's a hilarious scene about Noah, which Stymie can't understand. Chubby and Jackie get some funny lines but the entire film belongs to Farina and Stymie, which is pretty rare for two black actors to get all the screen time in a white comedy. June Marlowe appears at the very end.

This episode was actually aired on TV, but most likely edited - the only scene I remember is when Stymie is eating up all the ice cream and cake at his farewell party before the gang arrives.

Farina is the caregiver for his younger brother Stymie who is being sent to an orphanage to live. It opens with Farina and Stymie collecting money (or rather buttons) during a church service. Later as Stymie is ready for bed, he tells Farina he wants to hear the story of Noah's ark and Stymie is nothing short of hysterical with his one-liners as Farina gets more and more frustrated attempting to tell the story.

Then it is morning and you get a glimpse of a typical start of the day with Farina's responsibilities for Stymie. The inventions rigged in the place where they are living are typical Little Rascals fare. Farina pulls levers to do everything from operating Stymie's shower to cooking him breakfast.

Then the scene changes to Farina waiting for the gang to arrive for Stymie's farewell party before the officer arrives to take him away. When Farina makes the decision to leave Stymie (and all the food for the party) to get the gang, Stymie devours everything at lightning speed. By the time the gang gets there, everything is gone, including a huge ham, a large cake and a couple of containers of ice cream.

The officer shows up to take Stymie and you have a scene very similar to that in "The Pooch" when the dog catcher takes Pete, but without the eggs. The gang beat on the officer while Farina does everything to try to hide Stymie who is only too glad to yell out, "Here I is!"

A memorable and funny scene is Chubby lip-synching to a bass singer bellowing out the song "Asleep in the Deep" as he is washing up over the bathroom sink.

"Little Daddy" is one of the handful of Hal Roach "Our Gang/Little Rascals" talkies not to be shown on television. This is a shame, because there is nothing really offensive about the film. If anything, it shows how children of all races and backgrounds can band together against injustice.

Farina is the caretaker of a community church, Stymie is his little brother. Their father is in jail, so Farina is left to his own devices to take care of Stymie. The orphanage is planning to take Stymie away; can the Gang help Farina and Stymie in time?

Again, there is nothing really offensive about this film. If anything, it is enchanting and funny, particularly when Farina tries to tell Stymie the Bible story about Noah and the flood. People who would censor such a good film need to get a grip. 8 out of 10.