Within a scant half dozen of shorts the makers of the Our Gang comedies quickly found their voices that would carry the series for over twenty years. One of the tenets was that the kids were leery of adults and authority figures. The flip side to that was that they usually embraced the elderly. We think of the Rascal's as always being coddled by understanding Grandma's, but by and large that was usually in the talkie era. During the silent era that role generally fell upon kindly Grandpa-types, such as the title character of this film.
Mr. Tuttle runs a small shoe repair shop and the Gang has the run of the place to come and go as they please. Farina's daily excuse for living is to walk in and immediately head to the curtained back room to do battle against a most malicious cat. When he exits covered in flour we know the cat is once again victorious. The silent era Gang could be such a whirlwind of destruction that at times it boggles the mind, but even though the cobbler is constantly yelling at the kids to behave there is still an unspoken affection between all concerned. Fighting seems to be the main occupation between pals Mickey and Jack (and eating nails seems to keep everyone else busy) so when little rich girl Mary arrives to have a heel repaired the rivalry seen in THE CHAMPEEN (1923) continues unabated. She takes leave in a luxurious automobile and the Gang is told by their friend that when his pension check arrives they too will take a glorious automobile trip. No sooner is that title card out of his mouth than a mailman enters with said check. In one of the funnier dissolve gags in the series we fade in on the group all decked out in the finest traveling attire – frock coats, caps and goggles. We then cut to the most modern, up-to-date car of 1923 which immediately drives away revealing the shoemakers dilapidated model A.
From there it's almost as if a new short is starting as the group endures car troubles, tries to repair it on their own after their guardian goes for help, and then do what all kids do – explore their surroundings. The gags are all fine as they correlate to the kids rapidly developing screen personalities – from Farina cavorting in a watermelon patch (which some find racist. I just like to think that he loves watermelon, as emphasized by the final gag of having a swollen belly), to the kids encounter with a disgruntled tramp. A chase ensues but what I find fascinating is the mammoth hay stacks they clamber on. Blocks of hay bales stacked to the sky in a willy-nilly fashion so that tunnels are formed inside the massive structure. It is so large that the tramp was living inside it until the Gang disturbs his peace. And with so many avenues of escape available we know that the Gang is never in danger of ever being caught (not with tunnels available) so instead we marvel at the Gang's world where castles of hay appear and cars can run on wind power.
