Bedtime Worries

Plot

On the day he is promoted to head clerk (or "head cluck," as Spanky mistakenly puts it), Spanky's father (Emerson Treacy) declares that it is high time Spanky stopped sleeping in his parents' room and go to bed in his own room. Earlier, the gang (a depleted Our Gang unit with just Stymie, Jerry, Tommy, and Georgie (who looked a lot like Wheezer), appearing to be homeless asked Spanky if they could board Pete, their dog. Spanky could not do that. During his first night alone, Spanky envisions all sorts of imaginary horrors, from a bat (actually a moth) to "the boogeyman."

Thus, when a burglar (Harry Bernard) climbs into Spanky's window, the boy's dozing parents fail to believe his story. Passing himself off as Santa Claus, the burglar attempts to steal everything that is not nailed down. The homeless gang stop at Spanky's house to stay. He tells them Santa was visiting and when Stymie sees "him", he realizes that this man is a burglar. The gang comes to the rescue and tackle down the burglar and the police arrive and take the burglar away.

Note

With Bobby Hutchins, Dickie Moore and Dorothy DeBorba having departed after the previous film (Mush and Milk) and several fill in kids leaving, Spanky is left to carry the next two films. Also the gang is portrayed in this episode as a group of homeless children with no place to go. Its a depeleted Our Gang with only 4 kids, 2 regulars and 2 recurring ones. This episode has very much a sitcom atmosphere. It would be early in 1934 when new faces would be introduced. Also, 2/3 of this film employed no background music and relied more on dialogue than episodes from the past few years. background music was only used for the first half of the film, all by Leroy Shield. This was the first of the films, with exception of Choo Choo to rely more on dialogue.

The Gang

Additional cast