Clown Princes is a 1939 Our Gang

Our Gang

Our Gang, also known as The Little Rascals or Hal Roach's Rascals, was a series of American comedy short films about a group of poor neighborhood children and the adventures they had together. Created by comedy producer Hal Roach, the series is noted for showing children behaving in a relatively...

short

Short subject

A short film is any film not long enough to be considered a feature film. No consensus exists as to where that boundary is drawn: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all...

 comedy film

Comedy film

Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...

 directed by George Sidney

George Sidney

George Sidney was an American film director and film producer who worked primarily at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.-Career:...

. Produced and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...

, it was the 178th Our Gang short to be released.

Plot

When the gang goes to Porky's house, they learn that his family is in danger of eviction unless they pay their landlord the balance remaining on their rent. The gang decides to raise the money by setting up a circus in Porky's barn, with Spanky as the ringleader. A sideshow outside introduces the kid circus' young patrons to Oogie-Boogie, the Wildman from Borneo (Buckwheat), Mademoiselle Darla, the Greatest Rattlesnake Charmer in the World, and the World's Shortest and Tallest Men (Slapsie in a beard and Joe "Corky" Geil on stilts). Also included in the sideshow are the Head Without a Body (Porky), and The Famous Sime and Neez Twins - two boys with their clothes stitched together, revealed as such when Violet the Goat eats the grass skirt covering the stitching.

Inside the main show, the gang's circus show includes a clown act, Spanky and Leonard as "a couple of swell acrobats", and lady lion-tamer Darla. When Darla's "lions" break away and everyone scrambles to catch them, Spanky runs into the landlord, to whom he pays the rest of Porky's rent.

The circus show's marquee attraction is "Daredevil Alfalfa" singing "The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze

The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze

"The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze", originally published under the title "The Flying Trapeze" and also known as "The Man on the Flying Trapeze", is a 19th century popular song about a flying trapeze circus performer, Jules Léotard...

", with Alfalfa's trapeze being held aloft by a pulley system attached to a horse. When a bee turns up and spooks the horse, Alfalfa finds himself pulled and jerked through the air before finally crashing through the ceiling of the barn.

Cast

• Carl Switzer
  Carl Switzer
  Carl Dean "Alfalfa" Switzer was an American child actor, professional dog breeder and hunting guide, most notable for appearing in the Our Gang short subjects series as Alfalfa, one of the series' most popular and best-remembered characters.-Early life and family:Switzer was born in Paris,...
  
   - Alfalfa
• George McFarland
  George McFarland
  George Robert Phillips "Spanky" McFarland was an American actor most famous for his appearances as a child in the Our Gang series of short-subject comedies of the 1930s and 1940s...
  
   - Spanky
• Darla Hood
  Darla Hood
  Darla Jean Hood was an American child actress, best known as the leading lady in the Our Gang series from 1935 to 1941. She was born in Leedey, Oklahoma, the only child of James Claude Hood and Elizabeth Davner...
  
   - Darla
• Eugene Gordon Lee - Porky
• Billie Thomas - Buckwheat
• Shirley Coates - Muggsy
• Gary Jasgar
  Gary Jasgar
  Gary Jasgur was an American former child actor, most notable for appearing as "Junior" in the Our Gang short subjects series from 1937 to 1939. Jasgur was often cast as the younger, bothersome brother of Spanky and Alfalfa....
  
   - Slapsie
• Leonard Landy
  Leonard Landy
  Leonard Landy is an American former child actor, most notable for appearing in the Our Gang short subjects series from 1938 to 1941....
  
   - Leonard
• Harold Switzer
  Harold Switzer
  Harold Frederick Switzer was an American child actor, most notable for appearing in the Our Gang short subjects series as an extra...
  
   - Extra
• Joe Geil - The world's tallest man
• Hugh Chapman - Extra
• Freddie Chapman - Extra
• Larry Harris
  Larry Harris
  Larry Harris served as the General Manager of the Milwaukee Bucks from 2003 until March 19, 2008. He is currently an assistant coach for the Golden State Warriors.Harris is the son of former National Basketball Association coach Del Harris...
  
   - Drum player
• Payne Johnson - Extra
• Clarence Wilson - The Landlord