Helping Hands is a 1941 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 Edward Cahn. It was the 201st Our Gang short (202nd episode, 113th talking short, 114th talking episode, and 33rd MGM produced episode) that was released.

Plot

Spanky receives a letter from his recently drafted older brother. Inspired by the letter's patriotic sentiments, Spanky and the gang organize a "home guard," prepared to do battle should the Nazis invade California. This attracts the attention of Army Major Sanford, who informs the kids that they would be of even greater service to Uncle Sam by looking out for fire hazards, collecting scrap metal and paper, and encouraging their parents to buy war stamps and bonds.

Note

The film marked the first of the wartime propaganda-themed shorts in the Our Gang series. Critics and fans both have cited that the wartime films marked a noticeable decline in the series.

Cast

• 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
• Billy Laughlin
  Billy Laughlin
  William Robert "Billy" Laughlin was an American child actor. He is best known for playing the character Froggy in the Our Gang short films in its final stretch, from 1940 to 1944.-Career:...
  
   - Froggy
• Billie Thomas - Buckwheat
• Mickey Gubitosi
  Robert Blake (actor)
  Robert Blake is an American actor who starred in the film In Cold Blood and the U.S. television series Baretta. In 2005, he was tried and acquitted for the 2001 murder of his wife, but on November 18, 2005, Blake was found liable in a California civil court for her wrongful death.-Early...
  
   (later known as Robert Blake) - Mickey
• Freddie Chapman - Kid
• Mickey Laughlin - Kid
• James Gubitosi - Nick
• Margaret Bert - Mickey's mother
• Joe Young
  Joe Young
  Joe Young was a lyricist. He was born in New York. Young was most active from 1911 through the late-1930s, beginning his career working as a singer and songplugger for various music publishers. During World War I, he entertained the U.S...
  
   - clerk
• Sam Flint - Major Sanford
• Byron Foulger - head of civilian counsel
• Emmet Vogan - Darla's father (scene deleted)