WILD POSES

Written and filmed July-August, 1933. Released by MGM, October, 1933. Produced by Hal Roach. Directed by Robert F. McGowan. Two reels.

Cast: Spanky McFarland, Franklin Pangborn, Gay Seabrook, Emerson Treacy, Stymie Beard, Tommy Bond, Jerry Tucker, Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy.

STORY: Spanky's parents need him to sit for a professional portrait by that most excellent photographer Otto Focus.  Meanwhile, the Gang kibitzes.

Commentary

JB:  The second of two Our Gang shorts to team their new star Spanky McFarland with Emerson Treacy and Gay Seabrook, a team who obviously patterned themselves after George Burns and Gracie Allen. Franklin Pangborn is lots of fun as the deliciously fruity photographer Otto Focus. Like many a Laurel and Hardy film, Wild Poses is based on a single situation - Pangborne attempting to take Spanky's picture - yet somehow, they never seem to run out of gags and variations, especially with the Gang (why are they there?) accidentally sabotaging Pangborne's every move.

     Pangborne gets a lot of mileage out of his face, his voice and his reactions to being repeatedly socked in the nose by Spanky.  When he attempts to show Spanky how to smile, and poses with an unbelievably asinine expression, Spanky asks "Hey, Pop, are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

     Wild Poses is a great Our Gang film, but is probably more famous for the opening cameo featuring Hal Roach's most famous stars Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, who pose as babies fighting over a bottle while their theme song "The Dance of the Cuckoos" plays on the soundtrack.  

Copyright © 2013 John Larrabee, John V. Brennan

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