Jean Darling

The lives of Stan Laurel (1890-1965) and Oliver Hardy (1892-1957), on the screen and behind the curtain. The joy and the sadness, the success and the failure. The story of one of the best comic duos of all time: a lesson on how to make people laugh.

This is a documentary that's included with the Our Gang mega-set of eight DVDs. This in on disc eight--the Bonus disc. It's a relatively short film of under 30 minutes--which just isn't enough considering that the series went for for over 20 years (if you count the films later made by MGM after the series was sold by Hal Roach Studios).

This semi-film within a film opens in the office of producer George Jessel, who never saw a camera he couldn't get in front of, who is holding a story conference to determine the screen treatment for the life of Eva Tanguay, and Jessel is unhappy with what the writers present him.He tells them to look up Eddie McCoy, Eva's one-time partner, for the real inside story on the lusty and vital Eva. Eddie's version is that he discovered her working as a waitress in an Indianapolis restaurant in 1912, wherein singer Larry Woods and his partner Charles Bennett get into a fight over her and both land in the hospital, and McCoy convinces the manager to put Eva on as a single to fill their spot. She flopped, but McCoy arranges for Bennett to be her accompanist, and she went out of his life. The writers look up Bennett, now head of a music publishing company, who says McCoy's story is phony, and it was Flo Zigfeld who discovered Eva for his Follies.

Ollie Dee and Stannie Dum try to borrow money from their employer, the toymaker, to pay off the mortgage on Mother Peep's shoe and keep it and Little Bo Peep from the clutches of the evil Barnaby. When that fails, they trick Barnaby, enraging him.

After a bleak childhood, Jane Eyre goes out into the world to become a governess. As she lives happily in her new position at Thornfield Hall, she meets the dark, cold, and abrupt master of the house, Edward Rochester. Jane and her employer grow close in friendship and she soon finds herself falling in love with him. Happiness seems to have found Jane at last, but could Rochester's terrible secret be about to destroy it forever?

The Rascals have a boxing arena that could pack them in if they could find fighters who would actually mix it up. Harry and Farina notice a rivalry between two very large young kids, Joe and Chubby, that would fill the bill if only the two heavyweights would put aside their gentle natures. Farina gets an idea: tell each of the lads that the other will take a dive in the second round. So the fight begins and the stands are filled; but will the combatants actually throw a punch? Ernie has one more trick up his sleeve to get the fists flying and the crowd on its feet. Sweet science indeed.

This story revolves around an old man who feels alone in the world aside from the gang who keeps him company and his old horse. He runs a horse and buggy business, but he has new competition: an auto taxi. The gang helps him to maintain his job by sabotaging the other man's.

A hypnotist comes to town and puts the gang in animal-like trances. Now that the spell is off, the gang returns back to their usual roles. But then while at an afternoon tea social , the spell returned, ruining a perfectly good afternoon.

Chicken Feed is a 1927 American short silent comedy film directed by Robert A. McGowan. It was the 66th Our Gang short subject released. The kids go to a magic show and decides to try a little magic of their own.

Habitually mistreated at the deceptively named Happyland Home Orphanage, the Our Gang kids find a loyal and kindhearted friend in the form of a black grownup named Uncle Tom. Alas, Tom's own children -- including real-life siblings Allen "Farina" Hoskins and Jannie "Mango" Hoskins -- are carted off to Happyland by the cold-hearted county officials. Farina, Mango, and the other kids escape the cruel orphanage in the dead of night, while Uncle Tom, preparing for their return, "borrows" food, clothes, and furnishings from various merchants.

One of a handful of currently unavailable Hal Roach/MGM “Our Gang” silent films, School Begins was a series of gags built around the unenviable ritual of returning to school during the first week of September. School begins and some gang members are forging notes from their mother wanting out. Then too-young Wheezer parades by the school with escaped circus seals following him, causing a disturbance.

In this Our Gang film, James Finlayson plays the gang's schoolteacher who takes the kids to Europe after winning a local contest. He takes them on a tour of Naples, Pompeii, Rome, the Vatican, Venice, London, and finally Paris, where problems arise on top of the Eiffel Tower.

The gang are all orphans, hoping to be adopted by nice families where "spinach is not on the menu". Wheezer, the youngest child, gets adopted by a wealthy couple, while his older sister Mary Ann does not. The gang all comes to visit Wheezer in his new home, setting off an alarm that causes the police and the fire department to come over. At that time, Wheezer's new mother and father decide to adopt Mary Ann as well. The couple's friends all each adopt a child as well; even Farina is adopted by the maid at Wheezer's new home.

Farina, Joe, and friends use dogs to power their "roadsters," but following a lesson from the head of the Be Kind to Animals Society, they make it their cause to rescue animals from bad treatment. Joe even manages to find patience for a nagging flea that persists in biting him. Meanwhile, Wheezer, who has been tormenting animals with his games, dreams that the animals have turned the tables on him.

Joe Cobb is suffering through a toothache as well as having to babysit his little brother Rupert who won't stop crying. Every effort to calm Rupert is undone by an immediate commotion to wake him up. Joe rocks him to sleep, but then the neighbor starts playing his bass fiddle. Joe then rocks the cradle so hard it falls apart, and he trips and stumbles moving Rupert to the baby carriage, which subsequently rolls down hill through traffic with Rupert and a neighbor's monkey enjoying the ride.

Wheezer gets excited watching his dog Pansy attack and rip apart the chickens and furniture in the back yard. His mother is upset, and his father takes his rifle to shoot the dog. Meanwhile, Joe Cobb has taught Pansy to play dead, and after the deed is done, he hides the dog at Farina's house.

While the world watches the Olympic Games in Stockholm, the Rascals gather at the flats for their own games. Whether it's the shot put, the hurdles, the pole vault, or the high jump, not much goes right. There's a deep mud hole that catches several of the kids, and someone out there keeps giving them the razzberry. It's young Wheezer hiding out of sight with his dog Punch, but the kids think it's another boy, so every time they hear the Bronx cheer, they chase the innocent lad and give him a thumping.

Mary Ann is becoming a serious problem to the other gang members and Joe was given the job of training and controlling her behavior.

Poor Pete the Pup. He wants to hang himself because his master, Joe, has given up playing with him and going fishing for the love of a girl. A dog friend of Pete's stops him in the nick of time, and in flashback Pete tells him of his sorrows; Pete becomes a drunkard and is chased away by Joe. The last straw comes when another dog knocks Joe's sweetheart into a lake and Pete is blamed for it. Will Pete carry through with his suicide or will Joe apologize?

Charley impersonates his stunt double, a man named Bud Gordon, unaware that he's a wanted criminal.

The gang is playing around the railroad station, and Joe and Chubby's father, an engineer, lectures against the kids playing in such a dangerous area. True to his word, after Joe and Chubby's father leaves, a crazy man starts a train with most of the kids on it, save for Farina who is nearly run over several times. Once Farina manages to climb aboard himself, the kids attempt to stop the runaway locomotive, but have no luck until the engine crashes into a grocery truck. As it turns out, however, the entire incident is revealed to be a dream Farina had as Joe and Chubby's father lectured the kids about rail-yard safety.

Ten Years Old is a 1927 American short silent comedy film directed by Robert A. McGowan. It was the 58th Our Gang short subject released. It was remade as Birthday Blues in 1932. Nobody comes to Joe's birthday party so he goes to the rich kid's party with his own special cake.

While the other kids and animals find things to do on the farm, Farina becomes single-minded in his quest to do nothing at all.

Living in an orphanage, the gang has to deal with Amanda, a child-hating spinster. To receive a bequest from a rich uncle, she must acquire a child. Thinking suspicion, the gang causes all kinds of havoc toward her including a mud battle.

Crazy House is a 1928 Our Gang short silent comedy film directed by Robert F. McGowan. It was the 76th Our Gang short that was released. It was the final appearance of Jackie Condon, who was with the gang since the pilot episode of Our Gang in 1922.

Little Mother is a 1929 Our Gang short silent comedy film directed by Robert F. McGowan. Produced by Hal Roach and released to theaters by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Little Mother was the 87th Our Gang short to be released. A silent film, it followed Our Gang's first sound film, Small Talk, on the release schedule.

With Wheezer's new baby brother getting all the attention, he tries to send the baby back.

Fast Freight is a 1929 Our Gang short silent comedy film. It was the 85th Our Gang short that was released. The gang takes a tramp's train ride and end up taking shelter in a haunter house.

Mary Ann has a liking toward Wheezer. Her mother tells her that if she gives him cod liver oil, he can become a giant. A circus giant comes to board, learns the plan and substitutes for Wheezer.

The Gang turn to playing football, and face tough competition against the Gas House Garlics.

This is a really strange, but thought provoking film. Here, beloved Mary literally lets Harry Spear kick her behind, spend her money on him, and forces her to push his kiddie car, all so that she could get the occasional joy of watching Harry "Wiggle His Ears." Armchair Freudians and double-entendre fans will quickly get the "joke" here. He quickly dumps Mary for pintsized blonde bombshell Jean Darling. What happens? You'll see.

Wheezer likes to hit people on the nose, and his folks encourage him to do so. Then the Gang wandering off climbing atop a construction site while the builders have gone to lunch.

Tired Business Men is a 1927 American short silent comedy film directed by Robert A. McGowan. It was the 60th Our Gang short subject released.

Joe Cobb is a wealthy child who longs for a baby brother. His nursemaid takes him to the other side where he meets some kids his age (the rest of Our Gang) where Joe offers three dollars for a baby. Farina finds a fellow African-American neighbor woman who lets him mind her infant which he then paints white and sells to Joe. The rest of the gang has set an assembly-line system that washes, dries, rocks, and feeds male and female babies.

Jay and Wheezer are left alone on a rainy afternoon when Mom goes out to run errands. But when their friends drop by and trash the place, the boys must struggle to clean up before Mom returns.

A man dressed as the devil scares the gang into minding their mothers.

Mary Ann Jackson and Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins are the children of a widowed inventor who are forced to endure the cruelties of their stepmother and stepsister. The kids get even by rigging a few clever contraptions of their own. In the end the father sells a patent worth millions. Before that, the Our Gang kids bring out out the old "alum" gag, along with several other tried-and-true comedy bits.

The kids decide to put on a circus at the local hotel. Seeing various pets and other domestic animals dressed up like circus animals was very cute--particularly the dachshund dressed as a seal! However, the animals all get loose and terrorize the hotel guests--including a drunk played by Oliver Hardy.