OUR GANG: "Wiggle Your Ears" (1929)

[Please read] Ear wiggling--girls can't help falling in love with boys who can do it. Wheezer thinks it's ridiculous.

Authors Leonard Maltin and Richard W. Bann rightly characterize "Wiggle Your Ears," a 1929 Our Gang short silent film as "an amusing but absolutely bizarre two-reeler." [from their book: THE LITTLE RASCALS: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF OUR GANG] That assessment is spot on in terms of both story and cinematography (the use of disarmingly extreme close-ups).

In this video, you will see that ear-wiggler Harry Spear and blonde bombshell Jean Darling make a cute, but ultimately tragic couple. You will witness Mary Ann Jackson rising from the ashes of thankless toil and heartbreaking despair to fall in love with faux-ear-wiggler Joe Cobb. You will see a bemused contribution by Farina. Best of all, you will behold Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins—willing to connive at deception by pulling Joe;s ear(s) with a string, but who remains absolutely (and wonderfully) unimpressed and derisive about everybody's actions. ("Wheezer" was Our Gang's resident raspberry expert.)

These kids were cast members of Hal Roach's Our Gang on the eve of the motion-picture-sound revolution. They may have been succeeded by the most popular Rascals of all--e.g. Spanky, Darla, Alfalfa, Buckwheat, Porky, Butch, et al.--but they were no less charismatic and fun to watch. Their delightful work deserves public rediscovery. This video provides one means to that end.

IMPORTANT: Questions or comments are sincerely welcome—but only if they are nice, clean, and comprehendible. If you are a professional and prefer that I delete this video, please contact me and it will promptly be done.

Thanks for viewing.

Music Credits: the gifted Joplin pianist Richard Zimmerman and the superlative Beau Hunks Orchestra.

VIDEO ESPECIALLY DEDICATED TO JEAN DARLING AND IN MEMORY OF BOBBY "WHEEZER" HUTCHINS AND MARY ANN JACKSON, RESPECTIVELY.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Our Gang
• Little Rascals
• Hal Roach
• Wiggle Your Ears
• Wheezer
• Mary Ann Jackson
• Harry Spear
• Jean Darling
• Joe Cobb
• Farina
• Pete the Pup
• Stan Laurel
• Oliver Hardy
• Charley Chase
• Classic Movies
• Silent Films
• Comedy
• 1920s
• northbreed1

[robphilll22]

I liked the girl who played Miss Daisy Dimple in Beginners luck. I know Mary Ann Jackson as a tough and No-nonsense type of girl with just a smattering of vulnerability.Mary shows a wide range of emotions in this short..

[northbreed1]

@robphilll22 I think it was Marianne Edwards who played "Daisy Dimple."

[yohannbiimu]

I don't know what it is about Mary Ann Jackson, because some would say that she was a homely child, but I think she was adorably cute. In a way, she was a female version of Alfalfa, because it seemed like she was (for a time anyway) the focus of the boys' romantic attention, especially Jackie Cooper. BTW, I think Jean Darling (the cute curly-haired blonde girl) is the only one in this film who is still alive.

[northbreed1]

@yohannbiimu Mary Ann had terrific charisma and was a real little mistress of the "double-take." Thanks for your comment!

[northbreed1]

Thanks for the comment, mickhaus. Mary, ah, did her own "flapper" make-up. Harry wasn't impressed; Joe didn't notice; Wheezer didn't care.

[robbiebratc]

i love this video great work

[willrothfuss]

Thanks for posting- I'm a real Our gang fan, but I've never seen this one. Mary Ann is terrific. A gem.

[gamecock366]

Blondie was lucky Mary Ann didn't really lose her temper and beat the crap out of her.

[Titiwasalwayshere]

This is so adorable! I only found out about this because I wanted to know what 'buckwheat' the grain was, then I saw this! I absolutely adore this!

[neddly]

I spent an evening with Mary Ann buying her martini's in a bar in Santa Monica. She charmed the pants off me. RIP, Mary

[alexandermakoto]

This is awesome. I love Wheezer and Mary Ann. The best were Farina, Jackie Cooper, Wheezer, Mary Ann and Chubby.

[gropingwithastoker]

Harry Spear had a great face. Mary Ann Jackson was a great silent film actress. Wheezer Hutchins had to have been on of the cutest movie kids of all time. Hal Roach sure did know how to cast kids.

[ac1dchr15t]

ho'se radish.

[allthatluv99]

Aww its true I can't help love joe Cartwright from Bonanza series!He can wiggle his ears. The episode "Joe Cartwright, Detective" he did it!How cute!

[TheTaoJoannes]

crack me a nut, woman!

[Uncrazamatic]

Yes the ones with her and Jackie Cooper!They were great together!

[eskimospy77]

Joe Cobb is a real man!



[TheJediCharles]

@yohannbiimu

While Mary was cute in a less magazine-cover sort of way, it's important to her role in the rascals that she had something more than looks. She was true blue, honest, unselfish, and was willing to play with the boys in rugged ways the prissy girls found unthinkable.

The cute girl might show up and visually distract the boys for a while, but they always came runnin' back to Mary when they wised up.

[B0FF01]

My mother looked like her as a little Depression Era child, same haircut! She grew into a real looker!

Poor babies had it rough.

[RRaquello]

If you want to see Mary Ann Jackson in color check out the film "Trail Of The Lonesome Pine" She has just a tiny bit part with no lines There are a bunch of hillbilly kids eating dinner at a table One of them turns around & it's Mary Ann. She's not listed in the credits, but the girl is the right age (a few years older than MA in her Little Rascals days) and looks exactly like her and there couldn't be two faces like that. And, sitting at the same table is Spanky, who had a big part in the film

[sixroute]

I agree about Mary Anne, although a little homely was adorable

[yohannbiimu]

@northbreed1 Another good "double-taker" was Dorothy DeBorba, and she was an adorable kid too. She was at her best when she heckled Norman "Chubby" Chaney as he was practicing his "love-making" for Miss Crabtree. Unfortunately, it seems like the Our Gang bunch lost a lot of its edge when it became totally dominated by boy characters in the mid-to-late 30's. They were still funny, but the titles that featured Darla Hood seem rather formulated. I never liked her that much.

[MagicFreddie]

anyone know what the tune at the start of this short is called? I mean, I love it and I hear it a lot when I watch these silent shorts, but I never know what it's called

[DesperatelyKind]

I loved Mary! She was an evil kickass! LOL hahaha

[NJDominicana246]

absolutely adorable!

[neddly]

I had the pleasure of running into Mary Ann in a bar in Santa Monica in 1989. I spent the better part of two hours listening about her stories of old Hollywood. What a treat and delight!