Wild Poses

Wild Poses
Wild Poses
Directed by	Robert F. McGowan
Written by	Carl Harbaugh; Hal Roach; H. M. Walker; Hal Yates
Produced by	F. Richard Jones; Hal Roach
Starring	George McFarland; Matthew Beard; Jerry Tucker; Tommy Bond; Emerson Treacy; Gay Seabrook; Franklin Pangborn; Stan Laurel; Oliver Hardy
Cinematography	Francis Corby
Edited by	William H. Terhune
Music by	Marvin Hatley; Leroy Shield
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date	October 28, 1933;
Running time	18' 14"
Country	United States
Language	English

Wild Poses is short subject in the Our Gang (The Little Rascals) series. It was produced and directed by Robert F. McGowan for Hal Roach Studios and first released on October 28, 1933 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.^[2] It was the 125th Our Gang short to be released.^[3]

A sequel to the previous Our Gang short, Bedtime Worries, Wild Poses features a brief cameo by Laurel & Hardy.

Plot[edit]

Otto Phocus (Franklin Pangborn) is a haughty photographer hellbent on taking a formal portrait of a terrified Spanky (George McFarland). The little guy has been told by the gang that Phocus plans to "shoot" him; thinking the camera is a cannon. This leads Spanky to avoid having his picture taken, and his habit of punching Phocus in the face with regularity.

Phocus serves as Spanky's foil in other ways as well. He tries to get Spanky to pose with an exaggerated sweet smile on his face; when Spanky sees Phocus' ridiculous grimace he turns to his Dad (Emerson Treacy) and says, "Hey Pop, do you see what I see?" Later, when Spanky's friends have filled the rubber shutter bulb with water, and Phocus squeezes it, squirting Spanky's Dad with water, his Mom (Gay Seabrook) tells Spanky, "That's how they take watercolor pictures." Finally, after having successfully taken Spanky's picture, Phocus discovers the gang exposed his photographic plates, rendering "all my lovely work for nothing!". Spanky responds to the photographers request for "one more bust" with a punch in the nose before his family leaves the studio in disgust.

Cast[edit]

The Gang[edit]

George McFarland as Spanky
Matthew Beard as Stymie
Tommy Bond as Tommy
Jerry Tucker as Jerry
Georgie Billings as Darby

Additional cast[edit]

Gay Seabrook as Gay, Spanky's mother
Emerson Treacy as Emerson, Spanky's father
Franklin Pangborn as Otto Phocus, the portrait photographer
Georgie Billings as Georgie
Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy as Babies
George Stevens, Jr. as Role unknown (scenes deleted)

Laurel and Hardy cameo[edit]

At the beginning of the film, a salesman is seen soliciting Otto Phocus' services throughout a residential neighborhood. At one home, he tells a housewife that she has "two of the most photogenic children" he has ever seen.

The camera cuts to reveal the woman's two children, portrayed in a brief cameo by Laurel and Hardy, dressed in baby clothes and using giant sets from their short Brats (1930). Laurel and Hardy briefly fight over a baby bottle, until Laurel eye-pokes Hardy and emerges victorious as the scene transitions to set the main plot in motion.

Notes[edit]

Wild Poses was the last Our Gang short directed by Robert McGowan until 1936's Divot Diggers. The entire film employs background music again, now a mix of Leroy Shield recordings and other studio recordings. The film was done with a feel of a sitcom and focuses again around Spanky. The depleted gang, now only three children (Georgie Billings plays a kid Darby who is with his mom and not part of the gang) basically is in the background throughout the episode, though unlike Bedtime Worries, they do not appear to be homeless.

References[edit]

^ theluckycorner.com/
^ Hal Erickson (2011). "New York Times: Wild Poses". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Baseline & All Movie Guide. Archived from the original on 2011-05-20. Retrieved 2008-09-19.
^ Maltin, Leonard; Bann, Richard W. (1977). Our Gang: The Life and Times of the Little Rascals. Crown Publishers. pp. 159–160. Retrieved 3 March 2024.

External links[edit]

[1] theluckycorner.com/

[NY_Times-2] Hal Erickson (2011). "New York Times: Wild Poses". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Baseline & All Movie Guide. Archived from the original on 2011-05-20. Retrieved 2008-09-19.

[3] Maltin, Leonard; Bann, Richard W. (1977). Our Gang: The Life and Times of the Little Rascals. Crown Publishers. pp. 159–160. Retrieved 3 March 2024.

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