thejcowboy22 This comedy classic is in my top 5 favorite episodes of the Our Gang Series.I'll start with my Granddaughter Sami who recently had her first ballet recital. At the moment of truth froze up and ran off the stage into the comfort of her Mother's arms. When the show was over I said to my Daughter-In-Law, "Sami Froze up like Daisy Dimple!" Of course my Daughter-In-Law replied, "Who Is Daisy Dimple?" Hence my review begins now! Spanky the new leader of the gang due to the departure Of Wally Albright and his limited contract, Performs in front of his Mother's friends reciting Shakespeare. Spanky projects his prose perfectly to the delight of his wannabee stage Mother. Spanky's reward? Mother is entering him in a talent show. Show business is not to Spanky's liking as he practices to the company of his talking parrot as the gang member's show up at his window.The only way out is to have Spanky flop on stage with the help of his gang and an endless supply of Pellets and spit balls. On with the talent show as Spanky dressed in full Michigan State apparel(A ROMAN SOLDIER)we'll do everything in his power to bomb on stage. Ironically Spanky was picked to go first by the Master of Ceremonies Tom Herbert but his pushy Mom (Kitty Kelly) who bears a striking resemblance to actress Barbara Stanwyck protests that you Don't have a talented actor the likes of Spanky to go on first. Some of the Acts were entertaining to watch .Honorable mention to The Hawaiian Dancers and the Cabin Kids and most importantly the Arizona Nightingales featuring a young freckled Carl Switzer who makes his first of many appearances in the series as the the High pitched off key singer Alfalfa! Now it's time for our cu pie faced Dancer Daisy Dimple to perform and try to win the cash prize of $10.00 but she choked in front of a bewildered audience and all those eyes!! Spanky comforts the crestfallen girl and claims he'll win her the money for her ballet costume. Spanky wants to go out to the audience to tell his friends not to ruin his act and that he want's to win after all. Instead Spanky's Mom intervenes and goes over to the rowdy troupe and tells them that her son wants to win. Spanky from the Stage winks at them and the gang is confused so the gang sticks with the original plan of abuse and spitball to the disdain of out toupee d Pianist James Morton seated between the stage and the arsenal. Spanky goes on and the rest of the short is sheer pratfalls combined with howling comedy with a grand finale of Grandmother Mae Wallace pulling up the final curtain to a ripped dress. Great episode to show your grand kids if they failed on stage.

tavm This Hal Roach comedy short, Beginner's Luck, is the one hundred thirty-fifth in the "Our Gang/Little Rascals" series and the forty-seventh talkie. Spanky is pushed by his mom to go on stage at a talent contest. He really doesn't want to and his gang plans to sabotage it that night. But Spank changes his mind when a girl-who wants the dress she's wearing that she can't afford-gets stage fright. This was quite a funny short making fun of untalented kids and their stage mothers of which Spanky's is played by Kitty Kelly. Among the acts: a girl unenthusiastically singing "Honolulu Baby" with girls dancing to it the same way, The Cabin Kids-an African-American singing act-performing "Dinah" entertainingly, and Tom and Jerry, the Arizona Nightingales-who are really Harold and Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, in their first Our Gang appearance, performing "She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain" nicely. Alfalfa and Spanky have a memorable first meeting as they're not friends yet. So on that note, Beginner's Luck is highly recommended.

Dougie Dew Noticeably absent from all other comments I've read are these two: 1. The script doesn't make even a reference to Spanky's dad, and; 2. Kitty Kelly's (Spanky's mom) "shocking" experience when stage hook meets blown foot light socket.1. Where's Dad? Surprisingly for a '30s Roach short, the presence of at least a disinterested father in contrast to such a matriarchal mother figure was absent. Was Spanky's mom divorced/separated? Did dad pass away? Was he in the audience that fateful "talent" Friday night? Or was he just a busy guy at work and play so to stand clear of mom's equally boorish treatment of him (like son)? Without a father figure figuring into the script, it leaves the Rascals rescue crew (and Spanky's live-in grandma) to stand in for daddy. In the end. it was a rather hyper-matriarchal decision of director Gus Meins to leave dad completely out of the picture. Even a henpecked buffoon of a dad would've been comical!2. Static Cling-on. Perhaps a bit of a stretch, but Gus Meins really put some production value into this sight gag very near the marquee climax. So, consider this possible setup that the director may well have thought of, though not entirely clear...Question: Could the enormous amount of static electricity stored in Spanky's mom's dress following the "shocking socket" scene also account for why the rather dull-tipped metal curtain hook managed to so relentlessly snag onto her dress hem in the end?Well, gang, chew on these two for awhile as I look forward to your comments! Also, which if any Rascals and Stooges stunts have you tried to publicly duplicate? Candid Camera, anyone?

MartinHafer This is a rather cute little Our Gang short, but I also found it unsettling as it was clearly a case of art imitating life. It all begins with Spanky doing a recitation for his mother's friends. Clearly, the mother is an obnoxious mother of a kid who just wants to be a kid! Later, she enters him in a talent show--when all sorts of hijinks ensue--some of which is pretty cute.As I say, it's a case of art imitating life because I have read Leonard Maltin's book about the Rascals. And, unfortunately, a lot of the kids had pushy parents just like Spanky's in the film. It made the laughs a little less funny when I realized the writer for this short was probably influenced by the kids' real life folks! By the way, speaking of obnoxious folks, this was Alfalfa's first film with Our Gang. While cute in the films, he and his family are a VERY sad example of the sorts of pushy behavior and monstrous egos that were all too common with child actors. Read up on them when you get a chance--it's interesting but very, very sad.Also, in this film you hear a child poorly singing "Honolulu Baby"--the tune that was popularized in the great Laurel & Hardy feature "Sons of the Desert".