Tragic Details About The Little Rascals

From 1922 to 1944, the Our Gang shorts delighted audiences with an idyllic and hilarious vision of childhood life. The brainchild of legendary comedy producer Hal Roach, the man behind Laurel and Hardy and Charley Chase, Our Gang featured a diverse cast of regular kids, with much of the comedy coming from their natural performances. Beginning in the silent era, Our Gang, originally called Hal Roach's Rascals, peaked with the advent of the talkies, making Spanky, Alfalfa, Buckwheat, and Darla household names.

In 1936, the gang got its own feature film. Released by MGM, the Civil War farce General Spanky was a flop. The shorts would limp along at MGM until 1944, when studio execs pulled the plug on the long-in-the-tooth tykes. However, this was far from the end of Our Gang. In 1954, the Our Gang shorts, repackaged as The Little Rascals, appeared on television for the first time, introducing a new generation of fans to the antics of America's favorite kiddie comedians. The Rascal revival was on, and it continues this day. 

Yet, the story of Our Gang is no Hollywood fairy tale. For many of the formerly famous kids who brought a laugh-filled escape to Depression-era moviegoers, there was no happy ending. The specters of racism, drug abuse, and untimely death are just a few of the demons that haunted the young actors known as the Little Rascals. These are the tragic details of their troubled lives. 

Aside from producer Hal Roach, the man most responsible for making Our Gang a runaway success was senior director Robert F. McGowan. A former Denver firefighter, McGowan moved to California in 1913 with dreams of working in the burgeoning film industry. By 1922, the director was hard at work on the Our Gang comedies. Responsible for casting, McGowan, along with co-director Tom McNamara, assembled a troupe of stock characters that would serve as the formula for the series for the entirety of its run.

Our Gang was at its best under McGowan, who directed the series from 1922 to 1933. Although he had an affinity for kids and was a natural at coaxing hilarious, natural performances from his young cast, the job nonetheless took a toll on the director. According to Richard Lewis Ward's A History of the Hal Roach Studios, McGowan's deteriorating mental health led to the director taking a two-year sabbatical. Under the direction of McGowan's nephew, Anthony Mack, the comedies declined in quality. McGowan was soon back at the helm of Our Gang, but the advent of sound would present him with a new set of challenges.

Although the talkies forced McGowan to radically change his directing style, he adapted quickly and successfully.  Still, the stress of corralling a cast of rambunctious child actors and dealing with overbearing stage parents finally proved too much for McGowan. Leaving the series in 1933, he returned for one last Our Gang short in 1936.

Only one year old when cast by Hal Roach, Allen "Farina" Hoskins appeared in 105 Our Gang comedies between 1922 and 1931 – more than any other cast member. Literally growing up on film, Hoskins was, for a time, Our Gang's most popular actor. By the end of his tenure, he was earning $350 per week – much more than his castmates.  Although he was not Our Gang's first Black child actor (that honor goes to Ernie "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison), he was, however, Hollywood's first Black child star. Clad in a baggy shift covered in patches with hair knotted in a cluster of pigtails, Farina's image was rooted in racist stereotypes.

Hoskins aged out of Our Gang at age 11, replaced by Mathew "Stymie" Beard. As Hoskins grew up, the press of the day was particularly cruel. Julia Lee, author of Our Gang: A Racial History of The Little Rascals, writes that the end of the child star's career was viewed as a "form of death." One newspaper callously wrote "[Hoskins is] no longer cute, so he can't scrabble a dime out of Hollywood."

Although his life as Farina was over, Allen Hoskins would find meaning outside of stardom. After seeing action in the Pacific during World War II, Hoskins became a licensed psychological technician noted for his work with the mentally disabled. In 1975, he was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame, according to America Comes Alive. On July 26, 1980, Allen Hoskins died of cancer at the age of 59.

Despite being a featured Our Gang performer, little is known about Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins. He was largely a mystery, even to his fellow Rascals. Only eight when he left the series, the nature of his departure has long been a topic of speculation among Our Gang fans. What is known is that Hutchins' parents were intent on his becoming a star, perhaps mistreating him in the process.

Often cast as little brother to Jackie Cooper, Hutchins was distant between takes. In an interview featured in the 1984 TV documentary Our Gang: Inside the Clubhouse, Cooper revealed how Hutchins' parents created a barrier between their son and the rest of the kids. "You would go to play with Wheezer and his father would pull him away. Very competitive," said Cooper. "[He] was to be left alone. I guess his father was going to make him a star [but] it never happened..."

Former Rascal Thomas "Buddy" MacDonald shared his memories of Bobby Hutchins with Laurel and Hardy.com's Richard W. Bann in 2001. "Wheezer was a special case," McDonald recalled. "There was a problem of some kind associated with Wheezer, maybe it was because of his parents. [...] Wheezer's dad was pushing McGowan and Hal Roach to feature Wheezer at the expense of the other kids, which they resisted." 

On May 17, 1945, Army Air Corps cadet Bobby Hutchins died when his B-26 Marauder collided with another aircraft during his final training exercise. He was only 20 years old.

In the decades since Our Gang ceased production, hundreds of imposters claiming to be former Rascals have attempted to dupe an unwitting public. One of the earliest was a man named Jack Bothwell, who claimed to have portrayed a nonexistent character named "Freckles." In the 1950s, Bothwell managed to scam his way onto the popular TV game show To Tell the Truth. According to TV writer Mark Evanier, the hoaxer continued his Rascals ruse for years, making personal appearances and doing the talk show circuit until his death in 1967. Bothwell's passing did nothing to abate his lies, as major news outlets eulogized the "former child star."

The most famous (and oddest) Our Gang imposter was Bill English (pictured above). Per The New York Times, in 1990, English, an amiable and well-liked grocery bagger from Arizona, convinced the producers of the ABC news program 20/20 that he was the original Buckwheat. The faux Buckwheat was outed by none other than George "Spanky" McFarland, who informed ABC that Billie Thomas, the only actor to ever portray the beloved Rascal, had passed away in 1980. McFarland confronted a virtually incoherent English on the tabloid news show A Current Affair, but the hoaxer refused to back away from his claims. 20/20 later apologized for the segment, which resulted in the ouster of a producer and legal action from the Thomas estate.

After leaving Our Gang at 13, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer struggled to recapture the success and fame the Hal Roach comedies had brought him. At first, Switzer's show business career seemed bright, but it peaked in 1942 with a part in the comedy There's One Born Every Minute. Only bit parts and low-budget serials followed.

Switzer made his final film appearance in The Defiant Ones, directed by Stanley Kramer. However, by this time, Switzer was earning his living far from the glitz and glamour of Hollywood. Working as a bartender, a fishing and big game hunting guide, and a dog breeder, Switzer's former fame was little more than a bitter memory. By the end of the decade, his luck was running out. In 1958, an unidentified gunman shot Switzer in the arm. A motive for the shooting was never determined. What is certain is that Switzer's notoriously volatile temper had earned him no friends.

On January 21, 1959, an enraged and intoxicated Switzer and a friend drove to the Mission Hills, California, home of Moses "Bud" Stiltz, per History. Determined to collect a $50 debt over a lost hunting dog, Switzer assaulted Stiltz, who fled to his bedroom, returning moments later with a .38-caliber revolver. Switzer allegedly drew a knife, and Stiltz shot him. The former Our Gang star died of massive internal bleeding at the age of 31. The incident was ruled a justifiable homicide.   

Wheezer, Alfalfa, Darla, and Froggy were not the only Rascals to die tragic, early deaths. Norman "Chubby" Chaney passed at 21 after an operation to correct a glandular defect. Scotty Beckett descended into drug abuse and died under mysterious circumstances after suffering a brutal beating. Mickey Daniels became a chronic alcoholic and died homeless. With such a large proportion of former Our Gang actors dying young, rumors continue to swirl about an alleged "curse." Surviving cast member Robert Blake (credited as Mickey Gubitosi in the Our Gang shorts) became the latest "victim" when he was accused of involvement in the 2001 murder of his wife Bonnie Lee Bakely. 

Although the untimely deaths of so many of the Little Rascals is indeed tragic, there's no evidence that the cast is somehow cursed. Statistically, the numbers just don't point to anything anomalous. As the debunkers at Snopes point out, given the number of cast members, the Little Rascals have had, on average, exceptionally long life spans.