Hal Roach

...was responsible for "Heights," released through United Artists, which also distributed Walter Wanger Prods.' "Stagecoach" and the Hal Roach Studios' "Mice." Culturally, of course, the late '30s were a world away from today's movie...

In this article: Oscars, Gone with the Wind, Sid Ganis, Hollywood, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, and MGM

...photos are going to be until I post them, but this was a surprise. Between 1917 and 1929, she appeared in 200 films, many of them Hal Roach pictures. She was engaged to comedian Snub Pollard, although I can't determine whether they were...

In this article: Marie Mosquini, Snub Pollard, Lee De Forest, and Los Angeles

...Chubby, Farina, Jackie, etc. set out on a camping trip "to shoot wild bears from a distance". After about ten minutes of classic Hal Roach child endangerment, the kids encounter some ruthless poachers, who, for reasons that are never...

In this article: Bear Shooters, Ruth Gordon, Rick Baker, Our Gang, Octopussy, Pootie Tang, Orangutan, and Consumerism

...of the fundamental good and bad in American society. Capra finally landed on his feet in 1924, securing a job as a gag writer for Hal Roach, producer of the long-running, wildly popular "Our Gang" series. Soon he moved over to...

In this article: Frank Capra, Christmas, Academy Awards, Jefferson Smith, George Bailey, Clark Gable, James Stewart, and Mary

...who play them to passengers to help pass the time between destinations. A typical (perhaps top quartile) Hal Roach joke is as follows: "He told me that I have a cult following, at least I think that's what he said". "There is a man...

In this article: Ireland, Brendan Grace, Guinness Book of Records, and Dublin

...of poor neighborhood children and the adventures they had together. Created by comedy producer Hal Roach, Our Gang was produced at the Roach studio starting in 1922 as a silent short subject series. Roach changed distributors from Pathe...

In this article: Our Gang, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Robert F. McGowan, Little Rascals, King World, and Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas

...in The Lucky Dog '', produced in 1919 by Sun-Lite Pictures and released in 1921. Several years later, both comedians appeared in the Hal Roach production ''45 Minutes from Hollywood (1926). Their first "official" film together was Putting...

In this article: Laurel and Hardy, Stan Laurel, Beau Hunks, Dog, Academy Award, Unaccustomed As We Are, The Lucky Dog, Thicker than Water, and Pardon Us

...in motion pictures. He was a native of New York City. Douglas got his start as a child actor, and as a teenager became employed at the Hal Roach studio, working in the office and appearing in bit parts in various Hal Roach films. He made...

In this article: Gordon Douglas, Our Gang, Bored of Education, Warner Bros., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Laurel and Hardy, Spanky, Birthday Blues, and Big Ears

...only later in life as I tried to collect these fond memories on video did I discover some of the long twisted history of this series. Hal Roach started the series in 1922 as a collection of silent shorts. Sound was added to the series in...

In this article: Our Gang, MGM, Laurel and Hardy, DVD, Spanky, and Pete the Pup

...several of the events, and the children's testimonies are told in flashback during the court case. When Hal Roach sold Our Gang to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1938, he was contractually bound not to produce anymore kids comedies. When Roach...

In this article: Who Killed Doc Robbin, Our Gang, Curley, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Bernard Carr, United Artists, Matthew "Stymie" Beard, and Robert F. McGowan