A Film Spin-Off Of Our Gang
The movie was named General Spanky and marked the first and last attempt to move Our Gang from shorts into feature films. Weirdly enough, the story took place during the Civil War. Spanky and the gang formed a regiment of kids called “The Royal Protection of Women and Children Regiment Club of the World and Mississippi River.” The crew ended up in the middle of the war and was forced to defend themselves from the advancing army. Rather than use real weapons, the gang fights off the enemy with comical, childlike distractions. The movie didn’t do well in the box office. And so, Our Gang went back to short films.
A Film Spin-Off Of Our Gang
Kendall ‘Breezy’ McComas
One of the oldest kids to appear on the show was Kendall McComas. He was short enough to look like a convincing grade-schooler even when he was in his teens. He only worked as part of the series for one year and appeared in eight of the short films. When he left the show, he started working at the U.S. Naval Weapons Center as an electrical engineer. He eventually became an institutional mortgage-backed bond salesman, taking on the name John Mandy. At age 65, he faced mandatory retirement and ended up taking his own life.
Kendall ‘Breezy’ McComas
