Pups Is Pups
About Pups Is Pups
Wheezer's puppies run off through the city toward any bell they hear, because he says they think the bell means dinner. The rest of the gang crash a high-society dog show where Farina is working as a page, dragging in frogs, turtles, mice, ducks, and a pig, and Farina is fired for the uproar. Wheezer rings a church bell himself. He is sitting on the curb when the pups scramble back. Through it all, Dorothy keeps jumping into a mud puddle until her mother falls in too.
Cast & crew
More about Pups Is Pups
Robert F. McGowan directed and produced it with Hal Roach. H. M. Walker wrote titles and dialogue with McGowan. Art Lloyd photographed it, and Richard C. Currier edited it. MGM released the two-reeler on August 30, 1930. A glass matte added silos to the live views of the Arnaz Ranch.
Themes
Making
The opening industrial skyline is a glass matte over the Arnaz Ranch, a heavier effect than Hal Roach usually paid for on a two-reeler.
Look
Art Lloyd shot the short. The silos behind the gang's play were painted on glass and matted over the ranch.
Technique
A glass-matte shot puts industrial silos behind the Arnaz Ranch footage.
Music
Leroy Shield's first Our Gang score, with Marvin Hatley, replaced the silent-era approach with jazz cues that Roach reused on other series.
Preservation
Selected for the National Film Registry in 2004. Television prints of 1971 dropped scenes with Farina; those scenes remained on home-video copies and were restored to the AMC broadcasts in 2001.
Notes
- It is the 100th Our Gang short released, and the first of the 1930–1931 season.
- Dorothy DeBorba makes her Our Gang debut as the child who jumps in the mud.
- It is the first Our Gang short scored by Leroy Shield. Marvin Hatley also has a music credit. Cues include 'Teeter Totter,' 'Wishing,' 'Hide & Go Seek,' 'On To The Show,' and 'Confusion.'
- In 1971, scenes with Farina were cut from the Little Rascals television prints. They stayed in 16mm, VHS, and DVD copies, and were put back in the American Movie Classics prints in 2001.
- The Library of Congress added it to the National Film Registry in 2004.
Awards
- National Film Registry (2004)
Scenes
- The gang unload frogs, turtles, mice, ducks, and a pig at the dog show.
- Wheezer rings the church bell and the puppies come back to the curb.
- Dorothy's mother, trying to scold someone for the mud, falls into the puddle herself.
Quotes
They think they're gonna get dinner.
