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Laughing Gravy wrote:

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In a nutshell... By the mid-1930s, Hal Roach was out of the short subject business (he'd been squeezed out by double features); Laurel & Hardy were moved to feature production only, Charley Chase was let go, and Thelma Todd was dead. The only exception was Our Gang, which MGM wanted to keep going and paid for handsomely (MGM distributed Roach product). The Our Gang series was cut from 2 reel (about 18 min.) to 1 reel, though.

Finally, in 1938 Roach sold the Our Gang name, films, and kids' contracts outright to MGM, which produced the series sans Roach for another 6 years. Spanky, Darla, Alfalfa, Porky, and Buckwheat went over to MGM, but all outgrew the series (although Buckwheat stuck around 'til the end) and were replaced by untalented losers like Mickey Gubatosi (a/k/a Bobby Blake), Froggy, and Janet. Ick.

In the late 1940s, Roach bought the films he'd produced back from MGM, but couldn't call 'em "Our Gang" anymore. They were retitled "The Little Rascals".

One small correction: Roach himself had reduced them to one reel in 1936. And it should be noted that the shorts, like all pre-1987 MGM titles, are now owned by Warner Bros.

Mike S.
(yer darn right it's me)

Laughing Gravy wrote:

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Correct; they feature the younger siblings of Matthew "Stymie" Beard, too. Roach bought back his Our Gang films from MGM as part of an attempt to revive the series with these "Curley" streamliners.

By the way, Monster Kids, a lot of these Rascals films are terrific scare comedies; some of my faves are MAMA'S LITTLE PIRATES (the Gang in a cave, menaced by a giant), SPOOKY HOOKY (the Gang sneak back into school at night), and WHEN THE WIND BLOWS (Jackie Cooper battles a burglar in the only Our Gang film directed by James W. Horne).

And don't forget MOAN AND GROAN, INC., with Farina trapped in a haunted house with a crazy old loon played by none other than Max Davidson!