One Terrible Day [Little Rascals Our Gang 1922]
Channel: AudioBooks Vs Movies
Date: 2021-11-30

One Terrible Day is a 1922 American silent short film, the first entry in Hal Roach's Our Gang (Little Rascals) series to be released. Directed by Robert F. McGowan and Tom McNamara, the two-reel short was released to theaters on September 10, 1922 by Pathé.

This was the first Our Gang comedy to be released, although the fourth to be produced. The gang's leading lady in this film is Peggy Cartwright, who makes only a brief appearance in the company of an unnamed character at the country estate.

Allen Hoskins’s character in this early short is female. His character will not start taking on male characteristics until the 1923 short, The Champeen, when he dresses like a boy for the first time. This is very similar to what happened with the Buckwheat character years later.

SPOILER ALERT
PLOT:

Wealthy Mrs. Pennington Van Renssalaer, upon hearing of a rival socialite's gathering of "settlement children" for a "lawn fete", decides to conduct a similar picnic of her own. Five boys show up at her house and present her secretary Alvira, played by Clara Guilol, with their invitations. The five boys are Mickey Daniels, Jack Davis, a tall boy wearing glasses and having a snobbish attitude, and the twins, Winston and Weston Doty. Just as Mrs. Van Renssalaer, with her pet monkey, comes out of the house, Booker T. Bacon arrives with his little sister Farina in tow in her toy wagon. Neither of these two children have an invitation. When Alvira tells Jackie that he cannot come because he does not have an invitation either, Jackie's dog chases her down the street until she is forced to climb a tree out of fright. The monkey gets excited and jumps down, to be chased by Mrs. Van Renssalaer's chauffeur, (played by William Gillespie), who gets doused with water when the monkey finds a garden hose and turns it on him. When things finally settle down, Mrs. Van Renssalaer, Alvira, the chauffeur, and the five boys get into the limousine. Unbeknownst to them, however, Booker and Jackie stow away on the tailgate with Jackie's dog sitting beside them, and Farina being pulled along in her little toy wagon.

After they get going, Mickey starts flying his kite behind the car, but Mrs. Van Renssalaer's monkey grabs the kite's tail and is hoisted up into the sky. When the string breaks, the monkey falls. The chauffeur has to get out of the car and rescue the monkey and when he returns, he discovers the stowaways in the rear of the limousine. Mrs. Van Renssalaer tells him to let all the children and the dog ride in the car. After they get going again, the limousine has a blowout. While the chauffeur is changing the tire, the kids start playing with the unused tire. When the chauffeur gets his tire back, he tries to replace it on the car, but the kids continue to pester him. He picks one child up and sets him aside, only to find another child standing there. He continues to set the children aside, one at a time, not noticing that the children are tricking him by running around to the end of the line to be lifted aside again. Finally, the chauffeur gets the tire replaced and tells the children to get into the car. But the kids trick him again. As they get in the car, they run across and exit the car on the other side and get back in line to get back into the car. The chauffeur catches on and makes all the children get in and sit down.

They finally arrive at the country estate and the kids play for a while in the house, making a mess of things and breaking a lamp, until Mrs. Van Renssalaer drives them outside where they entertain themselves by torturing the animals and swimming in the fountain in their long-handles, only to be interrupted when Peggy Cartwright comes riding up on a mule. They can't get dressed because the monkey has stolen their clothes, so they hide in the barn. Peggy goes into the house and the boys get dressed and come out of the barn. They then decide to become bullfighters, but get scared and wind up cowering in a tree, only to be ridiculed by Peggy, who explains that the ‘’bull’’ is actually a cow.

When the butler, played by Charles Stevenson, tells the kids to come into the house for dinner, they sit down at the table. Meanwhile, the monkey steals Mrs. Van Renssalaer's pearls and climbs up onto the chandelier. The boys climb up on the table to get it down, ruining the meal. The gang chases the monkey all over the house. The monkey gets away and stashes the pearls on Farina. It's finally time to go home, and they all pile back into the car. But before they get back to town, they have another blowout, bringing the show to an end.