Did The Little Rascals Have A Curse?

our gang also known as the little rascals was a classic american series of comedy short films it chronicled a group of poor neighborhood kids and their adventures it was created by a studio executive hal roach who was also the man behind laurel and hardy the series ran from 1922 to 1944 and made the transition from silent films to talkies the children were all showcased behaving in a relatively natural way over the years the show has remained popular and several new recreations were made but some strange things have happened to some of the former kids who have appeared on the show some say it was a curse while others say it happens to everyone in society today we will take a look at some of the former child stars and i will leave it up to you to decide whether or not they were actually cursed carl alfalfa switzer alfalfa was one of the most popular and best remembered characters in the series when carl grew older he found it difficult to land new roles however he was able to play bit parts in films like it's a wonderful life and the defiant ones in between acting gigs he supported himself as a bartender dog trainer and hunting guide carl was shot to death in 1959 following a dispute over 50 dollars he was 31 years old carl's older brother harold switzer also appeared in the series however he was more or less just a background actor in april of 1967 he murdered a customer in a heated dispute and then committed suicide at the age of 42. robert weiser hitchens robert was an aviation cadet in the army air corps he was killed during his final training exercise when two aircraft collided he was 20 years old matthew stymie beard matthew was one of the many actors from the show that struggled after growing up he was a high school dropout and had an addiction to drugs which drove him to commit crimes however he was able to kick that addiction by the 1970s he was able to land small roles in movies and tv shows like good times in sanford and sun as well as commercials sadly in 1981 he had a stroke with some injuries in which he had to be hospitalized he died at the age of 56. darla jean hood played the sweetheart in the series she is one of the few who carried on with success after the show she was a singer and continued acting in a few movies she was also a regular in radio and television shows as well as some popular commercials darla had an appendectomy and contracted hepatitis from a blood transfusion and she died in 1979 at the age of 47. norman chubby chaney norman's weight was due to a glandular problem after leaving the show he continued to gain weight and at the age of 17 he was more than 300 pounds in 1935 he had a surgery to treat this condition his weight dropped to about 136 pounds but he never recovered he passed away in 1936 at the age of 18 years old scotty beckett scotty was a kid who wore a baseball cap sideways and an oversized sweater following the show he had trouble landing roles and he struggled to adjust to life outside of the show business he had two failed marriages and a series of dead-end jobs and numerous brushes with the law drugs and alcohol also became an issue for him in 1968 he checked into the hollywood nursing home for treatment of injuries sustained in a beating two days later he was found dead investigators found a bottle of sleeping pills and a note beside his bed however an autopsy ruled that the cause of his death was inconclusive he was 38 years old william buckwheat thomas buckwheat was certainly one of the most remembered characters of the series he was offered many roles in film and stage but had no desire to continue with the hassle of performing as he put it however he did continue on in the film industry he became a film lab technician where he learned how to cut and edit film in october of 1980 he was found dead in his bed at the age of 49. he had suffered a heart attack 46 years to the day after his mother brought him to the hal roach studios for the audition william froggy laughlin william was known for his voice which was strange and guttural it sounded like a frog croaking he died at a hospital in 1948 at the age of 16 following an accident he was delivering newspapers on a cushman scooter when he was struck by a speeding truck richard mickey daniels daniels was long estranged from his wife and children he died alone in a san diego hotel room in 1970 his cause of death was listed as cirrhosis of the liver from his long years of battling alcoholism when he died he received no press coverage which is sad considering all the years of laughter that he brought everyone he was 55 years old when he died his cremated remains set unclaimed for 21 years before they were finally recovered he is located in unmarked grave and forest lawn memorial park located in los angeles robert mickey blake his real name was michael gubatosi blake was in the series until the very end of its run he did go on to have a successful career in hollywood starring in several movies and television shows his childhood was somewhat abusive thus the name change and he had little to do with his family after the age of 16. in 1999 blake's life changed drastically he met and started dating bonnie lee bakely she had a track record of being a scam artist pornography distributor and a stalker of celebrities she had been married several times in which she had taken money from her husbands at the same time she was also dating christian brando the son of the late marlon brando in 2000 she gave birth to a daughter and named her christian shannon brando however she told them both that she wasn't sure who the father was blake had a dna test done and it was revealed that the little girl was actually his blake married bakely and the child's name was changed to rose lenoir sophia blake the couple lived in separate houses on the same property and blake hired a private eye to spy on her in may of 2001 bakely was shot dead while sitting in blake's car around the corner from an italian restaurant that they had just eaten dinner at the event was very strange and he did serve time while it went to trial lake was eventually acquitted on her murder due to a lack of hard evidence bakely's three older children sued blake for wrongful death in 2005. the judgment of 30 million dollars was placed against him but he did eventually settle for quite a bit less robert bone dust young he played a kid with a toothy grin and had a knack for getting other rascals in trouble following his service in the army he changed his screen name to clifton young he then had multiple good character roles after going through a bitter divorce he was found killed in a los angeles hotel fire in 1951 that fire was started by his own cigarette when he fell asleep he was 33 years old jay pinky smith he played a freckle-faced skinny kid in this series after the series he did have a few other roles but he went on to marry have kids and work in the retail paint business following the death of his wife he eventually took in a homeless man named charles wayne cromby in october of 2002 jay was found stabbed to death in the las vegas desert he was 87 years old crombie was later arrested for smith's murder and eventually admitted to the murder dorothy dandridge she had a small part in the series but went on to multiple other projects and films she went through a bad divorce during the early 1960s at that same time she discovered that the people who handled her finances were swindling 150 000 dollars from her she also found out that 140 000 were owed to back taxes in order to make things right she was forced to sell her hollywood home and place her daughter in the state mental institution at around this same time her popularity was dwindling and she resorted to performing in nightclubs in 1965 dandridge was found nude and unresponsive in her apartment by her manager earl mills the pathology report stated that her cause of death was an accidental overdose of an antidepressant however the los angeles county coroner's office concluded that she died of a fat embolism resulting from a right foot fracture sustained five days earlier she was 41 years old kendall breezy brisbane mccomas kendall played sort of a prankster who gets expelled after growing up he left show business and became electrical engineer shortly before his 65th birthday he was forced into retirement and committed suicide in october of 1981. darwood waldo kenneth smith waldow was the rich kid with glasses who competed with spanky and alfalfa for darla's affections in 2002 he was on a daily walk when he was severely injured by a hit-and-run driver the driver was never identified but smith died later that day a month shy of his 55th wedding anniversary he was 72 years old pete the pup the first dog to play pete was poisoned by an unknown assailant in 1930. there was a suspect but nothing ever could be proven the r gang or little rascals will forever be remembered as one of the timeless comedy classics it has inspired many other film works and series but i would like to hear from you in the comments below was there a curse that followed these former child actors as always i thank you so much for watching and we'll see you guys next time [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Rhetty for History

Views: 31,108

Rating: 4.8992805 out of 5

Keywords: Our Gang, The Little Rascals, Hal Roach's Rascals, Comedy Series, television show, silent films, talkies, child stars, curse, Buckwheat, Alfalfa, Carl Switzer, Stymie, Hal Roach Studios, Hollywood, Norman Chubby Chaney, Dorothy Dandridge, William Laughlin, Robert Blake, Bonnie Lee Bakley, Robert Young, Clifton Young, Spanky Mcfarland, Pete the Dog, Waldo, Our Gang Documentary, Little Rascals Documentary, little rascals tv, our gang film, Life And Sad Ending, Our Gang Cursed

Id: FwBae6q91dU

Length: 11min 16sec (676 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 03 2020