The Local Gang Series

 

We all love the old Our Gang and Little Rascals shorts, right? Well, did you know that there was another series of Our Gang-like movies called, “The Local Gang”? I’m researching and writing this story for my latest book (to be released early next year), “The Pig War and Pelican Girls: 21 Extraordinary Stories from Forgotten American History.” 

The films were produced by itinerant filmmakers beginning generally around 1915 who would travel from town to town across the country to make the same film over and over again, perhaps hundreds of times, using the kids from the town they were visiting as the cast. One of the most famous of these filmmakers was Melton Barker who made the same movie, “The Kidnapper’s Foil”, countless times between 1930 and the early 1970s. Barker would come to town, hold an audition (there would be a small fee charged for the honor), a few of the kids would be selected for lead roles while the rest would be extras…HUNDREDS of extras. 

For Barker’s film, the plot was that a girl, Bette Davis (not THE Betty Davis), is kidnapped. The gang saves her and is given a reward. What do they do with the money? As with any Little Rascals shorts, they put on a show, of course. It wasn’t a scam. Barker really made the films which would be crudely edited and then shown prior to the main feature film at the town’s theater for a limited time. Many of the films have been lost to history, but some still exist. Here is a short example of one of the many versions of “The Kidnapper’s Foil.”  Warning: The film is awful, but it's history.