A wealthy society matron treats the underprivileged kids of the gang to an outing at her country estate. The gang turns both the journey and the visit at the farm into a chaotic adventure.
The gang sets up their own junior fire department after mistaking a bootleg still for a boiler. Steam from an open window is mistaken for fire, and they rush off to put it out, arousing the attention of the local cop, who smells the liquor.
Mary Jane's mother owns the village store, and finds her business suffering because her landlord runs a competing shop right across the street and is threatening eviction. Ernie and Pat, with the help of their pets, lure the skinflint's customers away by various means.
Ernie stumbles into the secret headquarters of the J.J.J.'s (the Jesse James Juniors), and spins a tale in which he and Jackie save rich girl Mary Jane from a gang of kidnappers.
The various boys of the gang each manage to escape their responsibilities for the day, meeting up to build a raft for their pirate game.
A new kid moves into town and is soon bullying little Jackie. When the gang finds this out, they beat up on the kid, only to discover that his father is a cop. Meanwhile, the police are after a criminal named Red Mike, and the gang mistakenly thinks they're the ones being chased.
Ernie takes advantage of a feud between Mickey and Jack, becoming a fight promoter and putting the two rivals in a boxing ring.
When the cobbler, Mr. Tuttle, receives his back pension, he takes the gang for a car trip out to the country. When the car breaks down, some of the kids go exploring in a nearby barn, only to meet up with a criminal named Dandy Dick.
After being chased away from the county fair, the gang decides to open their own junior version of the fair, complete with wild animal displays, rides, and animal stunts. To top it off, they give a live performance set inside a giant movie frame, and impersonate several popular film stars of the day.
The boys switch places with some runaways who are about to be taken back to San Francisco. The welfare lady in charge of taking them back sprains her ankle and enlists her child-hating boyfriend to escort them. The journey, to say the least, is a disaster.
The boys, along with kindly old Pop Malone, decide to escape from Mother Malone's boarding school, where they are subjected to Mother Malone's nasty temperament. While on the lam, they meet up with an unfriendly bootlegger.
While the boys are playing their baseball game, a couple living nearby offer to take care of Jack's baby sister, Imogene. Eventually, the gang goes into their house when they realize there's a litter of puppies in there. By this time, however, the doctor has realized that one of the servants has a contagious disease and decides to quarantine the place, giving the gang a chance to turn the house into a disaster area.
The gang meets up with the head of a vaudeville troupe, who enlists them to help him out when his co-stars have abandoned him. They manage to make a complete wreck of the act, and Jack's bugs get loose in the auditorium, putting the audience into an itching frenzy.
After Mary leaves the gang's mock-war to go do some work at the local movie studio, the boys decide to break into the pictures as well, but are chased away. They manage to sneak in and sabotage a film-in-progress, adding their own unusual footage.
Joe arrives as the new boy in school, and the boys decide to initiate him into their secret club, the Cluck Cluck Klams. During the proceedings, a couple of auto thieves break into the barn, and when they make their getaway, Farina and Jackie are in the back seat.
The local blacksmith, Dad Anderson, builds nifty sail-propelled scooters for the boys. Meanwhile, Mickey imitates his big sister's beau in his efforts to win Mary's affection.
The gang visits Mickey in the hospital, who's having his tonsils taken out. Before long, they create mayhem in the hospital, and get thrown out. To get back in, they switch vaccination orders with some other kids, but the staff catches on and gives them some false diseases to worry about.
The gang performs in a Shakespearean playlet authored by Miss Ocheltree. The material is way over their heads and it's past their bedtimes, so everything inevitably goes from bad to worse.
As the gang are selling lemonade across the street from the racetrack, they meet Mary, who's rich father owns one of the horses. She gets them into the track, and they're sufficiently impressed to start up their own junior version.
The gang travels by wagon to go on a picnic with their families. After losing a wheel, the parents put on a new one, and the gang races off with the wagon, leaving the parents behind. They have a picnic without the parents, only to be overrun with insects.
The gang are running their own taxi service, and come across Ernie and Farina delivering laundry to J. William McAllister, the wealthiest man in town. His doctor and his wife have both convinced him that he's sick, but when the kids visit him, they convince him otherwise. They all drive off in the taxi to Emerald Beach and have the time of their lives.
The gang starts up their own barbershop, giving the neighborhood kids haircuts that wouldn't become popular for another sixty years. When they see Mickey in his Little Lord Fauntleroy outfit, they kidnap him and give him the works. Mickey then decides to join them in their enterprise.
The gang hides out on Captain Whelan's boat after being chased by the police. The boat gets loose, however, and they drift out to sea. A Navy ship comes by to rescue them, but the gang mistake them for the enemy. After being captured, they're put to work scrubbing the decks.
Farina has nightmares whenever he eats meat. After he eats the contents of a picnic basket, he dreams of being chased around by giant versions of the kids in the gang.
It's the last day of school, and Mickey gets into a big fight with Snoozer, the school bully. The kids take turns performing in front of the parents, with Mary struggling through ""Mary Had A Little Lamb"" and Mickey trying to play ""Humoresque"" on the violin.
When the gang hears about prizes being offered at a baby show, they get their younger siblings ready to earn some money. Mickey dresses Joe up to win the prize for fattest baby, but Joe runs off when it comes time to be inspected by a pediatrician. The gang then stages its own baby show, but their mothers arrive with the police to reclaim their babies. The gang hides in a gypsy's wagon, and find themselves being kidnapped by the unknowing gypsy.
Jubilo reminisces about his childhood, and his mother's birthday many years ago. His father is too stingy to buy gifts, so Jubilo decides to buy a 3 dollar hat for her. He tries several ideas for earning money, including starting his own circus.
When Mickey comes along in his wagon and sees the gang hunting for wild animals, he invites them to his farm to see some real animals. The kids run around trying to catch anything on four legs, until a couple of bears show up to chase them around.
Mickey gets adopted by his rich aunt Kate, which means no longer living with his uncle Pat Kelly. The life of a rich boy doesn't suit him at all, especially since he has to deal with his bratty cousin, Percy. Uncle Pat and the gang come by one day to pay Mickey a visit, and before long, the place is a disaster area.
Mickey and Joe are responsible for a runaway locomotive at the train yard, so the gang are no longer allowed to play there. To compensate, they set up their own railroad. Unfortunately, their train is in direct competition with Toughy's, who attempts to sabotage the gang's operation.
The gang is running a shoeshine business, and when the profits aren't coming in, they resort to painting the shoes of passersby. Later, Mickey finds that there's a new boy in the neighborhood, and to assert his dominance as the local tough guy, Mickey beats the boy up. The boy is no match for Mickey, and runs away crying. On their next meeting, the boy beats Mickey to a pulp. After several more back and forth encounters, Mickey and the gang come to realize that they've been dealing with identical twins.
Mickey switches clothing with a rich boy and takes up residence in a hotel. The gang sneaks in and causes trouble, as usual, even dressing up as cannibals and organizing a mock-tribal ritual.
Rich boy Adelbert Wallingford is kidnapped and aspiring detective Mickey decides to crack the case. The gang earns a dollar delivering a package to Mr. Wallingford, which turns out to be a ransom note. He's supposed to attach the money to a pigeon and then let it go. If the pigeon returns without the money, then goodbye to Little Adelbert. Unfortunately, the pigeon escapes before any money can be attached to it. This leads to a daring chase to catch the pigeon, with Mickey, Joe and Farina taking a small plane.
The gang are sitting in an empty traincar when the door suddenly closes. The next morning, they find themselves in New York. They give themselves a tour, but are eventually apprehended by the police and put on a train home. They manage to get into mischief on the train, however, involving some bugs belonging to a traveling entomologist.
The circus is coming to town, but Mickey, Joe, and Jackie have to go to school. When they learn that Gene and Farina get to stay home for six weeks due to spotted fever, they paint dots on their faces. Their mothers are fooled by their symptoms, but the doctor knows better.
Mickey's dog rescues Mary during a runaway pony incident, so she invites the gang to a party at her house. Her parents are reluctant to allow this, but they give in.
The gang visits Gene, who's working as a page at the beauty parlor. When left to their own devices, they experiment with every gadget and hose until chaos sets in.
The gang runs away from home, but night travel turns out to be too scary for them, so they find shelter in a nearby house. As it turns out, the house has been rigged up with amusement park contraptions, all geared for frights. When the parents catch up with their kids, they too get caught up in the situation.
Mickey's tired of the Little Lord Faunterloy existence put upon him by his mother. Grandma understands and helps him to sneak outside, where he promptly gets into a fight with Johnny the bully.
The gets in trouble with local cop ""Hard-Boiled"" McManus, but this is soon remedied when kindly Officer Mac is brought in to replace him. The gang is allowed to become junior police officers and eventually have a run-in with the now-fired McManus.
A surveyor tells the gang that they can't build their amusement park in the vacant lot, since a factory will be built there soon. They decide to go straight to the head of the company, who turns out to be a kid at heart. Much to the frustration of his board of directors, he helps the gang to build quite an elaborate setup.
Rich girl Mary has no friends to play with, so the kindly gardener buys her some homemade dolls. When she takes a nap, the dolls come to life and frolic around her bedroom. While she's sleeping, her unkindly governess throws the dolls out. When the boys of the gang arrive at the house to deliver laundry, Mary thinks her dolls have come to life, since they resemble them so closely. It turns out that the boys had actually modeled for the dollmaker.
Farina wants to play with the boys of the gang, but they keep chasing him away. His mother tells him to stay in his own back yard, but boredom leads him back into the street, where he repeatedly becomes the victim of the gang's pranks. At one point, the gang tries out some toothpaste on their dogs. They're mistaken for mad dogs by the police, and Farina thinks they're shooting at him.
The gang makes a movie, with the help of Billy, who's brought along his home-movie camera. Jackie and Jay are left out, so when the film is premiered, they sabotage the proceedings.
The gang uses an engineless car to start up a horse-drawn taxi service. When Johnny's dad reclaims the horse, the gang gets a motorist to give them a tow up a hill. As the gang is away from the vehicle, Farina takes it for a hair-raising joyride.
The downtrodden kids of the gang have concluded that there is no Santa Claus. Mickey and Johnny, after being visited by the spirit of Santa, earn money to buy the kids Christmas presents and disguise themselves as Santa to deliver the toys.
The gang gets the idea to search for buried treasure and fashion their own boat to do so. When they reach a seemingly deserted island (actually Catalina), they begin digging. Sure enough, they find treasure. As it turns out, the treasure was put there by a movie production team, and since they have men among them dressed as cannibals and wild animals, they get back at the kids by giving them a good scare.
Farina's life is becoming unbearable, both at home and out on the street (where he's picked on by the gang). He decides to run away. Coincidentally, a chimpanzee that's part of a vaudeville show decides the same thing, and the two of them team up to subdue the gang as well as Farina's abusive dad. Things go bad, though, when the chimp gets drunk and runs amok.
A man and woman have been collecting fifty dollars a week over the years from a rich uncle who thinks they've got two kids. When he decides to visit, they have to hire a couple of children to pull one over on the uncle. Luckily, Joe's mom has dressed him in baby clothes to punish him for fighting. He and Mickey (dressed as a girl) agree to take part in the charade. Unfortunately, a midget who wears baby clothes to play practical jokes gets into the act. When the uncle arrives, he finds three kids. When Joe gets fed up and leaves, Jackie takes his place, as though no one will notice.
The gang is staging a production of ""Uncle Tom's Cabin"" in the barn. Joe's mother makes him clean the yard, until Mickey gets the gang to help out, freeing Joe to play Uncle Tom. The kids in the audience just want to throw fruit, though, so no matter what, the production is bound to go haywire.
Farina is watching Professor Clement's flea circus with his dog, Magnolia, when a flea decides to stowaway on the pooch. The professor offers a dollar to the gang if they can find the flea. They have to eventually attend the wedding of Mary's sister, though, which turns into an itching frenzy as Magnolia walks among the guests.
Professor Fleece is holding a seance, but is continually interrupted by the gang's noisy ball game outside. He chases them off, but they take refuge in their underground hideout, which just happens to be directly beneath the seance room. They manage to ruin the seance, so Fleece decides to give them a good scare.
The kindly fire chief lets the kids play water games around his station. When the firemen go off to fight a fire, the kids tag along, and succeed in helping to put out the fire. As a reward, the chief helps the gang to start their own fire department.
The kids are traveling on a train and playing Cowboys & Indians, much to the dismay of everybody on board. The train arrives at a town called Red Dog, and the gang gets out to look around. They eventually find themselves in a covered wagon which takes them to the hideout of some bandits.
The gang decides to choose two among themselves to polish off Toughey, the local bully, and Joe and Farina are the lucky pair. Fortunately for them, they hear that Toughey has moved out of town, so they return to the gang with a tall tale about how they manhandled the bully and threw him into the lake. As it turns out, Toughey hasn't moved at all, but has been swimming at a nearby swimming hole. A farmer chases him away before he can retrieve his clothes, so he keeps himself hidden. His mother then finds his shirt, which has some red berry stains and thinks that her son has been murdered. This brings in the police, and Joe and Farina make an escape to keep from being arrested.
Farina, Mango and Pleurisy live with Uncle Tom, until the authorities decide he doesn't have a right to them and throw the three kids into the orphanage. When Farina misunderstands the head matron's instructions regarding some chickens, he thinks the kids are all going to get their heads cut off. Uncle Tom comes to rescue them, but gets caught and tried.
The English teacher, Mr. Finlayson, wins a free trip to Europe, only to find that the gang has decided to join him.
It's Joe's 10th birthday, and he's home alone throwing his own party, since his mom can't afford to buy him a cake. Unfortunately, the gang is over at wealthy Jackie's house, much to the dismay of his parents. Joe comes over with his cake, which is full of surprises secretly inserted by Joe's little sister when he wasn't looking.
The gang is putting on a dog show, but soon find out that the local dogcatchers are rounding up all stray dogs because of an epidemic. Unfortunately, Farina can't keep his dog from being caught, and must come up with five dollars if he wants him back.
The gang has formed a 'men's club' and talk new kid Joe into joining so that they can subject him to the initiation. Joe fails to pass this test, but turns the tables on the gang when it becomes known that his dad is a cop. This allows Joe to 'initiate' the gang, until a bad guy decides to use their club as a hideout. When the cops arrive, the gang thinks they're in trouble, and start throwing eggs.
Rich boy Joe is lonely and wants a baby brother, so Farina paints a black baby white and sells him to Joe. Meanwhile, the gang has set up a baby-washing system, and when Joe puts his baby into the machine, the white paint washes off. When the baby's mother arrives, Joe runs home with it.
After completely destroying Joe's mother's fireworks stand, the gang comes across a scientist who's demonstrating some very explosive pills. Pete swallows some of these, and then goes around town causing minor explosions as he spits them out one by one.
The gang has put together their own pint-sized Olympics, but find themselves repeatedly interrupted by the sound of somebody giving them the raspberries. Several boys get beaten up for this, but it turns to be Wheezer.
The gang plays a football game against the Gas House Garlics, a team or rowdies that has no trouble intimidating our heroes. After being humiliated for most of the game, the Our Gang team starts using its wits and devises various ways of outsmarting their opponents.
Wheezer, who's father is a prize fighter, has a knockout punch and tries it out on anybody that gets too close to him. When Farina gets fed up while babysitting and leaves Wheezer on his own, the toddler wanders onto the contruction site for a highrise building, and the gang has to rescue him.
Johnny puts on a magic show in which he transforms Jean into a rabbit. Joe gets hold of some of Johnny's magic powder and puts Mango under a box. After he sprinkles some of the powder on the box, a chimpanzee emerges. As the gang follows the chimp around, it appears to transform into various other animals, and ultimately a chicken.
A hypnotist is giving a performance in which he puts the local cop under a spell, and then does the same with the gang. Each member is made to believe that he's a particular type of animal. The hypnosis doesn't wear off, however, so the kids are still assuming their animal characteristics at inopportune times during a society luncheon.
Pete is suicidal because Joe has spent his money on a girl rather than on the dog collar Pete was promised. Eventually, Pete saves the girl from drowning, but Joe misunderstands the situation and thinks Pete pushed her in.
Joe's dad decides to shoot Pete for making a mess of the yard, so Joe instructs Pete to play dead. Eventually, Joe finds refuge for the dog with a local studio that's looking for a dog to cast in their latest film. This eventually leads to chaos, as the gang assists Pete in attacking some movie villains.
The gang is taking delight in picking on superstitious Farina, the clincher being when Harry feigns death after Farina puts a hex on him. The deceased orders Farina to bury him in the local cemetary, where the gang plays more jokes. The tables are turned, though, when a solar eclipse comes about, and puts a scare into everybody.
Jay R. is left in charge of his younger siblings, who proceed to write all over the walls. The gang decides to wallpaper the house, with stunning results.
Farina's mother is too ill to work, and the landlord is demanding $200 rent. Farina decides to raise the money himself. Meanwhile, the gang thinks Farina is laughing at them because he never stops wearing an optimistic smile. They dirty up the laundry Farina is carrying, and then are remorseful when they learn of Farina's situation. They decide to drill for oil, and succeed in producing a gusher.
The gang has decided to become inventors, and builds a car that somewhat resembles a submarine. With Wheezer at the controls, they go through a hair-raising journey through the city streets.
The gang is living at a posh hotel, where Farina is a bellboy. They decide to put on a circus, which is interrupted by the hotel detective. A chase ensues through the hotel, complete with various types of animals.
A society matron takes the orphaned kids of the gang on a car journey. Not only do they succeed in ruining the car and causing the chauffeur to quit, but they get into a major mud battle with a rival gang.
Rich girl Jean invites the gang into her mansion. Older brother Percy (Jay R.) leads them through the house, where his father had set up booby traps for an upcoming party. When the gang catches on to him, they beat him up.
Mary Ann is antagonizing the rest of the gang until they wallop her good. For revenge, Mary Ann gives Wheezer cod liver oil. Her mother had told her this would make Wheezer grow into a giant. Luckily for her, a passing circus giant figures out whats going on and fills in for Wheezer.
Chief Cummings runs a horse-drawn taxi service, and finds his business dwindling when a rival cab driver starts stealing his customers. If the chief doesn't drum up some business, his horse will be taken away from him. This is where the gang comes in, as they succeed in stealing customers back for the chief.
It's the first day of school, and Joe recruits Farina to bring a phony note to the teacher so he can go fishing. Later, school is disrupted by Wheezer as he brings a couple of circus seals into the classroom.
Mary Ann and Wheezer have to play second-banana to their bratty stepsister Jean, whose mother favors her own child. They throw a party and invite the gang, who get treated to one of the least appetizing birthday cakes ever baked.
Farina and his sister Pleurisy have to deliver laundry for their mother. Unfortunately, it's election day, and candidates Joe and Jay R. are both trying to keep the black kids from leaving their yard. They disguise themselves as a scarecrow and manage to get downtown, where they're caught up in a police shoot-out involving stolen ballot boxes.
Joe has to babysit his brother Rupert who cries all the time. This doesn't help Joe's toothache, so he gets the gang to help him lull Rupert to sleep. Every time the child dozes off, however, some noise from outside the house wakes him. Later on, Farina helps Joe to remove the tooth with the aid of a string attached to Pete the Pup. This means Joe can keep the dollar his mother gave him to pay the dentist.
Mary Ann's mother is at her wits' end with her bratty child, stating that she'd give a hundred dollars if the girl could be brought under control. Noticing that Joe has successfully trained Wheezer using a dog-training manual, Farina arranges for him to do the same with Mary Ann.
Harry has essentially turned Mary Ann into his slave, since she can't resist seeing him wiggle his ears. This is all for naught, however, as Harry falls for Jean and abandons Mary Ann. Meanwhile, Joe is trying without success to wiggle his ears since he's got a crush on Mary Ann.
Farina is an orphan riding the rails with his dog Pete. He stops in town long enough to meet the gang and convince them that they ought to join him. After a harrowing train ride, they find an abandoned house in which to spend the night, only to be spooked by their own imaginations.
The gang lives in an orphanage, where Mary Ann plays mother to little brother Wheezer. When a kindly woman adopts Wheezer, Mary Ann's heart is broken. The gang joins her in visiting Wheezer, where they get into trouble by setting off the burglar and fire alarms in the woman's posh home.
Mary Ann takes care of her little brothers, Wheezer and Beezer, while their father works nights. Their mother is "in heaven," but amazingly appears at their door one day. It's actually her twin sister, but she decides to let them believe she's their real mother.
Joe and Chubby get to ride in the locomotive with their engineer father. When Dad goes off to lunch, Harry talks Joe into showing him the inside of the locomotive. Just then, Loco Joe comes along and starts the train moving, giving the two boys a wild ride.
There's a baby contest in town, so the gang decides to enter their younger siblings. Farina manages to take a break from sitting around all day in order to dress up his little brother for the competition.
Farina and Harry aren't having much luck with their boxing enterprise: Wheezer and Beezer are barely able to attract two spectators. Farina notices that Joe and Chubby are competing for Jean's affection, but that neither of them has the guts to fight. He puts them into the boxing ring, telling each of them that the other has agreed to lay down.
The president of the local humane society notices the gang using their animals to propel their go-carts, and educates them about kindness to animals. This inspires the gang to convert others to this philosophy. Wheezer isn't convinced until he has a nightmare in which he is put on trial by giant farm animals. Meanwhile, the gang sets free all the animals in town, including laboratory mice.
With a new baby brother in the family, Wheezer isn't getting the attention he used to get. Farina suggests that he take the baby back to the hospital to trade him in for a goat. Wheezer takes his advise, and the nurse at the hospital plays along with him.
The gang escapes from their Saturday chores and gather in the park to complain about their predicament. Farina scoffs at his mother's warning that the devil will get him if he doesn't do his work. Meanwhile, a man dressed in a devil costume (for advertising purposes) overhears the kids and decides to scare the daylights out of them. This works quite well, and the kids work so frenetically that their mothers think they've gone out of their minds.
The gang decides to dig for buried treasure in the basement of an old abandoned house, against the advise of Kennedy the Cop. While in the house, they're tormented by a lunatic.
The wife of Kennedy the Cop is staging a Shakespearean play featuring the schoolchildren. Everything goes from bad to worse as the kids have trouble remembering their lines and some tough kids in the back of the auditorium starts throwing eggs. This climaxes in a good old-fashioned pie-fight.
Jackie has a crush on Mary Ann, and Kennedy the Cop gives him advise on how to court her. As it turns out, Speck is also flirting with Mary Ann, who suggests that the two boys should have a duel. So they don makeshift armor and proceed to cut up everything in sight.
On a particularly windy night, Jackie gets locked out of his house wearing only his nightshirt. He climbs a ladder to Mary Ann's window, but when she realizes his visit isn't of a romantic nature, she kicks him out. Jackie also manages to convince the neighborhood that a burglar is prowling around, giving Kennedy the Cop an excuse to bumble around.
Spud has to stay home and "grease" Wheezer, who has the croup, and can't join the gang on their hunting trip. However, Mary Ann agrees to watch Wheezer if Spud takes them along, so the journey gets underway after all. Some bootleggers are stationed near where the gang has set up camp, and one of them puts on a gorilla costume to scare them.
Stepin Fetchit is busy avoiding work around his house, and enlists the gang to help him read a love letter and clean up after a disastrous taffy-pull.
Farina is a pageboy at a hotel in which a pet-show is going on. The gang decides to spruce up their wide variety of pets and enter them in the contest. Meanwhile, Wheezer has lost his puppies and the bell that he uses to call them, so he goes around ringing every bell in town.
It's the first day of school, and the gang is lamenting the loss of their beloved Miss McGillicuddy. Their new teacher is Miss Crabtree, and the gang has all kinds of pranks in store for the old battleaxe. Jackie even brags about it to a nice young woman who gives him a ride to school. As it turns out, this nice young woman is Miss Crabtree herself.
Summer is fast approaching, and Jackie is worried that Miss Crabtree will get married and leave her students the way Miss McGillicuddy had the previous year. When the teacher's brother comes around looking for her during her lunch break, the gang thinks he's a prospective husband and schemes to discourage him from pursuing her.
Grandma runs the general store in town with the help of the kids in the gang, but she's about to sell the store so she can retire. Mr. Pennypacker is trying to talk her into selling him the store, while two officials of a chain store are trying to call Grandma on the phone with a better offer.
Things are looking up for Jackie now that the teacher of his dreams, Miss Crabtree, is moving into the house as a boarder. Unfortunately, Chubby drops by to propose to her.
The authorities decide that Stymie belongs in an orphan asylum rather than being cared for by Farina. The older boy throws a going away party for his little brother, but Stymie conveniently forgets to invite the gang, insuring that he can eat all the treats himself. When the official from the orphan asylum arrives, the gang tries to sabotage his plans.
Wheezer and Stymie are out selling stuff door-to-door, including the gang's baseball equipment. They're invited into a large house by Shirley, who's home alone. The gang eventually arrives as well, as do the local police.
It's time for Grandma to move to the county home. It seems newly-married son-in-law Dan has squandered all her savings and the new wife doesn't want the old woman around. As she's packing her things, she gives Chubby some useless bonds to make a tail for his kite. A letter arrives, which Dan gets his hands on. After "accidentally" breaking Grandma's glasses, he reads the letter to her, stating that the bonds are useless. It turns out that the letter says the opposite, that the bonds are worth plenty of money, but by the time Grandma realizes this, Dan's already chasing down the kite, while the gang chases after him.
Wheezer's parents are about ready to divorce each other, so Stymie helps Wheezer to make himself sick. He gives him every unpleasant thing he can think of to eat, and when Wheezer really does get sick, Stymie gives him an assortment of items from the medicine cabinet.
The gang is skipping school in order to listen to the rousing stories of the old sea captain. When Miss Crabtree complains, the two of them devise a scheme to scare the kids into giving up their ideas of becoming pirates. The captain arranges for them to arrive that night to start their first voyage, only to become a slave-driver once they're on board.
Wheezer and Dorothy live with their wicked stepmother and her spoiled little boy, Sherwood. Sherwood's dog, Nero, eats some of Mr. Brown's chickens, but the boy reports to the volatile man that Pete did it. A nearby cop manages to keep Mr. Brown from shooting Pete, but the dog ends up at the pound.
It's the first day of school, and Brisbane is reminded by his mom that if he does well, he'll grow up to be president. He'd rather be a streetcar conductor, actually. The local blacksmith tells him a story about a boy who got expelled for playing pranks on the teacher, and this suits Brisbane just fine. He proceeds to devise any number of bad deeds, culminating in bringing a mule into the classroom. Sure enough, he's sent away by Miss Crabtree. What he didn't consider was that he'd have to explain all of this to Mom.
The gang attends a lawn party given by a wealthy matron for the benefit of poor children. Also attending are a couple of crooks, one of whom is dressed as a woman, and two midgets posing as their infants. As the party wears on, the midgets steal jewelry from the women who cuddle with them. Meanwhile, Stymie tries to convince the gang that the babies can talk.
The gang is trying to put on a performance of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," but Brisbane has to divide his attention between the show and looking after his kid brother, Spanky.
The gang switches places with a group of orphans being transported by train. The gang makes the train ride miserable for everybody, especially the poor man who has been put in charge of them.
The gang is angry with Stymie for stealing a pie, but they forgive him when he frees their dogs from the dogcatcher. When the man hears what Stymie did, he confiscates Pete, and tells Stymie that he'll need five dollars within the next half hour to get the dog back. A convenient wind blows a five dollar bill Stymie's way in answer to his prayer, and a cop chases him around to get it back for the woman who lost it.
The gang starts their own fire department and get right to work on snoring like real firemen. Brisbane spots the local fire brigade answering a call and sounds the alarm for the kiddie version to follow them. They take too long and have no idea where the fire is, but another fire is conveniently burning nearby, so they go to work on that one.
Poor little rich boy Dickie has to wear a neck brace because his mother refuses to believe that all he needs is some activity in his life. He agrees to join Stymie for a little excitement in the gang's mule-drawn taxi, which soon loses the mule and is sent careening down a long hill.
Dickie's father is too stingy to buy his wife a birthday present, so the boy decides to raise some money and buy her a swell dress he's seen in a shop window. He throws a party complete with a cake full of unexpected surprises.
The gang, inspired by the Aladdin story, is busy rubbing every lamp they can get their hands on. A nearby magician overhears their plan and presents himself as the genie of the lamp. Spanky wishes for Cotton to be turned into a monkey, which appears to happen thanks to a vaudeville chimp that happens along.
The boys want to get out of going to school, so Joe and Farina help out by writing phony notes for them. As it turns out, the class is being treated to a day at the local amusement park, and once the boys hear of this, it's too late. They decide to head off for the rides, anyway, but have to contend with a teacher who pretends not to know them, and a truant officer bent on teaching them a lesson.
The gang has prevailed upon Spanky to mind their younger siblings while they go off swimming. Needless to say, the toddlers manage to turn the house upside-down.
The kids' Uncle George is in town, having brought with him a wild man from Borneo. Dad doesn't want him near the house, but Mom sends Dickie, Dorothy and Spanky (joined by the gang) to visit him at his sideshow tent. The kids, however, think that the wild man is their Uncle George, and the wild man is basically a grown child who is pacified by candy, which he calls "yum yum eat 'em up." When Stymie pulls out some candy, Bumbo exclaims "Yum yum, eat 'em up!" which sets off a wild chase, as the kids think it's THEM he wants to eat.
The kids live in a boarding school, where they're brow-beaten by the ghastly old matron. But in school, they're taught by gentle, lovable Old Cap, who allows them an impromptu talent show.
Introduction to volume 1 in the DVD.
It's Spanky's first night in his own room, and he's spooked by every little bump in the night. A burglar introduces himself as Santa Claus and is nice enough to get a glass of water for the boy. When the gang come along to see if Spanky can take Pete for a few days, he points out Santa Claus to them and they sick Pete on the man.
Spanky's parents take him to a photographer's studio to have his picture taken, but one mishap after another keeps this from happening.
A rich kid moves into the neighborhood, and the gang paws all over his shiny fire engine. When Wally's girl, Jane, takes a ride with the snotty brat, Wally boasts that the gang has their own fire engine. Eventually they do, but they have to build it first. To test their new ride, they race the rich boy down a steep hill.
The local bully lassos Marianne's doll and hurls it into the street, where it gets crushed by a passing vehicle. The gang vows to find her another one before sundown. As it turns out, there's a doll in the window of a nearby store that's just right, but the owner's son is the very same bully. The gang begrudgingly trades in Pete for the doll, but then breaks a vase, and must give back the doll in payment for the damages. Luckily, Pete attacks the owner and his son, and they reluctantly give the doll to the gang in return for taking back their dog.
The boys are getting ready for a camping trip, but can't be bothered to bring along Spanky and Scotty. The little kids decide to go on their own, and manage to get there way ahead of the older boys. They also remember to bring food, which the older boys have forgotten to do. When it gets dark and things get scary, Spanky and Scotty are having the time of their lives.
Wally's over-protective mother goes shopping and leaves the boy in the care of Barclay, the chauffeur. Wally orders him to "drive down some alleys" and comes upon the gang, who are riding on a makeshift merry-go-round powered by their mule, Algebra. To make the mule go, all you have to do is sneeze. To get her to stop, you need to sound an alarm clock. The action is soon relocated to Wally's mansion, where the mule runs rampant every time somebody sneezes, which is often.
The gang arrives at the local radio station to audition for a show featuring child talent. Little did the station manager realize that The International Silver String Submarine Band was merely a bunch of ragamuffin kids with makeshift instruments. The station manager has no luck winning over a visiting prospective sponsor, as most of the "talent" is unimpressive, and the gang is generally disrupting the proceedings. As a last ditch effort, he finally gives the gang their chance to perform, and they win over the sponsor with a rousing performance of "The Man On The Flying Trapeze."
Waldo's "mater" has arranged for him to play violin for the Maids of Olympia, a women's group of which she's hoping to become the president. When he sees the gang's football game outside, he joins in and manages to get mud all over himself. They invade the laundry room, but succeed only in shrinking Waldo's suit down to doll size. To his mother's horror, he arrives at the luncheon wearing a lampshade, and the gang barges in and makes a ruckus of the place.
Spanky's mom forbids him to join the gang in looking for treasure in a nearby cave. He sneaks out anyway, and the gang succeed in finding a giant treasure chest which they break open. After helping themselves to as much loot as they can carry, they try to find their way out. They find themselves in a room with oversized furniture, and soon find out why it's oversized when a giant walks in.
The gang is poorly treated at the orphanage, but today they're being treated to a party at the home of Mr. Wade, a prospective sponsor. His daughter, Mary, and her boyfriend, Dick, come upon a magic lamp that turns them into children, and they join the orphans for ice cream and cake. Unfortunately, when the party ends, the two of them are mistaken for orphans and taken back to the orphanage, where they witness the abuses first-hand.
Spanky has been appointed treasurer of the gang's new club, and as such, keeps their money in an envelope. Meanwhile, his forgetful father needs a reminder from the maid that it's his wedding anniversary, so he places an envelope of money on the kitchen table as a gift for his wife. Unfortunately, his absent-mindedness leads him to then place the envelope in a book he's carrying ("How To Improve Your Memory") and walk out the door. Then Spanky comes in and sets the gang's envelope on the table. When his mom walks into the kitchen, she sees him take the envelope and find a hiding place for it. She goes to her husband's office and reports this incident, and he calls the maid to send Spanky over there right away. This turns out to be impossible, though, since the club has just broken up, and the gang is demanding their money, which is no longer in Spanky's hiding place.
Spanky's mom has aspirations of her son becoming a great actor, so she enters him in a local talent contest. Not wanting an actor's life, Spanky arranges for the gang to sabotage his performance with noise-makers and pea-shooters. At the contest, Spanky meets Marianne, whose mother can't afford to buy her a dress she's been wanting, and wants very badly to win the prize money. This turns out to be impossible, as Marianne is overcome with stage fright, so Spanky decides to win the prize for her. The gang, however, doesn't get the message about his change of plans, and destroys his act, anyway.
It's the last day of school, and the kids are dismayed to find that their beloved Miss Jones will be replaced the following year by a Mrs. Wilson. They soon meet Miss Jones' fiance, Ralph, and give him a cold greeting. At a farewell party that night, they try a number of schemes to convince "that Ralph guy" to dump Miss Jones, not realizing that Ralph's last name is Wilson.
A new truant officer has just moved into the neighborhood, and he has a pretty daughter. Spanky and Alfalfa both manage to get themselves into the house to charm the daughter, but spend most of the time trying to outdo each other. They end up hanging from a curtain rod in a chin-up contest.
The gang's all set to have themselves a game of football, but Spanky's mom is going out and is leaving Spanky in charge of the baby. The solution: get the baby to fall asleep. Walking her back and forth across the yard only succeeds in tiring out her big brother. So, Spanky and Alfalfa take her upstairs to bed, where Alfalfa sings her a lullaby.
Spanky has a new fishing pole, so there'll be no Sunday school for him today. Buckwheat and Porky tag along as he ventures off for a nice spot to fish. A crabby property owner comes along and shoos them away, however, and they find themselves wandering through the woods. Some black people are holding a baptism ceremony at a nearby river just as a solar eclipse occurs, and the boys get a good scare.
The gang puts on their own live musical revue for the benefit of the neighborhood kids. As they're making their way through the various acts, it becomes clear that The Flory-Dory Sixtette is not going to show up, so the boys have to perform that number instead.
The gang has its collective eye on a $50 prize being given away that day at the local radio amateur contest. They hold auditions among themselves to see who will perform on the show. After turning down Alfalfa several times (he wears several disguises), they overwhelmingly choose Darla, who wows them with her rendition of ""I'm In The Mood For Love."" At the radio station, however, Darla is late, and Alfalfa sings the song in her place.
The caddies at the local golf club have walked out, leaving the caddy master in a tight spot, as four golfers have arrived and are demanding caddies. Luckily, the gang is nearby, so they become caddies. They bring along their chimpanzee, who eventually runs rampant with a tractor mower.
A mean-spirited store owner prevails upon the local cop to send kindly old Gus and Scotty elsewhere with their lemonade stand. They end up on a little-traveled street where people don't tend to pass. That's until the gang brings a parade through the neighborhood and puts on a show right next to the lemonade stand.
The gang's toy airplane flies into the house of a cranky old rich woman and breaks a vase. To get their airplane back, they must do chores around the yard. It isn't long before they convert the old sourpuss into a best friend, much to the dismay of the butler and the maid, who think she should watch out for her health.
It's Arbor Day, and Spanky has decided to play hooky in order to avoid performing in the pageant the school is giving. Unfortunately, the truant officer sees to it that he makes it to school. Meanwhile, a couple of sideshow midgets have disguised themselves as children in order to sneak out for a little liberty. The truant officer mistakes them for real children and dutifully deposits them in the schoolroom, where they offer to take part in the pageant, performing a racy vaudeville number.
It's the first day of school, and Spanky and Alfalfa have cooked up a scheme to be sent home. Spanky fixes up Alfalfa with a phony toothache by blowing up a balloon in his mouth to create the illusion of swelling. But the new teacher has overheard their scheme. She sends them home, but only after letting them know about the ice cream that's on its way to the classroom. The toothache miraculously disappears, but the balloon gets caught in Alfalfa's throat. The teacher wants him to sing a song, which he does, complete with a high-pitched squeak every time he inhales.
Spanky has a plan to get some firecrackers away from Buckwheat and Porky so that he and Alfalfa can set them off. They disguise themselves as a man (with Spanky on Alfalfa's shoulders) and intimidate the two younger boys. Recess is over before they can light off the firecrackers, so Alfalfa puts them in his back pocket. Inside, he volunteers to recite "The Charge of the Light Brigade." As Porky focuses a magnifying glass on Alfalfa's back pocket, the poem receives some added special effects when the firecrackers go off.
Unable to get the local kids to pay a penny to see the gang's performance of ""Romeo and Juliet,"" Alfalfa gets them in by letting them pay as they exit if they like the show. As the show gets underway, Darla storms out, unable to tolerate Alfalfa's onion breath. After Spanky stalls off the crowd with his ""old act,"" the play continues with Buckwheat in the role of Juliet.
As school lets out, Spanky and Alfalfa send Buckwheat and Porky back into the building to deposit a phony doctor's note on the teacher's desk, so that they can skip school the next day and go to the circus. As the teacher's leaving, she tells the boys that she's taking the whole class to the circus. When they run back to the building to retrieve the notes, the little kids are just closing the doors, which are now locked. They show up that night to break into the school and get the note back. Stormy weather, a power outage, and various other spooky happenings, send all four boys - and the janitor - running for their lives.
Spanky is an orphan shining shoes on a riverboat traveling down the Mississippi River during the Civil War. After being joined by Buckwheat, who's been separated from the other slaves, Spanky meets up again with Marshall Valient, who is about to leave for the war. Spanky and the other kids must stay behind and protect the women, so they form an army and fight a battle against some Yankees.
There's a class reunion going on at Adams Street Grammar School, so the gang puts on a special show, Follies-style.
There's a new bully in town named Butch, and to save time, he'll just lick the toughest guy in the school rather than the whole class. Through a mishap, Alfalfa finds himself volunteered, but Spanky stalls Butch in order to organize a boxing match. Alfalfa is hopelessly outmatched in the ring, but fortunately, Buckwheat and Porky come to his rescue by conking Butch in the head from behind a curtain.
It's Valentine's Day, and the boys decide they don't want anything to do with it, forming ""The He-Man Woman-Haters' Club."" Almost immediately, Darla passes by and winks at Alfalfa, who drops the club like a hot potato and follows her for a picnic lunch. While Alfalfa pushes Darla on the swing, Spanky and Buckwheat replace the cheese in Alfalfa's sandwich with bar soap, and the cream in the cream puffs with liquid soap. Not wanting to offend Darla, Alfalfa eats all of it. In the classroom, he is summoned to sing a song for the class, which is punctuated with bubbles from Alfalfa's mouth.
Butch and Woim steal Buckwheat and Porky's marbles and smear tomatoes in their faces, so the two younger boys go to Spanky and Alfalfa, who are running a protection agency. After Alfalfa's failed attempt to intimidate the two bullies, Spanky brings in plan two: pelting the bullies with tomatoes. This leads to a chase that ends in the local ballet school. Inside, Spanky and Alfalfa disguise themselves as ballerinas and find themselves in the dance recital. Not to be outdone, Butch and Woim switch clothes with a couple of the boys in the recital and engage in a rough dance sequence with Alfalfa.
The boys overhear the teacher requesting a week-long closure of the school so she can attend her sister's wedding. The superintendent of schools says that nothing short of an epidemic would accomplish that. The boys decide to create an epidemic, and inflate rubber balls under their shirts to give themselves fat stomachs, and paint spots around their eyes. Meanwhile, Waldo finds out that, in light of the students' exemplary grades, the superintendent will make an exception and close the school. He sends Porky to deliver a note to the boys, but Spanky doesn't have the patience to wait for Porky to remember which pocket it's in. The boys go to a doctor to be diagnosed, not realizing he's a veterinary doctor. He examines Buckwheat first, behind a closed door, leaving Spanky and Alfalfa to overhear details about monkey serums and the like. When the doctor leaves, they go in for Buckwheat, only to find a monkey sitting there.
Spanky and Alfalfa are finding themselves with very little free time, as they have to babysit their infant siblings. They decide, with Buckwheat and Porky, to run away. As they arrive in a small town, they notice that the owners of the local bakery are feeding stray dogs. Spanky and Alfalfa ask for some treats for their dog, but only get dog biscuits. Buckwheat and Porky then walk right in with another dog, who turns out to belong to the proprietors. Playing along, the kindly folks give the two boys every treat they request for the dog. As the boys are all eating cake and cream puffs, the proprietors overhear them talking about being runaways. It's decided that the boys must be taught a lesson, so the man dresses as a local sheriff and arrests the boys, putting them in striped prison outfits.
The boys are treating Darla's father to repeated renditions of ""Home, Sweet Home,"" delivered with a liberal dose of cacophony. But it's getting late, and as they open the door to leave, it suddenly starts to rain. Mrs. Hood will sleep with Darla, while the four boys will share Mr. Hood's bed. It doesn't take long for him to leave for the living room couch, where he covers himself with a bearskin rug and dreams of the four boys as miniature devils poking him with pitchforks.
Introduction to volume 2 in the DVD.
Alfalfa's putting on a William Tell-style performance with his popgun. He uses a mirror to shoot backwards at the apple on Buckwheat's head, only to find that the suction-cup dart has made a direct hit on Butch's nose. When it becomes clear that he's going to get beaten up, Alfalfa faints. This gives Spanky enough time to work up one of his schemes: he takes Alfalfa back to the clubhouse and puts him in bed. The bed has a hole through which Alfalfa can put his lower leg, so that Spanky can fix him up with a fake leg, complete with a misformed foot made out of a fish inside a long sock. The plan works on Butch, who learns that Alfalfa was injured sticking up for his pal, Butch.
The gang has turned their clubhouse into Spanky's Voice Studio, with the singular purpose of furthering Alfalfa's singing career. He's scheduled to perform at a radio contest in which Butch is also a contestant. The bully arrives at the studio to intimidate Spanky into keeping Alfalfa out of the show. Using a frog in a scarf, Spanky convinces Alfalfa that he's lost his voice, so the boys sit in the clubhouse listening to the show on the radio. Finally, Spanky gets a guilty conscience and takes Alfalfa to the station, where he wins the contest, even though his singing is repeatedly punctuated by the sound of a croaking frog.
Alfalfa's in military school, and has been writing home to Darla about his single-handed football victories. The only problem is, he's never played football in his life, and when he arrives home on the train, there's a huge throng of kids to welcome him with cheers. Spanky announces that Alfalfa will be leading the local team to victory in a football game being played that day. After spending half the game avoiding any action on the field, Alfalfa finally has to play, and his bungling actually results in success for his team.
Spanky has called the boys of the neighborhood together for a meeting. Upset that they weren't invited to the MacGillicudy girls' party, he proposes that they form a He-Man Woman Haters' Club and nominates Alfalfa as president. Alfalfa, meanwhile, is not at the clubhouse, but busy writing a love letter to Darla, giving it to Buckwheat and Porky to deliver. When he gets to the clubhouse and learns of his new duties (and of the paddle that will be used on all misbehaving members), he hurries over to Darla's house to retrieve the note. Buckwheat and Porky return, and let the boys know where Alfalfa's gone, so Spanky and the paddle-wielding Spike head over to Darla's. Once there, they can't find Alfalfa, but instead find Darla's cousin Amelia, who is actually Alfalfa. He/she flirts with the boys and finds that they, too, are unwilling to abide by the club's rules.
The gang is staging their annual follies show, but ""king of the crooners"" Alfalfa walks out on stage singing opera. Unwilling to give his fans what they want, he and Porky visit a local opera company, where the impresario jokingly gives Alfalfa a contract effective twenty years later. Alfalfa and Porky arrive back at the barn, where Alfalfa takes a nap. He dreams of becoming an opera star twenty years later, only to be booed on opening night. The impresario still has him under contract, and orders him to sing in the streets. He chances upon Spanky, who's just about to walk into his own nightclub, Club Spanky, and invites Alfalfa in. After watching all of his successful friends put on various performances in the club, Alfalfa decides he'll become a crooner again, only to be interrupted by the impresario. As he begs to be let go, Alfalfa wakes from his dream, and tearing up the contract, returns to the stage to croon again.
Spanky has a plan to get out of going to school in the morning. Alfalfa has stayed the night, and they convince Spanky's mom that Alfalfa is very sick, and that Spanky should stay home with him. When she finds out from Buckwheat and Porky that there's some fishing in their plans for the day, she goes shopping, and leaves Junior behind with the older boys. They try in vain to get Buckwheat to watch Junior, but only succeed in losing track of him. He ends up in a weight-reducing cabinet, and by some stroke of sheer idiocy, Spanky and Alfalfa both go in after him and lock the door behind themselves. Junior exits through the hole in top and turns the machine on.
There's a new girl named Darla moving into the neighborhood, and her father runs a circus, so the boys pay them a visit, claiming to be animal trainers. Alfalfa gets carried away with his boasting, claiming to have secret powers over bears. Darla's dad gets into a bear costume, and Alfalfa has to nervously train him. It actually works, and the bear begins to obey his commands.
Darla has to stay home to "mind the baby," and can't join the boys for their picnic. It turns out that she's spending the day in Waldo's boat, which crushes Alfalfa's spirit. Spanky decides that they'll make their own boat and race Waldo.
Spanky is passing off Alfalfa as a champion wrestler, and the two of them are trying to find an opponent that can't beat him. They eventually decide on Waldo, who is to be disguised as the Masked Marvel. When Butch catches wind of this, he switches places with Waldo and bounces Alfalfa around.
It's Mr. Hood's "natal anniversary," and the wife has fixed a nice dinner for him. Just as he's about to get started, the gang shows up to sing him a happy birthday song and give him gifts (a frog, a duck and a cat). The boys have good intentions, but repeatedly succeed in keeping Mr. Hood from eating.
The gang has its collective eye on a three dollar catcher's mitt, but needs another 20 cents. Luckily, Buckwheat arrives with ten cents which he just got from the tooth fairy. Alfalfa reasons that if the boys had all their teeth pulled, they could make a mint. They arrive at a dentist's office and announce their plans. The dentist takes Alfalfa into the operating room to teach the boys a scary lesson.
Alfalfa is a private eye, and with the help of Buckwheat and Porky, tracks a couple of suspects, Leonard and Junior, who are accused of stealing Darla's box of candy. The two little kids get into the cab of a flatbed truck, so the three sleuths climb in back and hide in a box. Leonard and Junior, however, simply exit the opposite side, unknown to the older boys. It turns out the truck is taking supplies to a haunted house carnival ride, which is where the boys find themselves, but they think their encountering actual spooks.
Alfalfa's waiting outside the local movie house for Darla, who shows up arm in arm with Butch. Dejectedly, Alfalfa agrees to accompany Muggsy into the theater. He dozes off during the western, and dreams that he's the singing cowboy chasing off to rescue Darla from her kidnapper, Butch.
Alfalfa and Butch are fighting over Darla again, and Waldo suggests that they enter into a junior mayor election that is about to happen. They campaign against each other doggedly, culminating in a hot air balloon Alfalfa uses to skywrite.
The gang is putting on a performance of Aladdin and his lamp, which is repeatedly interrupted by Buckwheat and Porky's off-key rendition of "Strolling Through The Park One Day." Darla is so humiliated by them that she walks out on the show. Spanky assumes her role, while Alfalfa sings to him on a magic carpet.
Darla has had her tonsils taken out, so the gang decides to visit her in the hospital, bringing along a bunch of goodies that they know she won't be able to eat. Alfalfa meets up with a boy who offers him a dime if he'll switch clothes with him and take his place in the hospital room. Of course, Alfalfa does, and soon finds out he's about to be operated on. Some laughing gas saves the day, as the orderlies fall under its spell, as does Alfalfa, who the gang soon finds out is not quite himself.
Alfalfa decides to give up football just before the big game against Butch's Assassins. Darla tries to get him to change his mind by appearing with Butch. This only convinces Alfalfa to go off and live as a hermit, which he does after writing Darla a particularly corny farewell letter. Word from his mother reveals that Darla is going to read the letter to the kids assembled in the stands at the game. Alfalfa rushes off to retrieve the note, but Darla tells him its inserted in the lacing of the football, which forces Alfalfa to get into the game.
Butch has been playing practical jokes on the gang, so when his birthday party comes up, they decide to plant a firecracker in his cake. Unfortunately, Butch's mom prevails upon them to carry the cake into the room, and gets Alfalfa to sing a song for him.
Alfalfa's aunt comes for a visit. Her latest career pursuit is mystery writing, and she reads a work in progress for Alfalfa's dad. The parents go out for the evening, leaving Alfalfa in the care of Aunt Penelope. Alfalfa finds a loose page from her story, in which she uses the family's real names and describes doing away with her nephew. Alfalfa summons the gang to help him avoid getting murdered, which involves Penelope thinking that the house is being burglarized.
Alfalfa decides to trade in his unceasingly cranky baby brother for another baby found in the park. They take the baby home and soon find the baby doing rather grown-up things, like drinking beer. The police show up and it's revealed that the baby is Light Fingered Lester, a pickpocketing midget. The gang gets arrested, since the cops think that they're all midgets, too.
Alfalfa volunteers to be hypnotized by a sidewalk hypnotist. He's made to believe he's D'Artagnan, and challenges Butch to a duel in order to keep Darla as his own. When Darla realizes that somebody might get hurt, she runs to the clubhouse to put a stop to it. She overhears Butch talking to Alfalfa inside while the two are agreeing that girls aren't worth fighting over. They plan to duel with guns instead and pretend to both get shot. The boy that Darla rushes to will get to keep her.
Porky's in danger of being evicted by the evil landlord, so the gang puts on a circus inside his barn. Among the features are Spanky and Leonard as acrobatics, Darla as a lion-tamer (resulting in the obligatory "I've never been so humiliated" storm-out), and Alfalfa singing "The Man On The Flying Trapeze." This last spot involves sitting upon the trapeze which is held up by a mule. An inconvenient bee gets the mule agitated, which gives Alfalfa the ride of his life.
Alfalfa introduces the gang to his prissy cousin, Wilbur, who suggests that the gang offer up an insurance program to attract more club members. The gang soon finds its money running out as Butch and Woim decide to beat up as many club members as possible.
The gang is too young to join the Boy Scouts, so they go off on their own camping trip. They suffer one misadventure after another, eventually getting into some poison ivy.
The gang owes Butch some money, which they borrowed to care for a stray dog with two broken legs. As it turns out, the dog is a police mascot, and the officers give the gang a dollar for caring for him. Unfortunately, a goat eats the dollar, so Alfalfa works up a scheme to round up all the neighborhood dogs so they can cash in when they return them.
Spanky and Alfalfa have added rocket propulsion to their soapbox racer which they'll be racing in the Kidmobile Race Classic later in the day. Butch sabotages their plans by alerting the dogcatcher to Whiskers, the gang's dog, who is soon taken to the pound. Butch and Woim also reverse the supercharger on the vehicle. Needing three dollars to rescue Whiskers, the gang must win this race.
The gang is putting on a performance of "Out in the Snow You Go." Butch wants to sing in the production, but that job is already filled by Alfalfa, so Butch decides to sabotage Alfalfa's performance.
The gang's club has organized a father and son picnic, but poor fatherless Mickey is in tears. The boys arrange for Mr. Henry, who runs the gas station, to attend the picnic with Mickey.
The gang is about to start their football practice, but Alfalfa's dad wants to talk to him about his poor grades. He tells Alfalfa what kind of a future he has in store if he doesn't study more. We see the gang in college: Alfalfa is the football star, but gets poor grades, and this leads to him being disqualified from the big game.
Alfalfa switches places with a wealthy look-alike, who gets stuck having to clean up Alfalfa's yard. He recruits the gang to clean it up for him, with the promise of ice cream sodas. Since he's wearing Alfalfa's clothes, he doesn't have the money to pay for them, and the gang has to wash dishes. Meanwhile, Alfalfa is finding that the pampered life of a rich kid is not all it's cracked up to be.
The gang gets chased away from a big Hollywood premiere, so they decide to make their own movie and present it to the neighborhood kids with a big premiere. At the screening, the gang stands behind the screen to dub over the dialogue. Alfalfa has to handle Buckwheat's dialogue, since Buckwheat is stuck in the cement outside the theater. The film runs out just as Alfalfa has started his song, so he sings it "live" for the kids.
Sunday night is hash night at Mickey's house, since the family income isn't enough for something better. This doesn't keep his dad from complaining, though, and Mickey's parents always end up fighting and Mickey always ends up crying. The gang decides to help him by entering a radio contest in which they perform a play which copies the situation entirely.
Darla is crying because Spanky and Alfalfa have shunned her for the new girl, Sally. Luckily, Sally doesn't think much of the boys, and the two girls decide to trick them. Sally invites the boys over to her house, where she gets them to have a tea party with her and dress as girls. Meanwhile, the whole gang is behind the hedge witnessing everything.
Alfalfa can't eat, since he's obsessing on Darla. His dad, thinking it's a more serious problem, gives him a stomach remedy prepared with Settles-itt Powder. The gang goes over to Butch's garage, where he convinces the gullible kids that he's preparing dynamite right before their very eyes. Alfalfa notices that the main ingredient is Settles-itt Powder, and drinks the whole thing down to the astonishment of the gang. Then his stomach swells to extreme proportions, and he now thinks he's swallowed dynamite.
Alfalfa gets blamed for swiping an apple that had actually been stolen by Slicker. In vengeance, he decides to lead a life of crime, and starts recruiting other members of the gang. Mrs. Wilson offers Spanky 25 cents to take away some junk in her house, so he fools the gang into thinking they're robbing the place when nobody's home.
Since Waldo can't seem to drum up any customers for his lemonade stand, Spanky decides that a floor show is in order. The gang stages an elaborate performance which is patronized by a single, silent little boy. No matter how hot and thirsty they try to make this boy, he repeatedly refuses the lemonade.
The boys sleep overnight at the busstop so they can catch the first bus to the East River. After lugging a considerable load to the upper deck, they learn that Mickey has lost their money through a hole in his shoe. After bringing everything back down, he discovers he had put it in his other shoe. Various mishaps keep the bus from leaving this location, and when it finally starts moving, Spanky's drops his bag on the street. The conductor won't let him get it back, and when the bus runs it over, everything stops again to fix a flat tire.
Mr. Morton is a hypochondriac whose doctor has prescribed sugar pills and advised his wife that they adopt some kids. The gang, meanwhile, is playing ball outside the house and sends a line drive right through a window in the Morton house. Both Mr. Morton and his butler pretend to be crazy to frighten the kids, breaking vases and the like. But when he discovers Alfalfa's little brothers eating his pills, he suddenly becomes quite serious, and the doctor is summoned.
Spanky and the gang declare war on a rival gang headed by Slicker, who have played one too many pranks. A major battle ensues, involving various types of fruit and limburger cheese.
Mickey's mom is going to have a baby, and this is fine with Mickey until he reads in the paper that every fourth child born is Chinese. Since there's already three kids, Mickey assumes that his baby brother will be Chinese. Spanky sets his mind at ease by introducing him to his Chinese friend, Lee Wong, who invites the gang over for lunch.
With the help of Froggy's uncle, Walter Wills, the gang puts on a minstrel show to raise money for the Red Cross.
Mickey gets hit by a car, which lands him in the hospital. The gang decides to launch the 1-2-3-Go Safety Society, which teaches people to be careful when crossing the street.
The gang decides to build their own robot, but can't figure out why it just stands there when they give it orders. Slicker tells them the robot needs some ""invisible rays."" He offers to sell a box of rays to them, and while they're going off to find some money, he puts Boxcar into the robot suit. When the gang returns, they pour the invisible rays into the robot's mouth, and sure enough, he starts obeying their commands. Before long, the robot goes berserk and makes a mess of Froggy's yard.
Simple tricks to train your dog at home!
Spanky receives a letter from his brother in boot camp, who says that it's up to the kids to serve their country back at home. So, Spanky forms the Our Gang Army. Major Sanford comes along to explain that the kids would be serving their country better by cleaning up fire hazards, and collecting iron and aluminum, and the like.
Mean old Mr. Pratt, the school board chairman, gets kindly Miss Pipps fired from her job as schoolteacher, all because she allowed a birthday party during school hours. The kids, with the help of the janitor, Mr. Swenson, stage a show for the parents in which they illustrate the unkind way Mr. Pratt has of running the school.
Darla is about to gain a new stepmother, and the gang is invited to the wedding. Froggy explains to the other boys that stepmothers are a bad idea, since he read about them in the book ""Cinderella."" The boys decide to sabotage the wedding, eventually resorting to laughing gas.
The gang asks Froggy's uncle, Walter Wills, to help them put on a show to raise money for new football uniforms.
The gang runs a newspaper business which publishes The Greenpoint Flash. They're currently trying to unveil the identity of the leader of the Gas House Gang. The gang announces that the next issue of the paper will reveal the leader's identity, but this is just to set a trap.
Buckwheat sees a chimp at the old haunted house, but the gang doesn't believe him, since he's a chronic liar. They decide to teach him a lesson by taking him to the haunted house, where Froggy is ready inside a chimp costume. The real chimp soon arrives, though, and terrorizes the gang.
Since Froggy's birthday is February 29th, he only gets to celebrate it once every four years. As a result, he always cries when he attends other kids' birthday parties. The gang decides to throw him a surprise party to cheer him up. Froggy overhears their plans, but misunderstands and think he's being left out for being a sourpuss. He disguises himself as a girl and attends the party after booby trapping everything. When he learns that the party is actually for him, he makes sure he's the victim of all the pranks.
Walter Wills is listening to the radio as the mayor points out that U.S. soldiers stationed in small towns need entertainment as much as the ones overseas. He prevails upon the gang to put on a show for them.
A casting director witnesses the gang's dog, Rover, doing some impressive stunts and offers him a screen test.
The gang gets splattered with mud by a passing motorist while walking to school. Froggy takes them to his garage where he's created some cleaning fluid with his chemistry set. The stuff works like a charm, but stinks terribly. Before long, the boys get used to the smell, but find that they're unwelcome on the bus, in the schoolroom, and in the local movie theater.
The boys try out a weighing machine which dispenses a piece of paper telling their fortune, which reads "Unexpected Riches." Rich boy Ken fools them into thinking there's a treasure buried in his yard. This means the gang will dig a hole that Ken's father had told him to take care of. While taking turns with the shovel, the gang dreams about what they'll do with their treasure.
The gang is prevailed upon by the rest of the kids in their club to come up with a solution regarding all the hardships they're enduring in the interest of the war. The gang puts on a play in which Mickey plays Benjamin Franklin and teaches the kids all about true patriotism.
Janet decides to run away from home since her sister is getting all the attention. The gang prevails upon Mr. and Mrs. Jones to adopt Janet, but the couple decides to teach Janet a lesson. They virtually enslave her, and then arrange for her parents to come get her. By the time they arrive, Janet (with the help of the gang) has run away again, this time to live in a cave.
The gang puts on a patriotic musical revue in front of a live audience that is also broadcast on the radio.
The gang goes to visit Mickey's uncle on his farm. They spend the day ineptly trying to accomplish the chores. At one point, a mule gives chase, and they take refuge on a pile of hay. Their uncle gets rid of the mule, but not before the gang is sucked into the baling machine.
Froggy decides to run against incumbent Mickey in the election for clubhouse president. After two voting sessions take place, the club cannot seem to break a tie. As a solution, they draw a line down the middle of the clubhouse and have two presidents. This results in disputes between the two clubs, until Buckwheat preaches about Abraham Lincoln, and the kids all nod in agreement.
The gang arrive at the local department store to look over murder clues that the store has placed in a display window. Whoever solves the mystery wins $100. Unfortunately, the crowd is too big for them to see anything, so the janitor allows them to enter the store on Sunday when it's closed. While there, a couple of burglars arrive to crack open the store safe, and end up killing the janitor. The gang hides, but are soon discovered by the bad guys, who ""take them for a ride."" Janet, however, is not discovered, so she tries to convince the cops that the boys have been kidnapped. Unsuccessful, she recruits the neighborhood kids.
The boys have decided that they're going to disrupt the class so that their teacher will send them home. This way, they can go fishing. When the teacher learns of their plans, she makes them stay after school. The next day, they play hooky and go fishing anyway. While there, a fisherman lectures them about the importance of an education.
The gang set out to become radio comedians and start looking for a sponsor. They drop by a dentist's office, where their corny jokes make the patients feel worse. An actor suggests that they take up drama, so they audition for some funeral directors, who end up laughing at them.
Froggy, Mickey and Janet overhear Buckwheat talking to his friend, Big Shot, about giving his dog, Smallpox, to the gang. Misunderstanding, the gang warns the whole neighborhood about the impending epidemic.
Froggy is lovesick: the girl of his dreams, Marilyn, can only think of dancing, which keeps her in the company of her dance partner, Gerald. Froggy announces that he's going to give a special dance recital, and rigs a contraption that allows him to make tremendous leaps into the air.
Featuring interviews with former The Little Rascals stars and historians, this featurette shows how Hal Roach came to Hollywood and created comedies that have endured the test of time. Take a look at behind-the-scenes stories as we speak with former Tascals Jean Darling, Dick Moore, Jerry Tucker, Annie Ross and film historians Richard Bann and Richard Lewis Ward.
A first-hand account of how Hal Roach's Our Gang broke down the barriers of racism in early 1930's America with black and white children interacting as equals. This featurette furthers the impact of these shorts and how they are accepted in today's society.
A one-on-one with the former Little Rascal Dick More
A one-on-one with the former Little Rascal Jean Darling
A one-on-one with the former Little Rascal Jerry Tucker
A one-on-one with the former Little Rascal Annie Ross
A one-on-one with Rick Sapphire on the memories of Spanky
Hal Roach's "Our Gang" and "Little Rascals" comedies were first introduced to American movie audiences over 60 years ago. This documentary collection of television appearances, coming attractions, commercials and film clips is an absolute must-have for anyone who has ever laughed along with the Little Rascals!
During the Great Depression, when the nation really needed a laugh, film producer Hal Roach realized that children didn't need scripts to be funny; they were amusing by nature. And so began the adventures of the ensemble known as the Little Rascals. This compilation of classic shorts features all your favorites -- Spanky, Darla, Alfalfa and the rest of the clever ragamuffins -- taking on the neighborhood with their unique brand of zany antics.
Drawn from the beloved Our Gang series, the best of the Little Rascals is captured in this music-filled anthology, which includes Darla singing "I'll Never Say Never Again" and Alfalfa giving it his all as he croons "I'm in the Mood for Love." And who could forget Spanky's hidden dancing ability that he finally reveals in Our Gang Follies of 1936?
Dog Heaven is a 1927 Our Gang short silent comedy film directed by Robert A. McGowan. It was the 68th Our Gang short that was released.
Spook Spoofing is a 1928 Our Gang short silent comedy film directed by Robert F. McGowan. It was the 70th Our Gang short that was released.
Barnum & Ringling, Inc. is a 1928 Our Gang short silent comedy film directed by Robert F. McGowan. It was the 74th Our Gang short that was released and the first to have a synchronized musical and sound-effects track.
On a particularly windy night, Jackie gets locked out of his house wearing only his nightshirt. He climbs a ladder to Mary Ann's window, but when she realizes his visit isn't of a romantic nature, she kicks him out. Jackie also manages to convince the neighborhood that a burglar is prowling around, giving Kennedy the Cop an excuse to bumble around. 1st of 3 surviving foreign language shorts in which Our Gang performed. 'Las Fantasmas' (1930’s 'When the Wind Blows’) performed in Spanish, was 1st of 4 shorts filmed in a foreign language. Note: Survives fully intact. From the ClassicFlix Little Rascals Centenial Collection Bonus Disc.
Spud has to stay home and ""grease"" Wheezer, who has the croup, and can't join the gang on their hunting trip. However, Mary Ann agrees to watch Wheezer if Spud takes them along, so the journey gets underway after all. Some bootleggers are stationed near where the gang has set up camp, and one of them puts on a gorilla costume to scare them. 2nd of 3 surviving foreign language shorts in which Our Gang performed. 'Los Cazadores de Osos' (1930’s 'Bear Shooters’) performed in Spanish, was 3rd of 4 shorts filmed in a foreign language. Note: Only the 2nd of 2 reels survive. From the ClassicFlix Little Rascals Centenial Collection Bonus Disc.
Stepin Fetchit is busy avoiding work around his house, and enlists the gang to help him read a love letter and clean up after a disastrous taffy-pull. 3rd of 3 surviving foreign language shorts in which Our Gang performed. 'Temps d’Hiver' (1930’s 'A Tough Winter’) performed in French, was 4th of 4 shorts filmed in a foreign language. Note: Only the 1st of 2 reels survive. From the ClassicFlix Little Rascals Centenial Collection Bonus Disc.
Image gallery: Scene & Production Stills from Little Rascals Shorts. From the ClassicFlix Little Rascals Centenial Collection Bonus Disc.
Image Gallery - Promotional Stills, Portraits & Candids. From the ClassicFlix Little Rascals Centenial Collection Bonus Disc.
Image Gallery - Promotional Stills, Portraits & Candids - Ephemera. Very rare photos of early materials. From the ClassicFlix Little Rascals Centenial Collection Bonus Disc.
Image Gallery - Promotional Stills, Portraits & Candids - Holidays. Photos of the gang during holiday filming. From the ClassicFlix Little Rascals Centenial Collection Bonus Disc.
Follow Spanky and Porky around in Boulder, Colorado the week of April 1st, 1985 as they take the stage, answer questions and sign autographs as guests at the annual “Trivia Bowl” event. From the ClassicFlix Little Rascals Centenial Collection Bonus Disc.
Art Lloyd Home Movies Featuring Spanky and Joe Cobb. From the ClassicFlix Little Rascals Centenial Collection Bonus Disc.
Audition reel (filmed in the mid-1950s) of Our Gang player Jackie Lynn Taylor for Stripe toothpaste and Whisk laundry detergent. From the ClassicFlix Little Rascals Centenial Collection Bonus Disc.
Good Old Days - The Music of Our Gang featurette. From the ClassicFlix Little Rascals Centenial Collection Bonus Disc.
Excerpt of mid-1930s screen test for unknown film with Mary Ann Jackson directed by Norman Z. McLeod (presented with no sound). From the ClassicFlix Little Rascals Centenial Collection Bonus Disc.
Our Gang Centennial at the Hollywood Museum - Highlights from the opening day gala kicking off the Museum’s exhibit celebrating 100 years of The Little Rascals. Appearances include Leonard Maltin, Richard W. Bann, Maria Roach (Hal’s daughter) and Sidney Kibrick (Woim), the last surviving main player of the Hal Roach era. From the ClassicFlix Little Rascals Centenial Collection Bonus Disc.
Our Gang Reunion - Watch The Gang on "You Asked for It" television show from February 22nd, 1951 featuring Allen “Farina” Hoskins, Johnny Downs, Mickey Daniels, Joe Cobb and Jackie Condon. Also appearing is on-set teacher Fern Carter, cameraman Art Lloyd and director Bob McGowan. From the ClassicFlix Little Rascals Centenial Collection Bonus Disc.
Spanky McFarland interviewed by Tommy Bond, Jr. at a plaque commemoration ceremony just outside the old location of Hal Roach Studios in Culver City, Ca. From the ClassicFlix Little Rascals Centenial Collection Bonus Disc.
The Little Rascals Jukebox - Listen to your favorite Our Gang songs. From the ClassicFlix Little Rascals Centenial Collection Bonus Disc.
Then and Now - A Special Tour of Our Gang Locations featurette. From the ClassicFlix Little Rascals Centenial Collection Bonus Disc.
Home movies capture the cast and crew filming and clowning around behind the scenes during the making of ‘Rainy Days.’
1931 short "The Christmas Party" featuring Jackie Cooper, repackaged as an Our Gang/Little Rascals comedy with the gang's appearance in Laurel & Hardy’s "Stolen Jools" inserted at the beginning. A number of Our Gang kids appear in the short, including Mary Ann Jackson and Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins, plus a host of MGM's biggest stars of the day. Norma Shearer plays the ultimate good guy, treating the gang to ice cream at the beginning, and then giving Jackie his giant Christmas party at the end.
‘Petie’, the Little Rascals' Pete the Pup in a rare vintage video with his master/trainer Harry Lucenay showing how Pete was trained for both silent and sound films.
Newsreel footage showing the Little Rascals gang of 1936 with some of the grown up gang of the 1920's.
Carl ‘Alfalfa’ Switzer & George ‘Spanky’ McFarland ask Vittorio Mussolini if they will use them in pictures.
George ‘Spanky’ MacFarland, Matthew 'Stymie' Beard, Darla Hood, & Billie ‘Buckwheat’ Thomas join Tom Snyder for a trip down memory lane.
Documentary taking a behind the scenes look at Hal Roach's Our Gang comedies, complete with interviews from several former cast and crew members of the comedies.
Documentary taking a behind the scenes look at Hal Roach's original Our Gang comedies. Stills and early footage help tell the story.
Documentary discussing how the Hal Roach's original Our Gang comedy kid actors were the first of their kind. Stills and early footage help tell the story.
