Auto Antics

{{Short description|1939 American film by Edward L. Cahn}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}} {{Infobox film | image = Our Gang Auto Antics 1939.jpg

| caption = | director = Edward Cahn | producer = Jack Chertok for MGM | writer = Hal A. Law Robert A. McGowan | narrator = | starring = Darla Hood Eugene Lee George McFarland Carl Switzer Billie Thomas Mickey Gubitosi Leonard Landy Tommy Bond Sidney Kibrick | music = | cinematography = Harold Marzorati | editing = Roy Brickner | distributor = MGM | released = {{film date|1939|7|22}} | runtime = {{duration | m =10| s = 05}} | country = United States | language = English | budget = }}

'''''Auto Antics''''' is a 1939 American short comedy film in the ''Our Gang'' series directed by Edward Cahn.<ref name="BFIsearch">{{Cite web|title=Auto Antics|url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150127500|access-date=2 December 2025|website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}</ref> It was written by Hal A. Law and Robert A. McGowan and was the 182nd ''Our Gang'' short to be released.<ref name="MaltinBann">Maltin, Leonard and Bann, Richard W. (1977, rev. 1992). ''The Little Rascals: The Life & Times of Our Gang''. New York: Crown Publishing/Three Rivers Press. p.204 {{ISBN|0-517-58325-9}}</ref>

==Plot== Banners proclaim "Greenpoint's Proudest Day! – Mammoth Celebration Dedicating Our New Sewer System", featuring the Kidmobile Race with a first prize of five dollars.''Our Gang''<nowiki/>'s hopes to win the race are nearly dashed when town bully Butch arranges for the gang's pet dog Whiskers to be picked up by the dog pound. But instead of demoralizing the gang, the impoundment of Whiskers merely gives them a stronger reason to win the race and claim the prize, with which they will pay the dog's license fee. There is no shortage of dirty tricks on the part of Butch and his henchman Woim, who try everything to wreck the Gang's chances and their homemade "auto."<ref name="NY Times">{{Cite web|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/226195/Auto-Antics/overview |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520195750/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/226195/Auto-Antics/overview |url-status=dead |archive-date=2011-05-20 |department=Movies & TV Dept. |work=The New York Times |author=Hal Erickson |title=New York Times: Auto-Antics|author-link=Hal Erickson (author) |date=2011 |accessdate=2008-10-08}}</ref>

==Cast==

===The Gang=== * Darla Hood as Darla * Eugene Lee as Porky * George McFarland as Spanky * Carl Switzer as Alfalfa * Billie Thomas as Buckwheat * Mickey Gubitosi as Mickey * Leonard Landy as Leonard

===Additional cast=== * Tommy Bond as Butch * Sidney Kibrick as Woim * Baldwin Cooke as Luke * Major James H. McNamara as Mayor of Greenpoint * Joe Whitehead as dogcatcher

==Notes== ''Auto Antics'' features the final appearance of Eugene "Porky" Lee, who was dismissed from the series after growing significantly taller (to the point that he became taller than George "Spanky" McFarland) during ''Our Gang''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s first year at MGM.<ref name="Porkybio">Maltin, Leonard and Bann, Richard W. (1977, rev. 1992). ''The Little Rascals: The Life & Times of Our Gang''. New York: Crown Publishing/Three Rivers Press. p.272 {{ISBN|0-517-58325-9}}</ref> Robert Blake, who had just replaced Gary Jasgar as the tag-along toddler,<ref name="TLCJoyScouts">{{cite web|url=http://theluckycorner.com/mt/181.html |title=Joy Scouts film no. 181 |work=The Lucky Corner |date=5 November 2005 |accessdate=13 September 2014 |author=Demoss, Robert |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100129065117/http://theluckycorner.com/mt/181.html |archivedate=29 January 2010 }}</ref> assumed the role vacated by Porky at the beginning of ''Our Gang's'' 1939–40 season of shorts.<ref name="Porkybio" />

Darla Hood became ill during the filming of ''Auto Antics''. One shot features the kids hanging on to the back of the dogcatchers' truck as it starts down the road. Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer was, according to Hood in a later interview, "in one of his little moods" and ruined every take of that shot. At the end of the thirty-second take, Hood passed out from the exhaust fumes and had to be escorted to the hospital.<ref>Maltin, Leonard and Bann, Richard W. (1977, rev. 1992). ''The Little Rascals: The Life & Times of Our Gang''. New York: Crown Publishing/Three Rivers Press. p. 204 {{ISBN|0-517-58325-9}}</ref>

== Reception == ''Kine Weekly'' wrote: "A racing fixture for home-made toy autos. As funny for the youngsters as ''Our Gang'' pictures invariably are. Ideal for juvenile programmes."<ref>{{Cite journal|date=25 January 1940|title=Auto Antics|id={{ProQuest|2339643961}}|magazine=Kine Weekly|volume=275|issue=1710|pages=17}}</ref>

==See also== * ''Our Gang'' filmography

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * {{IMDb title|0031063}} * {{TCMDb title|401669|Auto Antics}}

Category:1939 films Category:American black-and-white films Category:American auto racing films Category:Films directed by Edward L. Cahn Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer short films Category:1939 comedy films Category:Our Gang films Category:1939 short films Category:1939 American films