Little Daddy (1931) User Reviews

Unheralded but pleasant "Our Gang" outing

[jimtinder · 8/10 · 13 February 2001]

"Little Daddy" is one of the handful of Hal Roach "Our Gang/Little Rascals" talkies not to be shown on television. This is a shame, because there is nothing really offensive about the film. If anything, it shows how children of all races and backgrounds can band together against injustice.

Farina is the caretaker of a community church, Stymie is his little brother. Their father is in jail, so Farina is left to his own devices to take care of Stymie. The orphanage is planning to take Stymie away; can the Gang help Farina and Stymie in time?

Again, there is nothing really offensive about this film. If anything, it is enchanting and funny, particularly when Farina tries to tell Stymie the Bible story about Noah and the flood. People who would censor such a good film need to get a grip. 8 out of 10.

Unfairly maligned.

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 2 December 2011]

According to IMDb, this short is rarely shown because in today's light it's seen as offensive. While I agree that some Our Gang comedies are a bit hard to take because of this today (such as "Bargain Day"), it's sad that the racist label was slapped on this one. It's really not that offensive unless you are very thin-skinned. After all, unlike most Our Gang comedies, the focus is almost completely on Farina and Stymie and gives them a great chance to be in the limelight. As a result, Farina's acting abilities really do shine--and it's a shame folks today might not get a chance to see him with a wider range of emotions and depth.

The film begins in church. Stymie and Farina are helping the minister take the collection. Farina's reactions to the various donations as they are given is pretty funny. You then learn that the kids' father is in jail for making bootleg liquor (this was made during Prohibition) and the local officials are planning on putting Stymie in a foster home (why not Farina, too?!). It seems they don't feel Farina can adequately care for his little brother. So, with the help of the Gang, they attack the social worker who arrives for Stymie. Fortunately, the guy isn't so bad and Miss Crabtree comes to the rescue.

For the most part, Stymie Beard just seemed adorable and bewildered during this short--which is what you'd expect from such a young kid. As for Farina Hoskins, he's 11 and finally gets to show he's got some talent--crying quite convincingly and delivering some very funny lines quite well. Well worth seeing.

A delightful twist on Chaplin's "The Kid", deserving of classic status.

[mark.waltz · 8/10 · 14 November 2019]

Growing up around Stymie and Farina has made the gang very loyal to their status as two orphaned brothers at the mercy of social services with young Stymie being threatened with being taken to an orphanage. (Why not Farina as well? It's never explained, even though he's obviously underage.) Farina plans a going-away party for him we're all the other kids show up only to find that Stymie has eaten the majority of the cake and ice cream. Then the man from The social services organization arrives with the intention of taking Stymie away attending the party, and it's up to the gang to go out of their way to help their friends stay together. A late appearance by Miss Crabtree wraps things up all to neatly and that is the one sour note unless otherwise delightful short that is a mixture of comedy and heartfelt drama, and had I been a writer for Hal Roach, I would have suggested a series surrounding their delightful antics.

Funny gags with a serious note

[moviewatcher2010 · 10/10 · 13 July 2006]

This episode was actually aired on TV, but most likely edited - the only scene I remember is when Stymie is eating up all the ice cream and cake at his farewell party before the gang arrives.

Farina is the caregiver for his younger brother Stymie who is being sent to an orphanage to live. It opens with Farina and Stymie collecting money (or rather buttons) during a church service. Later as Stymie is ready for bed, he tells Farina he wants to hear the story of Noah's ark and Stymie is nothing short of hysterical with his one-liners as Farina gets more and more frustrated attempting to tell the story.

Then it is morning and you get a glimpse of a typical start of the day with Farina's responsibilities for Stymie. The inventions rigged in the place where they are living are typical Little Rascals fare. Farina pulls levers to do everything from operating Stymie's shower to cooking him breakfast.

Then the scene changes to Farina waiting for the gang to arrive for Stymie's farewell party before the officer arrives to take him away. When Farina makes the decision to leave Stymie (and all the food for the party) to get the gang, Stymie devours everything at lightning speed. By the time the gang gets there, everything is gone, including a huge ham, a large cake and a couple of containers of ice cream.

The officer shows up to take Stymie and you have a scene very similar to that in "The Pooch" when the dog catcher takes Pete, but without the eggs. The gang beat on the officer while Farina does everything to try to hide Stymie who is only too glad to yell out, "Here I is!"

A memorable and funny scene is Chubby lip-synching to a bass singer bellowing out the song "Asleep in the Deep" as he is washing up over the bathroom sink.

Little Daddy is one of the best of Stymie's "Our Gang" shorts

[tavm · 9/10 · 8 February 2008]

This Hal Roach comedy short, Little Daddy, is the one hundred fifth in the "Our Gang/Little Rascals" series and the seventeenth talkie. With their father in jail (no mention of the mother), Farina is Stymie's sole caretaker. In the mornings, the older brother prepares breakfast using various makeshift contraptions that also gives Stymie a shower (who uses an umbrella for the occasion). Since the authorities are going to take the little brother away, Farina gives him a farewell party but Stymie eats everything when the rest of the gang finally arrives. Their initial upset over that turns over to the orphanage official who gets a handful from the gang. After Farina gets Miss Crabtree, she resolves to find a nice home for Stymie but not before he stows a ride on the official's car trunk! This was a pretty touching "Our Gang" entry that nevertheless provided nonstop laughs mainly courtesy of Stymie's quips. Particularly funny is Farina's telling of Noah and the Ark that Stymie, because his older brother says "Yeah" before mentioning the leading character's name, confuses the two as brothers! What a great "Who's On First?"-type routine! There's also a gratuitous scene of Chubby lip-syncing to Charlie Chase's vocals on "Asleep in the Deep". It obviously could have been cut without hurting the story. A final note: During the 1970s, this short, along with A Tough Winter, was banned from syndication. The other one has Stepin Fetchit in a stereotype role that is considered offensive today but in this one, the poor kids just happen to be black and, other than the fact that their father is in jail, are not negative in characterization. Good thing Leonard Maltin put this on a "Little Rascals" VHS tape issued in 1995 with an introduction explaining the kind of humor accepted during the shorts' time in production. So on that note, I highly recommend Little Daddy.

Controversy

[Michael_Elliott · 23 December 2008]

Little Daddy (1931)

*** (out of 4)

Farina is taking care of his younger brother Stymie when it's learned that he must go to an orphanage. This doesn't sit well with the gang who plan on fighting off the man when he comes to take their friend. Reading up on this short I learned that it was originally banned from television due to some people, including the NAACP, protesting how blacks were shown and I must admit that I'm downright shocked that they'd take that stance as I've never seen a film from this era that showed as much respect to blacks. I know this series was rather mean to Farina in earlier films but this one here is so sweet and caring that it's just shocking anyone would take offense to it but then again I doubt those protesters even bothered watching it. The first fifteen-minutes actually play out as a drama even though there's a hilarious scene about Noah, which Stymie can't understand. Chubby and Jackie get some funny lines but the entire film belongs to Farina and Stymie, which is pretty rare for two black actors to get all the screen time in a white comedy. June Marlowe appears at the very end.

"Why don't they make a law to make a man happy . . . "

[pixrox1 · 7/10 · 12 January 2018]

" . . . instead of making laws to bust a guy up?" Farina puzzles near the beginning of this 17th "Little Rascals" installment, LITTLE DADDY. This Our Gang Outing is rife with bitter challenges to the beleaguered bunch, such as Chubby's voice suddenly changing and Farina being forced to bite the White Kid-Catcher Bozo (who preceded a similar character in Ian Fleming's James Bond Sequel CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG by more than three decades). What Today's Little Rascals viewers may tend to forget is that these childhood travails were NOT "all in good fun." Depression-Era America was NOT a safe place to raise kids (especially in the Jim Crow South). A live-action short such as LITTLE DADDY was intended by the MGM movie studio to provide survival tips to the Real Life kids who managed somehow to see it (or even hear about it from their more fortunate friends). With Black children facing daily Lynchings off-screen for their demeanor or tone of voice, Farina and Stymie are literally battling for their very lives in LITTLE DADDY. Their final defeat of the White Dude Kid-Catcher through the use of multiple vehicle tires may well have rolled across the seas to inspire Winnie Mandela's recipe for trouble-makers in South Africa. All she had to add was the petrol.

Reality for it's time

[thejcowboy22 · 3/10 · 29 May 2014]

Little Daddy show a realism of that depression era. The struggling Community Church with the collection plates filled with buttons.When I first saw this short I thought it was Farina and Stymie's Father's Funeral service. After a brief encounter with the Parson the scene shifts to home and the story of Noah complete with comical responses only Stymie could provide.The next scene morning arrives with the familiar Hal Roach tunes in the background with Farina preparing breakfast for his devious brother with all those gadgets as Little Stymie takes a shower complete with raincoat and umbrella.Then the scenes split away showing Chubby obviously lip-sinking in the bathroom and another setting to the make-shift miniature Golf course the gang rigged up. Meanwhile FARINA prepared a go away party for his brother complete with cake and Ice cream and a Ham.Farina is waiting for the gang to arrive but to no avail.So he takes off to find them and tell his brother not to eat the goodies (famous last words!)Till this day I can't see Stymie eating it all.(But I guess he did.)As The gang arrives with Farina and with the empty containers of ice cream devoured the Agent shows up on cue to take Stymie to the orphanage. The gang slips into action as the tackle the agent to the ground and literally tear his suit to shreds. Anyone in their right frame of mind would get the hell out of there but not this agent. Chasing two boys through back alleys trying, holding up what's left of his tattered trousers he corners then into a hen house and hears a commotion and says "Who's in There?" and Stymie replies,"No one but us chickens!" After a tire be rage Miss Crabtree comes to the rescue and straightens everything with our weary tattered agent but Stymie ends up in the back of the agents car as he drives away. A roller coaster of emotions in this short. From a sad Church to Chubby singing in his bathroom. Strange episode for the gang..

Not as funny as other Our Gang shorts

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 6 February 2017]

LITTLE DADDY is one of the Our Gang comedy shorts put out by Hal Roach in the early 1930s. This is one of the weaker efforts, I thought, purely because it's not as funny as some of the others I've seen, such as the hilarious HONKEY DONKEY.

This one has a fairly serious story about a kid being taken into care due to neglect and the efforts of the other gang members to prevent it. Farina and Stymie get most of the screen time and a fair amount of monologues between them, but humour is surprisingly lacking in their dialogue so that this feels like a drama at times. The others don't get too much of a look in, although there's a fun gag with a kid singing in Charley Chase's voice.