Pay As You Exit (1936) User Reviews

Rather enjoyable and a chance to see an old favorite.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 24 January 2012]

The gang decide to put on the play "Romeo and Juliet". But, the other kids are afraid to pay--so Alfalfa tells them they can pay AFTER they see it if they think it's any good. This is all the incentive the kids need and they pour into the theater. But what if they hate the show?! The show stars Darla, Alfalfa, Spanky and Buckwheat. But, it soon must go on without Darla as Juliet, as Alfalfa's onion breath is a BIG turn-off. So, Alfalfa runs to look for a replacement as Spanky tries to entertain the audience. Will the plan work or will they go bust? All in all, a cute and enjoyable outing. Not brilliant but very enjoyable.

I was excited to see this short because it featured Joe Cobb as the older and mouthy kid. Joe had been a regular in the Our Gang shorts in the silent and early sound era and it was nice to see him again. I also was happy to see that he was a lot thinner and looked healthy--as previously he was morbidly obese and was a bit depressing to look at because I always assumed the studio forced him to eat like a cow so he could be the 'funny fat kid'--a role they used quite a bit with Cobb and Chubby Chaney (whose weight gain was actually caused by a medical condition that eventually took his life!).

Pay As You Exit was another funny enough Our Gang short

[tavm · 8/10 · 11 December 2014]

This Hal Roach comedy short, Pay As You Exit, is the one hundred forty-eighth entry in the "Our Gang/Little Rascals" series and the sixtieth talkie. Alfalfa is the lead in the Romeo & Juliet play and tells the kid patrons the title phrase if they like the show. Leading lady Darla, however, leaves after the first act because she doesn't like Alf's onion smell. So Spanky does his "old" act during intermission and Buckwheat replaces Darla. I'll stop there and just say this was another funny outing in the series and it was nice to hear those LeRoy Shield scores once again after not being in many of the previous ones. By the way, Spanky's "weightlifting" act was previously in the silent short in the series, Back Stage. One of the audience members, Joe Cobb, should have been familiar with that one since he was one of the gang members at the time of that gag! So on that note, I highly recommend Pay As You Exit. P.S. Starting with this short, Buckwheat is definitely dressed as a boy thereby eliminating the confusion about his gender though the fact he replaces Darla in the play here might have made the audience at the time still wonder about that...

Romeo and Buckwheat

[Squonk · 19 March 1999]

This Our Gang short uses the "let's put on a show" formula that they've used many times. This time the gang is staging their version of Romeo and Juliet with Alfalfa and Darla in the leads. However, midway through the show Darla gets fed up with Alfalfa's onion breathe (he eats onions to help his voice) and leaves. Unknown to Spanky, Alfalfa gets Buckwheat to fill in for Darla. It's Buckwheat's performance that makes this film fun. Buckwheat had amazing timing, he could say so much through subtle movements of his eyes and that big grin. When you look at him playing Juliet, you can see in his eyes he's really plotting to steal the spotlight, which he does. Plus, he has the best line in the short, "My Homeo!" By the way, that obnoxious member of the audience is Joe Cobb, who was an Our Gang member during the silent era.

Our Gang Fractures Shakespeare

[Ron Oliver · 10/10 · 14 March 2000]

An OUR GANG Comedy Short. When Spanky & the Gang put on a presentation of `Romyo and Jullet' out in the barn for the neighborhood kids, the audience is told they can `PAY AS YOU EXIT' if they like the show. But chaos ensues - especially after Alfalfa's onion-munching drives away leading lady Darla.

A fine little film, short and to the point. Spanky's strongman routine is cute and if you ever wondered how Buckwheat would play Juliet's Balcony Scene, this is the place to look. That's Fat Joe Cobb as the big kid in the audience.

Perhaps the runtime is the key

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 28 June 2017]

"Pay As You Exit" is an American 11-minute short film from 1936, so this one had its 80th anniversary last year and it is one of the Little Rascals / Our Gang short films that is neither from the early nor from the later days of the kids. At 11 minutes, it is also clearly shorter than they usually were and the names of director Douglas and writer Jevne will also not be known to many I suppose. So there are some differences here compared to the most known films starring Alfalfa, Spanky, Darla and the others. But these do not make things worse. I have seen many of their films and I must say that at almost 20 minutes they are rarely working. But this one here somehow does. The focus is on the kids reenacting their version of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and I was surprised that there are actually quite a few funny moments here overall. Of course, a lot goes wrong and almost nothing goes to plan as always with the Rascals, but I somewhat enjoyed the watch here. I will not mention individual moments or scenes, but let me just say that the situational comedy works better than in your average Rascals movies. Go see it.

Play-themed Our Gang fun

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 9 February 2017]

A brief OUR GANG effort about the team putting on a play in front of an audience and getting their Shakespeare all mixed up. This one's pretty simplistic and lacks the kind of plotting that made the team's other short efforts so watchable. The play is ostensibly ROMEO AND JULIET but there's a bit of HAMLET in there too along with some strong-man feats in order to keep the audience at bay.

Basically in this one you're just treated to the kids making a fist of their Shakespearian dialogue while lots of familiar gags and the like fill up the running. Alfalfa has the funniest moments as he decides to sabotage the show by eating spring onions before his famous kissing scene. Darla takes exception to this and storms off but salvation comes from an unexpected source.