tavm This Hal Roach comedy short, Mush and Milk, is the one hundred twenty-third in the "Our Gang/Little Rsacals" series and the thirty-fifth talkie. The gang are at an orphanage and they don't like it what with the mean headmistress and the regular servings of the title food. But the old man who teaches them loves them and promises as soon as his pension arrives, he'll get them all out of there. I'll stop there and just say this was another hilarious short in the series with Stymie and Dickie trying to make some milk and Spanky doing some funny dialogue with James Finlayson on the other line on the phone. The amusement park scenes may have been taken from Fish Hooky a few shorts back. Tommy does a nice rendition of "Just Friends". So on that note, I highly recommend Mush and Milk. P.S. This marked the last series appearance of Dorothy DeBorba, Dickie Moore who went back to features, and Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins. Wheezer went back to private life after leaving. Unfortunately, he died during an air cadet training exercise on May 17, 1945 before he was to graduate that, or maybe the following week. He was 20. His brother, Dickie who was in Forgotten Babies, died on July 2, 1978.

MartinHafer This is a pretty poor Our Gang film--plus it marks the last appearances by Wheezer and Dickie Moore. Wheezer's career pretty much disappeared after this, though Dickie went on to one of the more popular child actors of the mid-1930s. So why do I say this one is poor? Well, aside from the ending, it just isn't very funny and the setup is pretty bad as well.The film begins in a boarding school. However, it's run by an ugly old hag who beats and starves the kids!! It's all WAY overdone--especially giving the nasty old lady a giant whip! Talk about lacking subtlety. There is one bright spot in the place--an old retired captain who loves the kids and vows to one day take them away from this rat hole. What follows is a lengthy school scene where the Captain teaches the kids absolutely nothing of value and it's littered with really, really lame jokes. At the end, however, the old guy strikes it rich and treats all the kids to a wonderful meal...or so he thinks.Overall, pretty bad and worth skipping unless you are a die-hard fan.

Jim-500 Okay, we all know how good most of the Our Gang comedies are, and this this is certainly one of the best. That said, I think it's fascinating how these shorts also serve as historical documents. For example, the actress who plays Cap's wife, Louise Emmons, was born in 1852. The president at the time was Millard Fillmore! This is nine full years before Abe Lincoln was elected! He was probably still splitting logs in 1852. Just imagine sitting with Louise during lunch at the studio commissary and picking her brains.

Squonk I remember seeing this Our Gang short as a child. It was funny then. It's even funnier now seeing it as an adult. This is a great vehicle for the Our Gang kids. A very young Spanky is a stand out. His poetry reading and phone conversation scenes steal the show. The film also makes great use of young Tommy Bond, several years before he took on the role of the gang's arch nemesis Butch. His heartfelt singing could go up against Alfalfa any day. This is a wonderful example of the fine talent and comic timing the Our Gang kids had. It's one of their best shorts.