Review of Mike Fright

This Hal Roach comedy short, Mike Fright, is the one hundred thirtieth in the "Our Gang/Little Rascals" series and the forty-second talkie. There's a radio talent show on with the gang coming on as The International Silver String Submarine Band. But before they can go on, they have to wait for a couple of girls singing "Jimmy Had a Nickel", a hula girl singing "I Want to Go Back to My Little Grass Shack" with her fellow girl dancers and a boy sailor tap dancing, and Little Leonard doing a trumpet version of "My Wild Irish Rose". But it's when the gang perform "The Man on the Flying Trapeze", they attract the sponsor enough to put them on regularly! This was quite a funny and entertaining short of various musical acts with Spanky and Scotty providing most of the punchlines, as usual during this period. So on that note, I recommend Mike Fright. P.S. This was the first time since before Teacher's Pet that LeRoy Shield's "Good Old Days" wasn't used as the theme song. Instead, his "Little Dancing Girl" was the opening credits theme here. The other Roach composer, Marvin Hatley, appears as the pianist here and briefly plays his "Honolulu Baby" before the program begins. It's interesting seeing Tommy Bond confronting Little Leonard Kibrick since he'd eventually come back to the series as the bully Butch a few years later with Leonard's brother Sidney playing his sidekick "The Woim". And the tap dancing little sailor-Billy Lee-would eventually co-star with future Our Gang member Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer in the feature Reg'lar Fellers.