This Hal Roach comedy short, Bedtime Worries, is the one hundred twenty-fourth in the "Our Gang/Little Rascals" series and the thirty-sixth talkie. As his father gets a promotion as a shipping clerk (which results in a funny exchange between Spanky and both his parents as to what that is), he insists his son sleeps alone for the first time in his life. But Spank keeps calling them out-either for water or for something that's bothering him. I'll stop there and just say this was quite a good showcase for the scene-stealing toddler. While the other kids in the gang are also around, they don't get as much screen time. As his parents, Emerson Treacy and Gay Seabrook are quite the team in their dialogue exchanges with the wife quite the ditzy character in the Gracie Allen mode. They would appear in the follow-up short, Wild Poses, as well. So on that note, I highly recommend Bedtime Worries.
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While this is far from the best of the Our Gang comedies, it is a huge improvement over their previous film, "Mush and Milk". It's also a rather peculiar film because Spanky is clearly the star of the film and the rest of the Gang only appear near the very end. This isn't that surprising, as the young Spanky was very popular and often got the lion's share of the camera time--but here it's practically all.
Spanky's mother spoils him. He sleeps with his parents and this dad is getting tired of it. Finally, the Old Man puts his foot down--insisting that Spanky sleep in his own room. But, every time Spanky sees or hears anything, he yells and his doting mother immediately comes running. Finally, the father is so fed up, he tells the kid to shut up and starts ignoring everything Spanky says. Eventually, however, a burglar comes in the house and Spanky yells--and Dad ignores him. Then, the burglar tells Spanky he's Santa--and Spanky yells that Santa is stealing their stuff--and Dad continues to ignore him. What's to happen to the family and where are the rest of the kids?! Overall, this is an entertaining film. It's low-points are the overdone dinner scene (the meat carving bit was lame and took up too much screen time) and the finale--which just degenerated into a stupid free-for-all. But, the film did feature Spanky at his most adorable, some very funny twists and was a nice change of pace. Well worth seeing. -
mrdonleone8 February 2020Very funny introduction to the Little Rascals of Our Gang!! Parents should believe their children or they shall learn the hard way!! Everything in this movie is great, from cinematography to music fragments and story, but the thing which remains is the acting performance of the smart young baby. Bravo!!
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Ron Oliver13 June 2000An OUR GANG Comedy Short.
Little Spanky has BEDTIME WORRIES. He has to sleep alone for the first time in his life and suddenly his bedroom is filled with spooky sights & sounds - to the great annoyance of his sleepy father. Then a real burglar gets into the house...
A very funny little film, with Spanky at the top of his form. Highlight: the `What's a shipping clerk?' sequence. Emerson Treacy & Gay Seabrook play Spanky's very peculiar parents. -
endzoneartimis5 December 2006In this short you can see how talented Spanky was as a young child. It shows Spanky in the humor role as opposed to the straight man he played later to Alfalfa and the rest. I you have a child, you can relate to the concerns of a young boy sleeping in his own bed for the first time. When he thinks there's a burglar in the house and his "Daddy and Momma" don't believe him, then a burglar shows up, he's cool as a cucumber. As he asks the burglar "are you Santy Clause? A battle ensues between the father and Spankys friends that is anarchy. A movie thats good to watch with children of all ages. Much better than the later Alfalfa centered shorts.
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pixrox122 February 2018. . . Haves and Have-Nots. BEDTIME WORRIES was released by MGM (aka, The Millionaires' Movie Studio) at the height of the Great Depression. At this sad time, BEDTIME WORRIES for normal people included whether or not they would freeze to death overnight because they could not pay for heat, or how many of their dear kiddies would expire from starvation before dawn since there was no money for food, and they had not yet eaten this week. However, the honchos at MGM felt that it would be a hilarious hoot to film a dad complaining eight minutes into BEDTIME WORRIES about his burdensome chore of having to carve up a giant roast every supper time. Also, wouldn't it be Great Fun to picture this slab of beef (easily outweighing the protein allotment an average U.S. family of six was permitted to consume in a month) flying off the dinner table onto the floor for Petey the Pup?! Like many if not most "Our Gang" episodes, BEDTIME WORRIES is totally out-of-touch with its times. Folks who claim to be puzzled by how Today's North Korean populace can be hoodwinked by its national media for so long only need to look at MGM's output during the 1900s to see the template being etched for such mass Bamboozlement.