By 1936, double features, with an assorted short film, became the norm. MGM studios, distributor to Hal Roach's "Our Gang" series, still found a wide audience for their little rascals, but wanted a more slimed down version than the previous 20-minute two-reeler. Producer Roach, who had wanted to end the series, agreed to go with the 10-minute format, with the first one-reeler premiering in August 1936's "Bored of Education."
The movie was the only Academy Award win for "Our Gang" under Roach's supervision, who accepted the Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film (One Reel) during its 9th ceremony. As a remake of the gang's 1930 two-reeler 'Teacher's Pet,' the short was Gordon Douglas first directed film with the rascals. As an assistant director for Roach and the "Our Gang" series since 1934, he was an experienced hand in cinema, hired as a teenager at the Hal Roach Studios in the late 1920s. He handled the kids through 1938 before directing Laurel & Hardy feature films as well as a wide variety of full-length movies. He's known to have been the only filmmaker to have directed both Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra.
Douglas was forced to streamline the kids' plot since the production was cut in half. Unlike 'Teacher's Pet,' the director got right down to the point in having Spanky and Alfalfa living in dread facing the new year at school with a brand new teacher, Miss Lawrence (Rosina Lawrence). Unbeknownst to the pair, the teacher ordered ice cream for the students to break the ice. Alfalfa, who's sporting a fake tooth ache by way of an inflated balloon in his mouth, gets permission to go home, escorted by Spanky. When they find out they're missing out on the ice cream, the two try to weasel their way back into the classroom, with interesting results.
Some film reviewers on the "Our Gang" series say the Oscar win for this particular episode, the rascals' 146th, was more "a product of whim or timing, rather than strictly a consideration of merit." They point to other shorts, such as the original 'Teacher's Pet,' as more deserving. Nonetheless, the rascals can cite something that most in the industry never received: an Oscar.
