Small Talk

Directors filming silent movies had the luxury of yelling instructions to their actors while the cameras were cranking away. Actors were taught to avoid eye contact with the directors while following their verbal guidance as the scenes played out. Rehearsals were conducted before filming, but when the directors noticed nuances needed corrections, they were there off frame barking their commands.

The Hal Roach series Our Gang consisted of children with little acting experience. The kids relied on their directors to guide them on the set since many of their scenes were improvised. When microphone recordings arrived, it became apparent these young actors required some extra preparations before they were comfortable speaking their dialogue. Our Gang's first talkie, and its 86th overall episode, was May 1929's "Small Talk."

The Robert McGowan co-written and directed plot involves Weezer as the lone gang member adopted from their orphanage. Weezer gets pretty lonely in his new digs. It's not long, however, when his friends leave the orphanage to visit him, causing all sorts of commotion.

The Rascals' first talking assignment was much more difficult for the veteran director McGowan than his silent efforts with the kids. They had trouble delivering their lines in a natural way. The twelve shooting days it took to make the 25-minute short, almost double the gang's normal production days, was largely due to the excessive retakes it took to get their lines delivered. As the production of each episode took place, the childhood actors eventually became comfortable talking in front of the camera.

Roach was able to spend the large amount of money to outfit his studio with expensive audio equipment by inking a new distribution contract with MGM after he ended his relationship with Pathe. The larger movie company not only gave Roach a more lucrative production budget, but the tie-in with MGM allowed Our Gang shorts to play in front of a greater amount of movie goers through the Loews' theater chain.