Doin' Their Bit

I TOTALLY disagree.

"Doin' Their Bit," even though it might have seemed a little "put-on," is one of my favorite MGM-produced "Our Gang" musicals. For somebody who wasn't even around when this film was released (I was born in April 1962), and considering the historical significance embodied into it (World War II was eight months old in mid-July 1942), it made me appreciate how people back then banded together to help our country, much in the same way the 9/11/2001 incident did recently.

And even though some people didn't like Janet Burston's big number, I thought it was rather funny, especially after reading how, in Leonard Maltin and Richard Bann's 1992 "Little Rascals" book, the two authors "dissed" it (they said, "Judging from the applause this generates, the soldiers in the audience must have been starved for entertainment").

I also thought the "Allies on Parade" finale was rather good (Buckwheat carrying a Haiti flag? I'll have to check that out if and when I ever see this short again); to me, it was kind of like the "Main Street, U.S.A." 2-parter of "The Lucy Show" - even today, it has a "feel-good" quality to it that, when you look beyond when it was made - well, makes me GLAD to be an American citizen! (And by the way, that "Virginia O'Brien wannabe's" real name was Beverly Hudson; she also had a small part in "Our Gang's" much-worse "Family Troubles" a year later.)

Yes, I too, as Maltin and Bann also said in their negative "Doin' Their Bit" review, was "weaned on earlier and better 'Our Gang' comedies" - but I DIDN'T think "Doin' Their Bit" was "coy and plastic" or "(a) cute and stale little revue," nor lacked any "heart, humor, or talent." I thought the short was rather enjoyable and well-done!

(Warner Home Video, any chance you'll put out a compilation of the last 52 MGM-produced "Our Gangs" on DVD? If so, I hope you'll include "Doin' Their Bit" and perhaps other favorites like "Mighty Lak a Goat" - but, as I said before, DON'T include such God-awful shorts as "Ye Olde Minstrels!")

I give "Doin' Their Bit" an 8. Happy 4th of July!