30 October 2025

At Last an Our Gang/Wizard of Oz Crossover

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In 1962, as described yesterday , Starlight Musical Theatre of San Diego held tryouts for a production of The Wizard of Oz , using music fro...
29 October 2025

The Wizard of Balboa Park

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The San Diego Civic Light Opera Association was founded in 1945. Its first show was Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado  in the Wegeforth Bowl...
28 October 2025

How Johnny Downs Grew Up

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I mentioned Our Gang cast member Johnny Downs in this posting on Elmer “Scooter” Lowry going into vaudeville. Johnny Downs was born in 19...
18 October 2025

“Beyond a cute small-boy personality”

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In late 1929, Elmer “Scooter” Lowry finished his vaudeville tour with fellow Our Gang veterans Mary Kornman and Johnny Downs. They had been...
16 October 2025

“A tiny 8-year-old comedian”

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As discussed back here , seven-year-old Elmer Lowry lost his contract with the Hal Roach Studio in the spring of 1927. By that fall he was t...
08 October 2025

“Film World Opens Doors Wide”

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In November 1925, the New York American announced a “Motion Picture Contest” for children. For weeks it promoted that competition with arti...
07 October 2025

Elmer “Scooter” Lowry’s Short Movie Career

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Elmer Lowry was born in 1919 in New York City. By the age of five he was singing and dancing on stage. His family called him “Skippy.” Acc...
19 September 2025

“The urchin who treads on the garden hose”

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Film narrative began with the figure of a mischievous child. The very first movies were “actualités” documenting how people, animals, or m...
10 September 2025

Are You Gonna?

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“Are You Gonna Be My Girl?” performed by WJM (William Lipton, Jeremy Yun, and Max Simas, with guest bassist Collin Simas, uploaded to YouT...
05 September 2025

“To do it exactly like Douglas Fairbanks”

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In 1976 Robert Parrish, an Academy Award–winning film editor and less heralded film director, published his first memoir, Growing Up in Holl...