SPANKY SMARKY MOVIE
SPANKY SMARKY SERIES

He took less glamorous jobs, including work at a soft drink plant, a hamburger stand, and a popsicle factory. Upon his return to civilian life, indelibly typecast in the public's mind as 'Spanky' from Our Gang, he found himself unable to find work in show business. In 1952, at age 24, McFarland joined the United States Air Force.

SPANKY SMARKY SERIES

He remained in the MGM Our Gang productions until his final appearance in the series Unexpected Riches in 1942, at age fourteen. In mid-1938, Hal Roach sold the Our Gang unit to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, who began casting for a new 'team leader' character in Spanky's vein and ended up rehiring McFarland himself. He also appeared as a juvenile performer in many non-Roach feature films, including the Wheeler & Woolsey comedy Kentucky Kernels and two Fritz Lang features of the 1940s.ДЇollowing the 1938 Our Gang short Came the Brawn, McFarland 'retired' from Our Gang, beginning a personal appearance tour.

Spanky McFarland's only starring feature-film role was in the 1936 Hal Roach film General Spanky, an unsuccessful attempt to move the Our Gang series into features. Switzer's character became as much of a scene-stealer as the young McFarland was, and the two boys' fathers fought constantly over screen time and star billing for their children. His scene-stealing abilities brought him more attention, and by 1935 he was the de facto leader of the gang, often paired with Carl 'Alfalfa' Switzer, and always the enterprising 'idea man'. His earliest films show him as an outspoken toddler, grumpily going along with the rest of the gang.

SPANKY SMARKY MOVIE

Upon being discovered at age three, he instantly became a key member of the Our Gang children's comedy movie series and one of Hollywood's stars. In later years some family members would affectionately refer to him as 'Spank'. Use of the 'Spanky' name by McFarland for subsequent business or personal activities was expressly granted to McFarland in one of his studio contracts. Spanky was an example of such a child in his earliest movies-a toddler who could act-so the name had meaning to the movie-going audience of that era that was lost for later generations. The term 'a spanky child' was late-19th- to early-20th-century slang for an intelligent, gifted toddler. McFarland contradicted the tale, saying that the name was given by a Los Angeles newspaper reporter. The nickname 'Spanky' is erroneously said to have arisen from warnings by his mother not to misbehave during one of the initial discussions with Hal Roach in his office.

Portions of Spanky's screen test are included in a 1932 Our Gang entry, Spanky.

An invitation for a screen test arrived that spring, leading to his acting career. In January 1931, in response to a trade magazine advertisement from Hal Roach Studios in Culver City, California, requesting photographs of 'cute kids', Spanky's Aunt Dottie (Virginia's sister) sent pictures from Sonny's portfolio. This established Sonny early on in the local public's eye as an adorable child model and provided experience before cameras. He attended Lancaster High School in Lancaster, Texas.Д«efore joining the Our Gang comedies, 'Sonny', as he was called by his family, modeled children's clothing for a Dallas department store and was also seen around the Dallas area on highway billboards and in print advertisements for Wonder Bread. He had three siblings: Thomas ('Tommy', who appeared in a few Our Gang episodes as 'Dynamite'), Amanda, and Roderick ('Rod'). McFarland was born in Dallas, Texas, on October 2, 1928, to Virginia Winifred (nГ©e Phillips) and Robert Emmett McFarland.

Spanky smarky