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'Listen, boys. Don't forget now, we want Spanky to win!'

posted 12 years ago by randywst16
20 replies | jump to latest

Aside from Spanky's Mom's actual "dis-dressing" onstage, this is my second favorite moment of BL (the first being the moment I wrote about in the post And Her Goose Is Cooked).

As others have mentioned, the moment when Spanky takes his Mom aside backstage to tell her that he needs to "tell the gang something" is where we see her the proudest. She actually - for the first time - is smiling with genuine happiness. In fact she's practically beaming with pride that her son is showing enthusiasm to perform and win! She even kneels in front of Spanky to listen what he has to say for once. The gesture is meant to show she is putting herself on his level, you might say. It really is the only honest reveal of her at her most sympathetic and emotionally vunerable. But of course, it's too late. Even as we might even start to like Spanky's Mom in that moment, we know that she still isn't quite "getting it" regarding the true meaning of the meaning of Spanky's message.

It's no mistake that in that backstage moment, camera angle-wise Kitty Kelly is given her only close-up. She's confident, smiling, her eyes sparkling with enthusiasm. I dare anyone to not find her beautiful, even sexy, in that moment. Throughout the entire short, although while still beautiful, Spanky's Mom is shown in mostly from medium to wider angles and in a "motherly" (and a pushy one at that!) way. In the way Kitty Kelly is shown confiding with Spanky, it is almost a subliminal suggestion to see Spanky's Mom as, let's face it... kinda hot.

To prepare the viewer for Spanky's Mom (some say, "unjust" or "too far") embarrassing exposure, the next scene goes even further to support with subtlety we see Kitty Kelly as "sexy" or a "MILF" (to use a current phrase). As Spanky's Mom exits the side of the stage and down the stairs to the front row, it's the first time her coat opens to really give everyone a good look at just how tight her dress is, how the material clings to a curvy figure, the buttons drawing our eyes either up to her neckline or down to her legs (depending on if you're a cleavage or leg fan). And when she leans just slightly over the boys with a smile? Her pose is just slighly - almost cluelessly on Spanky's Mom's behalf - sexy and there can't be doubt this was not intended intentionally by the director and/or writer.

But... just when we're beginning to like her, that "pushiness" of Spanky's Mom appears in the way she talks down to the Rascals, almost ordering them around, using her status (and maybe a little of her looks) as a parent, as an authority figure to tell the gang what to do. It makes us see her as the controlling and snobby know-it-all that we all want to see get a comeuppance. When one of the gang insists, "Don't listen to what his ma says!" its the invitation to us to get on board with the gang... but I'm sure neither the gang or Spanky's Mom or Spanky really could have thought that their combined antics would result in Spanky's Mom having her dress ripped off onstage leaving her helplessy dazed in her lingerie in front of a laughing, cheering, howling audience of her friends and peers.

Which would all lead to the obvious: the ones who derived the most joy, pleasure, and excitement out of seeing Spanky's Mom's dress torn off in such hilarious and humiliating style would be Spanky's friends in the front row. Based on her attitude toward the gang, it couldn't have been the first time Spanky's Mom acted so pushy to Spanky's Friends. It's proven by the way they react when she approaches them in their seats. The gang manages to hide their props in time, but none of them greet Spanky's Mom with friendliness. They're guarded and uncomfortable (for obvious reasons) but they also don't show any connection to her. And once again when we hear "Don't listen to what his ma says!" that shows the gang doesn't really like or have any respect for Spanky's Mom. So to see their friend's "MILF" get her comeuppance onstage leaving her exposed physically and emotionally (the dizzy ditzy submissive expression on her face as she looks up at her ruined dress dangling from the curtain above her) you can bet it's the Rascals you can hear laughing the most.

[–] LarrupinLou 11 years ago

I have to say, after seeing this short for the first time almost 45 years ago, I still find Spanky's mother's predicament extremely unsettling. Yes, I can see the sexiness of the situation (even as a preschooler I did!), but... I just have a problem with a woman being humiliated that way. Always have and, I guess, always will be.

It's one of the most memorable Our Gang shorts for me and it's hilarious up until that final scene, yet Kitty Kelly losing her dress never made me laugh. I think I was in shock the first time I saw it. Now, I understand she needed some type of comeuppance, but that was a mighty big pill for someone who really isn't a bad person to swallow.

I think if she had been allowed to sing a song or do a tap dance number after all of the the child acts, but only to be ridiculed by the audience due to her ineptness, I think the same message would have been presented to the audience but without Spanky's mother losing all of her dignity. Maybe mom and son could have even shared a laugh together at the end now that she knew how he felt. I know most of you will disagree and that's fine, too.

Earlier today, I posted something about how sexy Doris McMahan was in Shrimps For a Day at the end of the short. She finds herself scantily clad, yet it's okay because the scene is not portrayed in a humiliating light. She plays it strong and confident despite the abbreviated state of dress she finds herself in. At least for me, unlike Beginner's Luck , I don't feel bad for the character (or the actress).

Well, that's my two cents.

No blah, blah, blah!

[–] doug78595 11 years ago

[–] LarrupinLou 11 years ago

Over the years I've heard many people who didn't like the ending scene of "Beginner's Luck", many thought her comeuppance was far too extreme while others said the ending was anti-woman and especially anti-mother. Some thought that an adult and a mother who is any authority figure shouldn't go through that experience where she lost her dignity and was degraded in public as her son watches and the audience is roaring with laughter at her predicament.

I wouldn't say the scene was necessarily misogynist, so I won't go to the extremes of others here. I guess I try to put myself in the shoes of the person I see on the screen and it would be distressing to me if I were a woman in that preidcament. Just think what her agony would be today in the age of the cameraphone!

I believe in these depression days any paycheck would be welcome to any household so I can't buy Kitty didn't want to get this acting gig. This was the era of the casting couch and God only knows what she had to do to land this job.

Agreed. Kitty was a Ziegfeld girl, so she must have been use to all states of undress in front of audiences before she took on this role. Besides, being seen in a full-length slip back then (at least in the pre-Code days) was a prerequisite for almost any attractive woman, so I'm not sure it really fazed her in the least.

I agree with you regarding the Doris McMahon role in "Shrimps for a day" the society girl who is shrunk by a magic lamp and taken to be an orphan and taken back with them to the orphanage. That night the find the lamp and the little girl and boy wearing nightshirts are put back to the correct age and grow up and Doris's nightgown is very short and she shows off a lot of leg only to get covered by hers dad's jacket!

Totally different feeling, right? She's very sexy in the scene (which would have been a very embarrassing moment in reality for any woman to face 80-something years ago - today, not as much, if at all), but you don't feel bad for her in the slightest.

No blah, blah, blah!

[–] LarrupinLou 11 years ago

BTW, unlike this movie, I had no reservations whatsoever regarding what happens to Heather Thomas' character in the movie Zapped! She was a very disagreeable person and deserved something like what she got. IOW, I don't feel the same way for every similar situation in a film (though I do feel sympathy for any actress who feels she has to do that type of scene when she's uncomfortable with it - don't know if that was the case with Heather, especially since she had a body double for the tougher nude scenes anyway).

McLintock! (another movie mentioned here), OTOH, bothers me the same way as Beginner's Luck. Especially when you consider a woman being seen in her underwear pre-20th century (ignoring the fact that many women wear less today on the street) was thought to be virtually the same as being seen totally naked. I won't even mention the spanking! Yes, Maureen O'Hara's character is somewhat shrewish, but not really a bad person. A different outcome would have been preferable for me instead.

No blah, blah, blah!

[–] jamesmcdonald883 11 years ago

Somewhere along the line I remember seeing an article about the Hal Roach "Our Gang shorts. The article mentioned five ofthe shorts having scenes that seemed a bit to sexually influenced than the norm. The already mentioned "BL" and "Shrimps for a day" have had their scenes discussed here so I will speak of the other three.
In Free Wheeling Dicky Moore is a wealthy child whose parents try to shelter him from the outside world and keep him a prisnor in his own home.His partner is a live in nurse, who is young,blonde ,attractive and a bit sassey.There is a scene where the nurse is teasing Dicky and tickles him Dicky respnds by knocking the nurse down on the floor and seeing if she is ticklish starts to tickle her sides.The nurse appears very ticklish and is laughing her head off and kicking her legs up in the air begging Dicky to stop.Dicky's mom walks into the room and the nurse realizes the error of her ways and jumps up and tries to compose herself.
In Little Papa Spanky and Alfalfa are forced to babysit by Spanky's mother( Who is played by Ruth Hyatt-Daisey's mom from BL) Spanky's mother is going out and is dressed a bit too sexy and the scene where she walks down the sidewalk is very sexy as she really wiggles from side to side as she walks along.
In Honkey Donkey Wallie plays a rich kid who invites the gang over with their mule. The mule is running amuck as Wallies mom comes home. the poor woman only sneezes and is chased by the mule.The mother slides down a bannister and then flees the house running in the spacious gardens only to be knocked into a garden pool and emerges from the water head first spewing water like some silly looking fountain ornament as the mule howls with some wild laughter.I was mystified by this last one and have never had anyone give me a good explanation of why this one was included I really didn't see any sexual innuendoes in it.

Honestly I have to give the sexiest scene to BL as Spank's mom has her dress ripped off her and she kneels there helpless stairing upwards as the prop goes into place!
The Shrimps for a day is sexy as well but I don't think it can even compare to Spanky's mothers's experience. I also feel she diserved her fate as she pushed Spanky into this without his consent.Spanky's mother wasn't evil at all just a pushy stage mother type and deserved what she got.

[–] LarrupinLou 11 years ago

Somewhere along the line I remember seeing an article about the Hal Roach "Our Gang shorts. The article mentioned five ofthe shorts having scenes that seemed a bit to sexually influenced than the norm. The already mentioned "BL" and [i]"Shrimps for a day" have had their scenes discussed here so I will speak of the other three.
In Free Wheeling Dicky Moore is a wealthy child whose parents try to shelter him from the outside world and keep him a prisnor in his own home.His partner is a live in nurse, who is young,blonde ,attractive and a bit sassey.There is a scene where the nurse is teasing Dicky and tickles him Dicky respnds by knocking the nurse down on the floor and seeing if she is ticklish starts to tickle her sides.The nurse appears very ticklish and is laughing her head off and kicking her legs up in the air begging Dicky to stop.Dicky's mom walks into the room and the nurse realizes the error of her ways and jumps up and tries to compose herself.
In Little Papa Spanky and Alfalfa are forced to babysit by Spanky's mother( Who is played by Ruth Hyatt-Daisey's mom from BL) Spanky's mother is going out and is dressed a bit too sexy and the scene where she walks down the sidewalk is very sexy as she really wiggles from side to side as she walks along.
In Honkey Donkey Wallie plays a rich kid who invites the gang over with their mule. The mule is running amuck as Wallies mom comes home. the poor woman only sneezes and is chased by the mule.The mother slides down a bannister and then flees the house running in the spacious gardens only to be knocked into a garden pool and emerges from the water head first spewing water like some silly looking fountain ornament as the mule howls with some wild laughter.I was mystified by this last one and have never had anyone give me a good explanation of why this one was included I really didn't see any sexual innuendoes in it.

I remember all three shorts you mentioned (I also have no idea what the problem is with the last one myself), but as you also stated, they really don't compare to Beginner's Luck and Shrimps For a Day.

Honestly I have to give the sexiest scene to BL as Spank's mom has her dress ripped off her and she kneels there helpless stairing upwards as the prop goes into place!
The Shrimps for a day is sexy as well but I don't think it can even compare to Spanky's mothers's experience. I also feel she diserved her fate as she pushed Spanky into this without his consent.Spanky's mother wasn't evil at all just a pushy stage mother type and deserved what she got.

I agree she deserved some form of punishment, but, IMO, losing the dress was just too severe. I think what really bothers me about it, now that I have thought about it some more, is having it done in front of all the kids. If it had been done in front of just adults, I don't think it would have impacted me nearly in the same way. Another thing: could you imagine it being done to your mother in front of all of your classmates and have to listen to all their taunts for as long as you were at the school? I know I would have wanted to move to a different state if that had happened to me!

No blah, blah, blah!

[–] steveb789 11 years ago

LarrupinLou
I find your posts interesting and insightful. There is a posting on this board called Roll Call.Most of the regular posters put their stories there about when they first saw "Beginner's Luck" I would hope you could honor us and join us and tell your story.

The story involving Honkey Donkey I can't figure out either. I did hear that there was controversy over the fact some people compare "birthday Blues" with "Honkey Donkey" and "Beginner's luck". They feel the father in Blues was a real scumbag and got away with murder (beating his son) and gets no comeuppance at all. Where the mother's in H/D and B/L get roasted over the fire and seem much more innocent that the dad in B/B .

As far as your comment about this happening in front of your classmates and having to listen to the taunts of your peers,think of the true real life story of the actor Andrew Stevens who was the son of the actress Stella Stevens .His mom had posed nude in January of 1960 as Playmate of the month and he was 7 or 8 and was small but trying to revieve her career posed 3 more times when he was 12,14 and 15.Each time he received severe hazing from his school mate peers and actually received several severe beatings.None of the taunting nor the beatings stopped Stella from doing another photo spread of her in her birthday suit.

[–] LarrupinLou 11 years ago

LarrupinLou
I find your posts interesting and insightful. There is a posting on this board called Roll Call.Most of the regular posters put their stories there about when they first saw "Beginner's Luck" I would hope you could honor us and join us and tell your story.

Thanks for the kind words, Steve. I'll post something there shortly.

The story involving Honkey Donkey I can't figure out either. I did hear that there was controversy over the fact some people compare "birthday Blues" with "Honkey Donkey" and "Beginner's luck". They feel the father in Blues was a real scumbag and got away with murder (beating his son) and gets no comeuppance at all. Where the mother's in H/D and B/L get roasted over the fire and seem much more innocent that the dad in B/B

Yeah, I can see that being a big problem, though I don't believe anybody got it worse than the bad guy from Fly My Kite. That guy deserved his fate and then some. That doesn't mean other directors didn't exhibit a misogynistic strain in their Our Gang shorts, though.

As far as your comment about this happening in front of your classmates and having to listen to the taunts of your peers,think of the true real life story of the actor Andrew Stevens who was the son of the actress Stella Stevens .His mom had posed nude in January of 1960 as Playmate of the month and he was 7 or 8 and was small but trying to revieve her career posed 3 more times when he was 12,14 and 15.Each time he received severe hazing from his school mate peers and actually received several severe beatings.None of the taunting nor the beatings stopped Stella from doing another photo spread of her in her birthday suit.

I wonder how many of those pictures found their way to him by his "friends." I also wonder how many times he wished for a plain-Jane mother instead of the knockout he actually got?

No blah, blah, blah!

[–] doug78595 11 years ago

The Stella Stevens story I remember well and if that wasn't enough she did a very controversial sex scene in the movie "Slaughter" with James Brown. She is a southern born woman and did one of the first interracial sex scenes in the nude. Grant it this happened a few years later and he was much older.

The splicing of BL and Shrimps for a day as we have been discussing both reminded me of two of the Our Gang shorts that were planned but were never made involved a woman loosing her dress in one and a woman have her dress shrink in the other. Just as B/L was taken off the scrap heap and reworked into a project that was made(or so the story goes). There were others involved Rosina Lawrence who played the school teacher and was one of the most beautiful women to ever work for Roach. The storyline has members of the board of Education calling on her school and there is something that is inside that might cost her her job .She enlists the help of the rascals and they go over to the school at night to retrieve the letters. As Rosina slides in the basement window her dress hem gets caught and rips off her. The rest of the short involves a dressless Rosina running around in the school looking and finding this letter.

The other reunites Spanky, Kitty and Mae Wallace as a family. Four of the rascals get a job babysitting. The child they are babysitting is a real wild one and constantly outwits the boys. The boys are complaining to their families about the kid. One day the boy locks all four of the rascals in a closet and one by one their mothers come over to check out what is going on.He outwits all of the mothers too. Kitty ,who plays Spank's mom again,is the last one and chases the boy around trying to capture him, he runs inside a steambox and she follows only to be caught be the kid as she is trapped inside the steambox and the boy turns on the steam full force. Luckily Grandma (Mae Wallace again) comes to the rescue with the police and frees the boys in the closet and finds the other 3 moms and gets them out of their predicaments as well. She then finds Kitty in the Steam sweat box and Kitty is really out of it as they turn off the heat and remove her from the machine. As she steps out her dress had shrunk in the machine and it is way up her thigh only thing is it is still shrinking and she lets out a howl and runs to get something to wear before her dress shrinks more.

Although these are only rumors both shorts were done at a later date with different plots. I would have loved seeing these made in reality but Rosina Lawrence eloped and left Roach before it was made.

[–] steveb789 11 years ago

Yes,I remember hearing about this some time ago and to be honest I wish they did produce these as I would have loved seeing Rosina loose her dress and Kitty have a shrinking dress. TOO BAD!!!!!!

[–] LarrupinLou 11 years ago

The Stella Stevens story I remember well and if that wasn't enough she did a very controversial sex scene in the movie "Slaughter" with James Brown. She is a southern born woman and did one of the first interracial sex scenes in the nude. Grant it this happened a few years later and he was much older.

Always liked her as an actress, as well as a great-looking woman.

The splicing of BL and Shrimps for a day as we have been discussing both reminded me of two of the Our Gang shorts that were planned but were never made involved a woman loosing her dress in one and a woman have her dress shrink in the other. Just as B/L was taken off the scrap heap and reworked into a project that was made(or so the story goes). There were others involved Rosina Lawrence who played the school teacher and was one of the most beautiful women to ever work for Roach. The storyline has members of the board of Education calling on her school and there is something that is inside that might cost her her job .She enlists the help of the rascals and they go over to the school at night to retrieve the letters. As Rosina slides in the basement window her dress hem gets caught and rips off her. The rest of the short involves a dressless Rosina running around in the school looking and finding this letter.

The other reunites Spanky, Kitty and Mae Wallace as a family. Four of the rascals get a job babysitting. The child they are babysitting is a real wild one and constantly outwits the boys. The boys are complaining to their families about the kid. One day the boy locks all four of the rascals in a closet and one by one their mothers come over to check out what is going on.He outwits all of the mothers too. Kitty ,who plays Spank's mom again,is the last one and chases the boy around trying to capture him, he runs inside a steambox and she follows only to be caught be the kid as she is trapped inside the steambox and the boy turns on the steam full force. Luckily Grandma (Mae Wallace again) comes to the rescue with the police and frees the boys in the closet and finds the other 3 moms and gets them out of their predicaments as well. She then finds Kitty in the Steam sweat box and Kitty is really out of it as they turn off the heat and remove her from the machine. As she steps out her dress had shrunk in the machine and it is way up her thigh only thing is it is still shrinking and she lets out a howl and runs to get something to wear before her dress shrinks more.

Although these are only rumors both shorts were done at a later date with different plots. I would have loved seeing these made in reality but Rosina Lawrence eloped and left Roach before it was made.

Well... I would be lying to you if I said I didn't think those rumored shorts wouldn't have been sexy as all hell, but I'm glad they weren't made. Especially seeing Rosina that way (I agree with you about her being beautiful... and then some) - if anybody, with the possible exception of June Marlowe, deserved her dignity intact in an Our Gang short, it was her. There's just something disturbing to me about a scantily-clad woman being seen that way around kids.

No blah, blah, blah!

[–] LarrupinLou 11 years ago

I should point out I was a huge fan, and still am, of Benny Hill. He always had a woman or two losing their clothes on his shows, but it never bothered me. Different context, I guess.

No blah, blah, blah!

[–] LarrupinLou 11 years ago

Yeah, I can see that being a big problem, though I don't believe anybody got it worse than the bad guy from Fly My Kite.

Gentlemen, if you want to update an Our Gang short, but with a similar conclusion as seen in Beginner's Luck, then Fly My Kite is the one to do it with. Instead of having a male villain, make her female instead. She could go through all the trials the original baddie did, but then have her lose not just her outer clothes, but everything else (implied nudity, of course). In that scenario, hardly anybody would mind her being humiliated in that fashion, since she would be such a despicable character (unlike Spanky's mother). That I could laugh at!

No blah, blah, blah!

[–] onestooges 11 years ago

Hi Lou

I believe most professional reviews that I've read over the years say that Spanky's mother is a stage mother who is living her life threw forcing her son into the limelight of a stage career that he clearly doesn't want anything to do with it. She doesn't care at all and by the early dialogue (What's next) has done this type of stuff before. The ladies she has assembled at her home are looking at themselves in complete disbelief at what she has planned. Even Grandma tries to show her the silliness of her idea only to be shot down by Momma. When Granny realizes her incredible good fortune of being able to give some pay back to Spanky's mother she can't believe it. Spanky's act turned into a total riot and he only was relieved of the wild uproar when they realize the woman behind the curtain is being shown and then see that her dress is caught and on the rise. After her dress is s gone she kneels on stage looking up at her tattered dress. The viewer she her in a slip but not really much more than a slight glimpse. Spanky shields her to protect her from the eyes of the audience and only then does he find out what has happened. Clearly Spank's mother was humiliated by this undignified episode so she would learn her leason and stop her forcing her son In to things he really had no interest in. He was humiliated by the set of circumstances that befell him and she deserved to be humiliated for making this happen in the first place.

[–] LarrupinLou 11 years ago

I'm not sure she's really a classic stage mother, onestooges. Reviewing the film again, Spanky's mother appears to think her son is the second coming of John Barrymore. She really has this warped idea that he has the potential to become a great thespian. Now she's deluded on this point, but I don't see her as being uncaring towards him (though she does unintentionally embarrasses him in the process). She does need to come back down to Earth on this matter and may even deserve a little bit of her own medicine, but not to the point of losing her dress (again, a very, very traumatic experience for any woman to have to face years ago - and not to nice if it happened today). Maybe the kids could have aimed their pea shooters at her bottom so she would become, for all intents and purposes, a human duck in a psuedo-shooting gallery on the stage instead. Still would have been sexy, she gets her punishment and still a big laugh at the end.

Having said that, if she were truly a stage mother (during the Great Depression, not necessarily a terrible crime to make, AFAIAC), they could have done the whole plot of the movie at an audition for a stage role instead. At least when her dress is pulled off of her, she wouldn't have to face the added indignity of being seen partially dressed before all of those children (yes, that part really is the thing that bothers me the most). Except for Spanky, everyone else witnessing her dismay would be adults. Still humiliating, but I could handle it better (especially if the writers transformed Spanky's mother into someone completely uncaring towards her son and was only concerned about his potential as a meal ticket).

BTW, I'm not saying I'm right or wrong about any of this. It's just my opinion and totally subjective on my part. Obviously, the short had a profound impact on me to the point I have typed quite a few posts in regard to it.

No blah, blah, blah!

[–] bigboy171975 11 years ago

I, like most everyone heard some folks that had problems with the ending of B/L.
One of the posters from this board said what did something like this do to kids who saw it and then had to go on in school plays and the like over the years it must have had a real adverse effect on them thinking that what happened in B/L was going to happen to them and their mom was going to wind up like Spanky's. I know some were bothered by the fact she has an animal body from the stage prop and what does that mean Spank's mother is half an animal?
Others say that the curtain snagging her dress and hiking it up has sexual implications and her arousing the men of the audience with her clad in a scanty slip . Are these what kids are going to see and think about Spanky's mother arousing men sexually at the theater?

[–] LarrupinLou 11 years ago

I know some were bothered by the fact she has an animal body from the stage prop and what does that mean Spank's mother is half an animal?

You know, thinking about myself at the time I initially saw this, the stage prop of the wolf did bother me for some reason. I don't have any problems with it today, but there was something about the picture and Spanky's mother's face that did disturb me as a very small child. Maybe The Wolf Man, which I saw around the same time, warped something in my little brain.

Others say that the curtain snagging her dress and hiking it up has sexual implications and her arousing the men of the audience with her clad in a scanty slip . Are these what kids are going to see and think about Spanky's mother arousing men sexually at the theater?

I was too young for any sexual imagery to have affected me that way, but I did know there was something wrong about a mother undressed that way in public and in front of children. Not that my parents addressed this to me at the time, but that feeling in me was there for whatever reason. As I grew older, though, that sexual subtext that you mentioned made the ending that much more unsettling to me (though, truth be known, Kitty Kelly in that white slip wasn't the worst thing in the world for me to see ).

No blah, blah, blah!

[–] doug78595 11 years ago

I have two points I'd like to make. The first this is a comedy it's supposed to be funny. People have told me that seeing Spanky's mother losing her dress and her dignity are hilarious to say the least. I've known ladies who were single mom's who had kids about Spanky's age in this short and were the most detractors of this short. Maybe it's to close to the pin to be funny and something that really hits home. I believe there is a deep down love of seeing someone else be humiliated. It's just basic human nature.

Secondly, When I first came to this board 7 or 8 yrs ago there was a poster that put up a very interesting story. Now no one knows if this story is true or it may be his fantasy and he just let it out of the bag on a board that appericates a similar story. The story was this guy was in High School and had only one friend. They buddied up and were each others best friend. His friend's mom started to work for the school as a teachers aide. She ran across another female teacher who was very jealous over the woman's beauty. The friend's mom was assigned to work for the teacher involving a school play. The teacher planned to publically humiliate the aide. During the play with the entire High School in the audience the teacher asked the aide to go behind the back curtain and look inside a large box a to find something she had asked her to find. As the mom was bending over the teacher raised the curtain and snagged her dress hem .the audience of kids ,as you could imagine , erupted with wild laughter. She hauled up on the ropes and ripped the woman's dress of her. The mom looked up at her dress hanging off the curtain and stood there frozen .There was no propboard though! Eventually the principal came on stage and put his jacket around her and walked her off stage.

This story had a real effect on me. Man that was real!! Could you imagine that happening ???? There's something that's awful to say the least for the kid and his mom.

[–] bigboy171975 11 years ago

Good points Doug !

"Beginner's Luck " is a comedy and made to be seen as humorous. Spanky's mom is shown as a well dressed woman in the deepest darkest days of the depression. She was made to be in a position that she could be knocked down a few notches and the people would love it. What eventually happens to her is made to be enjoyed by the audience.

I remember that story well- I wasn't around for it's original telling but read it in a retelling of the original a few yrs ago. There is a huge difference between the short and this alleged tale. If true it is something that I'm sure created many a embarrassed day for that woman and many a teasing of her son by his peers in school. Their humiliation must have been huge to say the very least. All caused by some jealous teacher who was envious of this girl's looks. High school is a brutal place for most kids after this happened it must have been undescribable for this guy and how could that mom ever work there again?

[–] LarrupinLou 11 years ago

I remember that story well- I wasn't around for it's original telling but read it in a retelling of the original a few yrs ago. There is a huge difference between the short and this alleged tale. If true it is something that I'm sure created many a embarrassed day for that woman and many a teasing of her son by his peers in school. Their humiliation must have been huge to say the very least. All caused by some jealous teacher who was envious of this girl's looks. High school is a brutal place for most kids after this happened it must have been undescribable for this guy and how could that mom ever work there again?

Yeah, whatever you think about the ending of the short (and it is only comedy - Kitty Kelly was paid to do a specific job - in reality, no real humiliation was done to her), to do something like this in actuality is beyond reprehensible. The teacher should have been stripped naked and hung upside down in the middle of Main Street for doing such a terrible thing, AFAIAC. I only hope the story was made up.

No blah, blah, blah!