Producer Hal Roach was constantly looking for fresh faces while overseeing his "Our Gang" series. On his tenth year with the little ones, Roach saw the series losing childhood actors Jackie Cooper, Allen Hoskins (Farina) and Mary Ann Jackson. A three-year-older suddenly came to the rescue from Dallas, Texas, who eventually gave the Little Rascals a refreshingly new look. His real name was George McFarland, but everyone knows him as Spanky. His first appearance on the screen was February 1932's "Free Eats," a spirited two-reeler where he joins the gang taking part in an all-you-can-eat buffet in the back yard of a high-society woman's mansion for the benefit of the city's poor kids.
For a first-timer in his film debut, Spanky had quite a bit of screen time. Before his arrival in Hollywood, young McFarland was a famous face to Dallas residents with his face slathered on highway billboards and in print ads hawking Wonder Bread. McFarland's aunt sent in photos of the cute kid to Hal Roach Studios after spotting a magazine ad stating a need for new child actors for his 'Our Gang' series. A screen test in the spring of 1931 impressed Roach so much he made McFarland the youngest ever to appear in his Rascals. According to McFarland, he received his stage name Spanky from the director of "Free Eats," Robert McGowan. "My first director hung that nickname on me," McFarland remembered. "He said I looked 'spankable.'" In another interview, however, McFarland claimed a newspaper reporter gave him the moniker. Wherever the name came from, McFarland would be forever known as 'Spanky.'
"Free Eats" was inspired by Tod Browning's 1925 "The Unholy Three," featuring a midget in the guise of a baby who steals from wealthy people. In the Our Gang short, two midgets dressed as babies are a front for their supposed parent, simply named 'common thief' (Billy Gilbert, who's a familiar face for Laurel and Hardy fans.). The older baby was played by "Tiny" Lawrence in his only film role. The other, with a deep dubbed voice, was Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus veteran Clarence Chesterfield Howerton, whose most famous role was as a Munchkin in 1939's "The Wizard of Oz." Coming across these crooks, Spanky, who is accompanied by his friends, delivers a long monologue telling a story to his buddies. Director McGowan let the cameras roll to capture the rookie actor's cute rambling tale. As he grew older, McFarland became the leader of the rascals, and retired from the "Our Gang" series ten years later.
