Cat, Dog & Co. (1929)
Genre : Family, Comedy
Runtime : 20M
Director : Robert A. McGowan
Synopsis
Farina, Joe, and friends use dogs to power their "roadsters," but following a lesson from the head of the Be Kind to Animals Society, they make it their cause to rescue animals from bad treatment. Joe even manages to find patience for a nagging flea that persists in biting him. Meanwhile, Wheezer, who has been tormenting animals with his games, dreams that the animals have turned the tables on him.
Miss Crabtree, the teacher Jackie has a crush on, rents a room at Jackie's house.
The kids' adopted grandma decides to sell her store, but can't decide whom to sell it to. The kids try to help her out.
The gang decides to go camping with a little bear hunting on the side. A pair of poachers decides to try and scare them off with a gorilla suit but the gang decides to try and capture the gorilla instead.
Mickey is a poor boy who lives with his Uncle Pat. While they're broke, they're also very happy. Since Pat hasn't legally adopted Mickey, Aunt Kate gains custody and takes him to her mansion.
Our Gang member Alfalfa comes face to face with his wealthy lookalike Cornelius.
The gang wages war using old vegetables as munitions. Later, they ruin a movie in progress when they double-expose the film.
The gang is participating in a program sponsored by the Golden Age Dramatic League. They present their own fractured version of Quo Vadis. Things go from bad to worse when the neighborhood tough kids disrupt the show. The pie fight is given a new twist by use of some slow motion sequences.
Spanky's parents take their reluctant boy to get his portrait taken by a prissy photographer.
Jackie gets in a duel over the affections of Mary Ann.
The gang decides to enter their animals in a local pet show.
Alfalfa tries to back out of a fight by pretending to be incapacitated.
Spanky's mother's pushes him to join a local theater amateur night.
Dickie throws a birthday party to try to raise money to buy his mother a birthday present.
Spanky and Alfalfa plot to play hooky so they can go fishing, by pretending that Alfalfa is sick and Spanky should stay with him while the parents are away. But Spanky's mom, knowing the truth, turns the tables by insisting they also watch Spanky's little brother. But taking care of little brother turns out to be more difficult than they expected.
The Rascals have a boxing arena that could pack them in if they could find fighters who would actually mix it up. Harry and Farina notice a rivalry between two very large young kids, Joe and Chubby, that would fill the bill if only the two heavyweights would put aside their gentle natures. Farina gets an idea: tell each of the lads that the other will take a dive in the second round. So the fight begins and the stands are filled; but will the combatants actually throw a punch? Ernie has one more trick up his sleeve to get the fists flying and the crowd on its feet. Sweet science indeed.
The gang is playing around the railroad station, and Joe and Chubby's father, an engineer, lectures against the kids playing in such a dangerous area. True to his word, after Joe and Chubby's father leaves, a crazy man starts a train with most of the kids on it, save for Farina who is nearly run over several times.
Once Farina manages to climb aboard himself, the kids attempt to stop the runaway locomotive, but have no luck until the engine crashes into a grocery truck. As it turns out, however, the entire incident is revealed to be a dream Farina had as Joe and Chubby's father lectured the kids about rail-yard safety.
Farina plans a going-away party for Stymie as authorities prepare to place him in an orphanage.
Rich boy Waldo gets his clothes dirty playing football with the gang just before he has to go to his mother's society party. The gang tries to help him clean up.
The boys are showing off their dogs to each other when little rich girl Mary Kornman rides by in her pony-drawn cart. When the pony shies and runs away, Mickey comes to the rescue with his dog. In gratitude, Mary invites all the boys and their dogs to her party, much to the chagrin of her wealthy mother.
In this short the kids are managing their own barber shop, with harrowing results. No one gets hurt, but most of the customers wind up bald or close to it: one kid even gets a prematurely fashionable Mohawk! Scenes involving close calls with sharp scissors might make some viewers wince, while the manicurist uses a device that looks like a wire-cutter.